Not quite right

Mother was right. Hani hadn't had any idea how much of a handful the girl was. But, Hani had to admit Jesse was trying.

"You are not a Sentient."

Any other time, the girl's words might have been antagonizing. Bitter. Or at least questioning. Now? She was just sitting, as if dejected and Hani's heart went out to her. The girl wore a nondescript blue bodysuit that covered her all the way up to her face. The hood was down, so she could drink from the cup of restorative tea she had been handed by one of her mother's amphibian attendants, but she hadn't. She had changed out of her golden spacesuit to everyone's relief. The last thing anyone wanted for Jesse to jaunt around across the system any more than she had.

The girl was not present in the flesh. She was currently ensconced in the Oracle's hideaway. Hani had no idea where that was. Mother had reassured her that the Oracles were just as astonished and worried by this odd sequence of events as she and Mother were. Jesse was calm, far calmer than Hani would be in such a situation, but she was stressed. She had insisted on seeing her mother, even with the Oracle asleep and not planning to wake for a time. Mother had allowed it with the stipulation that Jesse not wake Janet.

"I am not?" Mother was calm, despite being surrounded by many people who were not her kind. Adiinah was asleep, finally. SHe needed to hibernate to heal the dreadful wounds she had taken. They had time to figure things out now that Hani and Adiinah were out of danger. The old Sentient put just the right touch of amusement mixed with wariness in her tone and Jesse smiled a bit forlornly.

"I…" Jesse shook her head, her short hair whipping sweat from her scalp. "I mean no offense, but I am trying to understand what just happened. None of this makes any sense." She pleaded.

"I know." Mother said sadly. "This is new and strange. Hani is hurt and new. Adiinah is asleep. Your mom is asleep and your adopted mother is…" She broke off as Jesse gave a soft sob.

"Gone." Jesse said softly. "Whether she escaped the attack or not, she likely cannot come back or she would have."

"Where is Draco?" Horatius asked for where he stood just behind her. She shook her head. He had taken up the role of her guard without asking. "He would not have left you alone."

He had met Jesse's guard and both had respected one another on sight. Good thing. It might have gotten loud and messy otherwise.

"If he had a choice." Jesse said quietly. "Mom was always a planner." She scoffed. "Both of them." She looked over to where the huge aquatic being who now housed her birth mother's mind slumbered. "Is… How is she?" She asked the Sentient who made soft noise of concern.

"She is alive. She is hurting, but she isn't nearly as drained now as she was. Her vital signs are strong." Mother reassured the young Cyberlancer. "But that is not what is bothering you, is it?"

"No." Jesse sighed. "You act nothing like the Sentients I have studied and no Sentient could have survived in the Void for as long as I was told you did." Horatius shook his head slowly, but Mother was not bothered.

"No, I am not acting like others of my kind. Not even Tanah." Mother agreed. "There was a time when I was just as unemotional, just as heartless as any of my people. Even reproduction was mechanical, almost rote for me. Tending young made me a bit different from the rest of my kind, but in the end? I was no better than Hunhow when I arrived in this system. I didn't like what we had decided to do, but like the others, I saw no better alternatives. I worked hard to stay on track, to follow the Sequences no matter how they bothered me occasionally." Jesse stared at the huge green alien, her cup forgotten. "Drink your tea." Mother prodded the girl, who made face but then sipped.

"Hunhow would not have saved my mother." Jesse said weakly. "Hunhow would be killing or enthralling her and me."

"Yes, he would. Probably killed. We knew fairly quickly that enthralling psychics didn't work. Cyberlancers we learned about later, and yes, the hard way." Mother agreed, old pain and sorrow in her tone. "Hunhow is insane, Jesse. He was before we came here after what the Orokin did and now? He is worse. I do not know if I am sane, frankly. What I am doing here is not very smart, but I can do no less."

"Why?" Jesse asked and Mother made a noise that was almost an electronic cough. Jesse snarled, but her heart wasn't in it. She sipped her tea again. "You really are a mother, aren't you?"

"Not the way you think of such, Jesse." Mother allowed. "I am a nurturer. I was created to procreate my kind, to educate my kind for the first little bit of their lives and then help them when they have problems. From what I understand, that is what human and Tenno mothers do but I am not the same. 'Mother' was just what they called me. What they have called me for so long. I have a name, but no one uses it."

