Vetting

For a long moment, nothing happened, but neither Liriel nor Trinity relaxed.

The halls resounded with screams, gunfire and the guttural speech of Grineer in battle. Liriel felt herself crouch and creep forward. She felt rather than saw Trinity match her, the shade barely visible in her memory, but a calming presence nonetheless.

She crept to a large plant that had burst through one wall of the ancient Orokin structure and peered around the massive trunk at chaos. The room was huge and multi-leveled. There were multiple entrances and exits, as well as two huge balconies. A large tree had grown up through the middle of it, but the Orokin materials were still as durable as ever even after all this time. Yes, there were clones everywhere and yes, they were fighting. But who they were fighting!

She stared at the many long legged robots who all had weapons on their tops that poured various kinds of fire at the beleaguered clones. Corpus. These were Corpus, but she didn't see any of the humans with boxy helmets. She saw many different kinds of robots, now some that were flying, but no humans. What the hell? The battle seemed to be a stalemate. The Grineer had more numbers, as usual for the clones, but the Corpus bots were heavily armed, hard to damage with projectile weaponry and utterly fearless. She stared as a winged robot dove into a squad of Grineer before detonating, disabling the heavy weapon clone and hurting several of the others. A larger robot, this one with four legs, jumped into their midst from somewhere and what happened next could only be deemed 'slaughter'. Other flying bots were harrying the side, trying to turn the flank of the clone position. Clones were dying, but they were not dying alone.

Wait.

There were humans in Corpus attire fighting, but only a couple of them crouched behind a massive root and they looked hurt. She counted three, but there was another still form crumpled in what looked like a storm drain that seemed to run under the main plaza. They fought hard and cautiously as the bots took on the Grineer, their high tech weaponry belching defiance at the clones.

Liriel didn't move as the battle swept here and there. Then she froze as a howl sounded and five feline forms bounded into the fight from the side. They sort of looked like Kavats, but misshapen. Deranged? They had no scales, no fur, and they were… Liriel felt her heart freeze as a small, bent form in what looked like padded armor all but pranced into view, the flamethrower in her hands belching fire at the robots as the not-quite-Kavat charged into the fray. From the look? Another Grineer and a crazy one. But the odd felines were obeying her orders. One of the humans went down under a tide of the felines and the screams that came from her were horrifying.

Liriel was in motion before she knew what she was doing. She wasn't stupid. She was careful about where she moved. Any of those plasma or projectile weapons could kill her. She didn't have shields like she normally had enjoyed when she had worked with Ariana. What she had, was a brain that had fought many different foe across many different places while Ariana had worked the Tenno.

She knew that the Corpus were just as dangerous as the Grineer, and could not be trusted any more than any of the clones could. That said, they were fighting the Grineer that Liriel had come out to stop, so… She could use this to her advantage. She just needed to be very careful about picking her targets. She saw what she wanted and smiled inwardly as she crept towards a huge Grineer in armor who was pouring fire from a four barreled weapon at the large four legged robot. Her aim wasn't all that great, most of it was hitting the walls, but a few of the massive shells tore into other clones. None of them paid her poor aim any mind. Perfect. She was perfect. The Kavat slunk closer and closer and then? She was in range.

The clone opened fire again, the four barrels of her huge weapon barking in sequence and Liriel jumped. Clone armor was thick metal, but if the clone was supposed to move at all well, then joints had to be less well armored. The clone couldn't even scream as Liriel's razor sharp claws tore through her neck armor and her neck as easily as a Tenno skana might have. She fell, clutching her ruined neck and the huge weapon fell as well as she tried without success to keep her lifeblood from pouring out. She wasn't going to stanch that. The weapon fell the right way. Liriel stepped on the trigger and a spray of huge projectiles slammed out of it even as the recoil hurtled the massive weapon away from her. Most of the spray of unaimed shells hit nothing, but by some miracle, one slammed full into the back of the Grineer in padded armor who was commanding the odd Kavat creatures. She gave a screech and fell to lie still. The Kavat things all froze and then, as one, bolted in every direction.

Just like that, the tide of battle turned. Liriel fled back into the shadows as the Grineer turned to seek the new assailant. There was no one there and the Corpus bots took advantage of the clones sudden inattention. Distraction in battle was a bad thing, as those stupid brutes found out. The Corpus were organized and the clones were disorganized. Only for a moment, but that was a moment too long.

Liriel's eyes were hard in her hiding place as the clone after clone fell to aimed high tech fire from the robots and from the remaining humans. She smiled grimly as the clones fell, one by one. The robots took damage, but the battle was all over but the shouting now. She retreated a step and froze as a hum sounded behind her, coming closer.

"Where did you come from?" A cold voice startled Liriel and she spun to see another human, this one floating on odd anti-gravity shoes. His helmet was domed on top instead of boxy, and he was eyeing her as he hefted a whip that crackled with electricity. "Whatever you are, you are not a normal Kavat, are you?"

