//------------------------------// // Chapter 28: A relic from the past // Story: Warframe: Equestria // by Urimas Ebonheart //------------------------------// POV: Karn / Location: Equus - Equestrian Plains - Dojo After making sure all our frames are disinfected after wiping out the hive, we finally return to the Dojo where I turn to face my Tenno. "Everyone, well done on your first successful mission. Fortunately, this Hive wasn't as bad as it could have been. Nonetheless, I'm proud of all of you for your effort and officially welcome you as fully fledged Tenno," I tell them as I cradle my broken left arm. They all thank me in their own ways and congratulate each other before I speak up again. "Now then, go rest up and take the rest of the day off. Tomorrow, we'll be planning defences and surveillance against the Gryphons," I tell them before looking back to the Orbiter. "Ordis, start construction of the signal booster now, hopefully we can contact Lotus and get reinforcements sent to fortify this system," I tell him. "Yes, Operator. Beginning construction now," he replies as six construction drones break away from the hanger and slowly begin building the booster next to the dojo. "Estimated completion time is thirty-six hours," Ordis informs me. "Good, now go and relax, I need to get this frame repaired," I tell them all and start hobbling toward my Orbiter. I hear them heading into the Dojo, but one set of footsteps is following me. My minimap shows it's Rainbow following me. "Yes, Rainbow?" I ask her as she jogs up beside me. "So... Now that the Virus is gone... What happens next?" she asks as I stumble and she catches my right arm. "Well, first I'm going to fix my Ember frame, then continue working on the hanger, then as I said, tomorrow we'll discuss setting up defences and surveillance from the Gryphons," I reply as we reach the Orbiter and enter. We head down the ramp and take the left side of the armoury and to Helminth's room, the door opens and Rainbow gasps at the infected looking room. "Karn... what is this? This looks like that Virus..." she says in shock. "This is Helminth, he's responsible for repairing any major damage to my frames as well as making sure the biological components of the Orbiter are functioning properly. How else do you think there's breathable air in the ship when in space?" I reply and point to the chair in the middle. "Help me to that chair," I tell her and she cautiously helps me over. Once placed, I can hear Helminth's voice. "Master, I see you are injured," the low rumbling voice of Helminth says to me. "Yeah fighting an Origin strain infested and taking a bomb blast in the back did a number on me," I reply with a chuckle. "Repair this frame, Helminth." I order him as I make sure I'm in the seat properly. "As you wish, Master," he replies as the long spear like limbs to the left and right of the chair raise up and impale my hands to the arm rests, making Rainbow gasp then scream as one of the three above my head wraps around my neck to hold me in place while the other two impale my frame's stomach. My frame struggles in place for a bit before I transfer myself back to my real body. I make my way out and back to Rainbow who is staring at the display. "Rainbow?" I say getting her attention. She looks at me with I’m sure would be disgust on her face. "The buck is this!?" she yells at me and points to the still thrashing Ember frame. "The Helminth was made by the Orokin originally to turn people into Warframes who retained their minds somewhat and to repair Warframes if badly damaged," I reply as I watch Helminth repair the broken arm and fractured leg of my Warframe. "Wait... you mean Warframes were once people?" she asks in shock and then to her hands. "Yours and mine weren't, they were built off the blueprints of the originals, but the original Warframes from the Orokin era were. We find new and lost Warframes now and then from Orokin towers, derelict ships, ruins, the void, or even in other dimensions. Then we bring back their bodies to not only make new Warframe blueprints from them, but to show them the proper respect and give them their final resting place," I reply. She's silent for a few seconds before asking. "Does that mean that thing can turn ponies or anything else into a Warframe?" she asks while slowly stepping away. "It's possible, but we Tenno have made it a rule to never do that unless the individual agrees to go through with it," I reply. "While we were made into what we are now by the Orokin, it doesn't mean we have to be like the Orokin," I say and turn to leave the room. Rainbow follows me and I head out of the Orbiter to see Applejack, Big Mac, and Fluttershy heading back to Ponyville. We just stay silent for a few minutes before Rainbow speaks up. "Who are the Orokin?" she finally asks me. I frown at the thought of the Orokin. "They're greedy, selfish, manipulative, and thought themselves masters of everything. If you didn't do as they said, or made a mistake, they made an