Arrows

"Not a Tenno..."

Horatius sighed and shook his head.

"You almost had me there. I mean, I can see a grieving woman trying to bring someone she loved back." The Special Forces Commander shook his head. "Making kids? A but unethical, but it has been done. But Tenno wear warframes." His voice turned cold. "No one else."

"Not always. Alad V made a warframe that he filled with Infested flesh. He wanted a puppet that followed his commands. So he made one." Karen replied, not fazed at all by the sudden change of mood. "I do not blame you for doubting. This does stretch the limits of credibility to the breaking point. I can prove what I say though." She shook her head and turned her head to the Glaive. "No! I won't act unethically, Hadi. Besides, all it would likely do is piss him off." She warned. "The Commander has to have countermeasures against any conceivable controls and then there is his dad. Don't even think about angering Nikis! Kid or no, he can destroy you and he will if you push him too hard."

"He wants you to..." Horatius broke off as Karen shook her head savagely.

"Hadi is thinking with his heart, not his brain." The Marine reassured the commander. "He is a kid, commander. He doesn't understand the long term consequences of some actions. How can he? He took control of me with my consent." She glared at her wrist. "You will find it far harder if you try that without my consent." She warned the unseen boy. "No, No..." She said quickly and Horatius had to smile at her sudden discomfiture.. "I am not angry, Hadi. And turn off the tears. I know kids. I know how kids try to manipulate adults. Don't try to manipulate me. I have been manipulated by masters and taught how to keep it from happening again. Besides, such really makes people angry." She paused and nodded. "Apology accepted. Go back to sleep." That was sour and Horatius had to chuckle at her expression as she turned back to face him. She shrugged and then slumped a bit, her face falling. "This is going to be so much fun."

"You did volunteer, did you not?" Horatius asked slyly and Karen groaned. "Then it is on you."

"Don't remind me." Karen shook her head. "I am regretting it more and more as time goes by. We will strike a balance, Hadi and me. Eventually. For right now, though? His sister is the problem, not him. He is a good kid and he trying to make his dad proud of him. He is trying to follow the Tenno Code. He doesn't understand half of it, but he is trying."

"And...his sister?" Horatius asked slowly.

"Ah yes, Taliana. Everyone called her 'Tali'." Karen pursed her lips. "You are right in that only Tenno wear warframes, but the First Tenno wore armor that became part of themselves as they were infected and chose to continue on with their path as Tenno. The very first warframe was an experimental suit of armor that bonded to the First Tenno. It did not define who he was, it enhanced what he was."

"And this Tali..." Horatius pressed carefully.

"She is spetsnatz." Karen's words were calm and quiet, but Horatius jerked anyway. "I do not know where she found it in the first place or who made it. If those records exist, they are classified far beyond my reach. I do know she wanted to help her brother and did." She nodded to her wrist. "But then, he was trapped in a machine and she fought to find a way to get him out of it. Her mother was alive at that point, but a wreck, both physically and mentally. Talia ordered the Glaive made for some reason that she refused to divulge and no one dared argue. Talia's first borne son had taken the Crown and the responsibilities. Technically, Tali and Hadi were illegitimate, but that did not diminish their love for Talia or her love for them. When Hadi took terminally ill, Tali took steps, encasing his energy in this." She tapped the Glaive. "Once Talia died, both Hadi and Tali knew that if she showed herself as she was..." The Marine trailed off as Horatius exclaimed in comprehension.

"She could trigger a secession war." Horatius said softly. Karen nodded. "And Orokin was new. Still fragile." Karen nodded again. "So, Tali found a different path?"

"Hadi says that she was trying to find out what happened to Hayden. But no one knew." Karen shook her head. "No one knew why one of the Orokin Marine task force that had been sent to aid the Tenno in dealing with a fairly nasty mess shot and killed the First Tenno. No one. It might have been a random act of violence. Orokin was new and so were the marines. Various military forces had resisted assimilation, some fairly strongly. But that guy had been a Marine in another service. A different service. One called the Royal Marines. No one knew why such an honorable and decorated Royal Marine sergeant would level his rifle at Hayden and shoot him in the back of the head while Hayden was stealthily approaching an objective. It didn't make any sense. No one to this day can give a good reason."

