Rhino Smash

The Grineer had no chance. The hadn't even realized that Karl was aboard until he was nearly at the reactor. Then, in typical Grineer fashion, they had swarmed at him. That was not the wisest of tactical alternatives. As choices went, it was fairly stupid.

Karl slammed another hulking form to the deck with his Orthos, his spin continuing as he danced forward, the polearm's twin blades singing. The Grineer trooper screamed and then his scream cut off with dreadful finality as Karl stepped on him and something went 'crunch'. The rest of the squad of Grineer who had been posted around the reactor stood their ground and fired their weapons. He barely noticed as he slammed into their midst. He was ponderous, but graceful as his blades sang and Grineer fell. In moments, the chamber fell silent. But only for a moment as Karl drew his rifle.

He hadn't actually used his Latron Prime during the assault. He had wanted to keep his presence a secret for as long as he could, so he had done something abnormal for him. He had skulked. There wasn't anything inherently dishonorable about sneaking. And there was a difference between honor and stupidity when you are outnumbered a thousand or so to one. Also... In his experience, Grineer had no honor. His encounter with Lech Kril had shaken that certainty a bit, but in his time since waking from cryo he had seen Grineer do things that no honorable foe would contemplate. And even Kril had cut down one of his subordinates. So... There were depths to the Grineer that Karl hadn't seen before. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he had a mission. These thoughts bothered him and he needed to stay focused. He had been almost happy when a Grineer had managed to avoid his kunai, get to an alarm panel and sound it before dying.

Karl hit the control to retract the protective enclosure around the reactor with an inaudible sigh. The bulb of the reactor appeared and the glowing rods of coolant extended from it. He took aim as the reactor started rotating, trying to cool off its systems. He was taking up the slack on the trigger when something grabbed his leg and pulled him into the air.

The distinctive voice of a female Grineer sounded. "Take him out!" The females were generally the officers. And only one kind of female Grineer in his experience had a snare ability, so he was unsurprised to see a smaller female Grineer with a machete swinging at him. She was alone. Brave, but foolish. He let it come as he regained his feet and the sword bounced off his armor as he drew his polearm. The Grineer female, to his surprise, did not attack again. Instead she stepped back and sighed as she lowered her weapon. "What's the point?" She asked sadly as she slowly lowered herself to a kneeling position, her blade sinking to the ground. She bowed her head. "I can't beat you, Tenno. Go ahead..."

Karl paused, his blade halfway to striking. He looked at her. She had legs! Not prosthesis, legs! All Grineer females had prosthesis. It was a sign of their rank! But...she didn't. Like the one Kril had smashed. What the hell? He froze, torn. One of the core precepts in Bushido was 'make decisions fast'. You were not supposed to dither over questions. The quote in Hagakure ran "One should make his decisions within the space of seven breaths…With an intense, fresh and undelaying spirit, one will make his judgments within the space of seven breaths. It is a matter of being determined and having the spirit to break right through to the other side." He couldn't decide. He chose to wait, ponder it later. But that left the problem sitting, waiting for him to end her.

He tapped her shoulder with the flat of one of his blades and her face came up, set as stone, ready for death. He shook his head and her face turned incredulous.

"What?" She asked, confused. He took his off hand from the haft of his weapon, never lowering his guard and pointed to the side. Her gaze followed the direction indicated to a sign marked 'escape pods'. "No..." She stammered. "I can't..." He shook his head and deliberately turned his back on her as he walked back towards the reactor. "Tenno, please, just kill me!" She begged, but he ignored her. She wasn't really a threat.

Karl kept one bit of his senses on the still kneeling Grineer as he slung his Orthos and drew his Latron Prime again. He started firing slowly and deliberately. Each shot shattered a coolant vessel. He emptied his clip and reloaded automatically. He had done it for so long the motions were instinctive, so he was aware when the Grineer rose from her kneeling position and staggered away towards the door he had indicated, her weapon hanging loose in hand. He hit the final coolant rod and it shattered, bathing the room in crimson as the lights went out and were replaced by dim emergency lighting. He had minutes at best before the reactor melted down and took the huge Galleon out from the inside, reducing it to radioactive slag.