Why hadn't this Corpus been fighting? What was going on here?

She didn't wait for him to strike, she fled. Whoever these were, she had to lead them away from the colony! If she could get them to an operational part of this derelict, she could activate some of the turrets and death orbs, but there were not any functional here. Without shields, she had no-

Agony tore through Liriel's side as the whip connected to her. She snarled defiance as she threw herself to the side, instinctively away from hands that grasped at her as she recovered from the not quite paralyzing hit.

"What the hell? You are no normal Kavat!" The human sounded shocked as he flew after her. She didn't look back, she just dodged for all she was worth, the hum from his footwear giving her a slight warning as he pressed his attack. She ran for a door, but there were Corpus bots blocking it! She spun to another, but now, she was surrounded! Dozens of the things, flying and not all closed in on her slowly. She hissed at the robots that eyed her, impassive. The human soared into her view, his whip arcing as he tried to strike Liriel again, but she dodged and he hit nothing but air. "This is new. I smell Profit." The man said softly. "Alive." He commanded. "Take it alive."

None of the bots fired. Instead, several of them extended rods from their tops. Rods that crackled with energy just like the man's whip. She had to hold them off. She couldn't let them take her!

"Don't be stupid." The man with the whip said sourly. "I would prefer you undamaged." Liriel spit at him and he shook his head. "You understand me, don't you? Oh, the possibilities..."

Liriel saw something very odd behind him. Both of the other Corpus troops were leaving. They were carrying a third form who was writhing, but they were leaving! She didn't have time to look, the bots were closing in and suddenly, it was all fury.

She was a balleof teeth and claws. Both of which were sharp enough to cut through even the strongest of metals, of which these Corpus bots were not. She didn't know their weak spots, but knees were almost always a good thing to tear out if you wanted an enemy out of the fight. Three, four, five of the bots went down, sparking as Kavat teeth and claws tore the hell out of their knee joints. But then something latched onto her and Liriel felt faint. Her energy was fading! She jumped and rolled, something crackling and breaking off as she rolled over it, but the damage was done. She was slower, weaker. One of the bots connected with its baton and pain tore through Liriel. She convulsed as more and more of them surrounded her, lashing her with the tips of their weapons, each strike sending more agony into her. She hissed defiance, and tried to claw, tried to bite, but they were out of reach and agony piled atop agony. She would not, could not surrender! She would die fighting!

It as a mercy when the human leaned over and struck her in the head with his whip, sending her into darkness.

Her last sight was of a small calico cat on a balcony watching her be pummeled into submission.

Some time later

Liriel swam back to consciousness aware of pain across her whole body, but it was muted. Dulled by drugs or something. She was lying on something warm, but she couldn't seem to move. She was cold, so cold. How low was her energy?

"...and I do not want excuses, Doctor. I want results." Liriel managed to open her eyes and found herself lying inside something that was clear. It looked like plastic. Whatever ti was, she had been in it long enough for her smell to set in it. "Whatever this thing is, it is not a dumb animal." A murmur came from somewhere and the man sighed. "Yes, I know the breed is not in our files and yes, I know it is incredibly dangerous. You don't need to tell me that, Doctor, I saw what it did to the MOAs. You will heal it and no more." That was a command. Another murmur came, this one sounded incredulous. The man spoke again, this time sharp. "Did that sound like a suggestion, doctor? Do I need to get a Board Member involved in this? This Kavat is smart. Dangerous levels of smart. Possibly even human levels of intelligence. We may actually be able to Indoctrinate it. Either way, we can certainly use it."

Indoctrinate? That was Corpus brainwashing. Oh no. If they did that? Liriel would lose her mind. She couldn't allow them to do that! They had no idea the danger and even these Corpus, whoever they were, didn't deserve to die as Liriel had seen some fall to deranged Cyberlancer types in the past.

Liriel managed to move her head and she saw two human forms outside the clear plastic thing she was lying in. She was…

Something pricked her leg and she was falling. She felt cold hard, mechanical fingers take hold of her and… They were doing things to her, pressing things against her, pushing things into her mouth and ears and.. and...

She couldn't let them do this! She had to…

Darkness claimed her.

When Liriel woke again, she was stretched out on hard surface. She wasn't cold now, but pain came from various parts of her. She stared up, incurious as a human in an odd blue gown stepped into her sight. The woman held some kind of tool and it whined, but Liriel couldn't dredge up fear past whatever was holding her. The human didn't speak, just laid the device up against the Kavat's rear end and it… Oh my god! It hurt! It was burrowing deep into her and she tried to fight. She tried to writhe away, but she was strapped down and it was going into her womb and the pain increased and…

Darkness claimed her yet again.

