Call of the Void

by llJaysimll

The Indifference; the greatest mistake of Albrecht Entrati. And the Drifter; the older, ill-fated counterpart of the very 'catalyst tenno' that made the deal to save the children of the Zariman - and the only one who could stop It's plans. Deciding the Drifter is too much of a threat to ignore, It banishes him to the other side of the universe... to a planet full of academies.

1. Fass - Prologue

ATTENTION - ATTENTION - ATTENTION
SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE STORY AND LORE OF WARFRAME ARE GUARANTEED! CALL OF THE VOID WILL SPOIL YOU!
Turn back and return at a later time if you want to experience the Warframe story for yourself!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

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I do not want to commission you, artists. Go somewhere else. All queries will be considered spam/soliciting and ignored.
If you wish to draw fanart for the sake of art, that is fine. I have no issues with people who draw simply to enjoy creating.

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►PSA Feburary 24th, 2025 (Still valid as of March 26, 2025—this is STILL ONGOING)

This site's servers are having continued stability issues that result in chapters disappearing at random, making the story unreadable.
If you see chapters disappearing, they were NOT deleted. They will reappear eventually; Be patient. Alternatively, navigate to the ArchiveOfOurOwn version and read it over there if the chapters refuse to reappear.

If I accidentally f***ed up and copied the same chapter twice, go to the AO3 version and leave a comment for my stupid ass so I can fix it. It sometimes happens.

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Please note the following critical information before reading this story. Failure to read and understand the information below or skipping it may risk disappointment or misinterpreted context.

- Warframe will depicted as lore-accurate over gameplay-accurate. This means certain things, such as mods, will either be ambiguous or left out of this story. There are a few specific exceptions to this.
- My primary knowledge on Blue Archive originates from watching Blue Archive The Animation, which is augmented by supplementary research into the actual gacha game, such as YouTube videos or reading the two wikis that exist. This is an ongoing process. I had begun to start playing the Blue Archive mobile game, but stopped by the time I started writing Chapter 2 because I could not invest the time required.
- The creation of this story was inspired by reading a few already-existing Blue Archive crossovers that are popular and very well written; Any resemblance to these stories contained within mine is purely coincidental and unintentional, but I may be using them as inspiration.
- There will be no romance. End of discussion.
- An ArchiveOfOurOwn version exists where I frequently engage with the comments. I do not reply to reviews publicly on this site. While I do read every review on this site, you are highly recommended to create an AO3 account and leave a comment over there, instead of a review over here.
- Because I am actively learning new information on Blue Archive, existing chapters may be modified, re-written, shuffled around in order, or have new chapters added between already-existing ones*. If you write your review on a chapter other than 1, there is a chance that your review won't accurately reflect what is actually in the chapter in the future. Keep this in mind when you post your thoughts.

*Below is an edit tracker. This exists to log corrections that are necessary because of learned knowledge or retroactive lore changes from the Blue Archive devs. Only the most recent few will remain logged.

You are recommended to skip this and return once you have caught up.

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-Edit Tracker-

Most Recent Changes:

-Began rereading my own story, where time permits, in an effort to polish older chapters and correct long-forgotten editing mistakes

-(Warframe U38.5 release) Added some mentions to Techrot Encore stuff where relevant

-(Before CH6 release) Wakamo's reading adjusted due to accidental lowballing

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Joy.
Anger.
Envy.
Sorrow.
And Fear.

I still remember that moment when the adults aboard the Zariman Ten Zero were infested with the errant void energy. How each of those 5 emotions broke the very people sworn to protect, nurture and guide us.

The Joyful celebrated as if they had been graced by the Golden Lords themselves.
The Angry laid scorn upon their peers for ill-perceived sins non-committed.
The Envious coveted us, the children, for surviving the unlight.
The Sorrowful weeped for nothing, their tears saturated with the contaminated void energies.
And the Fearful cowered themselves into little corners and went outright catatonic.
They are the five emotions that can drive a person mad. Too much of just one, and it's over; each one can unmake you in its own twisted way if you let too much of it into your heart.

I still remember how they broke my parents.

Each kid aboard the Zariman Ten Zero was given a copy of Euleria Entrati's book Tales of Duviri. A storybook that taught balance through the story of Dominus Thrax and his five royal courtiers, who each embodied the 5 emotions. If it weren't for that book... I probably wouldn't have survived the immediate aftermath of making that deal with Him.

For the best counter to excess emotion is an absence of emotion.
Indifference.

I am Indifferent.
And apparently, I am a Tenno.
We, the Tenno, defend the Origin System from the constant threats of the rotted Grineer, the profit-gluttonous Corpus, the unholy Infestation, the vengeful Sentients, and the zealous Narmer. And now, we use our Indifference to keep the heralds of the Indifference at bay - the Murmur...

...At least, if it weren't for Him.

---

I feel the Landing Craft dock inside the Orbiter. I could not see what was happening, but I could feel all the shaking and the bumping. I could even picture in my head what it was like; after all, I had done this thousands of times already.

No, really. I've lost track how many times I've done this. How many missions I've gone on, how many foes I've killed, how many prisoners I've saved or how many VIP's I've captured for the Lotus to extract info - or assets - out of. I wanted to say I was tired of this. But... even to this day, I still take enjoyment in making the Origin System better, one mission at a time.

It hadn't even been a few years since the New War ended, and I've probably done as many missions as my Operator counterpart had. I ruminate on this as the Landing Craft finishes docking, and I feel the warframe swivel around. The warframe-shaped port underneath the Lander unmagnetizes, allowing me to step off.

And I was going to get right back in in just a couple minutes to do it all over again.

"Ordis, fire up the Foundry." I say out loud as I make my way to the main chamber of the Orbiter.

I walk up the slope and over to the Arsenal platform, intent on swapping my loadout around. I had just returned from a Spy mission on Neptune, intent on raiding their vaults to find some supplies I needed, namely Orokin Cells and Control Modules. But, as usual, the Corpus were being smart(ish) and seemingly only kept credits or relics and the like in their planetary vaults now.

By now, resources weren't much of an issue for me. But there was always that one thing that required just a little more than what I had then storage. Pisses me off when that happens, but that's life I guess.

After the 15th batch in a row of 3 vaults still not yielding the particular stuff I was looking for, I've decided to shelve this idea for later. There were better things that needed doing...

...Like joining Amir in the arcade so he can show me how to beat Caliber Chicks 2. Sol, I'm addicted to that game. The Ludoplex of my time doesn't even begin to compare to the shit they had back then.

A couple minutes later, I finished adjusting my loadout. I was now piloting a Lavos Prime, equipped with a Soma Prime (an old favorite), a pair of Pyrana Primes and a Stropha. I stretch the limbs of the Lavos Prime, a sort-of habit I do to test the Transference link's integrity, and meander over to the foundry.

"Here are the items available to craft." Ordis's voice crackles over the speakers. "There's quite a few instruments of- MERCILESS SLAUGHTER- Tenno weaponry available to craft. Which one will the Op- err, Drifter choose?"

I shake my head. "Not a weapon today, Ordis. You've got that most recent blueprint pulled up?"

"One moment please... Yes, I do. A weapon part, it seems." Ordis vocalizes, sounding curious for some reason. "...Ordis must say, the Orokin never had any records of this 'Sony Discman' device. Just how far back is this '1999'...?"

"Beats me. Just craft it for me."

"As the O- Drifter wishes."

The foundry begins crafting the device. This was something Aoi showed me - a portable music player of their time. Despite how far we are in the future, the only way to play music on the go was Octavia's kit.

I've never touched Octavia, but my younger self loves to use her. Can't see why, honestly.

I usually walk away at this point to do some other things, like tweaking my loadout or go watch some TV in the Backroom. In fact, I was about to go do the latter and marathon some movies. But right as I turned to walk towards my personal quarters, my ears picked up a very peculiar sound - some sort of Foundry malfunction. I turn around, and see the foundry has stopped crafting the item right as it began.

"Uh... Ordis?" I called out. "The foundry paused itself. That's not supposed to happen."

"Indeed. How very strange..."

I lean against the nearby wall, watching Ordis puppeteer the foundry. But everytime it seems as if it restarts, the machine sparks violently for a very brief moment, shuts off and restarts itself a couple seconds later to a blank state.

"Operator, Ordis is trying to restart it, but this- FRUSTRATING PIECE OF- strange anomaly is occurring. The foundry itself is... rejecting me? This is highly erratic!"

"It's rejecting you? But you're in total control of the ship, how can it reject you?"

"Ordis doesn't know! This foundry is maintained to a high degree of standards, Ordis makes sure of that at the end of every standard cycle!" The Cephalon cries out in frustration. "It's as if... something is physically interfering with the machine!"

"What?" I say, as I stop leaning on the wall. As I crouch down, I am knocked off my feet suddenly as the whole ship starts violently shaking. "Augh, what the!?"

Alarms begin blaring inside the Orbiter. I look up through the glass and see local space start folding on itself. An ellipsoidal tear in the stars opens up. A Void Storm. I observe the stars tear themselves open, and encompass both my orbiter and my Railjack in their entirety, leaving the scenery a chaotic blend of chromatic non-light as the only sight to see.

"Warning!" Ordis shouts through the ship speakers. "Category 5 void storm! Where in the Golden Lords did it come from!?"

"Not so fast, Buddy."

I feel my body freeze.

That was my own voice, but younger. Which meant The Indifference decided to make an untimely appearance. I turn to my right, seeing the Man in the Wall's twisted version of my counterpart standing on the ramp leading to the navigation room.

"You... is that storm your doing?" I point at him with my right hand.

"Bingo, Buddy!" The Man in the Wall claps sarcastically. "You get 100 points on the test!"

I try to reach behind my back to grab my rifle, but my Warframe doesn't comply. I remain there, frozen and quite literally unable to move.

"Ah-ah-ah. You won't be doing any of that right now. What with you saving those infested freaks, I'd say you've become a little too... inconvenient." He smiled. I couldn't tell what emotion was behind that smile. "So... I'm gonna take care of the problem!"

That does not sound good. 'Take care of the problem'... like killing me?

There were very few things that genuinely got to me. Thanks to being stuck in Duviri for an amount of time so I no longer even knew, I had a great degree of control over my emotions. But there are a few things that can completely throw that control out the window. The Man in the Wall was one of those very few things.

It seemed like he noticed what I was thinking about, because he started smiling ear-to-ear.

"Oh don't worry, Buddy. It's not like I even could... even if I wanted to." the Man in the Wall stopped smiling for a brief second, and I felt my blood run a bit colder when he said that last part. But he went right back to smiling like nothing happened. "So I'm gonna make you a deal you can't refuse."

The ship shook more violently than last time, knocking my Warframe on its back. With no control of my Warframe, I transferred back into my normal form, and kicked myself up onto my feet. Then, I looked Him directly in the eyes from where I stood.

"What? What deal are you ta-"

"Here's what's gonna happen." He cuts me off. "I'm not gonna kill you, or strip your abilities like your Tenno counterpart has. Ah-ah, I'm not cruel like that. But as part of the deal, you're no longer gonna interfere in my affairs. And those freaks you saved? They should've been DEAD, so I'm gonna include them as part of the deal."

The Man in the Wall then looks at me square in the eyes. Although he was smiling, his gaze was deadly serious.

"Actually, you know what? I think I will take away something from you. Your ability to rewind time? Too much. Off it goes."

He held out His hand, and a harsh wave of energy hit me that made me stumble to my knees. I felt a strand of something in my mind get cut, likely my ability to begin again like he said. I struggled myself back to my feet, having to use a nearby piece of walling as support.

"Void storm is intensifying!" Ordis cries out, as if what just happened wasn't bad enough. "The readings from my scanners are off the existing scale by a factor of more than 4! Ordis has NEVER seen anything like this!- WE ARE SO FUCKED!"

As Ordis finishes, The Man in the Wall starts walking to me, his steps carrying a sick sense of jubilee. "Oh, but it gets better! Because you get to keep all the equipment and other stuff you've kept up to this point! Now, with all that said and done..."

The Man in the Wall keeps walking until he is just a few steps from in front of my face. He brings up one of his hands, which is missing an index finger. He holds it up to my face, bringing that same index finger up to my nose. Even though it's nonexistent...

I can still feel its touch.

"...This is goodbye, Buddy. Never come back, or I will unmake you."

His mouth moves in sync to the words, but they are spoken by the very air all around me. The ship shakes not in rhythm to the current Void Storm, but to his words. He then pushes his hand forward, and I feel a terrible pain grip my entire being.

"Operator!? OPERATOR!"

The last thing I hear before the darkness fully grips me, is the sound of my loyal Cephalon crying out in concern.

...

...

...

We thirst for the seven wailings.
We bear the koan of Jericho.

...

...

...

---

"-sigh-... The situation isn't improving..."

Rin could feel a headache creeping in. Paperwork on top of paperwork, and it all kept piling up ever since the General Student Council President had suddenly disappeared a week ago. She had lost count of how many damage reports she had read from academies all over the city. Every district, every single district, had some sort of ongoing crisis as a direct result of the Sanctum Tower's inoperable state. Only just did Rin finish reading a report from Yuuka of Seminar that Millennium's wind generators were now shut down and inoperable.

