Keys, Suits, and Swords

by Silent Ghost

Tampered

~~~>><<~~~

“Well, that’s not entirely true, I’m pretty sure Jas got the larger crate of rubidium and you’re just covering for him.”

“Uh-huh, yes, ok you caught me,” Said the Volt on the holographic screen, “I’m covering for Jas. You caught me Ilik, better lock me up.”

“Hmm…perhaps I will spare you .” She said jokingly, crossing her arms. Her name is Ilik, controller of a Zephyr Warframe. Her armor splotched, yet neatly organized with colors of white, green and a small amount of red, a black and gold Noru Syandana trailed down her back and onto the floor as she sat kneeling.

“Alright, alright,” said the Volt, “listen Ilik, I gotta leave. I just got a message from the Lotus.”

“What about?”

“Ah, just something about another raiding mission.”

Ilik nodding, “The Lotus must want really want you to work, you just got out of that cryopod 14 rotations ago.”

The Volt shrugging at this, “Ah, it’s nothing, I like doing these raiding missions.”

“Well, alright, I’ll talk to you later.”

Volt giving a wave, the holographic screen closing a second later, the quiet sound of the engines as the Liset flew through space at warp was the only thing that could be heard. Ilik standing up, placing her hands on her lower back and bending backwards, a small crack sounded out, Ilik letting out a sigh of relief.

“Stressed, Operator?” Ordis asked, the lights flickering as they followed his vocal patterns.

“I guess you could say that, Ordis.”

“I – FRANKLY DON’T CARE - wish there was something I could do.”

Ilik looking towards a spot on the control panel in front of her and sighing, “Ok, that’s getting annoying,” placing a hand on top of her helmet, “I gotta fix your circuitry sooner or later.”

“That sounds wonderful, Operator, it’s very nice that you’re trying to help me get better.”

“Oh yeah, soon.” She said, placing a hand on her hip and towards the rear, the black walkway opening downwards into the lower compartment. A small snoring noise coming from a large black blob in the corner of the compartment could be heard over the engines.

“Lazy girl.” Ilik said quietly, walking towards the black blob and kneeling beside it, scratching its fur just above the small plate of metal.
The snoring stopping and a head appearing out of the blackness, standing up, the dog-like creature known as a Kubrow stood at three-fourths Ilik’s height , stretching her long yet powerful legs, her ears twitching around rapidly, looking at her master with happiness. “How ya doin’ today, Gemini?” Ilik said, kneeling in front of Gemini and scratching her behind the ear, Gemini giving a happy bark in response, “I thought so.”

The Kubrow yawning, her head escaping between Ilik’s hands, sitting down and curling back into a ball, a small snore sounded over the engines a second later.

“By the Void, this is what happens when you spend all night chasing bugs. Let’s stop around Saturn and perform repairs, what say you Ordis?”

“That sounds like a – TERRIBLE IDEA – great idea!” Ordis replied.

“Alright then.” Ilik shrugging at the answer, tending to ignore the cynical malfunctions, looking over to her Wyrm, with its Para sentinel wings , colored green, white and black, a spot of violet shining from its ‘eye’.

Walking back up the ramp, standing behind one of the consoles, looking at the item she found during the last mission: a gold Void key, tampered with. The golden skin on parts of the key scratched off, a small silver device on the back of it glowed with blue energy, a series of wires stretching out from the device and onto different parts of the key. “Hmm…” she said quietly, “The Corpus went through a lot of trouble to get this.”

“Maybe they thought they could use it to their advantage.” Ordis chimed in.

Ilik shivered at the thought, “Maybe ‘donate’ more Warframe parts to the Zanuka project.”

“It’s a possibility, Operator.”

Ilik sighed out of relief, “Well, at least we were able to find it before they were able to use it.” Ilike placing the key down, walking towards the helm and kneeling down, “I’m going to bed Ordis, could you tint the window a bit?”

“Certainly Operator.” Ordis said calmly, the window beginning to tint, the compartment darkening a bit. Ilik sighed a final time before lowering her head and falling into a deep sleep.

Bang

BANG!

“Operator…”

BANG!

“Operator…”

BANG!

“Operator! – Wake up, you can sleep when you’re dead!-.“

Ilik waking to a cacophony of thruster, engine roars, and muffled explosions. “Ordis!” She yelled, “What in the name of the Void is going on?!”

“Operator, we are under attack by Corpus ships. I suspect they want the key back.”

“Where are we at least? Raise the window.” The tint disappeared, the window transparent, revealing a large asteroid field below the Liset, a stream of red cannon fire overtaking them from behind.

“We are between Mars and Jupiter, Operator.” Ordis replied nonchalantly.

Ilik slightly annoyed at Ordis’s nonchalant tone, “You could at least care about this situation a little more Ordis. Give me the helm, Ordis. We were supposed to stop around Saturn anyways...”

“What do you plan to do –Get us killed?!-, Operator?”

“You’ll see.” Ilik said mischievously, kneeling down on the white plating. A pair of dual holographic rings appearing on each side, placing her hand on top of the rings, their glow intensifying as they felt the pressure of Ilik’s hands on them and the Liset’s engines letting out a massive roar, the ship flying downwards into the field. Weaving between the asteroids, providing cover for the ship as the cannon fire continued mercilessly.

“Are – You trying to kill us?! – you sure this is safe, Operator?” Ordis questioned as his alter-ego cut in.

“If there’s anything I remember before being put into cryostasis, it’s how to fly a ship.”

“But are you sure this is safe?”

“No, I’m not. But it’s better than being out there.” A large explosion echoed out, the Liset violently jerking to a side and Ilik thrown into the side of the deck. The key falling off the console table and the Corpus attachment beginning to glow brighter as it hit the floor.