"What part of 'Do not harm the Kavat' did you not understand, Doctor?" The cold man's furious voice pulled Liriel out of her pain filled sleep. Her guts hurt in so many ways. What had they done to her? "No, this is not just an animal! I gave you a simple command. Heal the Kavat. Hurting it was not a part of my command. You sampled the DNA without orders. As if you have any idea how to breed a Kavat. What were you going to do, sell it? To who?" He demanded. The he sighed. "I should have known better. Your credentials checked out, but… I should have known better. I will have the truth out of you, one way or another. Guards, take this thing to processing. Do not let her escape or suicide. We will have a nice long chat in a bit, after I fix this. If I can fix this."

Rumbles of anger seeped though Liriel's befuddled mind, but then something touched her head. Something soft and gentle. A cloth?

"What the hell did she do to you, pretty one?" The cold man was sad now as wetness was gently wiped from Liriel's face fur and then the rest of her. Blood or worse. "I left her for half a fricking day and she did this. Idiot!" He sighed. "I know you can understand me. I don't know how, or why, but I know you can. This is unprecedented. I could probably make a lot of money if I turn you over to the Board, but… No." He heaved another sigh. "No, you saved my life and our mission. Not that we were ever there, but still." He was petting her. Not expertly, but he was trying to comfort her. She tried to bite at him and her jaw wouldn't work. "Damn her. She hurt you, and that probably tore any chance of this ending peacefully. It would with me and from what I saw? I bet you are just as smart as I am. I didn't want you hurt, pretty one. If I can give the Board intelligent Kavat? The profit would be incredible, but this? As hurt as you are internally, I can't breed you. So, I need to heal you and I have no idea how to do that. I can hope you will heal in time butI have no idea if you have time. I don't know your anatomy at all." He paused and his tone turned kind. "I can't just call you 'Thing' or "Kavat'. 'Pulchra'." He had a smile in his voice now. "I will call you 'Pulchra' in Old Orokin. It means 'beautiful'. Because you are beautiful. I am going to call for some help. It will cost me, but they will help you. We will help you. It is all right, Pulchra. You will be all right."

Why was he being kind to her? Why was she so…

Again, she fell into darkness.

"This is not a normal Kavat, Executive." A cold, hard female voice roused Liriel a little. She stared up out of her cage at a woman in an odd garment. Was that a nun's habit? "Normal Kavats are dangerous enough. This one? If she gets loose, she will kill everyone in here. You will likely not be able to stop her. I may not be able to. If she gets loose, I am fleeing." She warned.

"I know, Reverend Mother." The cold man wasn't quite subservient. He was worried. "I didn't intend this. The Doctor was working for a competitor and was ordered to procure a sample of DNA for said competitor. The methods she used were brutal but I did not authorize such. She will be punished."

"Do you really think the Kavat will care? You hurt her. That is all she will care about." The woman asked as she reached into the enclosure to to Liriel's head. The touch was soft, gentle, soothing and… it was familiar! Wait a minute! That was Tenno energy that Liriel felt from the touch! From a Corpus? What the hell? Don't try to move! The other said into Liriel's stunned mind. You are badly hurt and in grave danger.

This being knew who she was? But, she wasn't Tenno, was she?

I… I can't… Please! Liriel begged the other who heaved a sigh as she stroked the Kavat's skull.

"There are limits to what I can do." The woman said aloud, but it was both to Liriel and the other. "To what I can say." She sighed again. "What I can say is that she will heal in time. It will take at least a week. We cannot speed it up with any of the tech we have. She is not like any Kavat I have seen before. But you are right, Executive. She is beautiful." She scratched Liriel's jaw and Liriel did not try to bite. "I can give advice, but honestly? I would release her back where you found her. I don't think this is going to end well. I don't think we can duplicate this. The Corpus that is. Humans are hard enough to clone. Kavat? Oh, the possibilities are endless and most would be incredibly costly. One look at the Grineer shows the folly of genetic engineering on such a scale."

"I hoped, but… You know more about such things than I do. If I release her like this, she will die, won't she?" The Executive said sadly. The human woman nodded. "Then I have to see her healed first."

"Executive, every moment she is here, she is in grave danger and so are you." The other warned. "Your competitors will not stop trying for her, to spite you and to gain whatever they may think will earn them profit. We have had our disagreements, but this? I can feel her anger. If the Kavat gets loose, you are dead."

No joke. Liriel wanted this man screaming under her claws and teeth. The female doctor even more so.

"I will take that under advisement, Reverend Mother." The male human said softly. "For now? I just want to see her healed." The woman looked at him and he shook his head. "If there is one like this, there are likely more, no? We need to find out where she came from."

"I..." The woman slumped and nodded. "Yes, Yes, we do." The gaze she turned on Liriel was calculating. She would. She would scan Liriel's mind and she was a psi who understood Tenno energy. Liriel had no defense against such! The human woman reached for Liriel again. They were going to-! NO! Liriel could not allow them to find the colony! Find her kittens!

Liriel did the only thing she could. She did the utterly unthinkable. She reached into her own mind with her personal energy and tore it to splinters.

This time the darkness was... purring?