//------------------------------// // Chapter 29: De-frosted. // Story: Warframe: Equestria // by Urimas Ebonheart //------------------------------// POV: Karn / Location: Equus - Everfree Forest - Railjack crash site I watch as the Excavators arrive and begin digitizing the stone and dirt from around the Railjack, carving out the entrance so it's big enough for the Railjack to fly out if the engines are still functional as Ordis says they are. For two hours I watch as Rainbow flies back down with Twilight and Spike in their Warframes falling from the cliff and slowing their descent before landing with a soft thud. "Karn! What's this about a buried ship..." Twilight asks as she sees the Railjack's hull and the first three letters of the Railjack's name which I know is called Avalon. I turn to her and wave my left hand at the ship. "We're about to find out how the Avalon got here, she was lost during a violent void storm over two-hundred years ago and she along with several Grineer ships went missing, never to be seen again," I tell her and look back to the Railjack. "Once a hatch is cleared, I'm going in to see if I can get her running again and if Cephalon Yuna is still functional," I say and just watch as the excavators finish expanding the entrance and begin digging out the ship itself. "This is so cool," Spike comments and walks over to the entrance and just stares at the hull. "To think an alien spaceship has been here before Ponyville was even built!" I look from the ship to my Orbiter above us. "Ordis, deploy the Necramechs and post them as guards for the entrance. They are to attack Gryphons on sight if they are attacked first, and keep anyone not a Tenno away from here," I order him. "Affirmative, Operator," he replies and two bays open up under the Orbiter where my Necramechs are dropped and use their hover engines to descend. Twilight gasps as they land. "What are those!? A-Are those skulls!?" she asks in disgust as the mechs walk over to the sides of the now cave entrance. "These are the Voidrig and Bone Widow Necramechs, designed and built by the Entrati before Warframes were made. And yes, that's a corpse in them. They're used to operate the mech in a limited fashion and it's what made them effective against the sentients and the infested back then. But the Orokin and Void-Born Tenno like you and me are capable of controlling them just like we can a Warframe," I reply as the mechs slowly look left to right in idle guard mode, each armed with a Mausolon Archgun. "They... weren't alive when they were put in those mechs... right?" Twilight asks as she walks up to one where it just ignores her and keeps looking around. "No, they were mostly Dax, elite warriors of the Orokin, who were killed in battle. And instead of letting their bodies or skills go to waste, they were placed in these mechs so they could continue fighting," I reply. Twilight then proceeds to ask multiple questions about the mechs and the Orokin. So for one and a half hours I tell her what I know and that's when Ordis speaks up. "Operator, a side hatch has been revealed, it is safe to enter the Railjack now," he informs me. "Good job, Ordis. Let's see what's inside shall we? Ready a weapon just in case," I reply and tell the others. "This is soooo exciting!" Rainbow says, getting her Grakata ready and loads a round into the chamber. Twilight gets her Dera ready while Spike has his Gorgon. We walk up to the hatch and I ready my Boltor as Ordis remotely opens the hatch. I step in and pull myself up into the middle of the ship, looking around I see corpses of the crew strewn about and the harness for the secondary guns are damaged. Ordis then marks the three Tenno signals one in the cockpit and two near the forges. The others gasp as Twilight speaks up. "This is terrible..." "They died from void storm radiation, if exposed it'll kill you very quickly. Alright, follow me and keep an eye out. We're heading to the forge and cargo area," I tell them and the left side door opens as I walk near it. More of the crew's corpses lay on the floor as I scan the room I see four of the minor hull ruptures and evidence of fires. With nothing hostile I make my way forward and down the ramp to the lower deck. Following the left side still, we make it to another door that looks broken. "Other side," I tell the others and go around. The right side door is functional and we enter the forge area. A couple more corpses are here and I see why one of the forges is totalled, the hull has a massive hole in it and the forge is completely torn out. Walking to the forges, I look down and my eyes widen. The Tenno signal is coming from an array of twelve cryo pods under the forges in the cargo area. Two of the pods show life signs while the rest that have bodies in them are dead due to damage to the pods. I head down and start looking at the data. "Are they alive!?" Rainbow asks and looks into one of the still functioning pods which is frosted over. "Two of them are yes, I'm looking over the data now," I reply and read the first pod's data. "Jaani Ki' Ta, Steel Meridian gunner. Vitals are stable but has a minor wound on her left arm," I read out and then move to the next one. "Surv-Tel Tilerion, Cephalon Suda Operative Engineer. Vitals, stable and perfectly healthy. Seems only these two of the crew survived," I finish reading and begin the reawakening procedure. The pods start thawing and the frost on the lids recede as they open up making Rainbow yelp at the sight of the Grineer defector inside. "Is that a Grineer!?" she yells and points her Grakata at her. I quickly grab the front of the gun and push it up, making her yelp in surprise and fire off five rounds due to the action. They ricochet a few times, one hitting the shields on the back of Spike's head. "Watch it!" he says and ducks down. While I take a hit to my back as I cover the pod. "Rainbow, do not try that again. She's a member of the Steel Meridian, a group of Grineer Defectors who didn't want to fight or serve their Queens. We Tenno help liberate other Grineer who don't want to fight or are being used as lab rats and in return they help us. Notice her armour is white and not green?" I tell Rainbow sternly and slowly let go of her Grakata. "Sorry..." she says and lowers her gun. Twilight sighs while Spike grumbles as he stands back up. I stand up straight and