Chapter 1
"Close your eyes. Steady your breathing."
The words of the Banshee filled his mind once again. Only her words, though, for her face was one even he shivered to think of. Her face had nothing peculiar or outlandish about it; an elegant nose, slim lips and the slightest of crinkles near the corners of her mouth, a pair of ears that pointed slightly at the top and an empathetic, almost maternal nature. But it was her eyes, or what remained of them, that shook him upon the faintest, most momentary of recollections.
They held no colour of their own, apart from a morbid, rank colour of clouded grey that seemed to move and shimmer, as if there was a coiling, deathly mist that swirled beneath the surface of her expressionless, empty irises. He had been there when she lost her sight. He wished still that he hadn't.
The mission had called for the extermination of one proxy of the feared J3 Golem, this particular strain ardent on constant and indeed incredibly rapid evolution to new threats. The battle had been a long and bloody one; their Ember had been rendered useless without her firestorms and accelerants after the Golem had leeched her physically of all energy, and had nearly destroyed her body in the process.
The Rhino was forced to seek cover as his robotic shoulder had been blown to pieces by biological spines, living and hungry for flesh, burrowed beneath his armour and hardened, locking his servo joints into place and breaking it apart. Ash himself had avoided a horrible demise through his agility and elusiveness, but was running dangerously low on energy and, even with his stamina, was feeling the effects of tiredness slowing his footfalls.
It was the Banshee, assigned to lead the squad, who was next. She had eyes sharper than any blade, and a hair-splitting aim, able to shoot a bullet through the miniscule visor of a Crewman's helmet from across an icy canyon on Venus, which was only boosted by her Sonar, able to find weaknesses in even the most resilient of armors. But, with time, the Golem adapted. The bullets from her Vectis now pattered harmlessly off newly created armour plates on its shoulders. Masses of muscular tissue formed over its spindly legs in seconds. It made an immense, soaring leap across the dark, rocky chamber in which they fought, landing right on top of the Banshee with a crash, knocking her onto the floor and right in between its rotten mandibles. She tried to roll out of the way and scramble for her weapon, but the beast's tentacles batted it away and grabbed her by the arms and throat, refusing any type of struggle. Nothing could have prepared her for what came next.
Light-blue fluorescent light poured from its ugly mouth as it let out a hellish screec, its face practically touching hers. Its grip tightened around her throat, forcing the helmet to open. Its saliva, dripping down into a pool on her chest, now glowed with the same light-blue colour as the Golem made a sick hyuk-hyuk sound, as if was trying to laugh. It smiled at her, with too many decayed, disarranged teeth. She let out a scream of her own, perhaps to disorient it, but it didn't matter. The Golem cut her futile retaliation short as it spat a glob of saliva down on her face. She only whimpered at first, like a wolf pup without its mother's milk, but her whimper rose to an agonized howl as the saliva took its full effect. It fizzed and spat with a sickly crackle, eating into her fragile white skin and burrowing into the angry red flesh underneath. The acid leaked into her tear ducts, spreading across her eyes in a matter of moments and shredding apart her lenses before dissolving into her retinas. She saw nothing, but the pain was all but invisible.
The Trinity had managed to restore the ruptured skin cells across her face, but nothing could fix her eyesight. She was changed. But, even though her eyes had been taken from her, her spirit was left unbroken, perhaps more resilient, and even stronger than before.
Her words, monotonous and lifeless, had stayed with him since she had taken over his inoculation.
"This technique will allow you to see more than what you had ever seen before. Your eyes merely show you what happens. There is no deeper meaning or sense to what you see. However, with my sight gone, I may now see what will happen, not what is. Every footstep, every tiny movement. My mind's eye is now open, and I will help you open yours. Now, focus."
Ash's footsteps across the marble floor of the main dojo set off tiny sounds that slowly rippled across the silent air of the main hall and reverberated back at him. These sounds collided with the doors, the marble pillars, the carpeted staircases; he felt all of these within a moment.
If I can feel all of this now, the Banshee must be something extrordinary.
He tried again, this time walking briskly towards the entrance to the Oracle. He felt the still air move gently round him as he kept his pace. The sounds of his peers seeped through the miniscule spaces under the doorway and drifted through the air, caressing Ash's ears with a gentle sense of affinity and comradeship. A warm feeling spread across his chest, something he had longed for to understand. Was this what true family sounded like?
He dismissed these pleasant thoughts and opened his eyes. This was nothing like what he had "seen" with his other senses; he felt constrained and somewhat primitive upon seeing the sliding door open in front of him. With his sight absent he felt weightless, in his own little dimension, so very alone, but so very… safe.
