"Feel the weight of what we owe."
Solaris work song, unattributed
Neera's legs burned as her feet slapped against the broken tile of the open plaza.
Ahead stretched an open battlefield. The ziggurat was ablaze; pock-marked by shell fire; wreathed in a haze of smoke. The firing ports were silent. Bodies clogged the approach. Drones heaped the floor; rendering the once ornate plaza a wrecker's yard. The battle had ended. The Watch were broken.
For the rebels, it was a pyrrhic victory. City Watch was theirs; right as the Corpus Navy landed on all sides of the Upper Tier; establishing a cordon that would only cinch ever-tighter, strangling the rebellion in its infancy.
There was no time to worry about any of that. Her uncle was just ahead.
They were almost there.
The Data-Mass' teeth bit into the Boardroom data console with a metallic snap.
Hosk worked quickly; letting the sub-routines do the heavy lifting. It had taken him months of searching and a lifetime of favours on the black market to secure a hacking programme of this calibre. The investment paid off. The program bored clean through Corpus security protocols, abusing the senior access control afforded by the ziggurat's command console. Ship movements, security rotations; personnel files of every Solaris labour camp this side of Venus. Every Corpus secret, every logistical weak point exposed; documented and stored for Solaris United to exploit at their will.
Hundreds of people had died for this. Their actions today would save many thousands more.
Solaris United had reprimanded his plan, when he had suggested it. It was never sanctioned, not formally. The cost was too great, they said. Were anyone to follow him, it would be strictly volunteers only. This was understandable. Direct conflict was, in all likelihood, suicide. Based on the sheer weight of Navy materiel currently touching down across the Upper Tier, Hosk was not inclined to disagree.
But there were some causes worth dying for.
"Don't move." Kef Mehrino's voice cracked.
Vanger Hosk turned and looked at the small sweating trader with the quivering pistol, a wry smile of surprise on his face.
"Missed you, hiding down there." Hosk shook his head ruefully. He was entirely unarmed.
The console bleeped at him; the message bright blue on the screen:
Data sequence complete. Would you like to extract?
"Don't touch it!" the pistol rattled in Mehrino's hands as he shook it, insistent, "Stay right as you are!"
Vanger Hosk looked at the console, then back at Kef Mehrino. Hosk saw the man's sweaty lip quivering; a face unblemished by war or blood or any semblance of hardship.
Hosk offered a contemptuous snort, turned his back on Mehrino and stabbed the console with his finger. The Data-Mass clacked free, the process complete.
Right as the pistol sounded, once.
Hosk nonchalantly shoved the Data-Mass back into his rucksack.
Then he pulled a chair out from the boardroom table; dragging it squeakily over to the vast observation window, ignoring the diminutive trader entirely. Kef Mehrino balked at being so flagrantly snubbed.
"But… but I shot you!" Kef Mehrino protested.
Hosk looked down. He had too. A blossom of red pooled across the front of his environment suit. Neat, as exit wounds went. He felt light-headed, but there was little pain beyond a dragging coldness.
Vanger Hosk took what little time he had left. He rummaged in his pack; producing a stylus and the Data-Mass. He scribbled a note on its side, before folding his hands over it, protectively. The Data-Mass was all but indestructible; password-protected with a code only he and his most trusted allies knew. No amount of physical tampering would bring it harm.
Kef Mehrino pulled a chair up alongside Hosk, quite unsure as what to do. He still had the pistol in his hands, but felt little compulsion to use it; ignored as he was. He could hear the throaty yells of more rebels approaching.
Hosk settled himself in the chair, enjoying the view of the burning Data Stacks; the carpet of ruined proxies that littered the open plaza. The ruins of the once-decadent Upper Tier skyline, backlit by the Venusian ever-sun.
The Board would reclaim this place, or destroy it; but today they had sent a message. That mattered.
"Some view." Venger Hosk chuckled.
Kef Mehrino went to answer, but the old man was already gone; that soft smile forever frozen on his lips.
Mirage awaited the coming storm; a silent sentinel at the foot of the ziggurat.
Sara's first instinct when she saw the Grineer charging across the plaza was to leap to the attack. Then she saw the Ostron running beside it, earrings jangling. That was a first.
Kael appeared at her side; his Frame placing a stalling hand on Mirage's shoulder.
Volt's twin horns dipped in a shallow nod.
"Friendlies."
The two Warframes stood astride the Short Position, watching as the motley crew of bounty hunters approached. They slowed in trepidation. Even Vern seemed spooked by the sight of the Tenno; and the Corpus mass grave that surrounded them.
Neera didn't recognise Kael until the boy's Warframe slackened; the boy materialising in a flash of incandescent light. He bowed deeply.
"Kid!" she blinked in shock.