"The First Tenno himself said there may not have been one." Horatius said with a frown. "So, she did did not find an answer. What then?"

"She was bound and determined that such would never happen again." Karen said with a growl and Horatius nodded. "She decided then and there that she would make sure that such never happened again. She joined the Marines, rose to middle rank and was instrumental in founding the 'spetsnatz'. She was one of the first true Orokin Marine spetsnatz and she was damn good by all accounts even for us." Horatius stared at her and she shrugged. "There had been other special forces types, but the Marines were mostly geared for set pieces battles, not Black Ops."

"Very different worlds." Horatius agreed, his mind whirling. "And the armor?"

"She found in a lab, took it to the Tenno who..." Karen broke off with a wince. "The Tenno were ambivalent about her. The eldest of the Tenno, Trinity, Nyx, Mag and the others, they made her welcome. The newer Tenno saw her as a continuation of Oris' and Galinta's madness. Nikis hated her guts on sight. " Horatius stared at the Marine who nodded. "None of the corporeal Tenno wanted anything to do with her or would cross Nikis. I bet that stung, but she was never anything other than professional to them." The Marine enlisted shook her head. "The armor bothered many to the Tenno of the time, but none argued when Mag's shade gave it to Tali who put it on and used it." Horatius stiffened and Karen nodded. "You can see how that might go over with the others."

"Not well." Horatius growled and Karen nodded.

"A masterful understatement." Karen agreed. "She was not Tenno, but she was not human either. She was something in between. They-..." She paused as Horatius coughed.

"You can say 'we'." Horatius said quietly. "I cannot sense energy as a Tenno can, but my implant sensors are very sensitive. I can sense that you are different from me." He shook his head as Karen stilled. "I didn't think Tenno could be Marines. Don't you have to be human?" He wasn't sure if he should ask that question, but he was very curious.

"Tenno are energy that inhabit meat bodies." Karen said softly. "I was a meat body at first. A human, in fact. I became Tenno in an odd way and it took some time for me to fully acclimatize and take my Trial. I am Tenno now, but this body is human. I had significant problems and everyone thought that the training would help. None of us thought I would pass Recruit Training. Least of all me." She admitted. Horatius smiled at her, an oddly compassionate smile. "Commander?"

"You know? I felt the same way when I was selected for special training." Horatius admitted. "I was just a Prodman at the time. My life expectancy wasn't all that great, but I was good at what I did and my tactical skill kept me and my team alive far longer than normal for such teams. So the higher ups decided to upgrade their tool. I don't think the Reverend Mother was involved, but I don't know. It is the kind of thing she might have done. I did need the boost to my self esteem after a lot of things went wrong. It was probably pure luck that I would up in the Special Forces unit commanded by Gen H-12 but I don't know. She saw something in me that I have yet to see in any of my own people. A possible successor."

"Gen H-12." Karen said very quietly. "The one who helped Lis."

"Yeah." Horatius looked at the floor. "She was not a nice woman. But she tried to do good. She was used for evil one too many times and snapped. If I had been there whens he took revenge? I would have covered her back gladly, died protecting her while she erased the scum who had broken her. Used her and her soldiers to kill civilians for no reason other than greed. Then she vanished and we assumed she had been executed. We were all surprised to discover when the Reverend Mother managed to spirit her away, hide her until just recently during the mess with Lis and Sara. When she finally died, the Forces lost an icon. We heard about the impending assault, of course and contacted her clandestinely. We wanted to help her, but she refused. She said that she was lost, that we were needed. I so wanted to do it anyway, go to stand beside her myself, even knowing the cost. To die with her." He slumped. "The mission came first. She begged us to help Lis and Sara. We did." He shook his head. "Profit help me, we did."

The Commander generally had little use for the Corpus mantra, but in this case? That was about a religious as he could get.

"In our world, there is no black and white." Karen said softly. "Only shades of gray. Good and evil are for priests and philosophers, not soldiers or marines." Horatius nodded. "What Gen H-12 did for Sara, Lis and so many children was a good thing. Whatever she did before, we will remember her for that." She gave herself a shake. "Anyway, about Tali. She is human. A fully trained, augmented and very dangerous Special Forces operative in armor that mimics an Ivara warframe. She was given a thoroughly fucked up mission." Horatius stared at Karen who nodded. "She did it and survived."

