8 Base of Operations Prt. 2

"Tenno, I've just discovered what the Grineer have been up to. It appears that a Grineer doctor, named Dr. Tengus, has been working on a new Infested bio weapon. We cannot allow the Grineer to develop this technology. I'm sending you the coordinates, to a Grineer facility, that should have information on the project. Once I've sorted the information, you need to hunt down and destroy all traces of this research."

    "Oh, no that would be terrible, if the Grineer had a new bio weapon. Ordis, take us to these coordinates immediately." I say, not with a sarcastic voice but with inner sarcasm.

   Arriving at M-Prime on Mercury, I equip my Nova, Vulkar, Machete, and Twin Grakatas, and clear out the Grineer facility while extracting the databanks.

    Ordis copies and transmits the data to the Lotus. "It will only take a minute to sort this, Tenno. Hold tight, I'll contact you momentarily." The Lotus notifies us.

    "Alright, Tenno, there are two locations, where this research is being conducted. One is a Grineer Galleon and the other is a Grineer Asteroid, where the Infested have already completely overrun the facility there. We will likely have to use a Cascade Bomb on the Asteroid, for good measure."

    "Well, if we're gonna be bombing shit, might as well get to it. Ordis."

    "Already on it, Operator."

    When the Lotus disconnected,I ask Ordis. "Ordis, do we…"

    "...still have the Cephalid from our previous heist? Yes, Operator, we do. Would you like me to ready it for use in our post mission operations?"

    "Yes, I would, you fantastic and beautiful Cephalon, you!"

    I make short work of both the Grineer and the Infested aboard the galleon. The Lotus mentioned something about going overboard, but we still had work to do so she didn't dwell on it. After blowing the Infested on the infected asteroid to smithereens, I head back to the Orbiter to regroup, with Ordis.

    "Ordis, contact Darvo and make sure that he's willing to make another large purchase before we go through with this."

    "Of course, Operator."

    "Ah, Tenno how wonderful to hear from you again, and so soon. How can I help you?"

    "Well, Darvo, as it turns out, I might be running into another galleon in the very near future. I was wondering, if perhaps you are willing and able to take it off my hands should it fall into my possession?"

    "Another one so soon! Tenno, this is indeed welcome news, but I'm afraid that after that last purchase I'm a bit short on credits. That isn't to say I can't or won't buy it but I'll need time to secure a few loans. Indeed, I already have a buyer lined up and I'm certain he would be overjoyed to learn I've obtained a second one."

    "This is an ideal state of affairs, as I'll need time to acquire the galleon and make it sale ready. When will you be ready to make the purchase?"

    "Hmmm...I'll need at least twenty four hours. Yes, I should be able to secure the necessary funds by then."

    "In that case, I believe we both have busy days ahead of us. I'll see you then, Darvo."

    "Until then, Tenno."

    "Ordis, let's head to the galleon first and embed the Cephalid. However, before we activate it, we'll head to Venus and recover the Orokin Archive. Once we have the Archive, we'll return and 'Void' the galleon."

    "Excellent plan, Operator, we're heading to the galleon as we speak and should be there shortly."

    As soon as we arrive, I board the galleon with my Ivara. This is a purely nonviolent infiltration mission. I embed the Cephalid and return to the Orbiter. As we head to Venus, I get into my Nidus, equip my Synoid Set, and prepare for my initial test run with my favorite frame.

    Here, in Terresa, Venus, I'm currently inside their mountain based compound and stealthily making my way towards the Void Portal inside of an Orokin Towers section of the facility, a relic of the Orokin era, where the Orokin Archive can be obtained. I've taken out a few loners and patrols, but mostly I'm just creeping for now. It's taken me much longer without my Prowl ability. I've finally come across the portal. Taking my time I follow a patrol into the Portal room. Once the door closes I unleash a stealth Synoid assault on the patrol. I immediately fire gravity orbs to the other side of the room targeting the group guarding the portal. I then unleash my Gammacor on a couple of lone Corpus scattered around the sides of the room. It wasn't the stealthiest of attacks but their down now. Gotta act fast, reinforcements won't wait. I head to a control panel near the portal and gain access to the portal controls. With the portal open, I head into the portal as I hear the sound of heavy footsteps far behind me. On the other side of the portal, I've arrived at the Orokin Towers. The first thing I do is to commit my first level. There are two miniature twin towers, in the Orokin style, standing approximately ten meters tall in the center of a large circular room. They look like large server farm encasements. There is also a console centered between and about a meter in front of the towers. I approach the console, place my palm on the interface, and…'Shit! They're here! Well, no since complaining. Let's get some levels.'