example out of you, for instance, Ordis was once a living person, but was punished and turned into a Cephalon. Many others suffered the same fate, or even willingly became Cephalon. Their technology was very advanced, even more so than today's standards and allowed them a form of Immortality. No longer aging or able to switch bodies and some of the best medical science available kept them alive," I tell her and then turn to look at her. "They were slavers and were the original creators of the Grineer who were used as cloned soldiers for their armies before the Warframes were created, we even think their current Queens were once Orokin themselves. But their culture was based around art, technology, and architecture. They made everything to be extravagant and opulent with ivory white and gold colours. I even have two Nercomech war machines, these were the predecessors of Warframes but not very intelligent on their own, but void-born Tenno like me and Twilight are able to control them like a Warframe." I sigh and look up into the sky. "There are a few Orokin still alive to this day, some we've killed and some who have changed their ways due to circumstances. The Entrati who are stuck on the moon Deimos which is completely covered in the Technocyte became infested but retained their minds and are now aiding us Tenno. They're the ones who helped me get my Necromechs," I finish telling her. "The Orokin sounds terrible... Is it possible they could return?" Rainbow asks me. "It could be possible, but the only real things left behind are their ivory towers and systems. They have enslavement systems in their towers capable of taking over intruders' minds and forcing them to be guardians or caretakers until they die. We call these poor souls Void Corrupted, and we don't know of a way to return their minds to them as of yet," I reply sadly before continuing. "Only we Tenno and those that know how to shield themselves from the system can safely enter these Towers. Though the Grineer and Corpus attempt to salvage anything they can despite the risks to either reverse engineer or sell on black markets." Rainbow looks down and then to the Orbiter before looking back at me. "Will those Grineer find their way here? I remember Lyra mentioning she found one of their ships crashed in the Everfree Forest but the Grineer inside was all dead," she tells me, making my eyes widen. "What!? The Grineer were here!? Wait... I remember Chrysalis mentioning she found the Technocyte in a crashed metal vessel." I say in surprise and head back into the Orbiter to get my Rhino Warframe. "Ordis! Scan for Grineer signals!" I order him as I pass the foundry. "At once, Operator," he replies as I enter my link chamber. "Karn!? What's wrong? Lyra said they were dead!" she yells as she follows me inside. I sit in my somatic link chair and connect to my Rhino. Once in my frame and out of the pod I run past her to the armoury and arm myself with a Boltor rifle. The big brother to the Bolto, it's a sixty round automatic rifle of Tenno make that fires large bolts designed to punch through armour. I then take my Lex for more piercing power and for a melee weapon I pick up my Ripkas just in case I need to cut through the forest's foliage. "Karn! Will you just tell me what's going on!?" Rainbow yells at me in frustration. "Chrysalis said she found the Technocyte in a crashed ship, this Lyra pony says she saw dead Grineer in a metal ship in the same forest. That means Grineer somehow got here and crashed with a sample of the virus and it's possible that there could be more of it on board! So unless we go and find it to confirm there's no more, the threat of the Technocyte is still very real!" I tell her and fully stock my ammo hard-drives with the correct ammunition and head over to the console to the left of the cockpit. Ordis brings up a map of the forest and I watch as Ordis scans for signals. I glare at the screen as not one, but three beacons show up. One is the Grineer ship's SOS beacon, the other two are faint, but infantry beacons. "So we just need to look for and destroy any more of the virus we find if there's any right?" she asks and extends a venka claw in front of her face. "Yes. Ordis, get Rainbow my Odonata Archwings and get me my Elytron Archwings," I tell him. "Affirmative, Operator," he replies and I hear the Archwings launched outside. "Come on, we need to get to that ship now," I tell her and run out of the Orbiter when my Archwings connect to my waist. Rainbow follows me out and the Odonata wings connect to her. "Let's go," I say and take off towards the beacon. After a few seconds of flight we're hovering over a canyon and I can make out a small heavily damaged Grineer Gokstad Crewship. "Come on," I tell Rainbow and fly down, but a strange red eel like creature quickly lunges out of a large hole in the canyon side with intent to devour me. I fly back and fire one of thirty bloomer rockets from my Archwings which flies into the eel's mouth before I remotely