New

Elsewhere

Helen woke in darkness, but she was not afraid. Her implants told her that her commander was sitting beside her. She began her basic diagnostic and was rewarded by a pat on her arm.

"Good morning, Helen." Anna's calm voice had Helen looking that way and everything did as it should. Every prosthetic was operating at peak efficiency. "Did you rest well?"

"I rested optimally, commander Anna." Helen said with a nod as her ocular implants came fully online and she saw others standing behind the commander. A male, a female and a hovering metal thing. All Grineer. That did not scare her now. Her new cranial processor showed them as allies. "Orders?"

"I am your commander, but my rank is Major." The older woman said with a smile as she sat back and waited for Helen to sit up, which the younger woman did. "The only people you can trust are in this room." She warned as Helen swung her feet off the hard metal bunk. "No one else. We are a team. We will work as a team, fight as a team or we will fall as a team. Clear?"

"Yes, Major." Helen braced to the same attention that the others did as the Major rose to her own feet, nodding approval.

"When we are done with our mission, I will undo what I did, give you the choice to remain with us or not. But the mission comes first." Anna said firmly as she inspected the back of Helen's head and then nodded. "You are a tech. Grineer have no counterparts for such, so we have to improvise. Luckily, we are good at that." She nodded to the female Grineer. "This is Nina Tal, our team sniper." Helen nodded to the Grineer who nodded back, silent. The Major continued, nodding to the male. "This is Lancer Ju-78653094. He is our team heavy weapon's specialist. I am commander, interpreter, sometimes a infiltrator or scout. Questions?"

"What is my role to be?" Helen inquired when the Major was done speaking. Clearly she was not going to introduce the robot, if it even had a name.

"You are a tech specialist and medical specialist. Grineer may not care if they are wounded, but we do. You will carry our medical gear and I will train you how to use it. As a Corpus soldier, you are likely better with long range optics than myself or the Lancer will be." The Major replied. "Your cover will be as a Ballista. A Grineer sniper. You will not be shooting. Nina Tal is better at it than any of the rest of us. Maybe all of us combined." The compliment bounced off Nina Tal's armor like a light caliber round, with no apparent notice from the Grineer. "You will run our sensors. The idea is that you will find the targets and then we will destroy them. Preferably from long range, but if needed, we all have close combat weapons and experience. You will learn what you need to. We will all have to fight to accomplish our mission. In fighting, people get hurt or killed. It may happen to me, it may happen to you. If so, the mission must come first. Get used to that idea."

"Yes, Major." Helen felt odd. Before she could react in any way, the Major reached up to her neck and something went hiss. Whatever happened, Helen felt better. She barely felt the fear that had risen retreat. That made no sense. Why should she be afraid here? Surrounded by her team? "Orders?"

"For now? Lets get you outfitted." The major stepped back and nodded to the others who stepped forward.

The male Grineer held out an oblong weapon to her that she took in careful hands. It was unloaded, a fact for which she was grateful. Her armor systems identified it as a Buzlok light machine gun. An incredibly detailed expert system started to instruct her in its use, but she paused that as the female Grineer held out an odd thing to her. She slung the rifle and held out a hand for the odd looking thing. On receiving it, Helen's onboard computer identified it as a Halikar jet propelled mace. Again, her onboard processor started to instruct her and again, she paused it. She looked at the Major who nodded approval.

"We won't throw you into melee combat unless we have no other options. That will give you reach. Well done. Not everyone can figure out how to do that so fast. You will be a hell of an asset once you have time to study up." The Major smiled and Helen's world was perfect. Part of her knew that the Major was using some kind of mind control ability on her. The rest of her didn't care. "I will take you and get you fitted with a medical kit and all the rest in a bit. That is all locked to my personal biometrics. You will not be able to use any of it unless I order it."

"What if you are injured, Major?" Helen asked, worry surfacing. "Unconscious?"