    I whip around with my Gammacor out and begin running diagonally towards the right. I bullet jump up and towards their direction. Once above them my Heliocor comes smashing down on their puny skulls. I finish up the first group only to see a second come through the portal. I begin spamming my Virulence and finishing them off with my Gammacor, to proc its Entropy effect which regenerates my psionic energy. This effect is incredibly useful and only unlocks once they are fully leveled. I stand beside the portal and continuously eliminate the Corpus coming through the portal. The number of Corpus coming through the portal is increasing and I can't kill them all fast enough. I think the jig is up. The Corpus on the other side are sure to notice the backlog, regroup, and send a much larger force. I keep killing the Corpus until, as I suspected, the flow stops. Only a matter of time now. I commit another level, reload, and get ready for the final push. I'm standing about five meters directly in front of the portal. As soon as I see the first Corpus leg come through I immediately bullet jump high into the air, spray gravity orbs around, and bring down the mighty Heliocor. I jump back to my starting position and spam Virulence. My stacks are approaching fifty and my Virulence is almost at one shot levels. The Corpus are still coming and I need at least five seconds. I bullet jump again while reloading, spray gravity orbs in between me and them, send out a couple of well timed Virulences, and blast a couple of escapees with the Gammacor. I dash behind the Orokin Archive and commit my third level and unlock Larva. 'Ha, now we're talking.' I peek out from behind the Archive and, just as I suspected, they value the Archive and don't want to destroy it. The orbs may be disappearing and the Corpus starting to slowly advance again but they won't fire on the Archive. As soon as I realize their advance I place a Larva about half a meter above and behind the closest Corpus. I then place gravity orbs on the left and right of the Corpus coming from the portal. I begin spamming Virulence and targeting weakened enemies with my Gammacor. As the Corpus continue to pour in, I make sure they're funneled into my oncoming Virulence by a gravity orb corridor and once they're in my corridor I snatch up extras with a Larva. After another six minutes, the Copus assault finally lets up. I suspect they are regrouping and there will be more. I need to hurry. I do my usual prep, unlock Parasitic Link, and immediately engage the Archive interface. The usual 4x4 grid is replaced by an 8x8 grid and the positioning of the blue and yellow squares is much trickier this time. No time to complain, let's get started. Unlike in the game, the timer doesn't start until all the squares are green and I begin moving them around. About halfway through the green square rearrangement the next wave of Corpus arrive, unleashing painful lasers into my back. I keep my palm on the interface take out my Simulor in my free hand and unload the clip. I also unleash all my energy in the form of Larvas and a Parasitic Link connected one of the larger Corpus. I return my attention to the interface and carefully rearrange the green squares.

    I'm almost finished, but the Corpus are already resuming their assault. All firing at once they quickly burn through the health of my links target. One last maneuver...there I got it. I place the databank behind the console and authorize the download. Now I just need to kill and wait. I dash back behind the Archive and hear the gunfire cease and the fire on my back slowly recede as my large store of bioenergy does its thing. Without giving them time to advance any further, I run up the backside of the Archive with my Simulor in hand, spray strategically placed gravity orbs near the dispersing Corpus as I bullet jump straight upwards, aim glide back down while finishing off potential escapees with the Gammacor, then placing Larvas down the center, and spamming Virulence. I reload as I spam. I use my Gammacor to finish off Corpus recovering from my gravity orbs, before replacing the orbs closer to their original position. After about two minutes, my corridor is back to its original size and deathly splendor. I continue to wreck these Corpus fodder for another ten minutes. I guess whoever's in charge of this operation has another brilliant idea. By this time, the download has been completed and the databank is secure within my inventory. I don't know what these Corpus have left but it hardly matters since I've unlocked Ravenous. I quickly scavenge the battlefield for ammo and return to my spot behind the Archive. I wait for quite a while and nothing is happening. I wait longer '...what the hell. Something tells me I should leave right now.' I begin sprinting towards the portal. As soon as I step foot into the portal, I bullet jump as steeply upwards as I can without hitting the top of the portal framing. I see the door that I came in is open with several Corpus milling around that area. The room in its entirety has possibly a hundred Corpus. I aim glide towards the door, spraying gravity orbs all along the wall, I pull out my Heliocor, crash down on their heads, jump through the door, turn around, and sling Larvas, Virulence, and gravity orbs at them.

