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[Madurai. Vazarin. Zenurik. Unairu. Naramon.]

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[Beginning playback.]

What's a word for a bad coincidence? Obviously "coincidence" is a name for a neutral one, and serendipity is a word for a certain type of good coincidence. Obviously if I wanted to make the distinction in Old Orokin, it would be as simple as changing the rhythm and melody of the word, but as that language has been largely lost to time and the Lotus doesn't read these accounts, that would be useless.

Right. Natah. I have to admit, I did not see that one coming.

But I get ahead of myself. We're still on Lua. Doan and Secret are, I mean. And Ind and Silence. Talking about an unfortunate coincidence.

That particular situation had gotten complicated. More complicated. The situation was winding down, in a way. More Tenno were being allowed to know the truth, which meant more could move themselves to safety and help move others to safety. To say things were controversial is now a well-known understatement.

-That's a good idea.-

Secret and I want to extend our thanks to those who fought closest to our lines in those days. Knowing the truth meant being isolated back then, trapped in what many still feel was a conspiracy. Still is a conspiracy, in some ways.

Thank you for bearing that burden.

Especially given the ones who didn't. Or couldn't.

Well, back to business and, hopefully, more cheerful matters. The war on Lua was slowing with the Tenno withdrawal. Grinder and Corpus are good at killing, make no mistake, but two systemic superpowers in open war is very different from having an angry murderblender roaming the front lines.

-What? She is. You come up with a better description, I dare you.-

-It's not. It's a compliment. Sort of.-

-"Good girls" don't average more than ten thousand kills a day with their bare hands. Clawed hands. Basically bare.-

-Hero, I'll accept. That, I hope, is how she'll be remembered.-

We're going to follow Secret for this one. Yes, that's strange, but we're already at restriction level two, so might as well make use of it. Besides, I've told the story a couple of times and it works best this way.

-They know I don't come right to them. Everything I've disseminated so far has been years old. Good thing, too, with you sharing so much with Doan.-

-It's unprofessional.-

-I'm practically a model of perfection. The entire Origin System could stand to learn from my example.-

Now, we were just getting started, with Secret and Silence patrolling the shrinking border of Tenno territory. They'd had me call Doan and Ind earlier for a meeting and a quick goodbye. The Grineer were moving their forces out of the area, with Doan Tana's squad being one of the first reassigned. Secret and Silence were expecting to be on guard duty for another couple of months at the least, so they were meeting one last time.

My Tenno charges were basically in the open, tossing time by passing a piece of rubble between them and talking. Well, Sending. You know what I mean. Or, if you don't, you're not Tenno and shame on you for listening in on this.

The obvious problem with Sending is that, being a transmission of pure thought and intent, it can be incalculably efficient, or it can be very distracting. Secret and Silence were using it to distract each other into missing their catches.

This meant that they were both busy laughing at each other when they were attacked.

-You were on patrol.-

-Well, obviously that wasn't the case or there wouldn't have been a problem.-

-How is it a "special case"?-

-Sure. They yell. Usually at each other, always at whatever they're attacking. But what about the Corpus?-

-And what if they sent something bigger to scout? Like a Bursa?-

-No, no, it's fine. I regretted it as soon as I'd said it.-

-Brat. I suppose you've got ample excuse for Sentients. Our equipment is so optimized to pick them up, they'd have to be dead not to show up on our scanners. Not that being dead means much to them. And Infested?-

-Just covering the bases.-

-True. The ribbons are pretty obvious. So your excuse for lazing about during patrol is that there was no conceivable enemy who could have surprised you?-

-Ha! So you admit you were slacking!-

-Nope, it's in the record forever.-

Secret and Silence were slacking when they were taken by surprise. In their defense, that shouldn't have been possible. Unfortunately, there is one thing that can sneak up on a Tenno.

It came out of the wall near the pair. Silence was taken completely by surprise as it flashed forward, breaking her shields and stabbing her twice through the back in a second. She went into bleedout before she even knew what had hit her.

Secret tried to activate invisibility, and when it didn't work, he hesitated.

The thing he noticed in that moment and a half is that this thing was not a Limbo. According to Secret, it almost looked like one. It almost moved like one. Except it lacked something that Secret hadn't even realized was intrinsic to Warframes until then: a sense of self, of unity, that the Frame was forged whole with the intent of being what it was. Even the most garishly customized Warframe, even dear Valkyr, has this feeling about them. Not this one.