"In that case, we will have far larger problems." Anna replied, not offended in the slightest. "There will be workaround, but they usually make a mess. Don't borrow trouble, Helen. You can talk to us, but only in private. Outside of secure quarters, we need to maintain the appearance of common Grineer as best we can. Basically, it boils down to 'keep your mouth shut'. Most Grineer don't talk much at all unless they need to communicate with others. They don't usually have much to converse about."

"What is the mission, Major?" Helen said as she straightened, then stared at the mace in her hand. "I do not know where to holster this." The Major tapped a metal square on Helen's belt and Helen placed the mace there. She did not react as the mace was suddenly attracted to a magnet there. She pulled at it and it came easily to her hand. She nodded to the major. "Acknowledged."

"The mission is fairly straightforward, but also more than a bit complicated." Major Anna said with a frown. "We have to destroy an Orokin homing beacon." Helen nodded but then paused. She thought about questioning and refrained. Major Anna smiled approval again. "Good girl. Keep your mouth shut. You will live longer. I know. Such tech defines robust and this one? The problem is that the homing beacon is at the bottom of an ocean." Helen waited and the Major smiled wider. Then the older woman turned to the others. "Get the ship ready to fly. Check our charges for deep water detonations. The site that has been detected is too far from any planetary facilities to allow for timely use of their assets. We are going in."

"Yes, Major!" Both Grineer saluted and left the room. The small robot thing did not leave the major's side.

"I like you." Major Anna said as she laid a gentle hand up against the metal that covered Helen's cheek. "That is not a good thing. I need to be focused. I need you to be focused. Can you do that? Without the drugs?" Something changed and Helen gasped as her body suddenly felt all wrong. Nothing hurt. It just all felt wrong. The Major's hand grabbed her arm and held her upright as she swayed.

"I do not know." Helen said weakly. "Am I a hindrance? A threat to the mission?" She begged.

"We need you." The Major did something and the wrongness faded, leaving Helen to bask in warmth. "I will keep an eye on you and I will set the medical kit to keep an eye on your vitals. If you start feeling bad, let me know. Such rapid changes hurt. You can function like this, but you will need rest after this jaunt and I will make sure you get it."

"Why do you need me?" Helen asked. "Or is that something I do not need to know?"

"Because fighting won't work and blowing up the homing beacons is a short term solution." The Major let go of Helen who felt a sense of loss, but quashed that feeling. "I am looking for a long term solution. I have been for a long, long time. Your knowledge of Corpus tech may very well tip the balance. It is not Orokin tech, but it is far closer than Grineer."

"Who do you work for?" Helen dared to ask. Anna looked at her sidelong and Helen slumped a bit. "Or… I don't need to know, do I?"

"I work for the Queens, Helen." Anna said with a small frown. "I have for a long time. I was given this mission by them far more years ago than you can imagine. Right now? That is all you need to know. If you choose to continue with me after the mission, if we both survive that is,..." She qualified. "...I will tell you more. I do think you have what it takes to do my kind of work, but I have been fooled before. I cannot afford to be fooled now. Come."

She started for the door and Helen followed, easy on her metal feet. It should not have felt right, but it did. The next room was clearly a medical bay of some kind. If out of a Corpus' worst nightmares. What was left of a Corpus crewman lay on a table against one wall. He had been vivisected by skilled hands. Helen hoped he had been dead when it happened, but knowing Grineer? He hadn't been.

Anna ignored the two smock clad forms who stared at her and Helen before going back to their scanners. She strode into another room and paused just inside the door. Helen came to a halt behind her as the robot flew up to hover by the Major's shoulder.

"Oh, not again!" Anna groaned. Helen stared past her commander at a pair of Grineer who lay on the floor. Both were breathing, but neither looked well. Both had golden bumps on their foreheads. Anna spun to the smock clad Grineer who froze as she snarled at them. "What part of 'leave this room alone' do you morons not understand?" She demanded. "Touch my gear at your peril, you fools. You let the sentry loose on this ship and none of you will survive!"