"Is that good or bad?" Horatius inquired carefully.

"Both." Karen made a face. "Humans were not the only ones who wished to separate from Orokin." Horatius stared at her, uncomprehending and Karen sighed. "Do I need to spell it out, Commander?"

"I think you do." Horatius said softly. "Separatists caused all kinds of havoc under Orokin. That is why the Marines were kept! Why the naval forces and army were kept. The Dax couldn't handle it all, no matter how good they were, they couldn't be everywhere. They couldn't fight all of the violence alone if their masters had even let them."

"These separatists were not violent." Karen said quietly. Horatius stared at her and Karen shook her head. "That said, they were also not stupid. They knew that there was entire universe out there, most of it at least ambivalent about human life and much of it hostile. They built an incredible weapon system into the ship that they constructed to take them out of the Origin system. I do not know the details, that was way above my clearance, but Hadi says that the bolts that are fired by the weapon are physical. The are accelerated and shifted into some alternate quantum dimension before coming back on top of their target."

"On… top..." Horatius said slowly.

"The one time the weapon was tested, the bolts tore a derelict Orokin navy ship that they had purchased to pieces even after its shields were at full." Karen said quietly. "The weapon bypassed the shields, bypassed the armor. The bolts hit the targets designated and nothing more."

"Damn." Horatius felt faint. Then again, he knew how strong Orokin shields had been. He had tried to get though a couple in his career. Tried. "That… Oh no. The military did not take that well did they?"

"Define 'take that well'." Karen asked with low moan. "Even the non-separatist Tenno were worried about that weapon. It was and is the ultimate sniper. That is why a team of spetsnatz, led by Tali, were sent to aid the Separatists in escaping the system. Their cover was mercenaries hired to protect the non-combatants. Their orders were classified, but I can guess. The royalty of the time did not want to anger the Tenno, so they probably waited until the ship was out of normal communication range before disabling the weapon."

"And killing anyone who tried to stop them." Horatius' word were flat and Karen nodded.

"Something went wrong." Karen said heavily. "We do not know what. There was no further communication from the ship. The spetsnatz did not return for a very long time. Six hundred years." Horatius goggled at her and Karen nodded. "The humans had all perished by then, but the spetznatz had always been sneaky and well equipped to make more of themselves. The only good thing was that they were also highly loyal. It was literally bred into them. Several families produced soldiers who took the training, who tried to for the role. Few succeeded. Many died trying. Two spetznatz returned from that mission. One died shortly thereafter. The other perished in the Collapse."

"No, she didn't!" Hadi's hologram appeared. "That was Anna's voice!"

"Hadi! Go to sleep!" Karen snapped. The holographic boy looked abashed and vanished. Horatius looked other and Karen nodded. "They brought this back with them." She nodded to her wrist. "Him. This had been made for Talia before she died, but Tali took it up and carried it with her brother's soul safely ensconced within. She carried it until that mission. Apparently, the spetsnatz were not the only ones secreted on the ship to try and do something with the weapon. When Tali's team acted, a three way war erupted. The Tenno were asleep in cryo pods. Seven spetsnatz versus a couple hundred hired guns."

"No contest." Horatius said with a smile that Karen shared.

"No contest." Karen agreed. "But the ship was badly damaged in the fighting and the enemy, whoever had sent them, laid a virus in the AI core before being wiped out. Said virus was supposed to activate the weapon and target specific enemies. Most of those enemies are gone now. Not all."

"Nikis is still around." Horatius stilled as Karen nodded. "You have got to be kidding!"

"He is on the list." Karen said quietly. "So the holder of the Crown."

"Targeting the Royal Family?" Horatius said weakly. Karen nodded again. "Who else?"

"A couple of other old Tenno who may or may not still be around." Karen said quietly. "The Grineer Queens."

"What?" Horatius all but swooned. "How the hell…?"

"They were not the Queens then." Karen said with a wince. "They were different. I am betting an Orokin sent that team with the kill orders. Whoever it was, they are almost certainly dead by now." She paused and nodded. "Hadi thinks it was intended as a threat only. A gamble to gain power. That is the kind of thing that Orokin did. Power plays, covert actions, stealthy assassination. That was what they did. Their 'Great Game'. The list is long, but most of the people on it are dead, verified dead."