watch as Janni's eyes slowly blink open and she looks at me, then to the others. "I'm... alive?" she says and slowly sits up. I place a hand on her back and help her up. "Yes, you've been in cryo for over two-hundred years. How do you feel?" I ask her as I Carefully but quickly pull out the shard of metal stuck in her left arm and start removing the damaged armour to see a three inch deep laceration. "Apart from my arm? Happy to be alive," she replies as I un-digitize a healing canister and inject her left bicep. "Ouch," she then says in a sarcastic monotone. "Where are we?" Surv-Tel Tilerion asks as he sits up from his pod. He's wearing a black and grey skin tight suit with purple energy flowing through it. He has a helmet where only his nose and mouth are visible. "You're still on the Avalon, but you're both on an uncharted planet, we're no longer in the Sol system," I inform them as Jaani's wound closes and I put her armour back on. He hums in thought before speaking. "What about the Grineer crewships and galleon we were fighting? Did we destroy the Technocyte they had?" he asks as he shakes his head. "There is one crewship just outside with its crew dead. I haven't seen a galleon or any other crewships yet, but as for the Technocyte, one of the locals found it in the crewship before I did and accidentally released it, fortunately, we were able to destroy the hive and all traces of the virus before it could spread," I reply and then help Jaani out of her pod where she stumbles and Rainbow helps hold her up. "Thanks," the Steel Meridian gunner says and shakily stands up straight. Tilerion sighs in relief. "Then our mission was a success, how many others survived?" he asks and then looks at Spike. "Help me out would you?" she asks him. "Oh! Sure!" Spike replies and helps him out of his pod. "Unfortunately, you two are the only survivors. I haven't checked the cockpit or the ship's Cephalon yet though," I reply to his question and wave Twilight over. "Twilight, help Jaani while I go check the cockpit," I tell her. "Okay," she replies and takes my place. "Head back outside and wait for me there, I'll go see if I can get Cephalon Yuna back online," I tell them, getting affirmatives from them.  They head back to the hatch while I head back to the front of the ship. I go around the right side and I see a Warframe locked into the pilot's harness just stuck there, limp and unmoving. Walking over to it I recognise it as a Protea Coloured light blue with white trim. Sadness fills me as I know those colours, the Tenno who used them has been dead for over one-hundred and thirty years from a botched Grineer raid when they found her Orbiter and destroyed it while she was in her Warframe. I leave it there for now and head over to the console in the middle and activate it. The screen comes alive and I let Ordis do his thing. After a few seconds, the ship's lights come back on and a holographic image of a sphere with six smaller spheres orbiting it appears above the console. Static echoes throughout the ship as a female voice shouts loudly. "-REW GET TO THE CRYO PODS! I REPEAT ALL CREW TO THE CRYO PODS IMMEDIATELY!" she yells as alarms start blaring and the lights turn red. "Cephalon Yuna, calm down. You're no longer in danger," I tell her and after a few seconds, the alarms turn off and the lights return to normal. "Tenno? How did you get onboard? And where is the void storm? Where am I?" she asks in confusion. "That was over two centuries ago, and we're currently excavating you out from under the ground. I believe the Void Storm sent you and several Grineer ships to this world, but we've only found one Grineer ship so far," I tell her. She's silent for a few seconds. "And our mission? The Technocyte?" she asks. "Destroyed," I tell her. "Well, at least we succeeded... I detect multiple damages and system failures. Blast, this will take months to repair," she complains and sighs. "We'll get you up and running again, but we've got the bare minimum here and we've been cut off from Lotus and the Sol system," I tell her. She grumbles for a few seconds. "I noticed as I can't reach the other Cephalon in the Weave... Although I do detect one other nearby," she says warily. "That would be my ship's Cephalon Ordis," I reply and walk over to the Protea in the Pilot's harness. As I holster my Boltor and unlock the Warframe from the harness, Yuna speaks up. "Are there any other survivors?" she asks. "Two, Jaani and Tilerion, they've both been escorted outside where we'll take them back to the Dojo for a medical check up and get them comfortable," I reply and haul the Protea over my Shoulder. "Just get a list of what's damaged and what is needed to repair it. Then we'll start work on fixing what we can," I tell her as I make my way back to the hatch. "Only two survived? That's unfortunate... Alright... I'll begin collecting data and will make a list of which damages will take top priority to repair," she replies and her hologram fades away. After exiting the hatch, I see the others waiting for me. "We're heading back to the Dojo to give you both a medical examination. Then we'll have rooms prepared for you, will you both be willing to remain as crewmen for the Avalon once we have her repaired?" I say and ask them both. They look at each other and Jaani shrugs at him. "Very well, it is not like we know where we are, where to go, or how this world functions," Tilerion replies calmly. "Verywell. Rainbow, stay here and guard Cephalon Yuna and the Railjack until she's been dug out or I return to replace you. Ordis, once the Railjack is free, deconstruct the Grineer Crewship and everything in it, then retrieve the Necramechs," I order them. "Awww really?" Rainbow whines, making me slowly turn my head towards her. She flinches slightly. "Eh he... Yes, sir..." she says and runs over to the cave. “As you command, Operator,” Ordis replies. I shake my head and look at our two new guests. "Jaani and Tilerion, I'll fly you both to the Dojo and we'll give you a medical check up," I tell them as I walk over to them. "Twilight and spike, you can stay here and help Rainbow guard the place or make your way back to the dojo, your choice," I tell them both. With everything set, I wrap an arm around their waists and lift both of them as we fly off to the Dojo. I also need to deal with our four gryphon "guests" as well.