“Operator, are you alright? I have taken over control of the ship’s flight systems.” Ordis said, the engines still in overdrive. Ordis successfully piloting through the field of moving, clashing asteroids and incoming fire, partially protected by the floating rocks.
Ilik clumsily standing back up, the sound of barking striking her ears from the lower deck.

“Gemini!” she gasped, running down the ramp and oblivious to the fallen glowing key. She stood in the doorway, Gemini hysterically barking at a flickering white cloud of energy in the center of the room, a familiar, canine shape. The weapons vault on the other side of the room.

“Operator, I’m detecting high levels of electromagnetic energy.”

“It’s Zanuka, Ordis.”

“…Oh dear.” The AI responded with a slight hint of horror in his voice.

“…Ehehehehehe…Ah Tenno, did you really think…I wouldn’t come for my donation?” An eerie voice echoed throughout the ship.

“…Shit, should’ve known he was behind this.” Ilik muttered under her breath.

“Operator, Alad V has hacked – “

“Into the transmitter node, yes thank you.”

Gemini slowly creeping out of her spot, quickly sprinting over to Ilik’s side while maintaining eye contact with the swirling energy.
“Come on, let’s go back up. Ordis seal off the lower deck!” Ilik yelled as she reached the upper deck, the sound of multiple hydraulics clamping tightly as the ramp closed shut.

Alad’s voice rang out through the deck, “Why delay the inevitable, Tenno? I thought you were charitable, why not help out a worthy cause? The Lotus is jus-“

“Ordis, cut the transmission.” Ilik said angrily, the wavelength on the transmission node disappearing.

The key glowing brighter, Gemini leaning in close to it and sniffed it cautiously. A spark arcing from the metal to Gemini’s nose. Gemini jumping back and yelped in pain, running over to Ilik and hid behind her, barking furiously.

“Hey, hey easy Gemini!” she yelled, looking towards the gleaming key. “What the hell?” walking slowly towards the key, cautiously picking it up.

The metal pulsing, as if it were alive. The metal warm to the touch and the light blinding, cosmic energy surged through it, the raw power of an Orokin key.

“Tenno, that was quite rude of you, of course, it’s expected of savages like you.” Alad’s voice screeched throughout the deck.

“Argh!” Ilik yelled as Alad’s voice roared, Gemini folding her ears and holding them in her front paws.

“Operator, Alad’s hacked into our transmission node.” Ordis said worriedly.

BANG!

A large explosion rang out, the sound of metal creaking and twisting eerily echoed.

The Corpus ships overhead, their cannons and turrets pointed downwards into the field. The cannon fire tearing apart the asteroids, the larger ones splitting into pieces, a few rounds of cannon fire hitting the Liset’s shields.

The key’s light pulsing, slowly at first and increasing in frequency and intensity with each second. The key suddenly ejecting itself out of Ilik’s hand and magnetizing itself onto the closest wall, intense electrical energy surged throughout the ship.

“AAGH!! Op-op-operator, the key…it’s…tapping into…comm…nav, an…arp syst…” Ordis’s voice breaking down into fragments.

There was a sound of a deep humming, a sound of something charging up. Electricity arced from the key into the surrounding wall, its light dimming to a small glimmer. The Corpus ships closing in, now only a few meters on either side of the Liset, matching its speed and using their cannons to destroy incoming asteroids and to weaken the ship’s shielding.

“Ordis? ORDIS?!” Ilik yelled, kneeling at the center front console. Looking back over to the key, she ran to it, grabbing it tightly and pulled with all her strength, the key not budging even a single centimeter from the wall. “Stay with me Ordis, STAY WITH ME ORDI-“

The humming reaching a maximum, the area shined in an explosion of brilliant radiance, engulfing the Liset, the Corpus ships, and anything else within a 500 yard area. The shockwave causing the large chunks of rock not caught in the orb of radiance to be pushed away violently into others, the radiance dying down and left behind the scattered remains of broken asteroids and small pieces of twisted hulls.

Her memory faded, spotted, pieces forgotten. The memory of waking in the middle of metal and circuitry, sparks flying and consoles damaged.

The memory of the ramp lowering into the broken lower deck, carrying the hurt kubrow in her arms, activating cryostasis, the white hatch closed with a almost dead kubrow and opened to reveal nothing.

Running to the center console, the look of blue and green through the glass, twisted metal and rocks on either side, engulfed in flames as they hit atmosphere, the glass is cracking.

The ground closing in fast, aim for the mountains.

Quickly, run back….

Close your eyes…

Brace for impact…

Author's Note:

It's just the beginning...

If there are any spelling errors or anything that seems unclear, please comment and i'll fix it as soon as I can.

Comments

[jmlop0]

Sweet, a warframe story added to the warframe group on my birthday. Hope it goes well, shame because of my extreamly slow update speed.

[Watcher Pumpkin]

Great work, really. But seriously, i can't wait to find out what happened with our little Zephyr. So, let's celebrate this new glorious Warframe story.
38.media.tumblr.com/8643cf44afd76ce1431b35e0b5f661fa/tumblr_n5p7wpmov41ra2llso1_500.gif

Oh, and may the Lotus be with you.

[Silent Ghost]

5034641 oh well Happy Birthday, glad i could make you day a little better.

5035964 Thanks so much, I'm gonna need all the luck I can get.

[onsholo]

This is a pretty good start,eager for more.

[eles74]

Are – You trying to kill us?! – you sure this is safe, Operator?” Ilik questioned as his alter-ego cut in.

I think you meant Ordis here.

Good job, I think this may be fairly interesting

[Silent Ghost]

5048333 Whoops! My bad!

There, corrected.