"The weapon has not fired. So it is either out of range, does not have clear targets or something else that we do not know." Horatius said softly. "Any Corpus on that list?"

"No." Karen replied. "All of your people are too young. If it gets here and detects people in power that it does not know who have been and are still broadcasting all sorts of anti-Tenno hate, your guess is as good as mine if it will target them or not. I bet it will."

"People in power." Horatius was reeling now. "'It'?"

"From what Hadi says, the AI is apparently trying to accomplish its primary mission. To defend those it was programmed to defend. Tenno. The virus told the AI that the people on the list were attacking the ones it is programmed to defend." Karen shrugged. "It only had one way to deal with such."

"And the spetsnatz stopped it." Horatius said softly.

"Mostly." Karen qualified. "They had no way to destroy the ship itself. You know how robust Orokin tech was. Even reactor breaches do not destroy the ship and it would self repair in time. Not to mention all the Tenno non-combatants aboard. The ship had no faster than light capability. It was intended to take thousands of years to journey to its destination. They had no way to destroy the ship or the AI. So they improvised."

"Sounds familiar." Horatius smiled a bit sadly and Karen matched it. "What did Tali do?"

"She merged with the AI." Karen bit her lip. "From what Hadi has said, he felt part of it., A great deal of pain and fear. Tali tried to get the AI to understand what was happening, but it did not. Instead? It took her over. Her last commend was for her remaining people to flee with Hadi. They jumped in a lifeboat with a few human survivors and did just that. The return voyage took several hundred years. Most of that, they spent in cryo. All but two of them died in transit. The ship traveled on, but now? It is coming back."

"Why?" Horatius demanded. "That makes no sense."

"Actually it does." Karen said very sadly. "If you know that the fail-safe for the AI was to return its people here to the Origin system in case of catastrophe. Hadi told people that when the spetsnatz reported. The Tenno were very upset."

"I am not sure I blame them." Horatius said slowly. "I have had mission go bad on me, but that?"

"It get worse- Oh shit!" Karne was on her feet as a form appeared in the middle of the room. The Loki warfame held a sniper rifle in hand and from his posture, he was furious. Hadi was in Karen's hand, up to ward as the Loki took aim at her with his long rifle.

"What the-!" Horatius started to rise but was slammed back to his chair as another Tenno shimmered into view. This one wore an Ash warframe and the Sheev he held to Horatius' throat glistened with toxin. This other hand held Horatius to the chair as another Tenno appeared in the room. This one, Horatius knew and liked. "Olim!"

"Don't move, Commander. You are in grave danger." The Grandmaster of the Cyberlancers said firmly as he focused on Karen who did nothing as golden code swept towards her, but was rebuffed! "Karen. Stand down. We can separate you from it."

"I cannot allow that." Karen's tone as flat as she faced three Tenno in warframes. "I cannot allow you to do what you wish. You know this. Hadi is blameless. You will hurt him and I will not allow it. I know my duty. Do you?"

"Karen, you are not in control." The Loki's voice was strained. Anger and something else. "Let us help you."

"Like you Tenno scum helped Anna?" That was Hadi's voice, but it did not come from Karen! It came from the table as Hadi's hologram appeared there. The boy was enraged. "Leave her alone, you nekulturny!"

"Hadi, let me handle this." Karen was still quiet, calm and ready. The hologram nodded to her and vanished. When she spoke, it was formal. "You know not what you do, Tenno. I will not allow you to harm Hadi or me. You did it to Anna. You will not do what you wish to Hadi or his sister." She shook her head. "I give you my word, we will kill none of you. Vsedga veren."

"Karen… don't." Olim warned. All three Tenno were focused on Karen who slowly crouched to a ready stance, her hand posed with the Glaive. "Listen to yourself! The weapon is controlling you!"

"Is it? Commander?" Karen said in conversational tone. "Down."

Horatius did as instructed, hitting the floor before his brain caught up with her command. That was the only warning before a door that Horatius had not seen opened on the side of the room and a swarm of silent bullets tore from the four beings who stood beyond it. Two Grineer. Two humans. One drone. All furious.

Helen stood with her spetsnatz comrades as their ambush hit the surprised Tenno and Karen rolled out of the way.