"We didn't!" One of the smock clad Grineer said but something in her voice rang false to Helen who looked at Anna. Anna nodded.

"Go ahead. You know what to do." Anna said quietly. Somehow, Helen did. She spun, drew and threw the mace in one sinuous motion. It hit one of the smock clad Grineer in the head as she was reaching for a weapon. She went down in a heap. The other screeched as the mace ricocheted off a wall and then slammed her hand that had been reaching for a panel half concealed behind herself hard enough that bone audibly cracked. Anna smiled, but it held little humor. "You are a natural with that. Nice. I think."

There was an undercurrent to the Commander's words that Helen did not understand. She did understand that the two female Grineer in front of her were enemies. Her Halikar returned to her hand and she slung it to draw her rifle. She loaded a magazine by pure instinct or some kind of computer assistance built into her processor. Six of one…

"Orders?" Helen asked.

"I need to check my gear and reset the sentry. I hope it hasn't taken too many of the crew this time or the General will be rather upset." Anna paused and then nodded. "And you… You can take a test I wasn't planning to give you for a while." She pulled something from the room. Something that gleamed golden. It shimmered in Helen's sight and then was some kind of backpack. "Left arm."

Helen held out her left arm and the major slid a strap of the thing onto it. It moved on its own and then it was clinging to her back! It didn't seem to weigh anything!

"We need to know if the General ordered this or someone else." Anna said flatly. Helen felt a great weight settle on her as information flooded her mind. She focused and fought it back, nodding to her commander. Something touched her mind, but not a command. Not a control. A suggestion. Someone wanted to help. Help that she accepted. "Do what you have to."

"Yes, Major." Helen never heard her voice shift timbres. An accent that she had never heard came from her lips as she turned to the two broken Grineer. "All right, dearie." Helen said as she stepped towards the conscious Grineer who stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. "Ordinarily, this could go two ways. Easy or hard. I am not going to bother with easy. I know you like hurting people. Any people. I actually don't. I am just good at it. You think the strong take from the weak. Well.. Let's see who is stronger, shall we?"

Grineer were strong. It took a good two minutes for the Reclaimer to start to scream.


Ten minutes after twenty fairly messy minutes later

"Harkonar again. Damn them." Anna said with a wince as she adjusted Helen's meds again. "How is she doing, doc?"

The Ogma class transport was cramped with four crammed into it, but both of the others were up front. The Lancer was piloting and Nina Tal at the weapons console. Neither of them would pay any attention to what was going on in back.

"This is not something that should be done in the field, Major. You know that." The voice that came form Helen prosthetic voice box wasn't her own. It was male for one thing. Old, for another. "She needs to be in a sick bay. At the very least, she should be in a bed for a couple of days while she adjusts to the nanites."

"As if we can take a couple of days with the weapon on its way back." Anna sighed as she finalized the settings. "Anything on the scans? Any idea why they wanted this girl so badly?"

"No." The other replied, concern rising. "She is in good health. Almost perfect health actually, minus what you had to do to her. Her legs and the other parts can be regrown. Do you want me to?"

"Hold off on that for now." The Major commanded. "We need her to at least resemble a Grineer enough to pass common scrutiny. How is she doing otherwise?"

"Better than I did, actually." The other chuckled. "No crying. No gibbering. No mental wandering at all. She is actually reading the field manuals for her gear. She started while I did the rough stuff. It didn't bother her but so much." He mused. "I am not sure why. I will do a preliminary psyche profile. I think this one will make a good spetznatz."

"Don't break her." Anna warned. "She is either a very useful asset or leverage. None of which she will be if you destroy her mind."

"You know me, Major. I have never broken a recruit." The other replied, just a little out of sorts. "She is coming out of the training trance."