"Kael." The boy insisted. "But good to see you Neera."
"We're wasting time." Vern growled. "Isolde needs our help."
Volt and Mirage locked their attention on him with laser focus.
"So she is here." Sara said.
"Where?" Kael asked.
Vern's cheek twitched in a rare display of emotion.
"Nowhere good."
Isolde waited for Eythan Dax to close before she struck; the kunai splitting the air.
It slammed into the Dax's throat. Blood pulsed freely over her hand.
Eythan Dax just smiled at her coldly.
She blinked in surprise. There was no warmth to the savage wound he had been dealt. Just an electric, tickling sensation; as the Dax seemed to warp and distort before her very eyes.
The steel that suddenly tickled her throat confirmed her suspicions.
"You think me so easily fooled, Star-Child?" Eythan Dax's voice growled in her ear. "I learned your brand of treachery long ago."
The spectre projection before her vanished. Something clacked around her neck.
A collar. Humming prongs studded throughout its inner side snapped out, tight against her skin. A rush of surging numbness flowed through every fibre of her being. The keen razor edge of the nikana relaxed, ever so slightly, as he leaned closer; taunting her.
"Did you really think we would allow you to exist without a means of control?"
Trainer's words stayed with her.
React, adapt. Fight or die.
Void Sense was gone. That didn't make her helpless.
Isolde snarled and spun; slashing wildly. Eythan Dax was a master of the Thousand Feats, the very same combat style she herself practiced. They danced and spun; sparks flashing. Kunai met nikana, over and over. He had range, she had nimble speed.
But not enough. Isolde was Tenno. Void-Child, Frame-warrior: a talented killer and a ruthless fighter. But without her Frame, still little more than a teenager; however absurdly skilled.
Eythan was Dax, a warrior fully grown: the very pinnacle of the Orokin fighting form; honed from centuries of conflict. There was no physical comparison.
His hand flashed out and struck her wrist; smashing the kunai from her grasp. Isolde's lashed out; a snap-kick directed at his collar bone. It spun away, deflected effortlessly. Physically he dwarfed her. His guard was such that for all her lancing strikes and twisting hits she may as well be hitting a brick wall. One that hit back, hard.
His open palm thrust was a feint. A flashing elbow snapped past her guard and caught her in the belly; driving the wind from her. Then his hands were around her throat, his gauntleted hand all but swallowing her chin. He squeezed and she croaked; vision blurring.
With a strangled snarl she linked both arms over his wrists; then hooked both feet over his arms; throwing her entire body weight into a rolling twist. They both tumbled down in a clatter of armour. Isolde rolled free, and was already up and moving. She sprinted for the shadows of the dock, beneath the belly of the mighty ship.
Eythan Dax chuckled in approval, rolling to his feet and retrieving his sword with a humming, out-stretched hand. It snapped back into his palm with a meaty smack. He stalked after her, armour rattling with each stride.
His purring chuckle reverberating against the shadowy gantries all around.
"Run and hide, Tenno. Run and hide."
The rebels parted like the sea when Neera stepped into the Boardroom.
Kef Mehrino sat at the table under guard, ashen faced and miserable. Crude iron manacles shackled his wrists.
They left Hosk as they found him; peaceful in his chair by the window.
Sara stood by him; her Warframe parked silent and still by the door. She had heard word over the radio. Had wanted to pay her respects in person. From one warrior to another.
She bowed at Neera, expression solemn.
Neera stepped forward, with leaden footfalls, a tightness in her throat. She rested a hand on his arm, and knelt beside him, blinking quickly.
Sara for her part placed a hand over Hosk's eyes, closing them one final time. She gently pried the Data-Mass from the man's hands; noticed the message scrawled by the stylus. The Data-Mass was caked with blood.
She wiped it clean, as best she could, before passing it to Neera.
"For you." Sara said softly. "Labour rosters. Access codes. Supply movements. More information than the Solaris could ever hope for. Every worker will thank him, and the others who gave their lives today."
Neera wasn't listening. She was trying to read the message through blurry eyes.
Neera
My war has become your own. I can never clear that debt, or repay the cost you have paid in our struggle. I can only hope today settles a few scores.
For my brother. For your mother. For a brighter dawn; a better tomorrow.
With love
Uncle Veng
Neera clasped the Data-Mass in tight her hands; and wept.
They gathered at the height of the ziggurat. As many Solaris as could fit in the confines of the Boardroom. Mixed with Vern's rabble, it made for an eclectic mix: the rangy Ostron and the lumbering Grineer; the war-weary Solaris and the silent, predatory Frames.
Sara took charge, finding herself the leader of this sorry warband. A new plan formed.
Sara crossed to the holographic map of Prospect 141. The ziggurat lay in the heart of the Upper Tier. Board forces advanced on every front.