She was losing sleep over this. If this kept up, more than a few hairs on her head would end up grey by the end of this week.

"...Request for crisis aid... approved... request for deployment of vehicles... approved... request for-"

LOHK
TOHK
TENHOK

The entire room... no, the very air itself vibrated to the sound of a deep and disembodied voice. Rin frantically got up, unconsciously unholstering her high-caliber handgun. When the voice stopped speaking, a violent shockwave suddenly hit her and shattered the window pane next to her desk, throwing her off her feet and into the wall. Dazed and on her ass, she got up a couple seconds later, though she was gripped by an extreme headache. She almost stumbled back onto her knees, which would have ended badly...

"...What... the..."

Rin looked out of the window towards the sky. The sun was part-way through setting, which meant some of the stars were already out. Usually, when Rin needed a few minutes break, she would look out at the stars absentmindedly to clear her head. A nice temporary distraction from all the bureaucracy in her everyday life as part of the General Student Council.

But what she wasn't expecting was to see the sky itself split open. A great tear across the horizon, with chromatic shimmering light. And just as quick as she saw it, it disappeared as soon as she had blinked.

Rin looked down to her hands, confirming that she wasn't seeing double. She then pinched herself.

"Ow!"

Yes. She was, in fact, real and alive. So what in god's name was that...?

Rin carefully stepped through the broken glass. She looked out across the horizon through the now-broken window for any smoldering buildings or craters. Yet she saw absolutely none. Confused, she turned around and exited her office, walking down one of the hallways and entering an empty office on the opposite side of her own.

There were no craters or destroyed property on that side either.
Rin exited that empty office room and paced around the floor, looking out of every available window that was there. Somehow, none of these other ones were shattered or damaged like the one in her office room was, which unsettled her even more. Was she targeted? Did she accidentally infuriate someone?

...Perhaps now would be a good time to clock out. Whatever just happened would require an investigation.

---

...
"...erator..."

"...Operator..."

"OPERATOR"!
"Wha!?"

I awoke with a jolt. I looked to my left, seeing my Lavos Prime on its back. Thankfully, it was still there. I looked down at my hands, which were just as normal as they've always been. To confirm, I reached down and pinched my thigh.

Yeah, that hurt. Still in tangible realspace, I think.

"Ordis, status report." I say, transferring into the warframe and getting to my feet.

"U... Operator, you're not going to believe this."

"Believe what?" I bark back sarcastically. "We're already deep in the shit now that the Man in the Wall took action against us. Can't possibly get any worse, right?"

"...I think the Operator... Drifter may want to see this for himself. Please relocate to the navigation room."

Confused, I performed the stretch with Lavos Prime again, and checked my weaponry. It was all still there at least, so perhaps He wasn't lying about me getting to keep all my stuff. As instructed, I walked up the ramp into the navigation room. And right away, I noticed two things immediately. First, my decorations were knocked off the desk. This included a vase, which I had been using to store Prex cards, being shattered all across my floor and spreading the cards every which way.

"Oh for fucks sake..." I mutter to myself. All the things in my personal quarters were also probably knocked over as well.

But then I saw the second thing. We were no longer in space, but in the atmosphere of Earth. I speedwalked past the market and Codex consoles and spilled Prex cards, and pressed my warframe against the glass to get a better look. As I looked down, I saw we were hovering roughly in the thermosphere, high above some sort of enormous metropolis.

I push myself off the glass. "What in the... Ordis, have you ever seen a city like that in the Origin System?"

"Negative, Operator." Ordis replied, sounding equally as baffled. "Additionally, Ordis has performed a cursory scan of the architecture. It does not match any known records for Orokin settlements. It also doesn't match any Grineer or Corpus records."

"And there's no place like this on Earth. By the Seven, He wasn't kidding... What about the stars, do you recognize any of them?" I ask with a little desperation.

"...I'm afraid not, Operator. I have identified roughly 327953 stars observable from our current position. None of them match any known stars within my database. We're- DEEP IN THE SPACE STICKS - in uncharted territory."

This was fucking bad. Very bad.

So... I'm now cut off from any and all Tenno comms channels, meaning I can't even send a distress signal even if I wanted to. Although my Railjack had also made the trip with me - though it is now wreathed in void energies like the Tempestarii was - I do not think Cephalon Cy would want to risk endangering it further without access to the means to repair it. I wouldn't want to do the same until I better understood the situation.

Second problem, any and all resources I had were now non-renewable; especially Orokin Cells. So I had to start carefully considering what to craft, which equipment was worth investing my limited resources into, and I'd have to disassemble weapons instead of selling them to recoup some of the material costs. I had never ever used that function of the foundry in the Orbiter's service life, so I'm not sure this would even work.

Third problem... Actually, hold that thought.

I transferred out of the Warframe and folded myself between the void and realspace, and then returned fully to realspace. I then channeled the ways of Vazarin, and deployed a Guardian Shell. I repeated a similar process when I channeled the Ways of the other schools - Naramon, Unairu, Zenurik and Madurai.

I still had access to all of my void-based powers. So I guess point three was moot, then.

However, there was still another, even more severe problem.

Fourth off: I could no longer feel any connection to my Operator counterpart.
I am usually able to switch with him whenever we reconvene on the Orbiter or in the Dormizone, but we can never exist in the Origin System at the same time. However, I always feel that connection in the back of my head, whenever I'm the one doing things here or when I'm taking care of business in The Circuit while the Operator is here.

That connection is completely gone. It's as if I've been cut off from him entirely. It's the exact same sensation as when I'm present in Höllvania, 1999.

I don't know what to think of that. It's kind of a big problem, I'd say. It'll have to get dealt with later. There were too many things I had to make sure of now.
If I am totally cut off like I think I am, that means I have to start getting my bearings as my absolute highest priority.

I returned to my Lavos Prime, and began walking to the landing craft dock.

"Ordis, we're still cloaked right?"

"Affirmative, Drifter." Ordis replied cheerfully. "We have maintained cloak since Mission #08093 on Neptune."

"Good. Reposition the Orbiter to maintain a tidally locked orbit in this planet's thermosphere. I'm taking the Parallax down there. Tell Cy on my behalf to do a full systems check on the Railjack. If he reports everything is fine, tell him to fly around the planet and map it out for us."

"As you wish, Drifter. May I make a suggestion?"

I stop walking. "What kind of suggestion?"

"Perhaps you should have Helios Prime accompany you. If this is indeed an unknown orbital body, it would surely yield some interesting data. Just think of all the wildlife you can- SLICE AND DICE FOR A GOOD DINNER- catalog, or the ores to be found."

...That's a damn good point. I didn't think of that. It's been so long since I've used Helios, because I've already scanned almost everything there is to scan in the Origin System. In fact, I don't think it's been touched since Tenno operations on the surface of Deimos began, and I didn't have the opportunity to field it while Narmer held control.

I chuckle. "You're starting to sound a bit like Simaris. But I agree. Boot it up, I'll wait for it by the dock. Oh, and be careful with what we have. All our stuff can't be replenished and re-armed anymore."

"Affirmative. I will update my day-to-day protocols to account for this complication."

While I waited for my Helios Prime to catch up with me, I carefully weighed my options and my next moves. If the planet's ores were of high enough quality, there's a slight chance I can use them as a stand-in for Origin System resources. Or perhaps - and far more likely - the blueprints I had would need to be modified to account for these ores, leading to diminished performance.

It's a good thing all the equipment I wanted is stuff I already had. But as for ammo... that's a big problem that would need a solution, and fast. Recharging weapons notwithstanding, almost all ranged weapons I had required ammo that needed to be bought, looted off a Corpus or Grineer body (or supply cache), or hand-crafted from scratch. The only way I'd get ammo for my weapons is Lavos (who I was going to use) or Protea.

...And there's probably even more things I'm forgetting about.

---

"What do you mean the President is gone!?"

This day only kept getting worse. As if earlier's anomalous mishap wasn't enough, several students had now requested her presence. Yuuka of Seminar, Suzumi of Trinity's Vigilante Crew, Chinatsu of the Prefect Team and Hasumi of the Justice Task Force had aired their various grievances to her. She had only just now concluded the meeting. Her ears were practically ringing from all their shouting.

Rin's patience was really being tested today... She considered herself lucky she was still passing that test.
The only question now was if Schale had fallen. To that end, Rin (reluctantly) dialed Momoka.

...

"Momoka, what's the current status of the Schale club room?"

"Lost."

Rin nearly stumbled off her feet. "What do you mean, lost!? We lost control of the SCHALE Tower!?"

Momoka sighed. "Yeah, uh, a huge force of criminals managed to make our defenses look like amateurs. On top of that, a suspended student from the Corrections Bureau went and joined 'em. It's not looking so good right now."

Rin almost wanted to scream bloody murder. But by some sheer miracle, she kept herself reigned in just enough to keep talking.

"...Is there anything else?" Rin said, her voice trembling with a mixture of fury and... fear.

"Uh..." Momoka paused for a second before continuing. "...Yeah, so it turns out that they've got a Crusader tank. They've reinforced the perimeter, so they're probably trying to occupy and keep the building."

Rin went completely quiet. But much to her chagrin, Momoka kept talking.

"Ah well. City's already a dump anyways, so I don't think it matters much now. Oh! Hey, so uh, my food's gonna be here soon. Gimme a call if you need anything else. Bye-bye now!"

The line went dead. Rin almost crushed the phone, but with the last ounce of her restraint, she stopped herself. That said... she couldn't stop herself from punching a hole in the nearby wall out of frustration and desperation.

The city was in chaos. The academies were slowly losing control of their districts. And now, the SCHALE Tower is lost. Everything Rin stood for was falling apart in real time, and she had no idea how to stop it. Rin looked down at the hoister containing her high-caliber pistol... and sighed deeply.

That Sensei they were expecting still hadn't showed up. Rin was beginning to lose hope.

She herself wasn't a person meant for combat. But she'd be damned if she was gonna let SCHALE Tower fall, even if it wasn't functional.

Rin made her way to the elevator. There were four people currently summoning her. Maybe she'd have to ask them to help.

---

"Holy shit... Ordis, you seeing this?"

≪ Indeed I am, Operator. ≫ Ordis replied. ≪ It appears the inhabitants are undergoing some sort of civil war. Ordis can see the destruction from up here! ≫

I sat perched on top of one of the tall buildings. From the moment I dropped from the Parallax, I could see fighting in the streets - on one street it was faction on faction, but on other streets it was a complete free-for-all. As I hopped from the roofs of buildings to buildings, scaling up and down the side of them, I noted how much this resembled something I read about in the history books after the New War.

It's like the Orokin Empire immediately after the Collapse.

"...This is not good." I remarked. "We've gotta figure out a way to stop it."

≪ Ordis is unsure if we would even be able to do that. However, If I may suggest Operator, it appears a number of forces are stationed around the tallest building within this extremely large metropolis. It also appears that a number of other forces are converging on the location. ≫

"Then that's where we're headed." I replied. I unholstered the Soma Prime off my back. "Helios, scan any and all combatants. Do not engage."

The Helios Prime vocalized an electronic chirp in acknowledgement as I continued building hopping. But as I jumped from roof to roof of these bland, tall rectangles, I dropped to lower and lower ones so I could get a better look at the situation with my own two eyes. Crouching behind some sort of industrial machine on the roof of one of the buildings, I brought out my Soma Prime and aimed at the combatants to get their Combat Capability Assessment (CCA) levels through the Warframe's heads-up display.

Every enemy had a level to them. The level is determined by how strong the foes are, how much of a beating they can take, any kind of special abilities they might have, and how well equipped they are. Generally, enemies at level 150 and under are pushovers, while enemies above level 300 are competent. Anything above roughly 800 are genuine threats.

And anything 2,500 plus could probably tear through a Warframe like we kill Grineer and Corpus fodder.

"...Level 60, Level 28, Level 131... they're all over the place. Nothing special, though."

≪ How unusual. Under normal circumstances, the enemies' levels would remain within a steady and consistent range. ≫ Ordis noted.

"Yeah. At the very least, they all seem human..." I trail off as I catch something through my vision. "...Nah, hold that thought. I see some civvies running to cover, they look like... Wait, what the fuck?"

≪ How terse, Drifter! ≫ Ordis chastised. ≪ Ordis presumes something has stupefied you? ≫

"Yeah, stupefied alright. Gobsmacked, even." I reply with exasperation. "So those civvies I was talking about? They're all animals. Half of 'em are some sort of Kubrow variant, and I see another set of 'em as a distant Kavat variant. Mix in some robots too, who look oddly human... except for their heads. All of them are dressed like humans."

≪ ...Animals acting like humans? Is the Drifter- TRIPPING ON SOME NASTY SHIT- pulling my leg? ≫

"No, I'm not." I defend. "There's also some actual humans fighting in the street. A group of girls with weird haircuts and skirts that almost touch the ground, and they're fighting a group of robots with... hair?"

