Sergeant Nef Anyo nodded in satisfaction as his men hauled in their latest capture. Tenno were increasingly hard to come by, meaning he had to satisfy his sadism quota with random acts of violence against alien civilians. A shame, in his opinion - rumour had it that nothing in the galaxy hurt more than removing a Tenno's warframe and he so liked inflicting pain.

The Warframe in question was a Banshee model, he believed, at least the ridiculously flared helmet suggested so. He had captured her attempting to infiltrate his cruiser while it was undergoing repairs at the Charon relay and he was very much looking forward to shelling her. It had been a while since he had a Tenno plaything to warm his bed.

His current toy was an Asari, suspended above a grate in the centre of the room to avoid getting her blood on his furniture, hanging by hooks driven into her skin. Asari were dime a dozen and easy to break, meaning they never lasted long in Nef Anyo's private chamber. A good Tenno could last him up to a month.

The Banshee struggled futilely - the drain patch attached to her warframe robbed her of its abilities, abruptly reducing her to a normal human in terms of physical capability. Anyo could already feel himself getting excited as she was strapped to the table, the ring of surgical tools spinning up with an eager whirr as the last of the metal restraints was clamped into place. Retrieving his Prova shock rod from the table by his bed, he shocked his plaything a couple of times, her lack of reaction showing him that she had died some time in the night.

"My toy has expired."

At the touch of a button the grate slid open and the hooks retracted, letting the corpse fall into the ship's waste disposal system as his manservant stepped into the room.

"Sir, do you require a fresh toy?"

He shook his head, looking out into the lab his room overlooked.

"I have my eye on that Tenno. Have a suitable female crewman brought to my chamber at the start of the sleep cycle. Make sure it isn't anyone important, it will probably need repairs afterward."

"Of course, sir."

He turned back to look out at the Tenno strapped to the table. He had a feeling tonight was going to be good.

###

A grate was levered out of the way and an armoured form dropped down, Boltor in hand as she swept the area with her eyes. Seeing no immediate threat, she signalled the rest of her team down. Frost and Ember dropped down either side of her, then Mag brought up the rear. None of them were kitted out for stealth, it being rather pointless when the first Infested they killed would alert the remainder to their presence. She was holding a Boltor, Ember with a Gorgon, Frost with a Hek and Mag with a Sobek. All were solid weapons when dealing with the quick melee swarms of the Infested.

With a sharp hand signal, Nyx waved the team onwards, taking point flanked by the two shotgun wielders with Ember covering them all with her heavy machine gun. The unit was tense, expecting Infested to leap out at them at any moment.

They moved into the first large chamber, Nyx sending them to positions with a couple of hand signals. She could sense the Infested closing in, a gut feeling. She was right. A veritable tidal wave of Chargers poured into the room, approaching across the exposed floor. Mag looked at her anxiously as the baying creatures approached. She made a chopping motion with her hand and the battle started.

Snapping her wrist, Nyx sent a burst of psychic bolts into the crowd as Ember threw a fireball, both of them almost immediately opening up with their rifles. As the horde got closer Frost and Mag joined in, blitzing them with their shotguns, the rapid tapping of Mag's Sobek interspersed by the deeper booming of Frost's Hek. Then the creatures were upon them, Nyx slinging her Boltor in favour of her Orthos, a touch of the stud set into the shaft of the staff making the blades burst into flame as Frost swung his Gram in broad, sweeping strokes. With a thrumming sound, Mag flung her hands in the air, several hapless Chargers suspended in midair only to be imploded as she brought her hands sharply together. Ember slammed her fist into the ground, creating a ring of searing flames around her that set the Infested alight around her as she laid into them with her Zoren axes.

The four Tenno made short work of the Chargers, taking a moment to reload their weapons before moving on to the next room. The threat analysis systems in the Warframes immediately tagged the biggest threats in the room - a trio of Ancients that slowly approached amidst a swarm of Chargers, Leapers and Crawlers. Frost, Nyx and Ember all slung their main weapons and switched to their throwing knives as Mag clutched her Sobek nervously.

Moving in smooth synchronisation, the three veteran Tenno unleashed a storm of flying blades at the approaching ancients. Mag was very, very surprised when the tiny slivers of metal cut through the enormous monsters like they weren't even there.

The Ancients quickly felled, the Tenno moved on, splitting two and two to sweep the ship. Mag and Nyx headed down the passageway that led to the engine room, intending to head down to the bottom of the ship and clear upwards, crushing the Infested between them and the other two. Nyx walked with her Boltor at the ready, Mag hanging slightly behind. They blew through a couple of swarms of Infested, Mag watching the life sign counter dropping in her HUD as they cut through the creatures with consummate ease. Despite herself, Mag found herself having fun.

###

The Corpus battleship sat in space, motionless as the Proud Shield of Palaven came close, boarding tube latching on. The two vessels were about the same size, each one just over four kilometres in length, the main difference between the two being that the Proud Shield wasn't disabled and surrounded by hostile ships, unlike the Corpus vessel.

Ignoring the red stains smeared across the walls, Garrus led his squad into the ship's jail. To his great surprise he saw a strange armoured creature strapped to a Corpus 'surgical' table, struggling against the restraints.

"Get her out of there. Check the rest of the cells."

He tugged away the restraints on the armoured woman's right leg, idly noting the strangeness of her armour. It was a dark blue in coloration with pale grey highlights, reminding him somewhat of his old C-sec armour. Almost as soon as the woman was free she slid off the table, backing away as she tore a Corpus device off her chest.

"Hey. Hey, I'm not going to hurt you. Are you okay?"

In response she hissed angrily, smashing open a storage locker with her fist and withdrawing a set of weapons that she attached to her armour, all the while looking at him suspiciously. He held out his hands in a placating gesture, then on a hunch tried speaking the halting, broken Corpus he had picked up.

"Are you hurt?"

He had no hope of deciphering the torrent of words that followed. Apparently the woman realised that so she slowed down.

"No. Who are you?"

He pointed to himself.

"Garrus."

After a moment she gestured to herself.

"Banshee."

There was a sudden thump, making his men spin around as the doors went into lockdown. A single MOA unit appeared, its weapon swivelling as its black shelled legs flexed. Garrus raised his weapon almost contemptuously. When he fired the MOA wasn't there. He heard Banshee scream a single word.

"Ambulas!"

Then all hell broke loose.