Chapter 11
Unexpected Visitors
I was currently sitting under the single cherry tree in the Schnee's garden. It had been a few days since the White Fang attack and my words began to sink through the thick skull of the CEO. Rights and pay had increased and he started to become more open-minded. I had spent more time training with Weiss, but it was commonly interrupted or observed by the suitor. I had developed an extreme distaste for the boy, and I had just told Weiss to get rid of the man before we continued. I was sure it would prove to be a difficult task. I just needed to clear my mind.
Suddenly, an alarm-like beeping started to blare. I held out my hand and projected the hologram of my communications. Volt stood at the other end, looking very serious. He was in his leader mode.
"Frost, I've detected several Void mask echoes south of your location and closing fast," He said seriously.
"A Liset?" I asked. What would a Liset be doing here?
"No, these signals suggest something much bigger," He emphasized 'much'. Then out of the blue, a massive fireball flew across the sky at extreme fast speeds. It appeared to be very close to the surface and at a relatively shallow trajectory. A golden glint showed from behind the flames.
"I believe I have identified the object, further investigation required," I reported.
"Please do, I want a label on that thing ASAP," He ordered and closed the call. I sprinted off and tapped a few buttons on the holographic display. I wanted to get Weiss to assist with the mission. As I sprinted to her location, seven Bullheads flew overhead. Damn their protocols. I found Weiss, completely unaware of the situation, yelling at the suitor.
"Weiss, we have an emergency. I will explain later," I said to her, sprinting off towards the center of the garden. When we reached the location, my Liset was waiting as planned. I waved her aboard and went up to the front.
"Weiss, we just detected Void mask echoes while a massive object was entering the atmosphere. We must investigate," I said urgently.
"Ordis, I need you to get me some possible coordinates of that crash site," I ordered the cephalon.
"Of course operator, I have three possible locations. Reporting there immediately," The A.I. predicted my next order and flew off in the direction of the plummeting object. It turned out that the first two were not the location.
When we got near the crash site, my suspicions were confirmed. Among the flaming rubble was a ruin of an ancient Orokin spacecraft. The Schnee guard were already landed and had secured a perimeter. The entire area around the craft was a complete inferno now, and there was no way to possibly land in or outside.
"Dammit," I cursed under my breath "landing zone is too hot, in more ways than one,"
"What do we do?" Weiss asked.
"Operator, may I make a suggestion?" The cephalon asked.
"Please, do,"
"Shall I deploy Archwing?" I grinned at the suggestion.
"Yes, you may," I confirmed, prompting the craft to open as if it was going to dock. I leapt from the back before Weiss could say anything. I plummeted down towards the planet at massive speed until the familiar thud sounded. I then activated the wings and used the thrusters to slow down. I realized that the thrust wouldn't be enough with the amount of vertical velocity I had. I started thrusting forwards in order to break into a glide. The ground was approaching fast, so I made a courageous move and flared right above the ground and causing me to groan from the pure G force. I narrowly managed a landing close to the crashed vessel. As Archwing flew away, I made a call to Volt.
"Are you at the crash site?" He asked.
"Yes, it appears to be an Orokin vessel. Doesn't look to be a derelict, but could be infested. It remained relatively intact and Schnee guards are investigating. I will report in again when I have either contacted something or complete the search," I reported. Volt looked interested and scared at the same time. He nodded and ended the call. I sprinted up to the men who were about to breach one of the massive walls of the craft.
"That won't work," I said before they activated the charges.
"How do you know?" One man asked.
"I'm intelligent enough to understand that a futuristic craft from space that survived a violent reentry will easily shrug off a breaching charge," I reasoned. They blew it anyway, but it didn't even scratch the alloy plating. The men gaped at the ship's resilience.
"My point exactly. How about we search for the open hangar bay that is literally right next to you," I noted, looking up at the massive smoldering hole in the side. I started climbing up the wall to my destination.
"A few things, don't touch anything. We don't know what kind of alien bacteria this ship could have brought. The last thing I need is you contracting a deadly virus from another planet. Also, if you contact a robot or living organism, wait for it to attack before attacking back. I would love to study any living creatures alive, and so would scientists. Keep it alive if possible," I laid down the ground rules. They knew I was a Grandmaster, so they accepted, albeit with a bit of reluctance.
I finally reached the massive spanning hangar bay. The room was huge and I could gawk at it for hours, but I had a mission. I decided that the vaults would be the best location to look. I scoured the massive halls of the ship for anything out of the ordinary. I found no signs of infestation or anything of the sort. There weren't even any corrupted.