The map zoomed in. A long shaft formed a central spine through the heart of the colony. Smaller access tunnels darted off from it; facilitating the maintenance crews that toiled endlessly to keep the colony functional. Most of the tunnels had been strategically sealed by insurgent workers, though a few rat runs had been left open for emergencies.
She pointed at the map, commanding the room despite her diminutive height.
"There. Service elevator. City Watch used it to deploy patrols on short notice. Runs all the way to the Lower Tier. The Board have the high ground now, but the rest is still Solaris territory."
"For now." Neera wiped her face, composing herself. She had Hosk's pack on now; the Data-Mass stowed safely inside. "Once they retake the ziggurat, this entire colony will be be made an example."
"Not if we win." Kael replied. The boy had dismounted from his frame, and stood at Sara's side.
"Win?" Vern scoffed at that. "Did you miss that army on your doorstep, or has piloting that… thing clouded your judgement?"
Kael met his stare openly.
"Numbers alone do not guarantee victory."
"Vern's right though." Neera shook her head. "We don't win this in an open fight."
"Then how do we win?" Parson-Luk asked.
One of the brawny demolitions experts; a bruiser of a mech by the name of Sparks spoke up, nodding at the Data-Mass Neera clung to.
"It's a holding action. The Data Mass contains everything we fought for. Extracting it is paramount, or else it's all been for naught."
A murmur of assent filled the room. Sara nodded.
"So we take the elevator, get the Data-Mass clear. Good. That's a start."
"Elevator or no elevator, you're forgetting something." That was Vern again. "Second the Navy takes this place, they're going to be swarming all over the rest of the colony. I've seen patrols deploy from that lift before. Quick isn't the word I'd use."
Sara nodded calmly.
"A rear-guard is necessary, I agree."
Brakarr immediately raised a hand as a volunteer. Vern scowled at him.
The Grineer lowered his hand sheepishly.
Sara smiled, but shook her head; her voice loud and clear.
"The Tenno will hold the line."
Kael nodded solemnly.
"That's a death sentence." Vern sniffed.
"Two against an army?" Parson-Luk shook his head. "Impossible, even for Tenno."
Sara's smile lingered on the Ostron before she vanished.
Mirage shivering as the Transference Link took hold. Her chuckle filled the air.
Mirage cracked her knuckles.
"Who said anything about there only being two of us?"
It fell from the sky. The vague silhouette of a man against pink-scorched yellow clouds.
Long arms close to its sides; in free fall. The wind whipped and shrieked as it descended.
The shape never flinched. It never looked away from the drop-ships below.
The operator breathed deeply, utterly focused.
His skin was rock, his discipline iron.
Primed for destruction; he plummeted, like a meteor.
Like a stone.
The Solaris assembled on the elevator within the assembly point in the depths of the ziggurat. It was broad enough to hold them all, and then some.
Not that there was many of them left to hold.
Neera nodded, giving the order. The young boy pulled the lever. Nobody spoke as the elevator groaned to life, whirring them down into the dark.
Neera glanced around. Everybody was accounted for. Even Mehrino, who stood there shivering in shackles; a Solaris hand clamped on either shoulder.
All except the bounty hunters.
Parson-Luk slid the maintenance hatch aside with a grinding squeal; the bone knife he had used to unscrew the rivets lodged in his teeth.
He stood back, dusting his hands; nodding at his two companions.
Terrenus Vern and Brakarr were geared for war; festooned with looted ammo belts, combat knives and bandoliers of bulging grenades. Even the older hunter had augmented his usual assortment of slings, bows and snares with an altogether more lethal array of Corpus-looted tech.
Vern spared a glance over his shoulder as he paused in the hatchway.
"Clocks ticking. Let's move."
The bounty hunters piled into the dark; beneath the endless clang of marching feet.
The Tenno stood alone at the height of the ziggurat, watching the encroaching army.
A wall of light; shield auras and a sea of drones, rendered a haze by the sheer weight of numbers.
Kael had not seen a force its like since the Old War.
He looked at Sara.
"You think this is a good idea?"
Mirage shrugged.
"Well, it's certainly improvised. Two of us, a bajillion of them. Should be a good fight."
"No shortage of targets." Kael agreed, Volt rolling his neck as Kael limbered up. "Still getting used to being back in the Frame."
Mirage clapped him on the shoulder.
"Corpus have numbers. We have each other. We're playing for time here. Speaking of which…"
The second wave had almost landed. If the third touched down, the sea before them would surely become a tidal wave.
Advanced war proxies bounded across the ruined clearing. Lunging Hyena units; shrilling challenges of warbling scrap-code.
Sara opened the com.
"Doric, now would be a really good time."