"I can see that." Jesse sipped around her words and Mother made noise that was almost a mechanical cluck.

"Don't drink and talk, girl. The last thing we need is you choking." Mother chided the Cyberlancer. "Geez, you are just like Natah was at your age. Always in hurry."

"Why are you doing this?" Jesse asked a bit forlornly. "I mean, yes, you said that Nikis asked you to help Janet and Caroline. But... There are easier ways."

"Easier, maybe." Mother allowed as Jesse sipped again. "But I decided this path and now, I follow it. I am not human, Jesse. I can never be human. I am acting this way so as not to stress Janet any further than she was. When your mother first appeared in our midst, I had no idea how to react to a crying, disconsolate human suddenly sobbing on our deck. Many of mine thought it was an attack, but if there is one thing my kind know and share with humanity and Tenno, it is sorrow. I asked Tanah's advice, among others and I am acting the way he suggested. It seems to be working."

"I…" Jesse swallowed hard and then nodded. "I know. I have talked with Tanah many times. He is also not like any other Sentient, is he?"

"No." Mother was so very sad now. "He too chose his path and he follows it. It is a solitary path, but he has managed to stay at least reasonably sane." She scoffed. "Most of the time."

"You use humor to put me at ease." Jesse said very quietly and Mother made noise of agreement. "You use those small noises to put me at ease. You… You studied my kind?"

"It was war, Jesse." Mother was calm, quiet, but a hint of wary as well now. "What do you think I did?"

"When you arrived? Hunhow destroyed. Tanah enthralled. Natah spied. Erra led." Jesse said very slowly. "You…" She broke off and swallowed even harder. "You know us. Knew us. On a very deep level. You know how our brains work, probably even mine." Hani could hear fear in her voice, but it faded as she controlled herself.

"I will not harm you, Jesse." That was a vow. "Yes. During the war, they brought me prisoners who had information we needed. I took it from them." Mother said quietly. "They mostly did not survive what I did. I make no apologies for what I was, because as I say, it was war."

"A war of extinction, no less." Jesse said softly. "The Orokin had to go or your kind had to. And mine… We Tenno were caught in the middle."

"Yes." Mother was so gentle now. "If there is anyone who can understand what we are, you Tenno likely can. You were made just like we were. The First Tenno were made by the Technocyte Virus. The later ones, by the Orokin to fight the creations they could not control. Us."

"They never learned, did they?" Jesse asked, sipping her tea again. "They just kept trying to do the exact same things the exact same way."

"I hope not." Mother's tone had both Jesse and Horatius staring at her. "My people captured a few High Orokin during the war and they brought them to me. I did what I did and what I found sickened me. There were no other species I have ever encountered like them. Not all of them were what you or I might call evil, but there were many for whom their own entertainments, their own games were everything. Their own survival was not as important as their feelings. Even the ones who I was processing for information thought they could manipulate or just bull their way through anything, even my probes. Only at the very end did those realize just how wrong they were and even then, they denied the truth. They may have been immortal, but they were greed blinded fools." Mother paused and then continued. "Not all of them were."

"Ballas." Jesse did not bother to hide the hate in her tone.

"Ballas joined Hunhow fully after I was cast into the Void with Adiinah." Mother was reflective now. "Kanaah helped me with my work and that is why we were sent after Natah when she switched sides."

"When she was forced to." Jesse retorted.

"She chose her path, just like Tanah did and I am." Mother disagreed. "Natah's way was and is a hard path. And now? Erra is here and he sees no other way except to continue the War. Being a soldier is what he is, all he knows, but I do grieve. For your people and mine. I cannot be what I was. That specific being died when she tried to explain what she found with Natah. That our daughter truly loved her new children. Hunhow did not accept it, could not accept it. Just before he slammed the door on us, he said I had been corrupted by contact with humans and Tenno. Maybe I was? I don't know. I think he was. Even then, I think Ballas had been manipulating him. I thought we were better than that and I was wrong."

"Only about Hunhow." Jesse reassured the big green Sentient. "The rest of you have a chance."