Near the front of the ship was a rather odd looking door. It almost looked like a vault door, but it was in the shape of a lotus and had a slot for a hand rather than a key. I placed my hand in the slot and the blue lines around the door lit up. The door began rising up with a bit of stuttering due to the crash.
Inside was amazing. It was a massive chamber that looked much like the chamber that many Tenno awoke in, myself among them, but it had two cryopods on either side of the room. One had been dislodged and fell into the floor, but there were clearly two pods. I went to get a closer look at the suspended one, and it did indeed have a Tenno inside. The only problem was the fact that the Warframe was completely different from anything I had ever seen.
It was pure white and looked almost ghostly. The helmet was a plain curved faceplate that had no details with only small grey lines going down the sides of the face. The rest of the helmet was a light grey. The chest looked like it was made of torn cloth sewn together. The arms and legs were the same up to the wrists and ankles respectively. Wispy crescents on the shoulders curled inward towards the neck. The Tenno also had two tomahawks on his waist of similar coloration and had sugatras that looked like small versions of the Asa syndana.
I needed a way to set them free, but I had no idea how. Then a loud banging sounded behind me. While observing the Tenno, a piece of the structure fell down the pit formed by the formerly hanging decoration on the other side of the room. It sounded like whatever was smashing, it was probably glass-like. I rushed across the room to see another Tenno from the other pod smashing on the glass. The collapse probably damaged the electrical systems and caused the cryogenics to disable.
This Tenno appeared to be much taller and more rigid. Their Warframe was mostly flat plates (Think Halo Venator armor). The coloration was mostly black with green details. The Tenno wore armor attachments that looked like the Dendra, but had tiny zeroes and ones crossing like code. It was quite a contrast from traditional designs, which look more organic. This was more mechanical.
The Tenno shouted something at me, breaking my daze. I took out Galatine and smashed it into the glass with the flat edge, shattering the glass.
"Wow, thanks man," The Tenno said, getting out of the pod. The voice was distinctly male. I noticed that he was wearing one of the rare Misa syndanas.
"Are you even slightly aware of the situation?" I asked the Tenno.
"Well, there's a huge fucking hole in the roof and we're not suffocating, so I'd say that we crashed on Earth," The Tenno guessed, getting both very close and yet so far away.
"Before I tell you, might I ask you your name?" I asked.
"Yeah, sure. I'm Net. My real name's Nathaniel, but it's a bit of a mouthful. So I just go by an abbreviation of my Warframe, Network," He shook my hand.
"My name is Frost, and I'm afraid you are very far from Earth," I introduced myself.
"Um, explain?" He asked, confused.
"I do not know what occurred, your void distortion system may have malfunctioned, but you are currently outside of the Origin System. Outside of the origin universe, for that matter," I explained.
"Wait, so if you're here, how do you know we were Tenno?" He asked, eyeing me strangely.
"Well, do you know what the Grineer are?" I asked. He shook his head, as I expected. If he had a Misa and just woke up now, that means he's one of the temple guardians from the Orokin era.
"Well, this collection of cloned humans far after the Orokin age have a leader named Councilor Vey Hek. He got his hands on some kind of Void-bending technology that let him swap creatures from opposing universes. He was luring in Tenno and switching them out for creatures from this world named Grimm. Twelve of us got captured before the process stopped, and I was one of them," I explained. The guy shrugged and went into his pod, pulling out a Boltor Prime and a Skana Prime.
"I'll just get Prime to fill you in later on what's happened since then. She is the best with history," I said.
"Wait, what Warframe does she have?" Net asked, nearly demanded.
"Loki Prime," I stated, slightly confused about his question. Even with the helmet on, I could see his face light up with joy.
"Oh my god! She's like, the best Orokin commanders ever!" The guy squealed like a teenaged girl. I chuckled at his action. I heard a stifled laugh from above and looked up to see the other Tenno that was still in the pod earlier hanging from a ledge. He also had the Misa syndana.
"Oh, hey Geist. Did you stay awake all that time like you said?" The Tenno now identified as Geist dropped down from the roof.
"No, I went to sleep shortly after you did," Geist spoke in a deeper voice, but neither seemed older than twenty five.
"Yeah, I was just talking to Frost over here about the whole ship being super fucked problem," Net spoke to Geist like they were long-time friends.