    I witness an explosion at the portal as it's shattered beyond repair. 'Holy shit! They were going to seal me in there forever. Oh well, I'm out now and I was going to blow it up anyway.'

    I continue my assault with my Gammacor, while periodically replacing my gravity orbs and Larva. I'm distracted occasionally by a few Corpus who weren't in that room and are trying to sneak attack me. The Corpus's numbers are dwindling and they aren't advancing as hastily as before. I slow down my assault in response and head back into the room to pick off the cowardly stragglers. I take out the remaining Corpus in the room, ensure the portal is well and truly destroyed, and then walk back to the extraction, taking out the last remaining Corpus along the way. I take my time on the way back, in order to collect resources.

    "Ordis, is there any way we can grab the mining equipment from the asteroid we cleaned up earlier?"

    "Certainly, Operator, with another galleon under our control we could easily fit most of the equipment in the hold. The rest can be carried by the galleon's superior tractor beam."

    "Excellent! Head to the nearest Relay. I need weapons for my Nidus and other frames. Then head back to the galleon and secure that mining equipment."

    After doing a Relay run and boarding the galleon again, I take my time going room to room and clearing out most of its occupants. We head to the asteroid and and spend about ten hours extracting the mining equipment from the asteroid. Once all is loaded, we begin the Voiding process. After we drop off the mining equipment next to the derelicts, I take out the remaining Grineer, begin cleaning up their corpses, and gathering up their gear.

    "Ordis,I want you to search the Orokin Archive, for any blueprints of equipment that will help us restructure and build upon ships. Park the galleon next to the derelicts and take us back out of the Void. We need to find a Corpus ship loaded with resources."

    "Operator, I must warn you that trying to hijack a Corpus ship, the same way you do with the Grineer, will be a bit more difficult. They are bound to have their own Cephalon aboard. I'll not only need a specialized Cephalid, but I will also have to be embedded physically into the primary interface while the auxiliary Cephalid is embedded within the reactor room interface. If the Operator is able to hack random consoles and embed minor Cephalids into them while I deal with the Cephalon things will go much smoother."

    "I see, so sort of like a pincer attack only with data instead of arms. Are you sure this specialized Cephalid will be enough support to help you overcome the other Cephalon? What if I'm not able to embed any other Cephalids?"

    "The Operator need not worry. The specialized Cephalid will be more than sufficient. It will simply take a while. The embedding of extra Cephalids will speed up the process considerably."

    "Well then, if that's the case then let's not waste anytime."

    Taking the Corpus Pillar ship was not hard. It did, however, take nearly two hours even with me embedding Cephalids left and right. We head back to the derelicts, to begin the Voiding. With the pillar cleaned out, we take the galleon and head to a location well away from our previous drop off. Now the only thing left is to wait, for Darvo.

    Less than an hour later, I hear Darvo greeting me. "Greetings, Tenno, I've just acquired the necessary funds for our arrangement, I presume you have the galleon."

    "I do. I'm sending you my coordinates now,  same procedure as last time."

    "Excellent, Tenno! I'll be there as soon as possible."

    Darvo arrives, boards the galleon, and receives his second product quality confirmation tour.

    "Uh, Tenno, do you know if you will be acquiring any more galleons and when?"

    "This will likely be the last one. Even the Grineer, as dumb as they are, can only be fooled so many times. The only scenario in which I would do this again is if I become severely strapped for cash and I'm in desperate need of expensive products. Once we finalize this sale, that day should not come for many years."

    "Ah, yes, I see. That is probably for the best, even if a bit disappointing. Although I'll confess, that I've not told my buyer about this second ship. When you contacted me about a second galleon I, being the opportunist that I am, had a flash of inspiration. I thought, what if I had my own galleon? My potential profits would soar. Hiding a whole galleon has not been an easy task, with my meager resources, but well worth the effort. With a ship that size at my sole direction I could expand my potential product offerings to an impressive degree. Even if you don't acquire any more galleons, It would be much easier for me to take larger merchandise off of your hands. That being said, as a sign of appreciation for allowing me this once in a lifetime opportunity, I'm offering you the full market price of this galleon, 150 million credits."