This one looked wrong; its flesh didn't match up, coming out in lumps in strange places, smooth where it should have edges, curved where it should be straight. Tiny imperfections that added up to a sense of wrongness that didn't hold a candle to the way it moved.

He's seen many Limbos. To a one, they move like men on a stage. Some play tricks, some tell jokes, some demonstrate uncanny wonders, but all of them perform as if everyone else has come to watch. Not this one. It felt instead like a man who has broken into a home to hurt one family member at a time. Invasive, cruel, and twisted.

Secret noticed all that in the moment he hesitated, the moment that lost him the fight.

His wording. Dramatic, I know. He didn't learn it from me.

-I am the essence of professionalism. Maybe not objective professionalism, but professionalism nonetheless.-

The not-Limbo was using only a destreza rapier, though who knew what else it had in Void pockets on its frame. Though by all rights of fairness, it should be a little harder to pull a weapon from that hammerspace than just carrying it, by all accounts the difference is mostly cosmetic.

-Hammerspace. The scientific term for fifth-dimensional enfolded spacetime. Honestly, don't you pay any attention to my history of science lessons?-

-Stop interrupting, I'm getting to the part where you get your metaphorical butt handed to you.-

Not-Limbo - who Secret is now nagging me to just call Violence - stepped forward, and ice shot across the ground. Secret, being understandably confused, didn't move fast enough to keep ice from encasing his feet and one side of his body.

-Do we really need a blow-by-blow? I usually just say, "they fought" and move on to the interesting bits.-

-Fine.-

Secret turned sideways and brought his dakra up defensively as he tried to shake ice off his other half. He fended off the first two blows as the ice sublimated, creating mist that kept Silence from helping as bleedout shut down her systems one by one. By the third strike, Violence clued in, and the next time Secret blocked, the swords passed right through each other and Violence sliced open Secret's wrist.

The ice on Secret broke and he stumbled back, then rolled to dodge and kicked out, trying to make some space for himself. An attempt at creating a decoy failed, but Secret Sent Violence's location to Silence and drew his own pistol. They caught the enemy Tenno in a crossfire that should have put him down, but Violence simply let the bullets pass through him, ignoring Silence and advancing on Secret again.

There is something profoundly unfair about an enemy who can Voidwalk and prevent Warframes using their abilities, I'm sure you'll agree.

Secret, without many options, charged with dakra in hand. On the offensive, he thought, he might at least be able to force the not-Limbo into the Void for long enough for Silence to bleed out and revive. Then they could scare this thing off.

He must have taken Violence by surprise, because Secret managed to get in three swings, bring his Lex to bear, and force Violence back with a few well-placed shots. All of them missed, but that wasn't the point. Violence was a Tenno like any other, and knew exactly the rate a lex, even a Prime, could fire at. He flickered in and out of the Void, dodging each bullet before trying to attack again.

After Violence seemed to have gotten a rhythm, Secret rapidfired three times.

Sometimes Secret can be clever, too. Two of the shots took Violence in the chest, breaking shields and punching through. For all his nimbleness, he was still no more durable than a Limbo.

In a flash, Violence disappeared, darting forward and through Secret, who tried to throw himself sideways.

The destreza glanced off Secret's shields and he managed to catch Violence's wrist under his arm, but Violence caught his throat with his free arm.

It should have been exactly where Secret wanted them both, even if he was slowly being strangled. There was no real way to kill him via suffocation, so they were at an impasse until Silence was back in the fight.

Which was about the precise instant when Secret noticed the sheathed venka on Violence's left hand. He twisted, releasing Violence's right hand in an attempt to escape. Violence unsheathed his claws, cutting Secret's throat. Secret hit the ground, already bleeding out.

Violence picked him up with one hand as Secret's ability to feel slowly dimmed and shut off.

There was a sound, distant and tinny as Secret's hearing faded out.

Except the sound was getting louder. Held there in the air by the throat, Secret tried to turn to see.

It was yelling. One yell, to be precise, getting louder, fast.

"...aaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Ind Cusd slammed into Violence at the speed of a runaway Liset, launching him into the air and through a surprisingly fragile section of Luar rock wall.