"I was surprised you didn't recognize me. I was a large participant in the Old War," I noted.
"I do, Master Snowflake," Geist said, likely smiling under his helmet. I frowned. That nickname was the only thing I remembered from before the sleep. I heard a snicker and the name mentioned from the doorway. I recognized the voices as the Schnee guards. I froze. How much did they hear?
Net pulled out his Boltor and Geist pointed a Vectis at the doorway. I gestured for them to stay back and walked up to the source of the noise. Behind the door was the captain and his men next to the open door, looking at me guiltily.
"Why are you here and how long have you been here?" I demanded, worried that they heard the word 'Tenno'.
"We just heard you get called Master Snowflake," The captain said, his men trying not to laugh at it.
"Oh, also there are a lot of weird looking ships outside. They might think we destroyed this thing," One guard added. I waved Geist and Net up and gave them the all clear.
"Wow, been a while since I saw a human," Net emphasized 'while'. I found their comm channel and connected to both of them.
"Try not to say anything that'll reveal anything. The last thing we need is these people trying to get their hands on some Orokin technology," I said so the guards couldn't hear. They both gave tiny nods. The men looked at Net weirdly.
"These are my friends, Geist and Net. They spend a lot of time around the faunas community, even though they aren't faunas themselves," I said, confusing the Tenno. The guards shrugged.
"I want to see these ships," I ordered, causing the captain to nod and guide us with the guards to the last location of these ships. Geist and Net caught up behind me and I took a chance to look at the magnificent architecture. I decided that I would need to tell Volt about my situation. I activated the holographic screen and contacted him.
"Already done?" He asked.
"I actually stumbled upon the greatest prize we could get from this ship."
"Oh really? What did you find?"
"Two Tenno. More specifically, two real temple guardians. The Tenno's greatest weapon is their own self."
"What?! That's awesome! Now I'm glad I dropped by!" Volt shouted, ecstatic.
"Wait, you're here? That must have been what the men were talking about," I whispered.
"Yeah, I brought some other stuff as well."
"Stay out of sight until the men leave," I instructed.
"Gotcha," He said, disconnecting.
"Who was that?" Net asked.
"That was my friend, Volt," I told them.
"And, here's where we saw them," The captain announced, pointing up though a smoldering hole in the roof.
"Nothing there. How about I continue the investigation and you report back to the Schnees," I suggested, trying to shake the men.
"Seems like a good idea. Come on men, we're leaving," The captain gathered the men and took them out.
"So, what's going to happen now?" Geist asked.
"Now, I give a signal," I pulled out of the hole and waited for the bullheads take off. When they did, I picked up a pile of still hot ash and threw it into the air. I then launched a ball of snow at it, scattering it through the air in a thick distinct cloud. Then a Liset popped up from the treeline and flew over, dropping Volt off.
"Hey Frost, I just told Ordis to install some Void distorters on ship. We're going to teleport this to the huge room underneath Beacon for better preservation and investigation," Volt said, the ship flying around the impressive vessel and installing small devices all over it.
"This your friend?" Net asked, walking up next to me.
"Yes, he is indeed. Geist, Net, meet Volt," I introduced the two temple guards to him.
"Nice to meet you," Geist shook his hand.
"So, can we crash with you guys? Our house is a little wrecked," Net joked. Everyone but me laughed.
"Sure, once Ordis finishes up we can head back," Volt said.
"Ordis? That crazy computer still isn't corrupted?" Net asked, surprised.
"Yep, still working. He's just a bit off."
"Wow, he's at least three thousand years old," Geist remarked.
Volt's Liset just finished attaching the last device as Geist finished. The coil shaped devices started lighting up blue before a bright light flashed and we were in the massive training room. The three pillars and parkour course were gone to make space. The remains of ship slumped down onto the flat floor and several small construction drones started addressing the damages.
"Today was truly an eye opening experience," I thought.
So, if you're wondering, this is the end of Frost's arc and it'll be going back to Volt next chapter. Also, both Network and Poltergeist are of my creation. I thought about making them their own story, but thought 'Eh, why not'. I still might make them a story in the future as a way to display my own take on Orokin society, but that'll be after I finish one of my stories, because three stories is too much for me. On a side note, thanks for all of the positive support! All of the reviews and feedback have been great, and I would just like to go out and say that you guys are awesome too. If you keep reading, I'll keep writing. Alright, enough of that, I'll let you guys go. Necrorizah, out.