Karl nodded to himself and started off, reloading his rifle automatically. All of the beings on ship were dead, but would likely keep fighting. It was what they did. All they knew. One could almost admire them for that if one did not realize they had been bred to be cannon fodder. Well, most of them. He corrected himself. That female was...different. Like the nurse Nika? He wasn't sure. He would have to ask when he got the chance. For now, he had to escape the doomed Galleon and then he had a rendezvous and another mission.

As he walked, Grineer attacked him. Sometimes singly, sometimes in groups. It didn't matter. None of them had the firepower to break his shields, let alone actually hurt him. His shots on the other hand, tore through their meager defenses and threw them away like rag dolls. It was not a long walk to where his ship was secured against the airlock hatch of the Grineer galleon. He stepped into the warframe shaped alcove and leaned back as the grappling fields pulled him close, holding him in place as his ship released the hull of the doomed Grineer ship and took off into space away from his prey. He had smashed them good, just as Sara had asked.

As he relaxed a bit, he checked his systems and nodded with a smile. Everything was in tolerance. His ship systems automatically refilled his ammunition supply and replaced the ciphers he had expended when the Grineer had tried to trap him by locking down sections of the ship. He had been in a hurry. Normally, he would have just broken the encryptions himself. It was a fascinating mental exercise. But he had been rushed. But then he started thinking. He did not like where his mind was taking him. A Grineer who had acted as if she was unwilling to fight. Unable to fight him, and unwilling to do so for no purpose. She had been ready to die without fighting. That was totally unlike Grineer in his experience. They lived to fight. They were created to fight. That was their sole purpose. Or so he had thought. He put it from his mind, he had to focus on the next problem.

Karl did not like the idea of facing other Tenno in battle. He had fought the strange being called the Stalker a few times, usually putting up his Iron Skin and laughing at the enemy attacks while pummeling the fool into flight. But this was different. He did not know who Stalker was, if it was a single person. Now he would be facing, and potentially killing, people he had known and trusted with his life. Honor demanded he cut them down so he would if they got in his way. He would not enjoy it but he would do it.

Why couldn't they have just stayed where they were? Karl asked himself with a sigh as he changed weapons. Why did they have to come back? And why now?

The Latron Prime was accurate and incredibly powerful, but it had distinct disadvantages against highly mobile adversaries, like Tenno. It fired slowly enough that most Tenno would be able to dodge the shots with relative ease. Admittedly, if any connected, the Tenno it hit would be in trouble, but connecting would be hard. Karl selected a Hek shotgun instead. It only had four shots and then needed to be reloaded, but it did insane damage and the spread would be good for hitting moving targets. He had previously modded it to hit Corpus threats, which were fast and heavily shielded, so a quick check of the mods and he had it in place. Fast and hard hitting to hit mobile, agile targets. He would keep the Orthos for the same reason. It was fast, hit like a ton of bricks and with his modifications, would pierce most armor as the Grineer had found out to their cost. His kunai...? He sighed. There were a bunch of other weapons he could use, but they were still his preferred backup. He smiled a little forlornly as he remembered who had taught him how to use them. Serene. They had spent hours practicing throwing together as kids...

He was jolted from his reverie by an incoming communication. He wasn't in a clan, so... He nodded and allowed access. Suddenly he was kneeling on nothing, seeming to be sitting above the plane of the ecliptic of the solar system. And he wasn't alone long. Four black garbed forms appeared nearby, their features shrouded by the concealment of their ECM. They trusted him about as much as he trusted them, which was not at all.

"Jasmina?" He asked calmly.

"Karl." One of the forms solidified into an ember, her armor dark reds and browns to blend in with darkness. "You are late." She snapped.

"I have information." Karl said equably. "Sara, code Ninety-Four Three Ceta." Jasmina jerked back. None of the others moved.

"How?" Jasmina asked softly. "And why not contact one of us?"

"In order..." Karl said in that same calm tone. "I can't say and she didn't say."