≪ This is sounding more and more preposterous by the second! And yet, with every crazy fact established, it sounds more and more believable. ≫

"...Yeah, uh, about that. Do I sound crazy if I said that all of those girls had Signa's?"

≪ They have Signa's? How fascinating. I was under the impression only Tenno equipped Signa's. What type are they? ≫

"I'm not sure. They have the general shape and position of a Tomoe Signa, but... they appear holographic?"

≪ Perhaps an Ephemera of some sort?≫ Ordis said. He then went quiet for a couple seconds. ≪ ...I apologize Operator, but I am unable to directly assist with your intelligence gathering. From the scans provided by Helios Prime, it appears I cannot detect or interface with the technology on this planet. I really truly am sorry... ≫

"Nah, I was expecting that to be the case. I mean, I can't tell what era all this stuff is from. I mean, the architecture up close looks more like Höllvania's Earth than ours. But with all these people with haloes too, it's..."

I trail off. I had failed to notice something peculiar underneath their levels until now. I bring my Soma Prime back up to get a better look again. I watch that group of human girls absolutely curbstomp the robots with weird haircuts, as if the fighting beforehand was just a warmup. As I look from one of them to another from my vantage point, I notice one commonality between all of them.

Every single one of them had Overguard.

≪ Operat- Drifter, what's the matter? You have gone quiet. ≫

"Those girls have overguard on them."

≪ Like an Eximus unit?! Drifter, you must exercise caution! ≫

"Yeah yeah. Can you mark that place you were talking about for me? All these damn towers look the same, so there's not much worth sightseeing."

≪ Marking the large building on your HUD. Consider avoiding combat unless you have to. ≫

I grumbled a little as I kept hopping from building to building. "Couple kilometers, huh. Haven't trekked this far on foot in a long, long time."

Just then, I hear the sparks of the Warframe's shield being hit. I look to my side, and see a couple of combatants firing at me while their peers deal with more immediate threats. I almost return fire, but opt not to in order to maintain what little stealth I may have. I didn't bring my Ivara or Shade Prime, after all.

From years of experience, I can say this with absolute confidence: people don't look at what's above their heads.

≪ Operator, I am detecting a large influx of forces about to arrive at the marker. Please be careful. ≫

"Ordis, you've seen the kind of shit I've been through. If these enemies are only around the low triple digits, I can take care of 'em easy. Especially with all the chaos and distraction going on."

≪ Yes, but this is unknown territory! ≫ Ordis countered. ≪ We don't know what the inhabitants are capable of! Especially if they are equipped with Overguard without being Eximus units... ≫

"While you are right, refer to what I just said." I counter simply.

Ordis shuts up after I say that, leaving me and Helios to jump rooftops as we have been.
I can see the building itself now... It was at least 3 or 4 times as large as the surrounding buildings. Some sort of large aerial vehicle flew in the airspace near it... was it some sort of balloon like those the Ostron use to transport the harvested tower flesh from the Unum?

As I got closer and closer, I scaled up the tallest building near the tall tower with a clear view of the ground, and crouched down on the roof. To better understand just what the hell was going on, I had to do a little intel-gathering before I jumped into the fray like I always did.

"Helios, switch on your directional mic. I need to hear what's going on."

I found a good spot to post up, taking position and bringing my Soma Prime out again. Using the built-in zoom functionality built into every warframe, I observed the troops stationed on the ground in front of the building. Perhaps it would've been smarter to bring out a different warframe more suited towards recon, such as Cyte-09 or Titania, but this is what I had for now.

While I observed from a distance, Helios Prime started playing the audio it was picking up from a distance.

≪ You hear those Valkyrie Police School fools tried to mount up an attack? We sure shut that down, didn't we? ≫

...By the grace of the gilded emperors, they spoke Orokin? Did that mean that this planet was some sort of colony outside of Origin? Or more likely, was this another alternate Earth like I thought?

≪ Heh. With the Prefect Team all spread out, I doubt they'll be able to push us out of the tower. ≫

So whoever was occupying this building were likely some sort of criminals. Not the first time I've seen this, but... what a very peculiar choice of words.

Valkyrie Police School - an entire school of peacekeepers? How exactly does that work?

≪ Hey, you think the General Student Council will try to make a move on us? ≫

≪ Hah? Of course they will, we took their 'holy building'. 'Course they're gonna try and pine for us. ≫

≪ Too bad for them, we have a tank. Those idiots won't know what hit 'em. ≫

So this huge monolith was some sort of holy building, and some criminals had moved to capture and secure it. Perhaps it was some sort of high court or militarily strategic asset? It sure didn't seem like the tower smack bang in the middle of Höllvania.
I put my hand on the ledge and was about to jump over when I heard Ordis speak over the comms.

≪ Operator, wait! The forces I mentioned are about to arrive imminently! ≫

I stop myself from vaulting the roof and return to my concealment. I look over the ledge and see some sort of motorized aerial vehicle approaching from several kilometers out. The vehicle descends to the ground and deploys a group of about 4 teenage-seeming females. I couldn't make out fine details, but I could tell they were advancing in the direction of this building with haste.

"...Alright. I think I'll just reposition, then."

---

"C'mon, we've gotta push to the building!"

Yuuka led the charge with Chinatsu and Hasumi flanking her 4 and 8'o'clocks. Suzumi remained as the rear guard, covering their squad's advance in a diamond formation.

"This does not bode well." Hasumi commented. "We are a group of only 4 expected to do the job of a squad of 12."

Chinatsu nodded her head. "I agree. Perhaps it would've been smarter to call upon the Head Prefect to assist us."

"We don't have time, Chinatsu!" Yuuka barked back. "We also don't have the element of time on our side! If the SCHALE Tower is lost, then so is any hope of restoring the city!"

They had been tasked by Rin to at least try and attempt to recapture SCHALE Tower. This was, by all intents and purposes, a suicide mission. But there was no-one else except them who were free and mostly undamaged by the chaos all throughout Kivotos. And if they wouldn't step up to try and mount a counterattack, then no one else would.

"Contact!" Yuuka barks out, immediately putting the conversation to an end.

The group of 4 is promptly engaged by a few squads of criminals that block their advance. A mix of Helmet Gang and Sukeban, which was surprising considering they were usually at odds with each other.

Yuuka and Hasumi take fire, forcing them to try and return said fire. A few well-placed shots from Yuuka coupled with another few well-placed from Hasumi takes out about 5 of them, as they move to nearby damaged cars to use as cover. Suzumi takes a few pot shots at the criminals, downing about 2 of them. The remaining foes then redirect their fire to Suzumi, who immediately pulls herself back behind cover.

"Not so fast!"

Chinatsu pokes her head out of cover, capitalizing on their distracted state by blindfiring in the direction of some Helmet Gangsters. Just like before, the enemy shifts their attention to Chinatsu. However, Yuuka and Suzumi use this opportunity as a distraction to move up with the intention to flank. With the enemy completely unaware of what the two just did, they manage to successfully flank the enemy.

"Now!" Yuuka shouts, as she and Suzumi light up the remaining 7 criminals from behind.
All of them fell to the ground in a matter of seconds before they knew what happened. Some of them were even smoking from all the ballistic energy that hit them. Hasumi and Chinatsu promptly break into a sprint to regroup.

Hasumi aims her weapon while running. "Watch out!"

Yuuki looks behind her to see a criminal in near point-blank range with their weapon up. Her eyes widen in a mix of shock and fear as she jumps to the side, hoping to evade the enemy. Before she is shot, the aggressor is prompty domed in the head by Hasumi, causing them to collapse to the ground.

"Oof!" Yuuka cries out as she lands on her side. She quickly gets back up and dusts her uniform off. "Thanks, Hasumi-san!"

"Don't mention it." Hasumi nods. "But if things are already this dire, we won't make it to the SCHALE Tower."

"My thoughts exactly." Suzumi also adds. "As much as I wish we could do it on our own, we simply can't. Everyone is too spread thin."

The mood grows noticeably more sour. The four exchange glances with each other. Suzumi was right... They couldn't even call on anyone else because the whole city was fighting itself. All the peacekeeping and law enforcement clubs had their hands tied, and every street had at last some sort of skirmish going on. This was a terrible, terrible situation.

Yuuka surveyed the surroundings. She particularly paid close attention to the heavily damaged cars riddled with bullet holes. Never in her entire life had she seen such barbarism and anarchy befall this city. Not even when Abydos was beset with disaster.

"Even still..." Yuuka began. "...I at least want to try."

"You're not alone with that sentiment. I too would rather try and fail than not try at all." Chinatsu added, her tone a little more firm than usual.

Hasumi nodded with understanding. "In that case... For Kivotos."

"For Kivotos! / For Kivotos. / For Kivotos!" the other three parrotted in unison.
The four of them took that as a rallying cry, as they emerged from cover and pushed onward. Unfortunately, more and more of their foes started flooding in, slowing their advance as they had to take cover.

"WE GOT 'EM PINNED OVER HERE!" one of the criminals shouted to their group. "LET'S FINISH 'EM OFF RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!"

Hasumi took ranged shots from cover. "There's too many of them-" she was then cut off by several rounds hitting her in the chest, causing her to stumble to the ground.

"Hasumi!" Chinatsu cried out in shock.

She exited cover and took blind shots at the enemy while sprinting to hopefully suppress them, allowing her to reach Hasumi's position with only 1 to her chest. She promptly took her backpack off and helped Hasumi up. At the same time, Suzumi quickly reached to her belt and grabbed a flashbang, not wasting any time on the pins. She quickly threw it over their cover and at the enemy.

BANG!

"AAGH SHIT!" one of the criminals called out.
Almost all of them stumbled, which Suzumi and Yuuka capitalized on to take out several of them. But their numbers kept coming. For every enemy they fell, another one took their place.

"Argh..."

"Hasumi, are you broken?" Chinatsu asked as tracers flew over their heads with a snap crack.

"A bit messed up." Hasumi replied.

"Yuuka-san! Suzumi-san! Cover us!" Chinatsu barked as she got to work right away.

On Chinatsu's orders, Yuuka and Suzumi promptly moved to reposition themselves better, moving cover-to-cover while the skirmish was intensifying. By now the effect of the flashbang had worn off, allowing the enemy to crank up the heat with their anger. Greater and greater amounts of the enemy were flooding in, and Yuuka was not sure if they should fall back or not.

Meanwhile, Chinatsu tended to Hasumi's injuries. Luckily, they were too severe, but they did necessitate some bandages. In about one minute, Chinatsu rapidly dressed Hasumi's injury and pulled her shirt back down.

"Good to go, Hasumi-san." Chinatsu helped Hasumi back to her knees.

Yuuka now realized the truth. They overextended themselves too far and were ill-equipped to handle this.

This was absolutely crazy. An unwinnable situation. Was the city doomed to fall into anarchy? By now, the enemy had probably reinforced SCHALE Tower enough to make it highly defensible against a mere few trained operatives. They needed more people, and some vehicles - a luxury they couldn't afford right now.

'FA-!'

Yuuka opened her mouth and was about to shout 'Fall back!', but as she was about to do so, another person engaged the criminals from the rooftops. The four of them looked up to see a gilded statue of some sort jump from rooftop to rooftop with incredible speed.

It (he? she?) moved with incredible agility while firing on their enemy with high accuracy. The figure really did look like a statue in the few moments it wasn't a blur, as it jumped from the walls and even scaled right up them at some points. The enemy criminals had a high amount of trouble keeping up with it, and only a few bullets managed to hit the figure.

It moved so fast that Yuuka couldn't even see its weapon in detail. All she saw was that it was similarly ornate. As she narrowed her eyes tried to track the statue, it ran to an alleyway and wall-jumped down the buildings to ground level. She watched as it pulled out a gilded sidearm and unloaded it into a few Sukeban members, immediately hoistered it and grabbed another weapon off his back - some sort of advanced weapon with a blade on it? - and held it in front of a squad of mixed Gangsters and Sukeban thugs. They were sent flying into the side of a building in a single pull of the trigger, as the figure jumped straight up into the air and onto the roofs again.

"...What in Kivotos...!? Who is that!?" Yuuka cried out in utter disbelief. "Actually, what is that!? How can it even move like that!?"

She had so many questions right now.

"Your guess is as good as ours!" Chinatsu shouted back.

The figure downed one foe after another, until all of them were finally down mere seconds later. Only once every last one of their foes were down did it finally stop firing. The four of them, unsure of if this figure was a friend or foe, aimed their weapon at the figure gilded in gold. In response, the figure... jumped off the roof.

"WHA-!?" Yuuka yelled in utter disbelief.

She watched as the unknown figure landed on the ground with a thud. Yuuka had expected the figure to die upon landing from the G-force because of its lack of halo... but to their great surprise, not only did the figure survive, but its legs weren't even broken by that! Instead, it began walking towards them with its hands raised.

And to Yuuka's even greater surprise, it than spoke.

"Hold on!" The figure spoke with no mouth. It's voice sounded like it belonged to a male. "I'm here to help."

