Second chapter of the game time frame, this one written by me. The next three were written by my friend.
"You disapprove," Reya suggested as she watched the frost who was standing to her left, resolutely silent.
"I neither approve, nor disapprove," Boreas replied, "I don't have enough information to do either of those things."
"Do you mean to tell me that you lied, just to get that—that man, off that rack?!" the ember seethed.
"I did not say that," Boreas shook his head once, "I know he was with Anya, and I saw how he reacted when he was informed that the tenno were all being transferred to ORSOC. He looked like he'd just lost his entire world. Anya took months to adjust herself. But, to say whether or not this was the appropriate course of action, well…"
"You are not helping," Reya grumbled.
"Sorry," Boreas said, "What will you do now?"
"Let the bastard rot for a while, he's not going anywhere," Reya said dismissively.
"I would suggest at least treating his wounds," Boreas cautioned her, "If he would die, only for us to find Anya and learn that she was still counting on seeing him alive and well after all this time, you could find yourself on the receiving end of not only her incredibly sharp tongue, but her much more deadly sword."
"Duly noted," Reya said, "Take care of it if you're so concerned. But first, I need you to help me review something that the tech team has only just now finished decrypting." On the way out of the room she picked up Ira and the three of them headed for the technology lab.
"What do you suppose they found?" Ira asked Boreas as they followed Reya.
"Hard to say," Boreas said, then he stopped the Loki and said, "I will give you the same advice I gave Reya. If Connor dies before we find Anya, and it turns out that she wanted to see him, you may not like what Anya will do. She cared about him once, if she still does and he dies, she will react badly. And you are not her captain. You will not have the same amount of protection that Reya has."
"Are you threatening me?" Ira bristled.
"Warning you," Boreas corrected.
"I can handle myself, Boreas," Ira growled, then he turned away and stormed after Reya.
Boreas nodded to himself, resigned to the fact that he would likely have to be responsible for keeping Connor alive long enough for Anya to decide what should happen to him herself. He doubted that she would want anything too terrible to happen to the marine, because regardless of whether or not she felt anything for him now, he had been very important to her once. Knowing this, Boreas was certain that she would honor what the two of them had once had. He entered the tech lab behind Ira and made his way to Reya's right, standing just behind her as he looked up at the massive monitor.
"What have we found?" Reya asked the head technician.
"A recorded message, it appears to have been left by a tenno in a nova class warframe," the ex corpus technician replied, "Although this is the first time I've ever seen a helm like that."
"Put it on the main monitor," Reya instructed.
The head technician complied and Boreas heard Ira gasp. There stood Anya in her warframe with her helm held in her hands in front of her chest. She looked exactly as she had the last time Boreas had seen her, although he could tell that shortly before beginning this message she had been crying.
"Play it," Reya said.
"Reya, if you're seeing this right now, you've found my cryopod and you know that I am not inside of it. I didn't do this out of any intention to cause you any undue inconvenience, and if I'd had the choice I wouldn't have left Stock here. The simple fact is, he was going to die and I couldn't let that happen. I wish I didn't have to put you in this position, but with things as they are, I can't do anything else, so I'm asking you this, as a friend… Please keep him safe, don't… don't let anything happen to him…" Anya took a deep breath and brushed away a tear before continuing, "I can't tell you where you will find me now because I don't know where I intend to go myself yet, but when I choose a place I will leave some clues for you and Boreas to follow. The two of you will need Stock's help. He will be the only one who can tell you what at least one of those clues mean." She reached forward, probably to rest her hand on the pod, and said, "Take care of yourself Reya. And take care of Connor… That probably won't be easy, he'll probably be fully confused when he comes out of this thing, but just… give him some time, he'll come around. I'll see you all again, hopefully soon."
No one spoke for a long moment after the recording had ended until Ira finally growled, "We don't need him, captain. We could find her perfectly well on our own without help from Orokin scum!"
"I will not take that chance," Reya said, her tone hard, "If he dies and we can't find her because he isn't around to tell us how to read something, then we may as well kill her ourselves."
"But—!"
"No, Ira," Reya replied, her voice quiet but commanding, "This discussion is over." The Loki gave her a long look and probably a glare from behind his helm, then turned and skulked out of the lab. Reya then turned to look at Boreas who hadn't moved an inch and was still staring at the monitor where Anya was leaned forward pressing a button. "Well, it looks like you were right, at least as of when she recorded this message," the ember said finally.
"So it seems," Boreas said thoughtfully.
"Do you have nothing to say?" Reya prodded before saying, "I never expected this, she never gave any indication that I am aware of that she'd done this. Was this before or after we'd nearly finished destroying the Empire?"
"It is difficult to tell," Boreas finally turned to face Reya, "Anya was always a very private person, she never said more than she felt necessary, no matter the subject. And judging by Ira's reaction, it is possible she felt she had reason to be secretive."
"She didn't even mention Ira," Reya said.
"She was also never on what I would call good terms with Ira," Boreas replied, "They had a complicated relationship right from the start, she only just tolerated him even to begin with."
"I admit there were times when I wasn't sure he would survive her," Reya mused, "I just thought… Well, I thought her hang-up was a tenno. This… This isn't how things were supposed to go."
"I don't think it's as simple as a choice between a tenno and a human," Boreas replied, "As near as I can guess, Anya spent at least two years with a marine infantry regiment before being transferred to ORSOC, and it may have been as long as four years. And I think she chose him based on who he was rather than what he was."
"People change," Reya said stubbornly, "They were apart for two years, how could she be sure he would still care about her?"
"And yet, how could she be sure that he wouldn't care?" Boreas asked in return, "She rejected Ira for two years. Who is to say that Connor didn't reject other women because he was holding out hope for Anya?"
"Maybe you're right, Boreas," Reya sighed, "She never did tell us anything about where she came from and the only times she wasn't alone after the war with the Sentients was when she allowed Talos to go with her. Still, she should have said something."
"Perhaps," Boreas said. He wasn't sure if he thought Anya should have said something or if she had been right to keep the secret. On one hand, Reya had probably deserved to know what she was going to be asked to do before Anya sprung it on her. On the other hand all he needed was Ira's reaction to tell him that the nova had every right to be concerned over what Ira might do about her decision. "Well, it seems we can't just let him die," Reya finally muttered, "Go see what you can do for him, but understand this, he's still a prisoner. I will not have him wandering loose around my ship!"
"You have my word, Reya," Boreas told her, "He will stay in the cell. He's probably safer there for now anyway." Reya nodded and Boreas left the lab to head toward the cell bay.