"Good." Anna smiled as Helen's face turned to her, the implants changing color form gold to Grineer orange and green as the other current occupant of Helen's mind withdrew a bit. "Studying, were you?"

"Yes, Major." Helen said softly. "Major, I need to explain. The doctor was wondering why I was not put out by what he did to interrogate the Grineer Reclaimers."

"A fairly strong reaction is common in those who see such things for the first time." Anna paused as realization struck. "This wasn't the first time, for you, was it?"

"No." Helen replied, her face turning towards the floor. "My work section was subordinate to a colleague of Alad V." Anna's face went blank and Helen nodded. "We were deemed disloyal and we were all remanded into Security's custody. I lost count of how long I was there. I was told later it was two weeks. That was when my father decided to pull me out, let me work for Perrin. We were not disloyal and I think that is the only reason I survived security's idea of 'gentle questioning.' I know of five others in my section who disappeared at the same time I did. None of them have been seen since."

"I didn't think the Corpus went for torture." Anna said slowly. She eyed a set of lights on the backpack that there was no way that Helen could see. All blinked green. Truth.

"Not the way the Grineer do, no." Helen said quietly. "It is not as messy, but you take a long time to recover from Security's questioning. If you ever do."

"Torture will do that. What did they do to you?" Anna asked. "And no quibbling."

"You know to manipulate minds." Helen said quietly. "Do you know how to stimulate a human's pleasure center?" Anna stared at the woman in Grineer armor, her face blank. "That is what they did."

"How long?" Anna inquired carefully.

"I don't know how long they did it to me." Helen replied and again, the lights blinked for truth. She likely didn't know. "There is much I do not remember from that horrible place. I woke up in a Perrin recovery ward. I had been contemplating children when they took me. When I came to in that hospital, I was less than coherent for some time. When I recovered, I was told that when they pulled me out of the machine and blew up the cell block to cover the rescue, my reproductive organs had been destroyed. So whatever they did was not just to my mind."

"That sounds like something an Orokin would do." Anna said with a growl. A pulsing light from the backpack had Anna pause. A quick flip of a switch and she could see writing scroll across her ocular implant.

[If is is a fake, it is a damn good fake] The doctor shouldn't have been able to project rage in writing, but he managed somehow. [The organs there now are cloned copies. Without her words, I would have missed that entirely. They are good copies, but not her originals.]

"You swore vengeance, didn't you?" Anna said quietly. Helen nodded. "Idiot girl. That will kill you as surely as eating a bullet will."

"I do not care." Helen's rage sang loud and clear even through the drugs she had coursing through her system. She gasped as Anna touched her neck and upped the dose. The camouflaged human slumped and then nodded to Anna. "I… I apologize."

"For what?" Anna demanded. "Being violated?"

"For not being entirely truthful." Helen was calm, but it was imposed. Anna could see her straining at the drugs controls. "I have no future. Your offer, whatever it is, has no meaning for me."

"You are so wrong, girl." Anna said with a sigh as she tapped the backpack, sending Helen to slumber. "You think you are the only recruit we get who has horrors in their past? I have heard lots of stories just bad. Do the full workup, doc. I will let her sleep until we reach the mission site. Then it will likely get loud."

"Some action may help her focus." The mind of the doctor was subdued now. "It seems that humans have not lost their penchant for cruelty."

"That, unfortunately, will likely never change as long as humanity exists." Anna said and then jerked, grabbing a stay to hold herself in place as the ship lurched. She hit the intercom with more force than she intended, but it didn't break. Good. She broke far too many of those. "Report!"

"Incoming large Grineer submersible has fired on us. Torpedoes intercepted and destroyed before impact." Nina Tal reported, calm as always. "Returning fire." The ship shuddered and several loud 'boom's reverberated through the hull.

"Let me guess..." Anna asked sourly. "Our not so friendly industrial allies?"

"Yes, Major." Nina Tal reported.

"Its the Harkonar."