Secret's feet hit the ground, and a moment later, his knees buckled, but he didn't hit the ground.

Now, thank goodness, we can switch to Doan's point of view.

-Nothing.-

Doan, you'll recall, had been asked to meet Secret to say goodbye. She'd been on her way with Ind when Belyri's voice sounded in both their helmets.

"Silence is in trouble! Secret, too! Please hurry."

Doan confesses she had a moment of doubt, since her programming told her that danger to a Tenno was a good thing and might rid the Empire of an enemy or two.

Then Ind ran ahead, which decided the matter. Chasing after her, Doan reasoned that, if there was something dangerous to a pair of Tenno, it was best for the Queens if somebody went to learn more.

In fact, she's confided in me that this logic worked very well many times after that. It turns out that it makes good sense to learn as much about the Grineer's enemies as possible by staying close to them, but of course it would be a bad idea to tell the Grineer anything of that nature, since they likely wouldn't understand and would execute her for it. Thus, the best solution is to learn as much as possible, but not let on how much she knows.

It seems to me the programming protocols for Grineer might need another draft or two, but perhaps best not to complain.

Ind stayed just ahead of Doan right up until they heard gunshots from down the tunnel, at which point Ind put on a burst of speed and, as noted earlier, started yelling at the top of her lungs.

And continued yelling.

Normally, I would call this foolish and undignified, but from Doan's account, Violence had been about to… well, end Secret's bleedout prematurely. I suppose most Tenno can guess the details, but hopefully most aren't too keenly aware of how difficult or dangerous it can be, for reasons that are not within the scope of this record.

In any case, the result was that Violence turned to look at the approaching sound rather than doing anything horrible. Ind hit him and Doan was close behind to catch Secret when he fell. Except he was still bleeding from his throat, and his frame was shutting down piece by piece.

It's very much one thing to know Secret can revive himself, it's another thing to easily allow a friend to die in one's arms, so Doan did something… inadvisable. She clamped one hand on Secret's neck to stanch the bleeding, then pulled out her Sheev. In a moment, it was heated, and she pressed it to the wound, melting it closed.

"Bad Tenno scum!" Ind yelled, guns pointed at the hole in the wall.

Doan looked up. "... Tenno?"

That wasn't just worse than she'd expected, it was completely outside what she'd imagined. She'd been expecting some new sort of Sentient, maybe a Corpus machine designed for Lua's tunnels. Fighting a Tenno was far beyond her.

Luckily, she had successfully stopped Secret's bleedout, and a moment later there was a flash of light as Silence Revived herself.

Violence looked through the hole in the wall and Ind opened fire with a war cry of, "TENNOOOOO SCUUUUUUMMMM!" A truly impressive amount of bullets and lasers passed through the wall and Violence, one to more effect than the other.

This was a little beyond Doan's experience. She'd never actually fought a Tenno in earnest. She'd once taken Secret by surprise and run away from her fair share of Tenno, but a fight against one, even with two Tenno on her side, seemed like a death sentence.

Violence charged forward through a…

-Secret, what's a good word for a lot of bullets?-

… a Vay Hekian bellow of bullets, at Ind. Doan raised her arm, fired her grapple, and hit Ind, dragging her friend back and away as Violence struck and Silence reached Doan. Ind fell backwards onto her rear with a quiet, "ow," that was completely drowned out by the fact that she was still shooting at Violence. Do not ask me how she had large enough clips for that.

-What's the difference?-

-No, never mind, sorry I asked.-

Magazines. I'm informed they are called magazines of bullets, not clips. Which Ind was still happily unloading on a Riftwalking Violence.

Silence pulled Secret away from Doan with a nod that was apparently rather reassuring, and the green smoke of Silence's nanite fluid started flowing from her hands.

The plan, which Silence couldn't exactly explain, was for Doan and Ind to keep Violence busy for long enough for Secret to get back on his feet. This would have been a simple thing, only a few seconds, if it weren't for how quickly most Tenno go through Grineer soldiers, even heavy Grineer.

Violence came at her as Ind got to her feet.

Doan Tana is not your average Grineer. In some ways, the reputation of her kin as sludge-bucketed trigger jockeys works in her favour. She is constantly underestimated. For example, if Violence had known her reputation, he certainly would have used one of his abilities to end the fight quickly. Luckily, he did not, and instead leapt straight at Doan, ignoring Ind completely.

