New Hardware
He didn't want to think. He didn't want to ponder the implications. It was enough that he had a mission. The corridors of the habitat gave way to an airlock and waiting at it was a familiar form wearing a Trinity warframe.
"Hiya X." The Tenno named Alicia nodded at him as he stopped short. She laughed at his expression. It was totally unfair, he couldn't see HERS through the helmet, but she could see his. "What? You didn't think we were going to take the colony healers' word for your health, did you?"
"And you need to fit me to a new warframe." Excalibur replied calmly, refusing to be baited.
"Oh, X..." The healer female said with a sigh. "Lighten up, already!" She complained. "It's been six weeks. I was worried about you."
"Your care was and is appreciated." Excalibur said with a nod. "You are the reason I survived to be healed."
"Yeah, well..." For once, the ebullient healer was somber. "I did what I could." Something in her tone called to him, called to something in him. He didn't understand it, so he did as he always did when faced by emotions he didn't understand. He ignored it. "I wish I could have done more." She said quietly. Something old in him was spurred to take action.
"Alicia..." Excalibur said, taking a step closer to touch her on her armored sleeve. "What happened to me wasn't your fault. It happened a long time ago. It can't be fixed." He stepped back as she stared at him. He was unsure if he had transgressed.
"You don't know that." Was she crying? No. It couldn't be. "You can't know that."
"No." Excalibur agreed. "But I am going to quote the master of the colony here. 'We must not dwell on the past'." He smiled at her. "We have enough problems with the present and immediate future, no?"
"You know..." Alicia said reflectively. "I think that is the first time I have seen you smile. You never took off your warframe. Not even the helmet. Never relaxed. Ever your jokes were always serious."
"Alicia." Excalibur said in faint reproof. "All I am is a weapon. All I have is my duty. I lost a lot when I was hurt during the Great Plague. But this I do know... 'Only in Death does duty end.' I am not dead yet."
"Yeah." The female Tenno agreed softly. "But you are not alive either. Maybe when this mission is done we can...talk a little?" She asked softly.
"Let's get the mission done first." Excalibur replied with a nod. Something in her voice unsettled him and he wasn't sure why. "I do remember getting fitted for my old warframe. It..." He paused as Alicia laughed, sounding more like her usual self.
"It sucked, I bet." The healer said with an exaggerated wince, visible even through her warframe. "I know I ached for weeks in very odd places when I put this on the first time." She waved at herself and Excalibur shared her wince. Warframes were incredibly powerful, had amazing defensive capabilities, and would sustain the wearer in all kinds of hostile environments without the need for such things as sleep, food... air. "Come on in, we will get you started." She hit the airlock controls and turned to enter.
"Right." Excalibur agreed, following the Trinity frame into the ship, then paused. This ship was new. Brand new. It still smelled new. "Wait... What?" He asked as he took a step in and stopped.
"This is your ship, X." Alicia replied, not stopping. "I just rode it here. I would appreciate a ride back to mine at the shipyard." She said with a nod, obviously joking from her tone.
"I think I can do that." Excalibur didn't know where the Tenno shipyard was located. Few did. The ship would get them there though, with no inputs from him. He liked it that way. All he had to worry about was himself, his... He stopped short as he came into the small room that made up most of the interior of the ship and scowled. "What is that?" He demanded.
The warframe that awaited him in it's rack was like his old Excalibur, but... not. It was the same supple armor. It wasn't as rigid as a Rhino frame, but then again, he liked to be able to move faster than a glacier at times. His old warframe had been fast, strong and capable of incredible feats of endurance. It hadn't been very durable unfortunately, because he preferred to avoid danger instead of taking punishment. This new set looked heavier. Part of that as the odd crest on the helmet. A strange gold colored circular thing sat on the front of the helmet and a crest shaped the top of the helm differently as well. Gold colored several spots on the frame and he shook his head as he walked around it, discomfited. He was aware of Alicia's scrutiny and he shook his head.
"I assumed my warframe was unrecoverable." Excalibur said softly. "But what is this?" He turned to see Alicia had leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. "Why didn't they give me a new Excalibur?"