"Do we?" Mother was still so sad. "We have been defined by our conflict with the Orokin and by extension, with your people. What could we do if not fight? None of us will serve Orokin, not even you. No offense meant." Mother said quickly but Jesse waved that away.

"None taken!" Jesse said firmly. "The last thing I want is to be responsible for others again. It rarely ends well."

"Well, now, you are my responsibility, Princess." Mother said firmly and both the human man and the Tenno girl stilled. "What you did was moronic. I understand you were worried about your birth mother, but showing yourself to the Grineer was silly."

"They needed me." Jesse said very slowly as she set her cup down beside herself.

"Yes, they did and thank you for helping Hani, but that was still dumb." Mother did not quite spit that. "The Grineer Queens knew Cyberlancers existed. Juil's creation and near immolation are proof that they are doing the same thing the Corpus tried. But you? You are memorable. They will hunt you, girl. You know this."

"They did before." Jesse said slowly, sitting up straight. "I will not cower while the system burns."

"No, you won't will you?" Mother sounded sad and Jesse stared at her. "Ah, girl…" The elder Sentient heaved an all too human sigh. "I cannot let you throw yourself into harm's way. If I had my way, I would put you in stasis, lock the stasis pod in a tower surrounded by traps and guardians and then throw away the key! Both for your protection and everyone else's!" She scoffed as Jesse looked wary. "No matter what I may wish, that is not happening, daughter of my sister. We will protect you until or unless your guardian reappears. We will try not to cage you, but we will protect you." That was an oath!

"I…" Jesse stammered, undone by the compassion in this huge metal being that had once been the most implacable of foes of her kind.

"And don't worry, you won't be bored." Mother continued as if Jesse hadn't spoken at all. "We can alter your physical appearance fairly easily, and that may be the best choice. Your code, however, is distinctive. Did the Grineer ever get DNA samples?" She asked.

"Not of this body." Jesse scowled at this sudden change. "The one they got… died."

"I am sorry, Jesse, but your protection is now my responsibility." Mother heaved an all too human sigh. "I guess we better talk to your peers? They won't like this any more than I do or you do, but it is needed."

"No, they won't, but…" Jesse stilled as the world around her suddenly altered! "This… This is-"

"Virtual. Yes." Mother said quietly as the world shifted into a small room with green walls. "Your portal came to Adiinah. We created a convincing simulacrum to keep you both calm and safe until we decided what to do. We have. You are not to be harmed in any way. The Oracles have no idea where you are and we are going to keep it that way. They got you killed once. Never again!" The fervor in her voice shook Hani, but the Cephalon or whatever she was now stayed close. Jesse's code flared but then it faded and she gasped, but Horatius was right by her side.

"If they wanted to hurt us, they would have by now, Jesse." The soldier said quietly. "What have you have done if they had told you that they had you?" The Tenno stared the soldier and then at her hands.

"Freaked." Jesse said softly, staring at her hands and then at Mother. "I…"

"It is all right, Jesse." Mother was a rock, kind but firm. "You are in pain and it is nothing physical. Trust is unlikely to happen, but stranger things have. Your birth mother may very well be the only chance for peace in this solar system and I for one am not going to let her fail without doing everything I can. You are her daughter and I will not let anyone hurt you again. Not even me if I can help it. Your code is disabled for this moment and only for this moment because of your stress."

"You… You can…" Jesse stilled. "You interrogated one of my kind, didn't you?"

"My people brought three Cyberlancers to me." Mother was sad again. "None of us understood. All we knew was that suddenly, there were these Tenno who could do the impossible. Use computer code as weapons. I wanted to understand, to defend my people. Two of them died of their wounds and were unrecoverable before I could even talk to them. I was very careful with the third. You are in no danger from me, Cyberlancer. Call the others and I will explain."

"All of them?" Jesse said weakly. "I need my code to… to…" She went utterly still as dark blue code that mimicked Jesse's flared in front of the girl! Then it shifted to purple? "That is not mine."

"No, its not. I was not actually talking to you, Princess." Mother was still sad, but held a hint of humor. "Neither side ever figured it out. I worked very hard not to kill the last Cyberlancer prisoner I had and she grew on me just like Zato did. It took a while."

