A/N: So school has just started *urgh!* so the next chapter might take a while sorry :(. I'll work on it whenever i ca. Promise.
The trip to the Orokin base took roughly one hour, even at three times the speed of light, or what Banshee prefers to say, photach three. Banshee brought the drop ship to a complete stop about 750 kilometres away from the coordinates. The squad peered out the ships windows and at the camera feeds. Outside was just, space. "Where is it?" Rhino asked, searching for some sort of structure. "Bring us in closer" Excalibur commanded, "slowly" he added. Banshee eased on the thrust slightly, bringing their speed to Mach 5. They floated in a straight line for about two minutes before Excalibur called to a halt. The squad sat there, in space, nothing around except space trash. "Saryn. Try and get HQ on the comms please." Excalibur said. Saryn tapped a few keys on the panel in front of her, scanning the available frequencies, looking for the hidden frequency, which was HQ. "Identify yourself" A stern voice said over crackling static. "This is Excalibur of squad S.E.R.B, I need to be patched through to Lotus please" Excalibur replied quickly. There was some more static and then the voice from the other side of the galaxy said, "Affirmative, standby". Once again the squad sat and waited, Rhino fiddled with his gear, Banshee watched the sensors and kept the ship in place. Saryn and Excalibur just sat. "Yes Excalibur what is it, im in a hurry?" Lotus' voice came through the static radio. Excalibur got up and walked over to the comms station, "Uhh how do we get there?" he asked unsure of what to say.
"What do you mean?" Lotus replied puzzled
"Send her the camera feeds" Excalibur motioned to Saryn, who quickly began tapping away. "There is nothing here Lotus. Literally nothing."
"hmm." Lotus said thinking. "Does your ship have a-" she stopped talking and someone else could faintly be heard talking to he in the background. Excalibur turned to Saryn who shrugged.
"Uhh. Lotus?"
"Yes Excalibur, we are sending you something that should solve your problem, to your coordinates. I have to go, read the letter inside the capsule" She quickly said then shut off the link.
"Uhm. Ok" Rhino said confused. Just then there was a blue fizzing light from outside the ship. Banshee turned the ships underside cameras to the source and found a supply pod, floating and spinning in place. She quickly sent out a pick up drone out to bring it in. When the pod was safely inside, they all stood around it in a circle. Excalibur bent down, then keyed in the universal Tenno code, on the keypad near the opening of the pod. The lid popped open with a hiss as it depressurised. Excalibur pulled out a second container which he opened, which released an intense yellow glow, which forced them to look away. When the yellow light dimmed, they looked inside and saw the object. It looked very unfamiliar, also in the pod was a sheet of paper that had written on it, 'Void key. Use wisely'.
"A warning?" Saryn asked looking down at the object and the sheet of paper in Excalibur's hands. "I'm not sure" he replied "but it seems we will need it. Take us to 200 meters away Banshee, then stop.". Rhino glanced at Saryn who was also a little confused then asked, "Isn't that a little close?"
"Nope. We need close" Excalibur replied calmly. Banshee went to the cockpit and set the ship in motion. They reached 200 meters in no time. Once they were stationary, Banshee returned to the drop pod bay and joined the others. Rhino, Saryn and Banshee sat in the seats, attached to the walls of the ship, while Excalibur stood in front of them.
"So apparently, this thing" Excalibur said, waving the Orokin key through the air, "will open a portal, or something, that will let us into the Orokin base, or void, apparently." He continued trying to get his facts right, "but the portal won't be big enough for our pods, so we'll have to go in, by floating in. When we get close enough to the right place, the key should automatically open the portal. Any questions so far?" the three shook their heads. "Good. Now onto the mission itself. We don't know what is going to be inside, or even who will be inside. So I want you all on alert. I also don't want you touching anything." He said looking at Rhino, who quickly jumped to his own defense. "Yes Excalibur of course."
"If there are other beings in there, we do not engage unless we are attacked first. If you think something is worth keeping as a present for Lotus, you'll have to ask her first if you can keep it because we don't know anything! Understood!"
"Yes sir!" The three replied.
"If I feel, for even one second we should leave, we will do exactly that. We get out the same way we get in." he paused then asked "Any questions?"
"No sir!" they replied once more.
"Alright. Final weapons check. We're leaving out the back door". Excalibur opened the internal door to the hatch and closed it behind them, leaving them in a small square room. They waited for the ship to depressurise the room, to stop the vacuum of space sucking anyone out, then Excalibur opened the external rear hatch. When the ramp came to 180 degrees, Banshee floated out first, followed by Saryn then Rhino. Excalibur hesitated. Fearing the unknown. He took a deep breath then hit the close button and jumped out after them.
A/N: Stay with me, its getting to the juicy part I swear!