"That is a new Excalibur, X." Alicia said with a snap. "That is the top of the line model."
"The...Prime?" Excalibur asked slowly. During his recovery, he had read quite about the status of the war. It wasn't good reading. There had been a bunch of classified reports to keep him busy reading, but some other tidbits had trickled in as well. He shook his head again. "I don't know. I didn't have the funds to have one of these made, Alicia. And that was BEFORE my ship and all it's scavenged materials blew up."
"We managed to salvage some." Alicia said with a shrug. "We couldn't stick around long for obvious reasons."
"Who am I in debt to then?" Excalibur asked with a sigh.
"No one. Everyone chipped in a little, X." Alicia replied softly and Excalibur froze. "You... You never complain. You never quit. Everyone out here has worked with you at least once. You help out every chance you get, you stay there covering the team when others bolt for the exit. No one can count how many of us you have saved during those missions. If anything, we owe you. That is why no less than fifteen ships responded when yours sent out it's automated distress call."
"No." Excalibur said slowly. "That is not right. The code..." He broke off as Alicia actually snarled at him.
"You have been a brother to all of us, X." Alicia said, her tone daring him to question her. "Least we can do is return the favor." She crossed her arms again. "You gonna be stupid about this?" He stared at her for a long moment and then sigh and shook his head. Alicia snickered. "Smart Tenno."
"I assume the ship's foundry has basic stocks?" Excalibur asked as he started to disrobe. Nudity meant very little to Tenno and he couldn't have anything between him and the undersuit. "I will need to rearm."
"A sword and pistol came with the warframe." Alicia said calmly as Excalibur started checking his undersuit. The docs had put him back in one as soon as he had been healthy enough. The gray suit kept him clean, fed and hydrated. It also provided a very limited amount of protection from injuries. Mainly the light looking material served as a buffer between his skin and the warframe's interior. It also served as an interface. Excalibur finished his check and sighed. Alicia nodded. "Get to it." She commanded.
"Yes, Ma'am." Excalibur stepped up to the back of the warframe as it hung in it's rack.
It opened on his approach. He took a deep breath, steeling himself, and then stepped forward, placing his feet into the boots. Each hand went into the arms of the frame and found the ends. He did not flinch as the material flowed over his hands, the odd sensations telling him that the material was covering each and every finger. It would cover every extremity before hardening. After hardening, only he would be able to use this warframe. Anyone else who tried... Well.. It wouldn't be pretty. He shoved his head up into the helmet area and closed his eyes in automatic reflex as the living metal flowed around him. He felt the back of the suit close around him and could not stifle a gasp as tubes went into VERY uncomfortable places. But the discomfort eased quickly and he braced himself. The physical adjustments were the easy part. This...
He screamed as pain seared directly into his brain. It felt like every nerve was on fire. Intellectually, he knew it was the neural interface of the suit adjusting to his own neural network. Despite centuries of trying, no one had ever managed to get a complete neural map of any individual. It changed every so often, even not counting injuries such as he had sustained. So each suit had to be set up for each user and as Alicia had said, it sucked. He recited the mantras that he had been taught, focusing on them to counter the pain. Focusing on anything but the pain. Everyone said that the integration process only took a few minutes, but he hung in that pain filled limbo for an eternity. There was only darkness and pain. Then, like a switch had been thrown, the pain died.
"X?" He heard Alicia's concerned voice come from nearby. A quick flip of a mental switch and he could see her current status. "Status?"
"Nominal." Excalibur replied quietly. "Running systems check now." He started the diagnostic and then paused. "How long was that, Alicia?"
"Four minutes, twelve seconds." Alicia responded, for once, not cheerful. "I am sorry, X. I know that hurt and I couldn't do anything."
"Anything you tried would have interfered with the bonding." Excalibur replied calmly. "As you say, it sucks. But why would you ache?" He asked, unsure. "I don't."
"You are not female." Alicia said dryly. "Our anatomy is different. It takes longer to adjust. I think the original Orokin designers didn't plan on having any female warframe pilots."