"Gah!" Jasmina said with a sigh. "Okay..." She said, calming. "What did she say?" Karl bowed his head and Jasmina stared at him. "Karl?"

"I find myself conflicted here, Tenno." Karl said softly. "I have my duty and my honor tells me to help Serene. But I have to do it alone."

"What?" Jasmina snapped, her ire coming back to the fore. "Why?" She demanded.

"The security breach is a group of Tenno led by a Frost Prime who the others with him call Nicholas." Karl said heavily. Jasmina inhaled sharply and Karl nodded. "That makes what has happened my responsibility."

"Karl..." Jasmina said in a quiet voice. "You don't have to do this..."

"I let them go." Karl said softly. "I reported what they did. I could have called it in, sent a message. I went in person. I knew the clan would flee or hide. I... I knew. I let them go, hoping that was the end of it. I didn't want to fight them. And now I must."

"Alone?" One of the others asked in a male voice. "That is stupidity."

"Be silent, Olim!" Jasmina snapped, her voice taut. "You do not know what you speak of. Karl..." She pleaded. "We can help."

"I do ask your help." Karl said after a moment. "Nicholas is the key. He cannot be allowed to escape. I ask that you shadow me in. I will make enough noise that they will focus on me. I will head straight for Nicholas and I will do my best to kill him. If I cannot...You must not let him leave. I do not know what he has planned, but whatever it is cannot be good for the Tenno as a whole."

"How many?" Another of the shadowed forms asked softly. It sounded female.

"Sara says six." Karl said softly. "From her descriptions... Mack, Gregor, Kodas, Zang, Luc and Nicholas. Frost, Ash, two Excaliburs, Volt and Frost Prime." He paused. "Just prior to the breach, a patrol found a badly hurt Tenno in a Saryn warframe near the entrance. It may be Lis, another of the ones who... did not come back when Nicholas left. If so, she is very dangerous and I do not know if she can be trusted."

"Six or seven to one is not good odds..." The male voice said quietly. "We can strike when-" He broke off as Jasmina raised a hand.

"Can you do this?" Jasmina asked softly. "Kill your brother?"

"I have to." Karl said with a shrug. "I knew there was something wrong, but... I said nothing, he was the clan leader. I did nothing. Said nothing, kept my silence. What happened on Ceres and what has happened since is my responsibility and mine alone. I will fix it or die trying." Steel might have bent under his quiet words.

"I don't believe you." The male, Olim, said with a snap.

"I don't care." Karl replied without heat. "Do what you will. My ship is on approach to the tower entry portal as we speak."

"You are clanless. How do we know you are-?" The male broke off as Jasmina nearly rose from her kneeling position, snarling at him. "Jasmina?" He asked, incredulous.

"Karl and Nicholas were twins, fool." Jasmina's voice likely would have run off an Infested. All three of the others recoiled. "They are flesh and blood! You ask why Karl has not joined another clan? Any clan I know -including ours-would be proud -happy- to have him in their ranks. He always refuses. He says -and I quote- 'I cannot trust myself, how can I trust others?' You may think you know honor, Olim. You have no idea..." Now her voice turned sad. "I am sorry, Karl."

"My penance." Karl said simply. "The lives lost on Ceres were my responsibility. I knew something was wrong and I said nothing. Honor demanded I support my clan leader. Until he went too far. Now... I will end this." Jasmina bowed her head in respect and the other three did as well. "If I cannot, stop Nicholas. All I ask is that you disable any but Nicholas if you can. Take them alive if you can. They were...good Tenno... once." He stopped speaking before his voice could betray him.

"If we can..." Jasmina said slowly. "We will try. But we are what we are, Karl."

"Weapons." Karl agreed. "Weapons with intelligence and... conscience for some." A beeping sounded and Karl nodded. "Time. Follow me in."

"Fight well, Tenno." Jasmina said with a sigh as she and the others vanished. Karl watched as the ship fell towards a specific place in space. Nothing shone on sensor. Nothing showed visually, but he knew it was there. He threw himself from the ship and fell into... gold.