Which turned out not to be the best strategy, because he had to reorient partway through his attack. Some Limbos, after all, can move part of their frame into the Rift and attack or move with others. Violence is not one of those. So, given the choice of helplessly flailing at Doan or leaving the rift and taking a truly embarrassing wealth of lead to the everything, he stopped dead and flipped over Doan to put her between himself and the big guns.

This would have worked against any other Grineer, surely. A little duck and dodge, a quick stab, move on with the day.

Doan Tana had a Sonicor.

Half a moment later, Violence was flying backwards through the air on a trajectory he hadn't planned. Doan, on the other hand, had magnetized her boots and simply sidestepped so Ind could have her shots again.

Ind had reloaded. Yes, she needed to do that eventually.

-Seriously?-

I'm informed she did not, in fact, need to reload again for the rest of the fight. I think Silence has been having a laugh over modifying her guns for the past several years and I never noticed.

-But it doesn't make any sense. How many bullets would she even need for that?-

-That's too many bullets! Where does she keep them all?!-

-You can't just give out that kind of technology! What if she lost her gun?-

-I'm going to be having a very long talk with Belyri about this later.-

Doan checked Secret, but it's impossible to tell how close a Warframe is to active capacity when it's just being bathed in nanite fluid. So she made the decision she felt would buy the most time.

She opened fire and charged Violence.

It is at this point that I am grateful I didn't know much about the situation, because images of how things could have turned out if Violence had used its abilities a moment earlier still haunt some of my quarantined subroutines.

The bullets - absurd numbers from Ind, many from Doan, and even some from Silence - kept Violence in the Rift as it came at Doan. Violence wove, keeping Doan between himself and Ind, until Ind yelled, "Doan Doan!"

On the first word, Doan launched her grapple to the side, and by the second she'd pulled herself away.

Violence flashed past an instant later. In the second he was corporeal, Ind hit him with a wave of bullets. He fell back and disappeared back into the Rift, wary once again.

Doan and Ind backed up near Secret and Silence. Violence charged in again.

This time, when he got close, Silence took her hand away from Secret and pushed out towards Violence.

There was a sonic boom and Violence fell backwards.

Secret stood up and drew his latron.

Silence thrust her hand out again, this time Violence dove to the side and Silence's power fizzled out a moment before another wave of bullets crashed into Violence.

Secret stared, then Sent the trick to Silence.

Silence nodded, and Secret gestured almost casually.

In the spot he'd stood, Violence appeared.

It was about then that Violence finally realized he was completely out of his depth. Another blast of power slammed into him, and when he left the Rift to reactivate his power dampener again, Silence raised one hand, the other on the ground, and shot him.

The shot went through his shoulder. He stumbled backwards as Doan and Ind turned on him, and as the ground started to shake with Silence's power, he fell through the tunnel wall.

Silence kept the quake going for a minute, until they were sure the enemy Tenno had gone.

There was another minute of quiet as they all waited, unsure if the enemy would come back.

And then Secret finally let me know exactly what was going on. Despite my worrying throughout the entire fight.

I, being a mature and responsible Cephalon, immediately informed the Lotus.

There was a flurry of activity, reports back and forth, congratulations exchanged between the four friends, Belyri and myself trying to relay as much as we could and sort out stories of other, similar attacks.

This is the most accurate record of one of the first attacks by the acolytes. Of course, officially there was no reason for the acolytes to attack Lua or try to get past the Tenno borders, so the widely-known account has the first Acolyte attacks made against… that man. I've always been surprised more people didn't question that.

It was a bittersweet goodbye between Grineer and Tenno. There was a lot of celebration, given what they'd just made it through, but Secret and Silence were distracted by who their attacker had been.

I can't believe Violence happened to attack the two of them right then. If things had gone any worse, he might have killed all four of my people at once. What does it take for that kind of coincidence to happen? He never should have been there, especially with the Tenno border stretching in three dimensions through the inside of Lua. Yet he found them all just as they were meeting up.

-He nearly killed you.-

-I… suppose that's one way of looking at it.-

-Secret wants to offer another point of view: that all four being there was a stroke of luck. A happy coincidence instead of an unfortunate one. I suppose that is a happier idea.-