"Here to help?" Suzumi parroted in utter disbelief. "What... what exactly are you?"

The figure stopped about 4 meters from them. "Uh... Let's just say the answer is complicated. But what matters is I'm here to assist. I saw you were being overwhelmed, and I'm definitely not going to fight on the side of criminals."

Hasumi looked the figure up and down. "And why should we believe you?"

The figure audibly sighed. "Alright then. Would this help my case?"

Suddenly, the figure flashed in a white pulse of some sort of energy. And - as if this mobile statue wasn't already crazy enough - a PERSON walked out of the statue. It was a man clothed in a plaid hoodie, with red fabric gloves, a sweater tied around his waist and blue jeans.

The figure reached up to his head and pulled down his hood, revealing his long straight hair parted to the side and full-face beard. His hazel eyes looked like someone who had been up for literal years.

Yuuka was starting to question her sanity. As she exchanged glances with the other three, she could tell she wasn't alone in this train of thought.

"...An adult male without a halo?" Chinatsu was the first to speak.

"A halo? But I'm not dead, kid." The adult male replied.

No one answered immediately. His remark got stuck in their own heads for a moment, primarily due to the abrupt mention of death somehow being linked with haloes. In the silence that followed, Suzumi's eyes examined the man in fine detail.

"...You're not from Kivotos, are you?"

"Nope. Is Kivotos the name of this city?" The man replied.

"Yeah." Yuuka nodded slowly, genuinely impressed that the man had not heard of Kivotos. "Listen. You wouldn't happen to know Rin, would you?"

"Who's this 'Rin' fella you're talking about?" The man replied again, sounding more confused.

Yuuka kept her weapon trained on him, as the others were. "An officer of the General Student Counsel? Seriously, you don't even know that?"

"Well, as you pointed out: I'm not from Kivotos." The man answered. "Let's just say I'm from so far away that I've never even seen a city this large. My home country collapsed and the city I lived in is... dead, for lack of a better word."

The four of them slowly lower their weapons. The weight of his words sunk deep beneath their skin. His country collapsed? Was that why he didn't have a halo...? And was it also why he looked so tired?

"...Wow. My condolences, sir." Hasumi said respectfully. "Could I ask a question?"

"Shoot."

"What? No, I don't see a reason to." Hasumi immediately replied, caught off guard. "...As I was going to ask. What happened to your country?"

The man took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled while shaking his head. "...I'm sorry, I don't really wanna talk about it. What I will say is that a man-made plague did it. I'm one of the few ones left, and one of the fewer who was immune to it."

"I... see..." Suzumi trailed off. Suzumi didn't show much emotion, but she appeared deeply affected by his words. "...Um, we won't ask any more. Thanks for your help just now."

"Right. I saw that you were under fire, and-"

The man is cut off by the sound of the statue being impacted with bullets. He looks past the statue and pauses for a couple seconds. Yuuka, too, looked past and could see the time for talking was getting cut short; the enemy was mounting up an assault on their position.

Suddenly, the man walks back into the statue as if it weren't even there, which causes another white pulse to envelop the statue. It begins moving again.

"We're gonna save the talking for later." The man in the statue spoke. "You girls were heading over to that tower right? Would I be right to guess that's important?"

The students return to their cover as the statue vaults over a traffic barrier and uses it as concealment.

"Yes, it is VERY important." Chinatsu answered for the group. "The reason the city is even in this state is because the tower is disabled. It provides essential service to the entire city, and without it, the city cannot function."

"So your mission is to retake the tower, right?" the man (in the statue) mused. "I also noticed you're the only 4 here trying to do that. Is there anyone else coming to help?"

Yuuka shook her head. "...Unfortunately, there isn't. We tried, but everyone who can help is trying to stop the city from falling apart."

The statue nodded. "Fair. I'll help your four get it back."

Hasumi smiled slightly. "We would greatly appreciate the help."

Just then, something floated down from the rooftops. The four students aimed their weapons at the unknown object as it gingerly floated down. It was similarly gold to the statue, but it appeared to be some sort of drone. The man raised a hand.

"Whoa, easy! It's friendly."

The four students lowered their weapon, and the drone floated down next to the statue's left shoulder. The enemy that was advancing also seemed to take notice of it, since they seemed to focus fire on the drone instead of their cover. It flashed bright blue every time it was shot, but seemed to take no damage.

"Is that a shie-"

"Alright girls, we're gonna be pushing up in a couple seconds!" The statue spoke with firm resolve, cutting off Hasumi and leaving no room for doubt. This got the attention of the four students. "I trust you know what you're doing, since you seemed to handle yourselves well enough before I came along. So, here's what I'm gonna do. I want all of you going from cover to cover like you've been doing, firing at them whenever it's the right moment. I'll be on the rooftops putting the pressure on 'em from above to cover your advance and distracting them when it gets too hot!"

The four of them look at him with a bit of disbelief. Yuuka and Chinatsu eyed his strange weapon, gilded in what appeared to be genuine gold metal(!), with the magazine sticking through the middle top and bottom of the rifle.

"You're fighting with us?" Yuuka asks. "I know you can handle yourself, but... you don't have a halo like us. You'll get..."

The statue held up a hand, signaling her to stop. "Miss, I'm gonna say this from the jump. I've survived things you can't even begin to comprehend. Gunshot wounds are the least of my worries."

"That may be so." Chinatsu remarks. "But you were a human just a second ago, right? That must mean that the statue of yours is some sort of armor suit... and armor can be pierced."

"Hmm..." the man brought his hand to his chin. "...Yeah, I suppose I can see where you're coming from when you put it that way. Then let me put it like this: This suit of armor is built to take on things much, much stronger than small arms. Including anti-vehicle weapons."

"...I suppose we'll take your word for it, then." Suzumi commented. "I am ready. Does the suit have some form of radio built in?"

"Yeah, do any of you have a spare communications device I can use?"

"Unfortunately not." Chinatsu answered. "All of them are in use right now."

The man in the statue nodded with understanding. "Alright then. It's fine, I can go without one."

The man in the statue brought his rifle to the ready and began to move towards the alleyway, presumably to scale up the wall and get on the roofs like he said he was going to. But then, Yuuka realized something as she watched him move.

They hadn't gotten his name yet.

"Wait!" Yuuka calls out before he starts scaling the wall. "You have a name, right!?"

"Just call me Drifter!" the man named Drifter replies. "Now then, Let's take back your tower!"

The man ran up the side of the building onto the roof as the four of them engaged the approaching enemy criminals. Chinatsu remained in cover, while Hasumi fell back a little to maintain the range advantage with her sniper rifle. Suzumi and Yuuka fired on them from cover, while Drifter used the roofs and his incredible mobility to his advantage to flank the enemy from the sides and rear, never staying on one end too long and always on the move.

The result was the enemy being pinned into an unwinnable situation as they got neutralized one-by-one.

"We're doing it!" Chinatsu called out. "We're actually doing it!"

"That we are, Chinatsu-san!" Yuuka replied, doming a few of the enemies. "Maybe we can take that tower after all!"

But as if fate had other plans, the two of them heard a familiar voice in their ear - Rin.

≪ Exercise extreme caution! We have confirmed reports of the Fox of Calamity being present in the area. ≫

"The Fox of Calamity?! Now!?" Yuuka's voice cracked while she said that. "-frustrated sigh-... I swear, if it weren't for the fact we just got backup, we would have abandoned this mission already!"

≪ You've received backup? From who? ≫ Rin replied, genuinely baffled.

"A third party who came from outside Kivotos!" Suzumi replied while she frantically reloaded her rifle, chambering a new round in. "He's an adult man without a halo!"

≪ An adult male... without a halo... ≫ Rin trailed off, sounding lost in thought. ≪ Could it be... the Sensei we were expecting who never showed up? ≫

"You were expecting a teacher?! You should've told us earlier before we got into this mess!" Chinatsu barked over the comms.

≪ It doesn't matter now. If he's with you, then our chances of victory just skyrocketed. ≫

"There's one more thing!" Yuuka cut in. "He's fighting with us, and he actually knows what he's doing!"

≪ He's fighting with you? ≫

"He moves like a seasoned warrior, and his equipment is otherworldly." Hasumi also cut in. "He is also wearing a suit of armor he claims can resist anti-vehicle weaponry." she shouted as she took a shot at one of the enemies in their backline, as she got hit in the shoulder and immediately dropped back down to cover.

≪ This is very interesting. Keep me updated, I will be joining you on the frontlines as soon as I can to validate your claims. ≫

Before anyone could say more, the comms went dark again. The group of 4 students, now joined by one strong haloless adult in a suit of armor, pushed forward through the enemies with much more ease than before. By now, the enemy had wised up to his tactics and were now firing on the roofs as well, but in response, he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, even partially defying gravity for a few seconds at a time. It was truly a sight to behold such agility and dexterity. But then, the man jumped from the roof directly down into the middle of the enemies formation.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Yuuka barked out, dumbfounded by him jumping in the middle of the enemy formation!
She and the other three watched as the enemy immediately turned around, greatly startled by his tactics, and starting firing on him and only him.

But then, something strange happened. A myriad of strange devices manifested next to him out of thin air, and another one of them in his hands. He reached his right arm up in front of him, his hand trailing some sort of orange energy. And then pulled his arm back behind, and the devices almost instantly re-arranged themselves in a cluttered circle. Finally, he then pushed his arm forward, and the devices spread out away him in a circle. As the devices flew past the enemies, their bodies were immediately lit on fire, causing them to drop their weapons and begin flailing in agony.

"WHAT THE HELL!? AAH AAH, MAKE IT STOP!" one of them cried out in fear.

"FUCK I'M ON FUCKING FIRE!" another yelled in panic.

"SOMEONE PUT ME OUT! ANYONE! PLEASE!" a third one shouted in desperation.

The end result was the same, though. Each of them collapsed after a couple seconds of flailing, smoldering with most of their clothes burnt off. Instead of pushing forward, though, Drifter seemed to take special notice of this. He went from a ready posture to crouched down and inspecting their unconscious bodies.

He also deployed another strange device with some sort of bubble around it. Every gun within the bubble had their mags ejected and converted into the same type of magazines his gilded rifle took. Did he just... transmute their ammo!?

"What... what the hell did you just do!?" Chinatsu asked, her usual serious composure gone.

"The answer is too long to explain while we're in the middle of combat." Drifter replied. "The short answer is that these suits of armor come built with abilities. I used two of 'em just now."

"We know that, but..." Yuuka also crouched, inspecting one of the unconscious bodies tenderly. "...The way they were screaming..."

"Tell me something, kid..." Drifter trailed off.

"Yuuka."

"Yuuka, right." he resumed. "I haven't seen a single adult since I came here. Every combatant I've seen fighting in the streets are all kids your age. What happened to them?"

Yuuka stood back up to her feet. "Well... There aren't many in Kivotos to begin with."

Silence followed. Drifter continued looking at the unconscious bodies of the enemies. The drone that floated above his left shoulder also appeared to take interest in the felled enemies, as it went from body to body individually. Yuuka wanted to call him out as a pervert for leering at a female student's body... yet something in the back of her mind told him he wasn't staring at them for their body features.

Truthfully, his body language gave it away; he wasn't looking at them with lecherous eyes, but with a complicated mix of sadness. His reaction was unexpected, too - wouldn't it have made sense to keep moving forward instead of inspecting the neutralized combatants longer than he already has been?

"...I see." Drifter stated simply. His voice carried a tinge of that same sadness. "...Alright, it looks like the tower is just up ahead. Take a moment to take stock of your ammo, meds, all that stuff. They definitely won't want to lose a high value place like that tower."

Chinatsu nodded. "Yeah. They'll definitely want to put up a fight."

The group of five took cover in a nearby alleyway and checked what remained on their person. Most of them had already expended about half of their ammo - except Chinatsu, who had not participated much in that skirmish. Drifter ejected the mag from his rifle, and loaded in another with fresh ammunition.

"I have another question for you girls."

"Yeah?" Hasumi answered.

"I noticed that our enemies earlier did not die, they got knocked unconscious instead. I also noticed that none of my bullets pierced the skin at all. Why is that?"

"As I said, haloes protect us." Suzumi began. "But if we sustain enough damage, we go unconscious. I've... never heard of death occurring."

"Alright. I guess that answer is gonna be enough for now. Gonna have to look into it later. Are you girls ready?"

The four of them nodded.

"By the way, I never got your names. Now would be a good time before we throw ourselves back into the fire."

"Hinomiya Chinatsu, designated field medic of Gehenna's Prefect Team."
"Morizuki Suzumi of the Trinity Vigilante Corps."
"Hanekawa Hasumi, member of Trinity's Justice Task Force."

"Pleasure meeting you all. It's time we move; we've got a city to save."

And move out they did. The five them exited the alleyway - only to be met with a tank shell whizzing past them. It impacted a building about a kilometer out, exploding near the second story. The five of them immediately returned to their cover.

"A crusader tank!?" Yuuka facepalms. "How were we not told about this...?"

