No Grineer would dare to intrude on the Queens' own domain, but Nor Medaz' was not there to deal with that as his glare was strong, enough to scare the guards out of his path as he walked swiftly to the throne room where a healthier-looking Elder was waiting, her red eyes taking him in before she huffed in a less cracked voice. "This is about the Firestarters, is it not?"

"Of course it does, Elder." Nor answered as they exchange glances before Nor relaxed. "Earth has already been used as the main hub for the Empire's main operations, we barely have any hold on it with Vay Hek gone to parts unknown in spite of me, so what was the real purpose of setting up the Firestarters, I know that you were organizing the whole matter from a transmitter the Felguard found among the remains of the troops when the Grove stirred to its final cycle, they were led to believe that section of Earth had to be cleared out for a new factory to be set up, I can't argue that we need more troops, ships, or supplies to keep our hold on the System, especially with the Chosen dogmatically scrambling to get whatever Orokin treasures that remain, so tell me, Elder..." Nor glanced at the resting Queen as he finished. "Why did you lie to the Firestarters in the first place?" She hummed before she spoke.

"The Tenno are stirring, their awakening is hard to miss these days, but with each other coming back to fight us, I have started to sense something more... ancient than the lines of Grineer at our beckon call, I have began to sense... a presence of something older, powerful, more... silent in their dealings, but weaker than the real power of the Tenno." The Elder Queen voiced as she continued. "My goal was to drive the Tenno and their supporters to discover more of Earth than they initially know of it, the Grove is one part of that, a part that, I will admit, I wished to stamp out as a creation of the Orokin, indirectly it was, but still it was of an Orokin legacy."

"I see..." Nor did see as he had heard reports of a growing nation on the distant lands that once were called 'Russia', those were the residents who resided on the plains and were more human than Grineer, their lifestyle depending on the remains of an Orokin tower that they work around. The Grineer have left those beings alone for the most part as they were small, unable to do much against the Empire and couldn't really change the outcome of the Grineer expansion, but Nor had suspected now was something new. "Does this matter involve the emergence of Lua then?"

"Indeed..." The Elder spoke as she continued. "When Lua's energy had subsided, some of the power started to echo across Earth and within the Plains, something else started to stir, something from the Old Wars, the Grineer who have taken to those Plains have made notions of Sentient beings and titanic giants wandering the nightly hours of those grounds, I had the idea of General Sargus Ruk investigating those rumors, but now any Grineer I send to do so are met with resistance from fellow Grineer, under orders of the Council to hold the grounds and take the livelihood of those residing there." Nor grimaced at the sound of it as he spoke.

"So... you are thinking the same thing when I entered this chamber...?"

"Indeed, General Nor Medaz'." The Elder spoke with the rank increase of Nor's and the belief that the Empire was in for a civil conflict. "Councilor Vay Hek has taken command of the empty seats of the Council with members of his own choosing and has begun to move in taking territories and worlds in the Queens' name, he has now lead a great incursion to take what was the Empire on Earth and mold it into the military of his choice, the Tusk Conclave..."


The thoughts plagued Nor as he headed back to Mars, the Kuva Fortress hovering over Mars for a time before departing again. Vay Hek had returned in a big way and now dominated Earth with an iron clamp, having also formed a Council of his own making, the Chosen getting battered back harshly as Vay Hek turned his sight on Mars, to destroy the Felguard, if the battle barges of Galleons were to be believed in moving into formations of attack, additional readings revealing that the Balor Project was still in effect as a Formorian also joined, Nor knowing that, should a battle start, then the Felguard were at a loss of fighting back for long as he moved on a plan, his advisors gathered to listen as he spoke. "We are extending the operations of the Felguard, as the now-promoted General of the Empire, we are making additional operations on the drydocks of Ceres."

"Now?" Kanan Ki questioned as he continued. "Not that I am disagreeing with you, Milord General, but shouldn't we still have room to grow here on Mars?"

"Indeed, Milord General, as your closest confidant, what brought this idea of relocation again up?" The Heretek Wraith questioned and Nor knew that they were barely getting the Wraith Fighter project off the ground right now, but the movement was needed to be done before they lost the Felguard to Hek's advance.

"I got bad news from the Elder about Earth, it seems that Vay Hek has finally revealed himself, but he has assembled a Council of his own design to serve and any Grineer that have lingered around Earth and were not under the authority of another high ranking Grineer, he has pulled together to form the Tusk Conclave, a massive army of Grineer loyal to him, several Galleons have already started to shift in their patrols to aim their guns toward Mars." They grimaced at the idea of Vay Hek coming to destroy them as Nor spoke. "We move the majority of the Felguard out, to the drydocks of Ceres to hide out once more before Vay Hek ensures the end of all that we have worked to accomplish, ready the ships, we depart within the day before Vay is aware of what happens this hour..."


Caravels, Galleons, and Mertarr ferried hundreds of supplies off-world to the drydocks of Ceres, Nor taking in the toxic environment, the harsh landscape, and sighed behind his mask, even the more reluctant Grineer to wear masks donned them as they could see the effects the toxic wastes had, that is why they also moved a wide number of food stock and other resources to Ceres with constructing another base of operations, Vay Hek actually suffering from the Tenno as a fleet that size was bound to bring trouble, enough that the Felguard slipped past Vay Hek again and even his Balor was destroyed in time as, the Tenno could often attest, when a Balor was mobilized, its target is often the Tenno Relay in that planet's range.

Indeed, Nor counted himself lucky that Vay Hek's first issue was the Tenno again as the makings of a large-scale dormitory was carved into one of the emerging rock faces and cover was developed over all of their equipment as Ceres has a nasty habit of... lightning strikes across the toxic planet. The garrison left at Mars confirmed that they would obey Lech Kril's commands and keep their ways going while the Tenno were ushered out to keep the sight of Tenno and Grineer working together out of Vay Hek's range, a decision that, while was a bit of an uproar, the Tenno understood why as the Felguard grew again on a different world and covert Tenno ships often offered trade in keeping the Felguard stabilize, Nor resting a gauntlet to his chest as Kanan and Natalia Ki were left on Mercury and keep out of the path, Cressa doing wonders in keeping them safe while the Felguard had to move in bulk and slipping through the cracks of Vay's wrath.

Still, it was going to be an adjustment as the clouds above were both polluted with the chemicals and wastes that the Grineer use and discard for their titanic battle barges and what more would be added if the Caravel and Mertarr ships were moved into production on the planet before Wraith spoke in approaching. "Milord..."

"...This is the first time I have actually taken the world of Ceres in and it is so different than what I knew..." Nor hummed as he continued. "There is going to be a storm coming, greater than any that the Grineer have faced." He breathed before turning. "Heretek, I want the Felguard to rest before rebuilding the bases, I want a fortress against Vay Hek and his followers, we are not sitting this out, not for long."

"As you wish, Milord." Nor walked past the left-hand member before his visored eyes looked up to the toxic rain coming and turned, joining the Felguard as they rebuilt in silence from the main Grineer matters... The time for that was soon to come...


I am saying this, but I am finishing the story here as I hit a block and I need to think it through a bit more before I continue the story of the Felguard.
I had a plan for more-titan like Warframes, but I am going to relax from the Warframe scene for a bit, like the Necramech, but that is from the third open-world zone, so thank you all for reading this and, if anyone wants to make a sidestory or their own fable branching off, do it, I wouldn't mind to read or hear some more ideas here.