With his sight returned, he stepped into the Oracle. The three factions known in the system - the Grineer, the Corpus and the Infestation - glowed on holographic displays, staring blindly at the display in the middle. The room was filled with commotion; navigators, servants and engineers tapped robotically at holographic keyboards, staring at endless scrolling walls of text that displayed nothing of interest, just status reports and messages from other parts of the station.
The Frost and Rhino were talking on the other side of the room; Frost most likely spoke of future plans with icy breaths while Rhino acknowledged with small, rapid nods. Saryn wound and unwound a small lock of hair with one hand and tossed and caught a Fang over and over again with the other. He made special care to avoid inciting her gaze; the smoke from their meeting had not yet risen, and he did not wish to let it dissipate. He sought peace with her, at least for the while.
He let his gaze pass over a few others before he spotted a silhouette hidden beneath above the canopy of the Orracle. The hammerhead helmet and the pale gray Loki suit were recognizable to Ash anywhere; the two of them held a fraternal bond like no other.
He fondly remembered working together with him on a contract calling for the assassination of a Corpus High Council member. Nash Kekh, that was her name. Fighting her elite had not been a difficult task; Loki outwitted them and Ash killed them before they even realized he was there. It was the assassination that had proven difficult, for she had augmented her eyes to spot movements and act upon them with lightning speed, before they even happened. The Loki were often considered tricksters, rather than murderers. This one, however, was somewhat of an exception.
Indeed, he had deployed a holographic clone behind her, and when Kekh swung her sword, he teleported away and brought the clone in his place. Kekh stumbled, brought off-balance by swinging into thin air, and was finished off by a quick stab through the neck and out of her mouth, leaving her death mask one that struck terror into the remaining crew after she was found crucified in the civilian quarters. The Loki had often boasted of that victory, but he was often regarded as a liar, and with good reason.
Ash disengaged his cloak; reappearing out of nothingness, save for a small cloud of smoke. The Loki turned his head to glance at the approaching visitor, finding a figure that exuded an aura of death and a poisonous decay. He hinted at this recognition with a smirk, before turning back to the center display.
"It is good to see you again, brother. Where have you been? Stealing from the rich? Feeding the poor?" The Loki asked with a wry smile.
"I see your sense of humor hasn't dulled yet, Fenrir."
Ears pricked up all round the room, for a mention of a Tenno's name instead of their suit was a rare occasion and usually reserved for family, and hearing Ash speak was even rarer. His voice rasped like rock against sandpaper, and his breaths always seemed shallow and hoarse.
"Anyway, weren't you supposed to be stationed on Phobos? Word has it that you killed the mighty Lech Kril." Ash tuned out for Fenrir's answer, for only a fool would believe a word that came out of his lying mouth.
Ash smirked at this thought and was about to speak before the holographic display in the middle dawned into life, where a model of the Lotus appeared. No one had yet seen the Lotus truly, only manifestations of her through the dojos and stations.
On the display she wore a purple, flowing robe that made her look somewhat frail. Small metal plates overlapped on her slim neck and fastened halfway round like a collar. Her most distinguishable feature was most definitely the helmet. It covered the top half of her face, with wires protruding out the back, giving her a constant feed of data from all parts of the ship. Ash thought to himself how she would have looked like if she hadn't donned the helmet. Maybe she could have trained to become a Nyx, or something of the sort. In any case, what he saw of her betrayed a beauty that could have, perhaps, been appreciated before she became... this.
"Tenno, one of our whistleblowers has informed us of the location of a Corpus captive holding valuable intel on the location of a Grineer Councilor. The ship is due to fly from Venus into the Sagittarius asteroid belt of Saturn, where the captive will be interrogated and executed. It is our job to make sure that this does not happen." She said in her deceivingly human voice.
"Who will take on this mission?" The Rhino boomed from across the Oracle.
He stood tall, with golden-brown plates of lightweight steel overlapping to create a living tank. His dark-brown hair was shaved short, which showed two metal studs drilled into the side of his head that secured the metal plates replacing the bone that had been shot out by a Corpus sniper. Those who donned the Rhino were not known to die easily.
"The General of the Steel Fury wing has decided that the squad members shall be: The Banshee," She began, a few heads turning towards the now leaving Banshee, the rest trained on the Lotus.
"Volt,"
Volt's thin figure stepped from behind the huge bulk of Rhino and followed Banshee out of the door.
"Saryn,"
Ash stole a glance at Saryn, who had now put her stiletto away and looked at the Lotus with that same, devilish grin.
"and Ash."
Many of his comrades turned to either of the pair and smirked, some even stole a few hushed laughs. He and Saryn had gained a false reputation for being an item, even though the idea was far-fetched and was by far the most terrible combination for a couple anyone could think of. However, unexpectedly, she had stuck to him since the first day of his assignment to the wing and had grown to be nothing but a thorn in his side.