Chinatsu frowns. "This really complicates things..."

Hasumi and Suzumi give a silent nod in agreement.

"A crusader tank, huh. Sounds like a problem." Drifter asked.

Chinatsu sighed. "...Yeah. It'll be really difficult to get past that thing, let alone destroy it."

"Difficult? HAH!" Drifter chuckled. "I've dealt with worse."

"You can't take that thing on!" Yuuka said, looking at him as if he were insane. "Are you kidding us!? You'll get blown to pieces, even if that suit is built to withstand anti-vehicle weapons!"

To that, the Drifter chambered the rifle in his hands. "I told you girls before. I've dealt with much worse than you can even think of."

"Please don't." Yuuka replied, sounding serious. "You can't take it on alone. You just can't."

"And why can't I?" Drifter rebuked.

"You just can't!" Yuuka replied, her voice cracking. "You can't..."

"Heh. Hah!" Drifter laughed. And then it turned into a chuckle... and then full-blown belly laughter.

"What's so funny?" Chinatsu asked. "It surely isn't amusing whatsoever."

The Drifter almost immediately stopped laughing.

"Watch me."

He slung his ornate rifle on his back, and held out his hands. Out of nowhere, an enormous weapon materialized in his hands in a shower of blue energy sparkles, which seemed to briefly make his knees buckle, but he managed to regather himself quite quickly. It was a long, slender gun with few decorations and not nearly as much gilding as his rifle, and was boxy in shape. On the end was some sort of iron sight, and near the rear-middle of the lefthand side of the gun was a grab handle.

...This was not an ordinary weapon. He was not kidding about facing worse, was he?

---

"Ordis, gimme some info on that tank's position."

Although I spoke those words, the girls next to me didn't hear them. That was because I had blocked my voice from transmitting to the warframe. I didn't want the girls to know more than I wanted them to know, and part of that was my communications with Ordis. It was better that they'd think my warframe was a brick shithouse suit of armor instead of what it actually was - a puppet, with me as the puppetmaster.

≪ Ordis detects 24 enemies encircling the tank, all moving as one formation. Those kids will not be able to handle that! ≫

"Right. I need you to monitor them for me, make sure they don't do anything stupid. If they do, let me know."

≪ Affirmative, Operator. Ordis will make sure they won't- GET GROUND INTO A FINE RED MIST- be defeated by these criminals. ≫

I looked to my side, making sure the girls weren't about to sprint into action with me. Unfortunately, it seemed like they were ready to do exactly that. So I re-enabled my voice.

"No. Stay here."

"Drifte-"

"Stay. Here." I assert with my voice firm, cutting off Yuuka. "Whatever you think, whatever you wish to do... I do not want to see kids put in this kind of harm's way. It would hurt me more to see you follow after me and get killed."

"But-"

"No." I spoke again, trying to get the message across by being more firm. "Move away from the tank through the alleyways and stay out of sight. I know you four can hold your own, but in turn, I want you to place your trust in me."

To cut off any potential for this conversation to keep going, I scaled up the current building. Was I being overprotective? Maybe. But I really didn't want the death of kids weighing on my consciousness. I've seen too much bad shit over the years in the Origin System and Duviri. And then there's Höllvania... Do I need to say more?
Even if they were as durable as Grineer Bombards, something instinctual made me want to protect them.

Too many war crimes for a lifetime.
Damn, that even rhymed.

When I reached the roof, I hopped, hopped some more and kept hopping from building to building to make sure they weren't tracking me. Thankfully, they didn't look up even though they were being attacked from a vantage point earlier. This archgun was extremely heavy - even for a warframe - so I couldn't Aim Glide as long as I wanted to. But thanks to my Lavos Prime being equipped with some personal modifications of mine, its double jump could reach a lot higher than normal.

Once I was roughly behind the enemy formation, I jumped down and ran to the tower. These idiots didn't even have manpower posted on their backline, which meant this side was entirely unguarded. I mean, they're criminals and not an organized military like the Grineer, or a commune of profit cultists like the Corpus, but... c'mon, this was just plain sloppy.

But their sloppiness meant they were ripe for being jumped. So jump them I did.

I lit up the soldiers behind the tank with the Mausolon, felling them in mere seconds. I followed this up by fanning my aim out a little to take out remaining soldiers, all 17 of them, and then focusing fire on the tank. It was a strong thing - no shields, no overguard, but presumably a lot of armor because my shots weren't doing much to it. It was similar to the Scaldra's H-04/H-09 Efervon Tanks, and I didn't have any Thermian RPG's to do the job, so my Archgun would have to do.

Luckily, knocking these kids unconscious instead of killing them still siphoned enough life essence to charge the Mausolon's secondary fire. Somehow.

Those halos must provide a lot of life essence. Because that'd mean a lot of power for what I'm about to do.

The tank crew seemed to wise up to what I was doing, and the machine gun on top tried to get a bead on me. In response, I slid around to keep the rear in sight and put my finger on the second trigger - the one that fired off the charged blast - and aimed right at the weak point Helios Prime had identified.

And I clicked the trigger.

B
O
O
M

The tank immediately exploded spectacularly, knocking me on my back into a continuous somersault while I tried to keep my archgun in my hands. That charged shot must've somehow pierced and hit something internal, like the ammo or whatever type of engine that drives it. The huge explosion also scattered the unconscious bodies of the criminals I had taken out beforehand.

It also killed my shields immediately. Maybe I shouldn't have been so close after all.

I regathered my bearings, checking my warframe for any lingering damage. Upon confirming there was absolutely no damage to my warframe's health, I unsummoned my Mausolon and chuckled to myself quietly, stretching and shaking my arms and legs to get the excess jitters out.

Wow... that felt GOOD. Like shooting down a dropship in the Orb Vallis or Plains of Eidolon. Or killing an Efervon Tank.

Once the lingering shellshock had worn off, I looked up at the smoldering wreckage of the tank.
No... on second thought, I looked past it. I could see the four kids running to me. But in the sky above them, some distance away, I could also see another motorized aerial vehicle approaching.

≪ Operator, the four teenage females are approaching your position. ≫

"I know, I can already see' em. Guess me warning them wasn't necessary after all."

≪ Ordis would consider it an ideal precaution. ≫

"Speaking of precautions, are there any other enemies?"

≪ The squad of teenage females took care of that while you destroyed that vehicle. Ordis must admit, they are quite adept at- THE GAME OF SLAUGHTER- dispatching enemies. ≫

"DRIFTER!"

I could already hear Yuuka yelling my name. Oh boy, she was gonna give me an earful, wasn't she?

Once they caught up to where I was standing, the four of them looked at me with equal parts concern and shock.

And here... we... go.

"What were you thinking!?" Yuuka began. "You could've died from that! How can you be so stupid!?"

"I've come back from much worse, Yuuka." I replied. "This is the third time I've said this, in fact."

"I know! I know...! But..." Yuuka trailed off. I looked into her eyes, and... were those tears?
Lua, I was about to make a girl cry. That was no good.

"I appreciate you caring, kid." I said, putting my arms behind my back in an idle posture. "I wouldn't have done that if I didn't know what I was doing. If I was putting myself in actual danger, you'd see me being smarter than that."

Yuuka did not respond. She just kept staring at me with wet eyes. Chinatsu and the others also appeared bothered by my actions, but to what extent, I couldn't really tell. Suzumi appeared to understand I knew what I was doing, same with Hasumi. I couldn't speak for Chinatsu, though.

"So before we continue... is that a friend or a foe?"

I pointed to the sky. The four of them turned around and looked at where exactly I was pointing.

"Friend." Chinatsu replied. "She wishes to have a word with you."

"A word with me, huh. Alright."

I watched the vehicle pitch its nose up as it approached, which appeared to gradually slow it down. Once it was at a near hover, the nose pitched itself down until the craft was hovering flat, and then descended to the ground. Once it was fully on the ground, a side door opened and an adult female with glasses stepped out.

"Excellent work, the four of you." She said as she walked up to us. "We may take it from here. Please patrol the perimeter of the SCHALE Tower and eliminate any remaining hostiles."

"Roger."
"Affirmative."
"As you wish."
"Affirmative."

Yuuka, Chinatsu, Hasumi and Suzumi saluted Rin, and nodded to me.

"I hope we meet again, Mr. Drifter." Yuuka says, smiling. But she switches to concern on a dime. "Please... don't do anything stupid like that again."

"No promises."

"Hmph."

The four of them walk off, presumably to patrol as ordered. This leaves me alone with what I presume to be one of very few adults in Kivotos.

Speaking of her, she is the first one to break the silence.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Drifter. My name is Nanakami Rin, a General Student Council officer. It is my understanding you participated in the operation to reclaim the SCHALE Tower of your own volition... and that you are an adult male without a halo."

So she knew. That makes this a bit easier.

"Yeah."

I eyed Rin's information readout through my warframe's built-in HUD. She was one of the weakest haloed individuals I had seen yet, with a level of only 10. Yet she also had Overguard, just like every other person with a halo.

You know what... this was a mystery that genuinely intrigued me. The Overguard granted to those with haloes was an enormous quantity. But paradoxically, once their overguard was shredded, they went down immediately... even if they still had full health as indicated by the warframe's HUD.

It was like their overguard was their health. But the defeated kids weren't dead, because they still had full health. And the enemies I defeated earlier still had their halos when they were felled, although they were flickering like a dying overhead light in Höllvania Central Mall.

That made me wonder; were there some haloed people out there who remained conscious even if their overguard was stripped? Before I pondered further, Ordis's voice cut in the comms and dragged my head from the clouds.

≪ Perhaps this is a bad time, Operator... but Helios Prime is detecting one final enemy within the building. Ordis is unsure of their strength. Please be careful, Operator. ≫

"Thanks for the heads up. I'll deal with it when I can."

For now, I had to play a little bit of people-pleasing. Hopefully I could reign in my mouth before I've finished thinking about what I'm trying to say.

"As you may have seen... our city of Kivotos is currently undergoing substantial strife." Rin began, the stress evident in her voice. "Our President has mysteriously disappeared, which has left the Sanctum Tower inoperable."

"Yeah. I was told the tower is needed to keep the city running." almost like the Unum, even.

Rin looked me up and down, then continued. "This topic of discussion is the primary reason I have opted to travel here in person. We were expecting a certain figure to appear in these trying times, but they haven't yet made their presence known... until now. We believe you are this figure."

"...Me?" I point to myself.

"Yes. It was foretold by our absent President that a haloless individual would make themselves known and be able to fill her position, should she disappear."

"Huh...? Why haven't I..."

It's at that moment a splitting headache hits me hard. So hard, in fact, it kicked me out of the transference link. In the Orbiter, I put a hand to my head in the Somatic Link.

A memory floods into my head. An experience I did not recall ever having.

---

"It was my fault."

"My decisions, and everything they caused."

Visions flood into my head, of a girl holding a sidearm to my head. Then, of a damaged handheld device pierced with several bullet holes.

"It had to come to this for me to finally realize that you were right all along... So please forgive me for being so bold, but I must ask for your help... Kiddo."

A third vision of an adult woman with long hair, backlit by the warm light of a setting star.

This unknown lady knew my name. But I had never even set foot here.

How in the void-kissed absence did she know the nickname of my counterpart? The one only He and dad spoke?

"You'll forget these words. But it won't matter. Even without your memories, you'll probably make the same decisions in the same situation. Therefore, I believe what matters most are the choices we make, not the experiences we have. There are choices only you can make..."

More visions flash into my head. A montage of still photographs of varying groups of girls.

One with a trio of blondes enjoying their everyday life, seemingly. They seemed happy and carefree in a way I've never seen civilians or Tenno act like.
The first one faded away, and another took its place.

A second shot of a group of four surrounding a smaller girl with long white hair, the air of authority tangible in the air. Something about that white-haired girl grabbed my attention, but I couldn't place what it was.

Then, a third one of another group of 4 girls strolling down a street parallel to a grandiose-looking building.

A fourth of a group of girls on the rooftop of a building at night... The vibe tells me 'troublemakers'.

A fifth shot of a group of 4- scratch that, 5 girls walking down a street similar to the first shot. This one gave me the most unnerving sense of foreboding...

And finally, a sixth shot of me sparring with a group of three girls. One of them had a huge tail, another had huge ears, and the third one had huge hair... and a halo shaped like a Shuriken?

Then the visions return to this mystery woman. The same sight this strange experience started off with.

"I've spoken of responsibility before. I didn't truly understand it then, but now I do. Adulthood, responsibility, obligation... and the choices you make that extend beyond those ideals. I even understand their implications."

She pauses. This gives me some time to think about her words.

I'm reminded of a lecture long ago, aboard the Zariman Ten Zero. The lecture about Theories of Time. Eternalism. The belief of the Past, Present and Future all existing at once. But this feels... different from that. And Presentism, too.

Some sort of hybrid kitbash between the two? Something else, maybe?

"Therefore, Kiddo..."

There it is again. That nickname.

"...You're the only one I can trust... Only you can free us from this distorted, twisted fate, and find the choices that will lead us to a new reality. So, Kiddo... please..."

