When you imagine life in the Origin System, what comes to mind is a Grineer Asteroid Base, a Corpus City, or a Relay in orbit. Not a collection of buildings made of wood and stone. But this was what it was like in their colony.
They had traveled long in their convoy of ships in search for a new life on Earth, being saved from a Grineer Galleon that would have either destroyed them. It was only thanks to a Tenno, one of those who slaughtered the Orokin long ago, that they were able to escape and settle on this island in the North-West Hemisphere of Earth.
Having settled along a beach in a bay in the south-west part of the island, whatever traces of civilization, Orokin, or otherwise, had long been lost to time, and they had built a life for themselves here. They had survived the New War and Narmer. The Murex that crashed in the bay was left alone, a constant reminder of what Ballas subjected them to, his 'truth'.
But that peaceful life was now gone, the town in flames and corpses littered the streets, but this was not a Grineer raid as you would expect. No, this enemy was different.
They arrived from some sort of void gate inside a stone gateway that appeared from thin air in the main plaza. They emerged from the dark portal, men in iron armor, with massive, winged lizards as mounts and countless creatures of varying sizes. They slaughtered those who fought back, and captured those who didn't, who knows what they had planned for them. She had been thrown into a nearby marsh and had been knocked out when a nearby gas tank they used for heating during the winter had caught fire and exploded. Several of there soldiers were in the blast radius and were strewn across the ground in various states of injury, some even dead.
When she woke up, she let the air in her lungs escape and quickly swam to the surface. Taking a moment to catch her breath, she looked at the marsh and saw the bodies in the water filled with arrows. They had tried to escape like her, but had been shot by there archers, but these were not the arrows she knew, there were finely built out of light metal. These arrows were made of wood, with metal tips and feather lining at the back. This manner of construction had been abandoned millennia ago, even by the Ostron, so why did these people have them.
She was stirred from her thoughts and grief when she heard the tongue of the invaders, no doubt looking for survivors. She saw them try to wade through the water, but a Grineer Lancer would have a better time moving through the water than them in their single plate armor, which looked heavy, but some of them had horses, who could easily traverse the marsh.
She knew where she had to go to get help, putting on her hood, she ran into the jungle that surrounded the area, her presence alerting the soldiers who shouted, arrows flying towards her but missing or hitting the trees. Luck was on her side for now, but for how long?
Running as fast as she could, she found what she was looking for. An old Orokin Tower, long abandoned. It's opulent white and gold covered by overgrowth. Climbing the stairs, she entered the main hall. Within, she found the comms array. It had been installed here in case of a Grineer raid, but this would surely qualify too. Before she got to it, she took out a lotus flower, glowing with purple light. Since the beginning of life, it had been prized as a rare beauty, and yet it blooms amidst filth and decay. More than that it was the symbol of the Tenno. Sure, their clans had different names and symbols on their banners, but this flower represented them. She placed it on the table to remind her of who she was calling. She turned on the radio system, humming to life as the generator powered it up. Once the screen lit up, she chose the ones who would receive the message and spoke.
"Tenno, if you are receiving this message, we need your help. Our colony has been attacked by unknown men, with strange beasts and monsters, they came from some sort of void gate. You helped us once when you could have left us to die, so I'm begging you. Please help us."
Now that the message had been sent, with the coordinates of this tower attached to the message, she only hoped they got here in time to save her people.
Meditation helps to clear the mind and rest your body, especially after battle. Provided Ordis didn't interrupt him with random trivia or his attempts at humor. Even after learning the truth about him from the scattered Cephalon Fragments across the system, he'd accepted him as a part of the team, even after he built that little Sentinel body, his Host Migrator as he called it, during Narmer's occupation of the system.
Waking up in my current Warframe, Protea Prime, I got out of the meditation stance and took in the scenery. My Orbiter was nestled in the cave mouth it had been during the war. He occasionally took it to space, but he needed to maintain contact with Kahl-175 and his garrison. He did enjoy Horrek's cooking, it beat the bland nutrition cubes he usually ate.
Ordis floated over to him in his Host Migrator, looking worried. "Operator, you are receiving a direct communication from Lua, it's the Lotus."
Knowing she only directly called us in emergencies, I accepted the call and familiar visage appeared, along with the moniker I chose for her. While some chose Margulis, the name of the one who cared for her after the Zariman, Lotus in nostalgia for her long time in the persona, I chose to call her by her true name, Natah. No more hiding behind masks, titles or stolen names, this was her true name.
"Tenno, I just received a distress call from a remote colony, they are under attack. From what I heard; they are from the convoy you saved when you were dealing with Vor all those years ago when you first awoke. You saved them once; you must save them again. Their settlement has been uploaded to Navigation."
"Is it a Grineer raid, Nef Anyo looking for a quick credit, or an Infested Horde?"
"From what the message states, they appear to be human, but clothed and armed with primitive clothing and weapons. Single plate armor and wooden bows and arrows. Though they did report massive winged lizards, like the old stories about dragons, being used as mounts and strange creatures."
"I'll investigate, check for survivors and eliminate them."
"The mission will be at your discretion, but see if you can capture any high-ranking officials, they may have information we can use."
"Officers always want to stand out from the grunts, make themselves feel important. I'll know them when I see them. Anything else?"
"One last thing Tenno, it says that these people came through a void gate, investigate and if possible, shut it down."
"Got it."
With that the transmission ends, and it was time to choose my loadout. Based on the description of these invaders, they were some kind of primitive army, one that, if he recalled his old history lessons, relied more on numbers, attrition and firm loyalty to the military hierarchy. Of course, there may be variations from what was in the history books, that and most records of the past had been sealed away by the Orokin, to discard any blemishes to the Golden Record, and Drusus, who recorded only the stories of Warframes.
Pushing those thoughts to the side, I accessed the arsenal to choose my Warframe. I did a quick browse and settled on the loadout for Oberon Prime, armed with a Stravadar Prime, an Akstiletto Prime, and Silva and Aegis Prime, the flaming mace and shield. If these primitives wished to fight up close, who was he to deny them. My companion for this mission would be the Helios Prime Sentinel, would make it easy to gather basic information on the enemy, anything else would come from interrogation. My on-person gear was the same, with the deployment beacons for the specters and support ready for use, and my Mausolon arch-gun and Bonewidow Necramech would be useful. With everything ready, I head for the Liset, the Prime skin displayed. But before I left, I had to ask Ordis something.
"Ordis, did the lotus contact other Tenno about this."
"Yes Operator, they might join you in the field after you arrive."
"Good, see if you can send an invite as well."
"Already done Operator."
With that done, I went to the Liset and entered the destination, and so, I returned to the battlefield.
Authors notes: This is my first attempt at a fanfic, hope its' a good first attempt. I am using my own Warframe Character, and this story is post-New War. Any suggestions on how to make the Gate side move forward is welcome, and anybody with Warframe characters are welcome to give basic information so that they can show up in the story, but I'll need a name, a description of there personality, there loadout and appearance. Hope I can update regularly. Until next time.