"Just a thorn in my side..." Ash thought solemnly to himself.
He adjusted the blade by his hip and vanished from sight for a split second, before reappearing behind Saryn. He carefully stepped round her and avoided eye contact; he was in no state to even give her a moment of his attention. He rounded the next corner and entered the elevator, slamming the button labeled 'S', quietly hoping that the doors would just hiss shut and leave him in peace for a few moments.
But the universe never liked to afford him such luxuries. Ash turned his head to see the gloved hand of a Saryn warframe barring the doors from closing.
"Not this time, Ash. "
The doors shut and the lift began its descent. She leaned against the wall opposite him, sighing.
"Now, you're going to tell me what's been going on."
"This, again?" Ash looked bothered. The Saryn tutted.
"Yes. We're going to be spending a lot more time on missions ever since my promotion. I know that you might not like it, but now even Umbra is getting worried about your recent behavior. It's not like you, as hard as that may be to believe."
"It's nothing, I've told you."
She slammed her fist on the control panel, making the lift jolt rather ungracefully to a stop. Ash jumped awake, looking up to the Saryn, whose eyes kindled with irritation.
This is new.
"You have to start trusting people, Ash. Soon you are going to find yourself without us, and no one will be there to help you. Not even me."
He answered with his silence, merely studying her face, at any little imperfections. He gazed at her with newfound interest. It was as if her face had been crafted under the careful, precise hand of a doll-maker, created out of the purest white porcelain, and every little detail etched in with the closest accuracy. She had a small dimple, almost unnoticeable, on her right cheek.
A slip of the maker's hands, perhaps?
She glared at him now, seething under her skin. He glared back.
Silence, once again.
She looked to the control panel, and pressed the release.
The doors opened. He left.
The starmap still fascinated him whenever he entered it. The inside was nothing spectacular on its own, but with the holographic displays on it became something wholly different. A million little lights exploded outwards as soon as Frost placed his finger on a small panel in the center of the room.
They glittered and shimmered brilliantly before fading out to the edges. The planets of the Solar System drifted lazily out to their orbits round the golden sun in the middle, with their names and statistics listed by them. Frost walked over to a sandy, shrouded planet and enlarged the image with swift back and forth movements of his fingers.
Ash rarely saw the Clan General, and took this opportunity to see how he had changed since the last time they had fought on the field.
He was dressed in a heavy yet extravagant robe of armour that clutched and overlapped across his chest and down his side, closing off any openings . Air condensed in white clouds when he and the warframe breathed. His features showed that he was young, but he had more experience than any of the four in the room put together. He bore scars of many wars, most covered by his dazzlingly pure silver-white hair. His eyes formed slits, leaving only his icy blue irises to be seen. He was a born leader, and he most certainly looked the part.
"Brothers, sisters, I believe you understand the mission at hand here, correct?" He asked sternly. Silence answered him. Satisfied, he continued.
"The captive held on this ship is due to reach the Sagittarius asteroid belt within a week, but we must act now if we wish to evade any reinforcements coming from the stations on the belt itself. The plan is simple, and if executed correctly," He looked up momentarily at the group, "we will have our information before the day ends."
Silence replied once again.
"We will start by entering through the engine room. There the noise of the Grineer engines will smother any sound we make coming in. Next, we must take the intelligence room. Here there will be all of the ships communications equipment, both local and interplanetary. We can stop them from making distress calls and we can then initiate the second part of the plan. Ash, you will make sure no one leaves that room alive, understood?"
He nodded curtly, keeping his attention to the Clan General and trying to ignore Saryn's venomous gaze.
"Now, this is where you will come in, Banshee, Volt." He acknowledged them both with two quick glances before training his eyes on the small model of the Grineer cruiser in front of him.
"Banshee, I want you to tap into the intercom system and destroy their hearing. Make their ears bleed. Shatter their will."
Banshee nodded politely and stepped away.
"Volt, the main control panel for the ship's lighting and electricity is in a small room right next to the intelligence room. Fry their systems. Short circuit any backup generators you find down there, as they will hinder our advance."
The Volt immediately jumped from the wall and bolted inhumanly fast down towards the elevator, shoving the Banshee out the way and receiving an irritated grunt in return.
"After they've gone blind and deaf, make your way through the vents that circle the ship and get to the helm. Her there will be a vent that drops down into the room where the captive is being held. Kill any guards and bring the captive back. His room will be separated, so the noise and the power outage shouldn't affect them." He glances at the digital clock glowing under the skin of his wrist.
"I expect this to take about twenty minutes. I need information, and I must have something to report to the Warlord at the end of today. Let's get to work, Tenno."