I reach my hand out, but it meets nothing but the cold wall of the Somatic Link.

---

≪ ...Perator? Operator! ≫

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine Ordis."

≪ The readings sure say otherwise! Your Somatic Output skyrocketed for a moment! ≫

"Yeah hold on. I'll get back to you in a bit."

I was still in the middle of a conversation. Restoring my Transference Link, I see this Rin fellow looking at me confused.

"...What was that white pulse just now?'

"Irrelevant." I say, raising my hand. "Anyways, the replacement for the President was foretold? Why a haloless individual specifically? Don't you have other people who can take her place who already fit the bill?"

"I cannot answer these questions, because I am just as dumbfounded as you are. The President did not expound on the rationale behind her choice. She only insisted it be that way. Additionally, halo-less humans are an extreme rarity in Kivotos."

"I see." I fold my warframe's arms. "And I guess this is where I come in?"

"Indeed. Since you fulfill the criteria, it is very likely you have the capability to stop what is already happening. You may be our only hope at restoring Kivotos."

"Alright. So what do I have to do to help?"

"The exterior of the SCHALE Tower is secured, but we cannot guarantee the interior is. But we must forge on - within its basement is a device crucial to restoring our control over the SCHALE Tower."

"Leave it to me."

"Very well, Drifter-sensei. Please pace yourself."

"Sensei? What in the golden lords is a Sensei?"

Rin looks at me confused. "'Golden lords'?"

"...Just answer my question."

"...Ah." Rin clears her throat. "Kivotos is a city of Academies numbering in the thousands. It is, in all likelihood, substantially different from the place you call home. Sensei is our word for 'guiding figure'."

"Tell me about it..." I say sarcastically.

"Kivotos is-"

"That was sarcasm, miss." I stop her before she actually explains. "Find a secure spot and stay there. I'm gonna go inside the building now. You can actually tell me about Kivotos after this is all said and done."

"Good luck."

With that, I make my way to the entrance of the building.
She said the basement, right? That's probably where I'm supposed to be headed.

I descend the stairwell into the bowels of the building. Only emergency lighting is on, and everything else that is electronic is otherwise dead. Very eerie.

As I enter the basement, I feel the presence of something. Something powerful.
I passed through the doorway, to then find my eyes drawn to a woman who was searching around for something. But as I look at her in more detail, taking note of her floral-pattern fabric clothing, my eyes drift up past her head... and my jaw drops.

"By the Void... Level 1500?!"

An actual strong foe. Only those who deliberately pissed off their enemy and kept escalating over the course of hours, or when I delved deep into the Undercroft would enemies with this high of a level appear.

≪ WHAT!? ≫ Ordis ≪ Surely you're joki- You are not joking. FINALLY, A W-WORTHY FOE- Operator, Ordis suggests employing more than ample caution around this one. ≫

"Hold up there, Ordis... your glitched self is kinda right there. I can't remember the last time I fought an enemy with a level this high."

≪ Surely... Surely the Op- Drifter is not going to engage her, is he? ≫

"That depends."

This was the right time to do this. With the Soma Prime in my hands, I channeled my own Void Energy into it. The Soma Prime levitated out my hands on its own, with void tendrils sprouting from the weapon in a couple different places. When it finished transforming, I grabbed ahold of it after it stopped levitating on its own, and stretched my neck back and forth.

The Soma Prime Incarnon was as ready to rumble as I was.

"Hello there." I make my presence known to the unknown women.
She froze on the spot as I approached her. As If I had quite literally frozen her.
"You look pretty strong, miss. I can just tell you've been in some life-or-death situations. How about I add one more to the score?"

". . ."

The woman was utterly frozen. I genuinely didn't know what to make of this. Usually, the enemy either took that as a challenge and starting shooting, or - rarely, I'll add - they ran. Being stock still and just staring at me was new.

Kinda didn't know where to go from here.

"Um... Uh... Well, uh..." she spluttered and shifted in place uncomfortably. "...I was just on my way out!"

Suddenly, the girl started running away. I hadn't even brought my weapon to bear yet, it was still at my side. But as I watched her break into a desperate sprint, I found myself utterly baffled.

A level 1500 enemy just ran from me at first sight. Not even a single shot fired on either side.

What the fuck even is today?

≪ THAT WAS EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTING! WHY, I OUGHT TO TEAR HER LIMBS OFF FOR THAT! ≫

Ordis completed a full sentence in his glitched mode? Wow, that was the first time that's ever happened. He must be pissed.

"Yeah... I feel pretty disrespected right now."

I hear footsteps behind me. I immediately bring my weapon to bear, thinking the unknown girl used that as a distraction. But instead, I find Rin walking down the steps. I breathe a sigh of slight annoyance and just lower the weapon.

I don't think anything's gonna top cracking that tank open for a while. I just knew it in my soul.

"I apologize for the wait." Rin said as she inspected the surroundings. "...Did I miss something just now?"

"No. There was nothing in here."

I was so disappointed from that non-encounter that I didn't even want to reveal that person was even here.

"I see." Rin replied neutrally. She walked over to a nearby drawer and unlocked it with a key. She pulled it open and grabbed some sort of datapad out of it. "Well, this is the device the General Student Council President left behind. Luckily, it is undamaged."

"This... datapad?"

"Yes." Rin nodded as she held it out for me. "Please take it. This is The Shittim Chest."

I had to employ all of my willpower to stop myself from breaking into a laughing fit.
What a fantastically crass name. I love it already.

I clear my throat to try and regather myself. "...Ahem, uh... Alright. The Shittim Chest."

Damnit, it sounded even funnier now that I said it. This was a test of willpower, and I almost lost it in a millisecond.

Regardless of how funny I found that name, Rin continued talking.

"Yes. This is what the GSC President left behind. This is for you."

"A datapad, huh."

"This tablet may seem ordinary, but we know nearly nothing about its finer details. But the President knew that the haloless individual would be able to take control of the tower with it. No-one else who has tried to activate it has been successful."

"So it comes down to me. Alright, let's see what I can do."

"My task here is concluded." Rin said, bowing. "I will be upstairs so as to not interfere with your efforts. Good luck."

Rin turned around and walked back upstairs through the stairwell, leaving me (and Ordis) to our lonesome.
I walked over to the nearby desk and sat down in the chair. It was a nice chair, too... reminded me of the couch in the Backroom I loved napping on. Putting that aside, I looked around for a power button of some sorts. Once I found it, I pressed it right away.

The screen booted to life immediately, greeting me with a grid of blue squares and white lines, with a lone S in the middle of the screen. There was text beneath it, too, but it was too redacted and fragmented to make out.

"Helios, scan this tablet."

The Helios chirped and began the requested scan of the tablet. But after about 8 seconds, it chirped again.

≪ ...Operator. The Helios Prime has failed to scan the tablet. Ordis must say, this is the first time Helios has failed a scan. ≫

"Really? It failed to scan this simple tablet?"

≪ It was also unable to provide a reason. It seems it, too, is confused by this peculiar result. ≫

"It is one abnormality after another here. Maybe we gotta start being a bit more flexible..."

Regardless of the failed scan, I tapped the screen again. The device prompted me for a password. Not good. If Helios couldn't scan it, and Ordis couldn't hook into the technology on this planet, that means I was at an impasse. But just as I thought those words, my warframe's left hand started moving on its own.

"What the!?"

My Lavos Prime then typed two phrases into the tablet.

We thirst for the seven wailings.
We bear the koan of Jericho.

The device, to my great surprise, accepted the password at the same time I regained control of the warframe.

That... was incredibly unnerving. Nothing has ever directly puppeteered my warframe before while I was controlling it. Was that His doing? Actually, was this how Umbra felt when he was controlled? Wow, that feels deeply unnerving.

Password Accepted. User identified as Drifter. Welcome to the Shittim Chest, Drifter Sensei.
Converting to operating system ARONA for biological authentication and generation of verification certificate.

≪ WARNING! Ordis is detecting the transference stream being redirected! Operator, are you still there?! ≫

I wanted to respond to him, but I couldn't. My entire vision gradually went white, and I found myself unable to cut the link.
But as my vision cleared, I was able to regather my bearings. I looked around, expecting to be jumped by something.
Yet all I saw was some sort of classroom with a hole in the far wall, chairs stacked in a heap right on the outside.
I then looked down and saw that the room was also flooded slightly. And finally, I looked back up to see a small girl with blue hair.

"Mm... Castella cake... Banana milk... goes better than strawberry milk..."

This mystery girl muttered something out loud in her sleep. I had no idea what a 'Castella cake', 'Banana milk' or 'strawberry milk' was, but it sounded like she was really enjoying her dream.

≪ Operator!? Please, say something...! ≫

"Yeah, I'm still here. Can you hear me?"

≪ Oh, thank the golden lords, the Operator is still cognizant! Your brain activity briefly surged in tandem with the Somatic Output flatlining. Ordis is growing increasingly unhappy with these scares... ≫

"Noted. Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

≪ No, Ordis is afraid not. Helios Prime is providing me with footage, and all Ordis sees is the basement... and your Lavos Prime leaning back in the chair. ≫

"So I see... notify me if anything else enters the basement. I have no idea where I am right now."

≪ As the Op- Drifter wishes. ≫

My more immediate concern was this girl. This unknown blue-haired kid was giving me the same vibe as a Cephalon would... Yet, she seemed different somehow. With this thought in mind, I approached her.

"Heehee... There's so much left..." the girl muttered to herself. I reached out and shook her cheek in an effort to get her to wake up. "...Not now... I still have more to eat..." she muttered again.

So I shook again. She sleep-talked a third time. I shook her a little harder this time.

She lazily raised her upper body from the desk and yawned. "-yawn-... What's going on...?"
The girl then took notice of me. "..Huh? Wha- Huh!? Sensei? If you're here... does that mean you're Drifter Sensei?!"

I cross my arms. "Weird way to say it, but yeah. I just go by Drifter."

"What, I'm correct!? What time is it!?" she asks while flustered. She then tries to cool herself off by fanning her hands. "Wait... calm down...! Um, so...! Oh that's right, I forgot to introduce myself!"

The girl then slaps her cheeks twice and puts her arms behind her back, leaning forward a little.

"My name is Arona! I'm the system manager that lives inside the Shittim Chest. I serve as its main OS. Think of me as your trusty secretary, Sensei!"

Arona then smiles. "I'm so glad to finally meet you! I've been waiting a long time!"

"Hold up there, kid. You were just dreaming there a moment ago." I say as I knelt down to be level with her eyes.

Arona averted her gaze. "Well... I may have dozed off a little there."

"Hey, I wasn't knocking you for that."

"Really? Thank you! Um... anyways, my physical form isn't too impressive, and my voice could use a huge upgrade... But I know I can still prove to be useful to you!"

Arona's eyes then light up. Not literally, but figuratively. "Oh, yeah! I almost forgot - we need to complete your biological authentication. Um... this is a little embarrassing, but it's part of the protocol. Would you mind putting your fingertip against mine?"

Arona then stuck out her right-hand index finger. That gesture makes me flinch unintentionally.

"Huh?!" Arona is startled by me being startled. "I-Is something the matter...?"

"...No, don't worry about it. Here." I say as I stick out my own right-hand index finger.

"Okay. Now, place your fingertip against mine."

Cautiously, I do as instructed. A hologram appears on her fingertip for a moment, but disappears just as quick as it appeared.

"Hehe... It's like we're making a promise or something, isn't it?"

"A promise, huh. That's one way to look at it."

If that's a custom that existed in Ancient Earth, then it's been lost to time. It sure wasn't an Orokin custom, nor a Höllvanian one.

"I'm the one that has to scan every fingerprint on the screen." Arona continues. "It's a good thing I have eyes like a hawk!"

A 'hawk', huh. I doubt she could give Diriga a run for its money, though - or Quincy. He could easily snipe a Ballista from across the plains even while drunk.

Anyways, this was one bubbly girl. She reminded me a lot of the children of Cetus, how they're all so full of wonder and never seem to run out of energy to play.

"Let's see.." Arona mutters. She appears lost in thought for a moment - I watch various emotions cycle on her face.

I could tell this one would be an open book. She wears her heart too far down her sleeve to keep secrets, I think. Should I press her for info...? Nah. Now's not the time.

"All done!" She abruptly calls out. "...Why are you giving me that look?"

"Meh, I was just thinking. You know what's going on out there?"

"No...?"

"Huh. And here I thought I'd find out more from another source... Say, do you know anything about the old GSC President?"

"I have lots of data on Kivotos, but there is very little data on the President. I don't know who she is or why she disappeared."

I nodded in acknowledgement.

"I wish I could be more helpful..." Arona says apologetically. "...But I think I can help with the Sanctum Tower problem, at least."

"Is that so? The poor folks out there sure need it." I comment. "Whole city is in survival-of-the-fittest mode."

"Let me help fix that! Here, I'll restore the access permissions to Sanctum Tower. Just one moment!"

Arona paused for about 30 seconds. During this time, I reconvened with Ordis.