    My mental eyes widened at this proclamation. I suspected that his buyer would probably be paying 200 million or more for the other galleon, but I'm still surprised that Darvo would willingly offer more than the original deal. 'I'm really glad I don't have a face right now.'

    "Darvo, that is certainly a generous offer and I thank you for your candidness. I accept your offer and cheers to a prosperous business relationship."

    "Cheers indeed, Tenno! Shall we head back to the ship and finalize our deal then?"

    "We shall, Darvo, we shall."

    After finalizing the deal, we say our goodbyes to Darvo and head back to Void Town. I task Ordis with finishing his analysis of the Archive, while I clear out the other derelict. With both derelicts cleared, for the time being, I headed back to the Orbiter to get some answers.

   "Ordis, did we find anything useful? If I'm not mistaken there should be an Odonata Arch-Wing blueprint in there, correct?"

    "Quite right, Operator. The Archive also contained a wealth of information, on drones designed for various tasks. Drones and other equipment should be craftable within the Foundry."

    "This is most welcome news, Ordis. We still have much work to do. Task number one, will be to make ship reconstruction drones. I want to reconfigure the pillar to be a ship analyzer and deconstructor. It doesn't need to be enclosed, so long as it gets the job done. I believe the mining equipment will be useful to that end. I want the pillar, or Pillory, to be able to analyze an Orokin Derelict, find all of the useful bits, extract them in a usable state, and turn the rest into resources. Once we've fully reconstructed a fully intact and operable Orokin Ship, we'll modify and enlarge the Orbiter, make you the Cephalon of our Orokin base, and begin construction of all the various labs accessible by Tenno Dojos, a larger more capable Founder, and a larger more capable everything else the Orbiter has. Once our Orokin Base has been fully constructed and equipped, I'll visit the Federation to acquire all of their research from the various labs. Then we can start our own research and man our base with specters and Infested. Do you understand everything that needs to be done,  Ordis."

    "I understand, Operator. Although, I thought you said something about manning the base with Infested?"

    "I did and for now you don't need to worry about it. You just need to know that I know what I'm doing and handle the rest."

    "Yes, of course, Operator."

    I enter Helminth's domain and kick off our long overdue introductions.

    "Helminth, are you listening?"

    "This one hears, Master. How can this one be of service?"

    "For starters, I'd like to know what you are and where you came from?"

    "This one is the failed experiment of an Orokin laboratory. The Orokin were attempting to create an Infested Cephalon in order to control their newly created warframe. This warframe was and is the Master and at the time Master was only a shell incapable of independent thought. They embedded me into the Master in the hopes I could control the Master and through the Master control the Infestation. I, of course, cannot control the Master. When the Orokin realized this they discarded me. The Master wound up being recovered by colonists from an Infested ship. It was on that ship that the Master, and I along with him, stayed until Master developed his own consciousness."

    "An Infested Cephalon? Is that even possible?"

    "The Orokin may have failed, in controlling the Master, but they did not fail in creating an Infested Cephalon. This one is both fully Infested and Cephalon."

    "......that is freaking awesome! Tell me Helminth can you perform all the tasks that a Cephalon can and do you require the same assistance from Cephalids as a Cephalon?" I'm thoroughly intrigued at this point.

    "Master is correct. This one can perform exactly as the Master has stated."

    "So how much do you know about the Infested and can you control other forms or strains of Infested that aren't me?"

    "This one could detail with great precision a great many things concerning the Infested if Master has the time. Also, this one can exert limited control over lesser forms of Infestation. A task that can be made much easier with the Master's assistance."

    'Well it seems that my suspicions were correct, even if not in the way I imagined them being correct. A freaking Infested Cephalon, sick!' I think excitedly. "Helminth if I were to place a Foundry in this room could you use it to analyze and modify Infested growths that I recover? Could you remake them into the form of Infested that I control while maintaining their original function? What about constructing Infested weapons or converting existing weapons into an Infested version?"

    "The analysis in all of these tasks is simple enough. This one however cannot recreate the Master's strain. The construction, modification, and conversion tasks, however, will require the Master's intervention."

    "Ohhhhh, yes! I do believe that I can work with this. Ordis, as soon as the ship modification drones are completed, have them build a Foundry in Helminth's domain that specializes in biological constructions. Also, I'm taking the Liset to the derelicts to extract Infested growths."

    ...…..Six months later......