"Why?" Jesse looked so still that Hani worried about her.

"Why what?" Mother inquired. "Why not kill her? I was tempted on many occasions, but like I say, she grew on me. It took a long time as you count time, but eventually, I found I liked her. She was an annoying breath of fresh air." Her laugh was a bit sour. "I wanted to see if I could turn her into an ally. She turned to turn me off several times. Luckily, neither of us succeeded. Although I did not think that for a long time. She was annoying."

"Are we telling stories now?" A new voice heralded a golden form appearing nearby. In shape, it was a Valkyr warframe, but composed of golden code that flashed purple. "I have more than a few of yours."

"Hello, Nia. How is Riana?" Mother begged the newcomer. Jesse didn't know the name. Did she? It was oddly familiar, but she didn't dare look away from this odd scene to do data searches. "I did what I could."

"You did well." The Valkyr reassured the worried Sentient as if such were totally normal. "She will likely not be the same, but her core survived what those butchers did. I reintegrated her and she should- Ah, here she is now."

Jesse had only thought herself still. She went utterly rigid as a humanoid form with a half metal face appeared in the virtual world! An AI and not just any! Riana looked shocked.

"Mother?" Olim's sister and partner AI wasn't talking to the Sentient!

"'Mother'? Wait. Olim's mother's name was Nia. But… She fell fighting Sentients!" Jesse's stunned voice had everyone staring at her. "They took her… to you. And you didn't kill her!" Nia nodded to the stunned younger Cyberlancer. Horatius was a statue behind her and Hani was just confused.

"Mother?" Riana begged, horror and betrayal sounding in her voice. "I... I heard you call in my darkness and I followed you to the light, but… You… No!" She screamed as energy flashed arced between her hands. "I won't let you hurt Jesse too!"

"That is not exactly what happened, Jesse. Riana, calm down." The ancient Tenno's tone was quiet, but held command. "You do not have all the facts. Do not make me stop you. I can. I do not wish to. This one is not Hunhow, she is nothing like Hunhow." The warframe shook her head. "Not now anyway. You cannot fight her here and even if you could? I won't let you. Calm down. She could disable you as easily as Kanaah did me on my first mission. She doesn't want to!" Riana stared from the shade, to Jesse, to Horatius, to the Sentient and back to the shade. Then she just slumped, defeated. Her energy faded along with her ire.

"Jesse, Riana, Horatius, now is the time for truth, not obfuscation. Hunhow and Erra both believe me corrupted. There is a certain level of truth to that." The large green sentient said quietly. "I am changed from who I was before. I was even before Hunhow threw me into the Void with Adiinah and Kanaah where I changed even further. I was changed, both by Zato's selflessness in trying to save my buds from Orokin Dax snatch teams and by a certain annoying Cyberlancer witch who shall remain nameless." She gave an all too human sniff as Nia made an obscene gesture at her. "Temper."

"You are one to talk." The long dead Cyberlancer said with a growl.

"What is going on?" Riana all but begged as she moved carefully to stand by Jesse.

"The truth. Jesse asked me how I survived the Void, Riana. It is a bit complex, but not hard to understand. Adiinah was intended to hide there until she struck at my people as the Orokin weapon called Lilith, so she was re-engineered by their wacko scientists to be partly immune to the drains. Only partly and she healed the damage. I siphoned bits of her energy when and as I could without waking her." Mother's words were slow and careful. "As for the rest of the time? Kanaah and I had help. An old, dear acquaintance of mine helped us both without anyone but me knowing." She had a smile in her voice as she turned her energy face to the Valkyr. "Now? We need to explain to the others. All of them."

"This is going to be fun." Grandmaster Olim's mother said with a growl that turned into a laugh. "I will stand way over there and let you explain, you silly nurturer."

"Like always. Leave me to do the hard work, you lazy Tenno." The Sentient's complaint was whimsical.

"Duh."

For those who may be confused, a note to clarify things- Nia was Olim's mother, introduced WAY back when in 'The Road to Redemption'. She is no relation to my other character with the same first name from my Star Wars fictions that I used in 'Prisons' and 'Splinters'.