"Hey, Ordis. Anything new in the basement"

≪ Negative, Operator. Your warframe is still sat on the chair, but... Ordis can see the Shittim Chest doing some sort of operation. ≫

Wait a minute. Could I be inside the Shittim Chest, like how Hunhow and my counterpart invaded the Cephalon Weave? That... would explain the strange predicament I'm in, and why I can't return to the Somatic Link aboard the Orbiter when I try to.

"Sanctum Tower admin permissions acquired!" Arona suddenly says, her eyes having literal sparkles in them. "We've successfully regained control of Sanctum Tower, Sensei. The tower is under my control. Naturally, this means Kivotos is in the palm of your hand, Sensei!"

...I'm sorry, what? I have complete control over Kivotos? Why? I'm an outsider!

Does whoever the GSC President is have such blind faith in their next-of-kin that they've handed unconditional power away on a gilded plate!? If it weren't for the fact that I have a code of ethics, I would take this opportunity and run with it.

"...By the way." Arona continues. "...I sense another presence. Another digital intelligence. But I am unable to connect with them..."

Wow. She could sense Ordis? Whoever coded Arona is a gilded genius. Or maybe... Arona is a Cephalon given a human form?

No, it couldn't be. That's a little too outlandish.

"...I think I may know who you're talking about."

Arona's eyes light up. "You do?! Could you help me meet them?"

"Soon. We've got more important things to fix. Like the city."

"Um, speaking of that... What would you like to do? I could transfer control of Sanctum Tower to the General Student Council with your approval. But you would be giving total control to the GSC willingly."

That... was a good question, actually.

First off; I am an outsider. I sure as shit don't think it's right for me to hold this kind of power as someone who barely knows what Kivotos even is, who inhabits it or what the long game is. But at the same time...

Second off; if the city got to the point it did, then something went catastrophically wrong. I almost witnessed another Collapse. Whoever the existing leadership is clearly failed at their job to manage the crisis and - Sanctum Tower being offline until now - were not adequately prepared. Like how the Scaldra fucked up on the Techrot containment, even though the surface is cleaner then it used to be.

I think this calls for an un-tenno-like solution. The right answer to this is a repeat of what I did in Duviri. I look at Arona square in the eyes and give my answer.

"Grant all Sanctum Tower permissions to the GSC, but don't transfer the power. Give them joint control over Sanctum Tower."

"Eh?" Arona tilts her head to the side, and gives me a complicated look. "But that's..."

"In the future, I want to be able to test their ability to manage crises and catastrophe. They need to be prepared next time this happens... in case neither me or the GSC President are around to save things. Think of it like this - the GSC will be moderators, but I'll be the admin. They can do their job like they've always been, but I can step in if things get too hairy and reign it all back in."

This was a white lie.

In truth, I wouldn't actually put Sanctum Tower, the GSC or Kivotos in direct danger willingly. That went against my ethics. However, I didn't like the idea of returning that power to the GSC fully just yet. They were too complacent - and because they were, the city almost fell. To ensure they can responsibly handle this power, I needed to ensure they were capable of wielding it with decisiveness and finality, and that they weren't the type of people to use it as a way to have unchecked authority like the Scaldra.

"Well, when you put it like that..." Arona pauses for an extended period of time. She looks down at the water, seemingly lost in thought. But after about a dozen or so seconds, she looks up at me with a determined look. "...All right, then! The General Student Council has been granted joint control over Sanctum Tower!"

Right as she says that, I feel my vision white out again. When it clears, I look around and see the same basement from before, but now illuminated. I guess Arona turned the power back on.

"...Good. Understood."

I look to my side and see Rin standing there, some sort of communication device of her own in her hands. She notices I have come to, and smiles.

"We have confirmed control of Sanctum Tower. This will allow us to manage the city as we were before the President disappeared."

Thankfully, it didn't seem like they caught on to the fact that they weren't the highest in the hierarchy anymore. They probably might eventually. I'd deal with it if it came up.

"Good. Now then... I think it's time you tell me more about Kivotos."

Rin nods. "I agree. But first, we have one more important matter to take care of."

"-sigh-... Alright."

"Please follow me, Sensei. It is time you are introduced to the Federal Investigation club 'Schale'."

"The what now?" I parroted as I followed Rin up the stairs.

She did not answer until we were in the main lobby of the building, which was on a higher floor. The ground floor was cluttered with some debris and whatnot. I barely noticed the debris when I first entered SCHALE Tower because there wasn't jack for illumination. Now though... I could see some heavy fighting must've taken place here.

Rin, completely oblivious to my rumination, guided me out of the elevator and into a hallway. We were somewhere roughly in the middle of the building vertically. She stopped in front of a particular door, and held out her hand towards it.

"This is Schale's main lobby. Devoid of an owner and inactive... until now."

Right on cue, Rin opened the door. I was greeted with what seemed to be an office room. The first thing I noticed was a weapon rack in the back, but it was currently absent of any guns. And apart from the technology and storage containers, I didn't recognize most of the decorations. This whole space was cluttered.

As I walked to the chair, Rin kept talking. "This is where you'll be working from here on out. Schale holds ultimate authority in Kivotos."

"Hold that thought for me, miss."

Rin raised an eyebrow. This was a safe location... which meant it would be safe to transfer out of the warframe.

And so I did. I transferred into my true form, stepping through the warframe. I stretched a little, and turned to Rin who appeared visibly confused by my sudden appearance.

"Who are you!?" she said, reaching for her pistol.

"The Drifter."

"...You're Drifter-sensei?" she relaxed, taking her hand away from the hoister. "I am glad you are human. Does that indeed mean you were occupying a suit of armor, as I was told?"

"Uh... that would be the simplest possible explanation, yes."

"The simplest possible explanation?"

I held up a hand as I sat down in the chair. "The answer is very complicated, and kind of personal too. It is in your best interest to just think of it as a full-body suit of armor."

"I... see?" Rin didn't appear satisfied by that answer. Unfortunately, it was the best she was going to get.

"Continuing on... you mentioned something about 'ultimate authority'?"

"Ah, yes." Rin reached a pair of fingers up to her glasses, adjusting them. "Schale holds extrajudicial authority. Normally, to operate in a district other than your own, you require explicit permission of that district's academy's highest-ranking authority. Schale, being the Federal Investigation Club, is not beheld to these restrictions. It was yet another product of the General Student Council President... and just as with the Shittim Chest, she did not inform us of Schale's greater purpose whatsoever."

"Extrajudicial authority. Similar to what I was doing before."

Rin looked at me with curious eyes. "You have experience doing this?"

"Well... yes. My last job was to carry out a wide variety of mission types. Extermination, VIP capture, espionage, hostage rescue, objective defense, et cetera. The people from where I'm from don't value human life. I see death happen every day."

"...Death is an everyday occurance on your homeland?" Rin appeared somewhat mortified by my claims.

"It's not a very nice place." I cross my arms. "Which is where people like me came in. Our job was to defend the innocent from the greedy, zealous and the man-made weapons of war. We were... something like vigilantes. There's no law enforcers in my homeland, and no such thing as a proper governing body."

"Vigilantes... Perhaps that's why the General Student Council president was so specific with her request. She must have been aware of the role you serve."

"I hate to say it, miss, but I've never even met her. But I can assure you that what I'll be doing is similar to what I've already been doing for years."

"That's very reassuring, Drifter-sensei. I will leave you be so that you may adjust to your new space. On the desk in front of you are a stack of papers - these are various requests for aid, such as requests for support materials, environmental aid, club-specific requests, etc. Please have a look at them when you are ready."

"Alright. Just keep this in mind - paperwork is not my strong suit." I look her dead serious in the eyes. "I am a field agent. I do not sit at desks. I will take a look at the ones on the desk as a courtesy, but I want you to keep in mind that my priority will be helping the students in person. If you want more documents then this done, you and the rest of the GSC are gonna have to chip in."

"...I'll see what we can do." Rin replies, her tone a little hardened.

"Ey-ey, don't take it the wrong way now." I held up my hands. "I'm just laying it out from the get-go so you know what to expect from me. I don't do well with bureaucracy. Gets in the way of doing my job."

Rin simply nodded. "I will take note of this and pass it along to my co-workers. Please notify us if you have questions or require help."

"Right. Until next time."

I wait until she is gone. And then I wait a little more.

...

Once I am certain no-one will intrude in my space, I transfer back into the warframe.

"Ordis, bring the Landing Craft to a position near me. I need to return to the Orbiter."

≪ Affirmative, Operator. Preparing the Landing Craft for deployment. ≫

I take one more look at the office, and walk to the door. I grab the Shittim Chest from the desk I left it on and attach it to my warframe's hip next to one of the Pyrana Primes. When I exit the room, I flip the sign on the door handle from "Available" to "Out".

"Sensei? You haven't taken a look at the documents." Arona pipes up from the Shittim Chest. "I think there might be a few things you should look at."

I call the Elevator. "I have to deal with something first."

"Business? Is it related to Schale?"

"No."

The elevator dings as the doors open. I step inside. Was it a good idea to be speaking out loud to Arona like this? I doubt the students knew she existed.

"What kind of business is it? Is it... personal?"

I grabbed the tablet from my hip. Instead of being greeted by a front-end, I saw Arona standing in the classroom. She appeared a little sad for some reason. Did I somehow offend her?

"Yes. But I'll tell you what the business is once we're out of here."

"Really!? Yay!" she said, jumping around a little on the screen.

Arona was easily excitable, wasn't she? Even though she was an AI, she really acted like a human kid. I wrote off the idea that Arona was a Cephalon given form earlier. Now though? I'm starting to have second thoughts. Cephalons did not act with this kind of emotion, or... soul.

Except Ordis. And he was a Cephalon.

The elevator doors opened. Returning the tablet to my hip, I stepped out into the main lobby.

There were already some workers here starting to clear out some of the debris and other signs of battle damage. I walked past a few.

"Eep!"

The few or so I walked past immediately backed off as If I were gonna hit them. I look over my shoulder as I walk past the bulk of them, and see each and every one of them looking at me with fear. Given the sheer bulk of Lavos Prime, mixed with its golden splendor, I guess it was a valid reaction.

Nonetheless, I mind my own business and leave the building. There's probably nothing I can do to reassure them right now.

"Ordis, where's the Parallax?"

≪ O- Drifter, there are very few places Ordis can bring the Landing Craft without it being detected. I hope you are ready to accept the possibility we'll be spotted. ≫

"-sigh-... fuck. I should have expected that. Well... I guess bring it to the roof of that building I used for recon."

≪ Ordis has another suggestion. To avoid the risk of unwanted attention upon the Lander, perhaps the Drifter can equip himself with the Archwing and fly up to the Orbiter himself? ≫

"Good idea. I'll do that instead."

≪ Marking the most favorable spot to deploy your Archwing. ≫

Ordis marked a location about a kilometer out, on top of a tall tower. So I ran into the nearest alleyway, scaled up the wall, and started hopping from roof to roof in the objective's direction. There was still a chance I'd be seen by passerbys when I'd deploy my Archwing - but judging by the fact that Hasumi had large avian wings somehow, I was banking on the slim chance that students taking flight wasn't an uncommon sight.

It was either this, or risk my Parallax being discovered in the brief moment it had to break cloak to retrieve me.

Normally, this wasn't even an issue in the first place - but given the sheer magnitude of light pollution this city emitted, there was a chance bystanders would see it. That was a massive headache I would do anything to avoid.

"Whoa! You move so fast, Drifter-sensei!" From my hip, I hear Arona's voice. "I've never seen someone jump from roof to roof like this! You make it look so easy... How do you do it!?"

"Well, I have a lot of things to tell you. This'll be one of 'em."

"Really!? Wow!" Arona sounded jubilant. "There's so many things you can do from up here! Heh, I bet the students will be jealous of you~"

"Probably."

"By the way. What's that drone hovering over your shoulder?"

I look at my sentinel from the corner of my eye. "Oh, that? It's called Helios Prime. He helps me gather data on things. Wildlife, ores, all that stuff."

"Huh...?" Arona sounded mildly offended by that. "But you've got me, don't you? Why do you need a drone that does my job?"

"You raise a good point, kid. Are you prepared to help me gather data then?"

"Of course! I'm your helpful assistant, after all~" Arona replied smugly.

During that exchange, I covered most of the distance to the objective. A couple more roof jumps, and I jump onto the side of the marked building. I ran vertically upwards, hoping that there was no-one inhabiting the building.

Presumably, because it was night, they'd all be retired for the day.

≪ Drifter, Cephalon Cy has returned with the Railjack. He wishes to speak with you when you've boarded the Orbiter. ≫

"Right. Oh, by the way, I'm bringing in someone new. Have you been paying attention to the tablet through Helios Prime?"

≪ I have, Operator. But it does not appear that anything has changed with the device... ≫

"Well, it turns out there's a friendly sentient AI inhabiting it. And it was somehow able to detect you."

≪ Really? Ordis is rather skeptical that this- BACKWATER WORLD STUCK IN THE- unusual planet and its technology would be able to detect me. Is the Drifter sure this AI is friendly? ≫

"I can vouch for it."