detonate it, causing the head of the creature to explode in charred flesh and gore to rain down to the bottom of the canyon. "Gross..." Rainbow comments as she watches the eel's corpse slide out of the hole and down to the ground. I spot several other holes and as a precaution, fire six more rockets, one at each and collapse the entrances. Now clear I land near the crewship and examine the wreckage. Seems like it was heavily damaged from battle as the signs of a Railjack's artillery cannon shot a shell through it, but missed the reactor... That doesn't explain why it's here though... "Ordis, fly overhead and start running a more detailed scan for anything not native to this world. Grineer, Corpus, Orokin, anything, no matter how faint the signal," I order him as I make my way to a large hole that seems to have been made from the crash itself. "On my way, Operator," he replies as I look around the totalled cargo area. This world is lucky that the canister the Technocyte was in didn't break when this ship crashed. Judging by the overgrowth and the corpses, this has been here for at least two, maybe three-hundred years... The armour on the Grineer corpses are outdated and the broken Grakata smgs littering the wreckage are old models... But one corpse is different, I walk over and avoid the debris and notice the armour colour, it's one of the Queens Nightwatch elites. "Why is that one's armour black?" Rainbow asks behind me. "It's one of the Grineer's elite from a unit called the Nightwatch. Explains why there was a canister of the Technocyte on board, they were planning to use it as a bioweapon most likely, perhaps on a colony or on an enemy ship," I reply and check for any I.D. I find a very worn and faded I.D card reading RIDD - 093 I don't know this name and number, must be a lower ranked member of the Nightwatch or just an unknown one. I can hear Ordis arrive above and speak up. "Commencing scan, Operator... Oh my... Sir, I'm picking up a very faint Orokin signal from a Railjack and a Tenno signal next to it buried within the cliff side next to the Grineer Crewship!" Ordis informs me by sending a marker behind me sixty feet away. "A Railjack? Here? How?" I mutter to myself but continue looking for any more Technocyte containers, we spend a good twenty minutes looking but fortunately find nothing. The reactor, computers, and hard-drives are totalled and unsalvageable, but hopefully the Railjack's are still intact and can explain what happened here. Rainbow and I exit the crewship where we now stand in front of the cliff face with the marker fifty feet away. I can probably blast my way through with my archwing's remaining ordinance... "Rainbow, fly up and out of the way, I'm blasting through," I tell her and fly up. "Alright," she replies and flies up behind me. I target the wall and fire bloomer after bloomer into the stone. Rocks and boulders fly off in all directions as the sound of explosion after explosion rings out through the canyon, scaring wildlife away and the Grineer crewship to get partially buried but after twenty bloomers, the old blue painted front of the Railjack is visible. "Ordis, call all available Titan extractors back now and excavate the Railjack out, this takes top priority. What's the condition of it's systems?" I order him and ask. "Scanning... The void drive is damaged but repairable. Engines intact but external plating damaged. Weapon systems... primary guns intact but secondary will need replacing. Artillery cannon totalled, needs full replacing. Missile systems, Launcher one intact, launcher two totalled. Forges... two out of four functioning, one damaged, one totalled... Archwing slingshot... damaged but repairable. Logistics... intact. Shield generator... critical damage, but can be repaired. Multiple hull ruptures, seven in total, one is catastrophic and will need repairing for space flight. Onboard Command Cephalon Yuna...  Offline but she's intact," he lists off all the systems. Cephalon Yuna... I remember her, she was lost during a mission when a sudden void storm rolled in and we lost contact with her and a few Grineer ships. Is this where they were taken? If so, where are the other Grineer ships? Also, what is emitting the Tenno signal Ordis found inside it? "Rainbow, head back to the Dojo and return to your body, then get something to eat in Ponyville. I'll stay here and watch the excavation," I tell her as I stare at the dirt covered blue paint on the Railjack’s nose. "Are you sure?" she asks me with concern. "Yes, if you feel that worried about it, then go eat, tell the others and come back. Also, Ordis, run a continuous scan for Gryphon life signs. While they'll be unlikely to take anything from here, better not take any risks," I reply and tell him. "Yes, Operator," Ordis says. "Alright, be back in a bit," Rainbow says and flies off toward the Dojo. I turn back to the Railjack and place a hand on what little of the hull is exposed. "Now then... how did you get buried here?" I ask it in thought.