"That makes no sense." Excalibur said with a grimace as he finished the check and opened his eyes. What greeted them was like, and unlike, his previous suit's HUD. All the icons were in the same places, but everything was clearer, cleaner. He could see Alicia's warframe without turning his head, even though she was behind him. And the ship interface was... He paused. "Alicia, there is a small object hovering near your back!" He keyed the command to release the warframe from the rack and it dropped him to land on the floor in a ready stance.
"Yep." Alicia said, unconcerned. "I know."
"What is that?" Excalibur asked, then his suit responded before Alicia could, displaying data on the object. It was a biomechanical device that floated on a small anti-gravity vortex and he stffened as eh recognized it. A sentinel. "Oh no!" He said, annoyance sounding. "No. No no no! I am not taking one of those things into the field!"
"Yes, you are." Alicia said calmly. "You will argue, but you will."
"Those things make stealth a joke, Alicia!" Excalibur protested. "I prefer not to announce myself before I am ready to fight." He had seen other Tenno with the things, and he had to admit, they had come in handy on occasion. But he had also seen several recon missions blown because the silly robots didn't know the word 'stealth' and opened fire as soon as they saw enemies.
"This is a Shade, X." Alicia replied calmly. "Not a Wyrm. This one is designed for stealth missions." He turned his head and the look he leveled at her was obviously visible even through the helmet. She shook her head. "X, this is non-negotiable. We nearly lost you." Her voice turned sad. "And that would be a shame, brother."
"I am not one of you, Alicia." Excalibur said after a moment. "Not really."
"Bull!" The other Tenno actually shouted at him. "Get off your high horse and listen to me, you stubborn male!" Excalibur froze. She was really angry. A first in his experience. She took his stun for acquiescence and continued in a slightly calmer voice. "You may not have begun as one of us, but you are one of us now, Excalibur." She said, her tone biting. He shuddered. She must really be upset to be calling him by his full chosen name. "We take care of our own, X." Alicia said, calming.
"I..." Excalibur couldn't look at her. "Alicia... I... I don't know what to say. I feel... different. I am not like the rest."
"Neither am I." Alicia said softly. She sighed. "X, none of us is the same as any other. We may wear similar warframes, but does that make any of the others who wear Trinity frames me?"
"No." Excalibur replied, confused. "But... Alicia, you don't understand. I screwed up. I put everyone's lives at risk when they came after me."
"And how many times have you put your life on the line for us?" Alicia asked softly. "When I was hit on Mercury and went down in a heap, those Grinneer closing in, you came and killed them all. You got me back on my feet and held off the enemy until my shields stabilized. Then you vanished. I heard you almost forfeited your mission, you dropped the intel you had been sent for to save my sorry rear end. I lost situational awareness, got blindsided and nearly paid for it with my life. But you came for me. " Excalibur looked away. Her voice turned soft. "You remember that, don't you?" He nodded. "I am not the only one you have saved, not by a long shot."
"I didn't do it for gratitude." Excalibur said defensively. This was getting a bit too much.
"And I am pushing too hard." Alicia said with a sigh. "It's just... You make me so mad. The only one of us who sees anything wrong with you... is you, X." She shook her head again. "Never mind. Get the ship moving and you can start your virtual training. I need to catch up myself."
Excalibur nodded and walked over to where an alcove waited. He leaned back into it and a series of quiet clicks told him the warframe was seating itself, connecting to the ship's systems. He punched in the command to go to the shipyard and then looked at Alicia who hadn't moved.
"There is another alcove." Excalibur said quietly, nodding to the side. Indeed, each Tenno ship had four, all the better to carry a full squad of Tenno on a mission. Each alcove also served as an airlock for warframes or a drop point if the target was on the ground.
"Right." Alicia paused for a moment as if she was going to say more, but then shook herself and walked to another alcove and slotted her warframe in place.
Excalibur shook his head, then leaned it back to engage the neural linkage and begin the age old process of learning the strengths and limitations of a new warframe. He hadn't had to do it for a while. But he hadn't forgotten how.