≪ Well.. if the Drifter says so. Ordis will perform some quick tidying to make our space more presentable! ≫

I'm not sure how much that mattered, but the thought probably counts.

I reach the roof of the building and swing myself over the ledge using the inertia. I took one look around from where I now stood.

This city was genuinely beautiful, especially at night. It held a certain "elegance" to it that the Orokin's love for gold and gilding couldn't match. And as I was roof hopping a couple minutes ago, I was looking down at the streets below and noticed just now... alive everything seemed - completely unlike Höllvania as well.

It only reminded me of how fucked I really was. This was definitely not the Origin System, and I was even more unsure of if I was closer to Höllvania's time or my time. I've since thrown my hypothesis out the window that this was a long-forgotten Orokin colony of some sorts.

The Man in the Wall really had sent me away.

These troubling thoughts occupied my mind while I bullet jumped straight into the air. Right as gravity started catching me, a pair of mechanized wings manifested on my lower back and spread out. Odonata Prime, the only primed Archwing ever made, stopped my fall. I pointed myself up towards the stars and let the thrusters on it blast at full power.

"Whoa!? We're flying!" Arona shouted from the tablet. But her voice was growing more and more muffled, making it hard to hear what she was saying. "We're so far above the city!"

Unfortunately, I couldn't hear any more words of wonder from her after we exited from the lower atmosphere. My warframe started to struggle breathing from the thin atmosphere. But these wings of war were built for space combat - Odonata Prime switched on its oxygen generator, allowing the warframe to breathe again.

"Ordis, I'm approaching the Orbiter now."

≪ Acknowledged, Drifter. Ordis is opening the airlock now. ≫

As I approached the still-cloaked Orbiters' position, it flashed into view after I got within 1000 meters of it. I flew right into the open airlock, tumbling to the ground from the artificial gravity. As I pushed myself up and de-manifested the Odonata Prime, the airlock gate behind closed, followed by the room being flooded with oxygen to equalize the air pressure. After about 15 seconds of this, the other airlock gate opened, allowing me to enter the Orbiter proper.

"Ah... feels good to be back."

"W-what just happened!?" Ah, I could hear Arona talking again. "Did we just fly into space!?"

"Yes. Yes we did, Arona."

"Uwah! Incredible, Drifter-sensei! This place looks so... different! And futuristic!"

I walked through the Orbiter toward the Arsenal platform. Helios Prime had served its purpose well.

"Operator, who does that voice belong to?"

As I began messing with my loadout again, I looked to my side to see Ordis floating in his little Sentinel body. He floated down to the tablet, getting a look at it.

But suddenly, the tablet started manifesting a hologram in front of me, spooking both me and Ordis. Arona (in holographic form) turned around and looked at Ordis in his sentinel form, and then smiled brightly and bowed.

"Ah! You must be the other digital intelligence I was sensing! It's a pleasure to meet you - I'm Arona, system manager responsible for managing the Shittim Chest!"

"WHO IS THIS ADORABLE CREATURE!? I WILL EVISCERATE ANYTHING THAT TRIES TO HARM HER!"

"Uwah!?" Arona was started by Ordis's sudden glitch mode, raising an arm defensively. Wow. Second time that's happened today.

"Oh!? Uh, I sincerely apologize, miss Arona. I am Ordis, ship Cephalon of the Operat- er, 'Drifter-sensei'. I have served as his loyal assistant for countless years."

"You've been his loyal assistant for years? That would make you my..." Arona trailed off, her eyes sparkling. "...my Senpai!"

"...What is a 'Senpai'?" Ordis asks, dumbfounded.

"Um...!" Arona is brought back to reality, as Ordis' question flusters her a little. "Uh, it means senior."

"Senior? Ordis is not that old..." Ordis responds, floating around Arona and seeming quite intrigued by her hologram. "That aside... Ordis must say; the technology of the Shittim Chest is quite impressive. Surely this must require a great deal of computing power for such a tiny device."

Arona crosses her arms, wearing a smug smile. "Not really. It's no big deal for the Shittim Chest!"

Ordis turns back to face me. "Drifter. Ordis must pose a serious question. How much about us should we reveal?"

"Just enough." I replied without hesitation. I had already thought about this. "Let's start with what we are. So, to begin with..."

As I walk into my personal quarters, I explain to Arona the nature behind who I am, and how warframes are not full-body suits of armor, but instead are puppets - and I, the puppeteer - and that I can manifest in their place at will, even though she already saw this back in the Schale office. I also explain to her how I have several more warframes, and even more weapons those warframes can use. After that, I further explain a little bit about us: but instead of revealing specifics, I tell her that we are from many thousands of years in the future and were sent so far back into the past that we're past recorded history from our records. And to finish up my exposition to her, I tell her the types of missions I went on, the types of foes we faced, and the types of things Ordis can do so she knows what to expect from us.

That said, I did not reveal anything about detailed history, like the Orokin or the Old War, or the various operations my younger counterpart went on since he was woken from cryo sleep. She did not need her innocence spoiled by the brutality of my time.

At the end of all the talking, Arona looked antsy, like she wanted to ask something to Ordis. So I wrapped up my exposition early and let her speak.

"Um..." Arona looked to the ground nervously. "...Would it be okay if I linked with your Orbiter? I'm not gonna mess with anything, don't worry! I just want to make sure I can be even more helpful to Drifter-sensei."

"Hmm..." Ordis's sentinel looked out of the viewport. I considered this his choice to make, so I kept quiet. "...Ordis will grant you some permission. While the Drifter seems to trust you, Ordis is not fully comfortable with granting another digital intelligence access to the Orbiter's systems. Perhaps as we get to know one other, I may be more comfortable doing so in the future."

"Oh, that's okay!" Arona held up her hands. "I understand. I don't need full access. I just want enough to help Drifter-sensei with his Schale duties."

"Then we are in agreement. Ordis will grant you some permissions... right about now."

"...Received!" Arona's eyes sparkle again. "Whoa... so many systems!"

"Really like a kid, eh Ordis?" I smile.

"Ordis concurs." Ordis then pauses, his eyes flashing in a steady rhythm. "...Operator, Cephalon Cy wishes to see you aboard the Railjack."

"Right, I was about to forget." I reach down to the hip of my Lavos Prime and detach the Shittim Chest, placing it on an empty shelf. "Arona, I'm gonna leave you behind for a minute. Got some sensitive stuff to discuss with another person."

"Huh?... Okay." Arona looks at me apprehensively. "You won't be in any danger, right?"

"Nah. He's just another ally you haven't met yet."

Arona nods. "Okay! Ordis, can you teach me what all these systems do?" she asked eagerly.

"Very well. Let's begin with the room we're in now, the personal quarters..."

As Ordis and Arona begin a conversation with each other, I step out of the room and into the common area. I move forward a few steps onto a circular glass platform, causing a pair of prongs to raise up from the ground. Closing my eyes, I channel my void energy - the next moment, I'm aboard the Railjack.

"Tenno, on deck. Welcome back."

The familiar, deep voice of Cephalon Cy greets me over the ship speakers.

"Good to see you too, Cephalon Cy. Did you perform that system check I asked?"

"Affirmative: Railjack fuselage, undamaged. Nacelles, undamaged. Railjack Reactor status, nominal. Control surfaces, operating at peak efficiency."

"...I'm sensing a catch there."

"Unfortunately. Catastrophic complication: Reactor Void-space translation capability is non-functional. We are well and truly lost at space."

"Motherfucker!" I clench my fists. "Does that mean the Railjack can't jump into the void anymore?"

"You are partially correct. The Railjack remains void-worthy. However... void-space navigation protocols are extremely beyond acceptable failure rate. That rate, by the way, is 0.0000001%."

"...What's the rate now?"

"100%."

"ONE HUNDRED PERCENT!?" I shout back. I reached my hands up to my temples and rubbed them. "...So let me get this straight. We can still jump to the void, but if we were to do that, we wouldn't be able to find our way in the void, or even back out."

"Correct. We would be more capable blind and deaf."

"-long, exasperated sigh-... What about the rest of the Railjack?"

"Green. All Railjack offensive, defensive and utility systems are considered nominal. If you do not count it's lost ability to navigate the void."

Things just got monumentally worse. I was still holding out some form of hope that we'd be able to make it out of this.

We weren't.

We are well and truly trapped. I now had to accept that He was not lying about preventing me from getting in his way.

I walk around to the pilot's helm, looking out at the myriad of stars. Each of them shone brightly in the black abyss that felt just as familiar as the one back in the Origin System. I was now sunk deep in thought as my gaze panned from one random set of stars to another.

It was well and truly hitting me now. I wasn't going to get back home. Ever.

But despite this, I realized one core thing:

It could've ended up much worse.

If there is at least one form of mercy the Man in the Wall gave me, it was that he sent me to an earth-like world that had advanced technology and some form of globalized society. I was not sent to the middle of space, or a dead rock - and I was sent with all my equipment and resources I already had. He had kept his word.

That meant I could still do my job. I could still try and keep the peace like I have for the past couple of years - and like my Tenno counterpart had for much, much longer than that. This has been my purpose ever since the New War ended and things returned to their usual, more chaotic state.

I mean, I had already helped stop a major city from collapsing. And in a different version of the past, prevented another one from getting nuked.

Duty still called for a Tenno. I still had a job to do.

And perhaps... that was the only thing that grounded me during all of this. The idea that I can still serve.
I might not be able to make my whole solar system a better place like I've been doing. But I could make that city a better place, and maybe guide the many students it houses. It was a whole city of academies, if what Rin told me is true. A whole city of people to guide like the Lotus did for my Operator counterpart.

I clear my throat after a couple minutes of stargazing.

"Let's change topics. Were you able to get scans of the planet like I also asked?"

"Affirmative. Would you like to hear the report now or save it for when you start drinking?"

"I'm not that sad, Cy. Almost got close though. Uh, what's the results?"

"Earth-like body of unknown name contains continents similar to our Earth. Most of them are sparsely populated with large urban cities. The landmass you went down to is 97% covered by the city you identified as 'Kivotos'. Size roughly comparable to Earth's North America."

I whistled. "...Sol, that is one huge city."

"That concludes the report."

"Good work. I'll, uh... need to figure out how to make use of the Railjack."

"There is one more thing that needs doing, Drifter."

I was going to say something, but I shut my mouth. Whenever Cy said something like that, it was usually serious. And as Cephalon Cy began speaking, I was proven right.

"Cephalon Cy's report. Solomonari. Final expedition, hereafter designated 'Operation Ellipsism'. All crew and attached Tenno Orbiter encountered Void Storm of well beyond Category 5. Sent undetermined distance of light years away from Origin System. The Void Drive has inexplicably lost its ability to pathfind through the void. Repairs deemed impossible without non-euclidian solutions. Solomonari and attached Orbiter appeared above populated Earth-like planet. Tenno Operator of Solomonari ventured down to surface and instructed me to circumnavigate the planet's orbit for mapping. Solomonari is unable to return to the Origin System for the rest of her life. Isolated, stranded and with no hope of returning, this earth-like planet is now our home. Operation Ellipsism begins now.

Record sealed."

---

-Postscript-

I was not originally intending to write one of these. But I do have a few things to say. This will not be the norm moving forward; these will only appear if they have a reason to be there.

To begin, I hadn't published something I've written publicly in a few years by the time I posted this first chapter. The last story of mine fell through after I researched the lore of the IP and fundamentally disagreed with the foundation it set, so I found myself completely unwilling to continue that story. That's all I'll say on that matter.
I'd also like to think I've honed my writing comprehension since then.

Originally, I was also never gonna even write this story. But after reading a few fantastic crossover stories for Blue Archive (specifically A Courier for Kivotos by Unknown Sixth, The Divide by 501ar, and STALKER: Call of Kivotos by Wis'adel), I felt the call to write something to show publicly for the first time in a couple years. To those three I mentioned, if you're even here and you've made it this far; godspeed to you, you restarted a spark I thought was out forever. Thanks.

This was gonna be a Titanfall 2 story at first, but I didn't feel confident enough in my knowledge of the Titanfall lore to commit to that idea. So I chose Plan B: Warframe, the game I've been sticking with since a little after The War Within.

Moving on, I'm not expecting you to read between the lines, because I'm not the type of writer that likes to sprinkle details between said lines.
But I do expect you to know Warframe lore and game mechanics. I will not hold your hand, reader.

Fun fact; This chapter got partially re-written in December 2024, one month after the story was first posted, because 1999 completely wrenched my original storyboard. The original plan was to cut off everything past Whispers in The Walls... but after experiencing 1999 fully, that felt like the wrong choice. That necessitated a rethink of what I wanted to do with this story. Once that whole mess was sorted, only then did I start writing Chapter 2.

That concludes what I have to say.

Any content included from updates past the 1999 Coda Update (or Echoes of 1999 if that type of update is made) will not be included in this story, save for critical lore. There are only two exceptions, which I will not disclose.

Until next time.

-llJaysimll