26 Challenge Accepted

I gave the General a very specific set of guidelines to follow, to ensure the safety of the Reservoir. One of them, of course, is capturing Teshin. She's already reported that he's no longer at his post, within the Conclave. I didn't think he would stick around for long. Now we just have to wait for him to come to us, with him being under the Queen's control I'm sure he will. 

     Using the information I gave him regarding the nature of the Kuva Fortress, Ordis has located the suspected asteroid. I tell him to keep a constant eye on its location so we'll know exactly where it is when the time comes. 

     Leaving Ordis and the others to their duties, I begin my exercises again. Once I'm completely worn out, I enter a meditative state and attempt to focus on the dark energy inside of me. I can sense it easily enough and wonder why I could never sense it before. Transference, after all, is a form of dark energy manipulation even if I'm controlling a Warframe. I can sense the Warframe's energies so why not mine? 

     Then something occurs to me. I go to the Arsenal and remove a simple dagger and try to slice my finger. My finger is cut and it begins to bleed. I then go to my Somatic Link Pod enter into it and transfer into my Nidus. I then enter Operator Mode and try it again. It doesn't work! I try again going for a deeper slice into my arm. Still no blood no wound. The dagger slips into my chest and I feel nothing. I can sense that each attempt has reduced the effectiveness of my transference but not by much. 

     It would seem that this body is simply a projection of dark energy. If I had to guess, I'd say that this ability allows me to transfer enough dark energy into my target frame to give me control over all of its moving parts. Once transference is complete, the target frame is saturated with dark energy that's under my command. It is then that I can project that energy outside the frame, while also condensing it into a form I'm familiar with. Thus this projected body of dark energy is created and, once it receives a certain amount of damage, it disperses back into the void attuned receptacle that it came from. The process, of Transference, is essentially using tamed dark energy across a distance to control a void attuned receptacle. Of course, I won't know for sure, until I'm able to study the phenomenon more thoroughly. 

     If all of this is true, it still leaves the questions of how dark energy is tamed? Why haven't I noticed any of these things going on? Is the Somatic Link Pod augmenting my abilities? Well, as curious as I am about all this it'll have to wait. I don't think I'm going to be able to find all the answers right now. 

     I return to my meditations and focus on fine tuning my control over dark energy. I'm amazed at how natural this comes to me. I start off simple, targeting a portion of energy, moving it to different extremes of my body and then back. I realize quickly that this is too easy and I move to something harder. I try condensing all of the energy in my body into a sphere in my core. I succeed quite easily, once again. I make sure not to condense it too much, as I'm aware of how Void Reactors work and having one inside me would make for the messiest suicide in this Universe and the last. I then attempt to circulate the energy through my body by creating energy veins. This is much more difficult but still doable. I then maintain those veins and reform the sphere in my core with all the veins leading out from it. I control the flow of energy through the veins to cycle in and out of the sphere kind of like an energy heart. 

     Once I've completed that, I can tell that anything much more complex than this and I'll start having problems keeping it all together. I maintain that state, for about two and a half hours. 

     At this time, my body is covered in sweat and I'm slowly losing control over the dark energy. Instead of fighting it, I decide to allow the construct to slowly dissipate back into its natural state of saturation. 

     I get shakily to my feet and realize that I'm even more exhausted, from my meditations than I was from my exercising. I decided to ask for Ordis' help in this matter. The day is only a little more than half over and already I can barely move. 

     "Ordis, you haven't been keeping track of my vital signs and other physiological changes during my exercises by any chance have you?"

     "Operator, I've been monitoring your physiological condition ever since your body first stepped into The Tau-er. What kind of Cephalon would I be if I allowed something to happen to you, right under my True Data? I, of course, noticed the stress that you've been under but, considering that it is self inflicted and done with the intention of bettering yourself, I decided not to intervene. Your stress levels have been well within the expected range, considering the circumstances."

     "That's quite comforting to hear, Ordis. I'm, of course, not bothered by you not intervening. I simply would like you to devise a way to rid me of this complete and total fatigue that is going to slow down my progress if not dealt with soon. A machine, a pill, an injection, really just anything that works. Talk with Helminth about it, if you think it will help."

     "Of course, Operator, I'll get started immediately."

     'Well, I'm obviously not getting anything else done anytime soon. I guess I'll shower and nap it up, until that Fatigue Ferreting Formulation is completed.'

     "Ordis, wake me up whenever you've come up with a solution."

     "Will do, Operator, rest well."

     Two days later, I wake up and feel mightily refreshed and rejuvenated. I sit up in bed and enter a meditative state. I try to reconstruct the vein system I had previously. I manage to reconstruct the entire setup much more easily this time around. I can tell not only that I could hold onto this position much longer but also something about this configuration just intuitively feels right. 

     That can wait until later, however, I have a pretty huge problem, vis-a-vis these disturbing levels of fatigue, acquired by practicing my meditations. 

     "Ordis, how long have I been asleep and what's the word on that contraption/medication I requested?"

     "Operator, I do hope that you won't be too upset with us but all three of us Cephalons discussed the matter and decided not to wake you, until you fully recuperated. The reason being, is that we finished a device that fulfills all of your requirements but it took nearly eighteen hours, from the time you went to sleep. I knew, that under normal circumstances, you should've woken up on your own at this point. 

     "Instead of the basic assessments I've maintained on you this entire time, I decided to run a more thorough examination of your condition. I discovered that, despite the fairly normal levels of stress that you endured, there was something far more mysterious going on inside of your body. It seems as though your cells were undergoing some kind of qualitative change and so I called Helminth and Nyx, to discuss the matter. We all agreed that it would be best, to allow you to fully recover and awaken naturally. Especially considering that Teshin has yet to show himself and we, of course, have everything under control here. 

     "We used that time to modify the device we constructed, to not only run more thorough scans and give us more detailed information, about this unique condition, but also to expedite any positive changes brought about by your exercising and meditations. Anything from muscle growth and bone growth all the way to something like the qualitative changes you just experienced."

     "Hmmm...well, that is something. I think I have a theory as to what's going on but I won't bother elaborating at the moment. I don't think it's that important, since whatever it is seems to be nothing but beneficial. I'll worry about it later or if it becomes a problem, not before then. Until such a time, I'll rely on your best judgment as to how to make the most of this. That being said, I'm not at all upset about you not waking me up when I requested. This is exactly the kind of analysis and modification, of given orders, that I expect from you three. If anything, I'm immensely grateful that your judgment is as clear and incisive as it is and that you knew that following it was the best course of action. Thank you all, for conducting yourselves as you did. I suspect that lesser Cephalons would not have performed as well as you have, in this circumstance."

     "Your praise is most welcome, Operator, I couldn't be happier. I look forward to serving you diligently in the future."

     "Thank you, Operator, for your praise."

     "It is my great honor to serve you, Master. Your praise brings me much joy."

     "Don't mention it, is that the device you mentioned, by the wall, there?"

     "It is, Operator, please feel free to make use of it at anytime. If you'd like, you could give it a test run right now to try out the more sophisticated scans."

     "Hmmm, I suppose that would be for the best. Alright, let's see what this thing can do." I proclaim, as I walk over and enter the machine. 

     I laid down on the bed like device and a transparent covering locks me inside. The machine begins to hum slightly and lines of red, green, and blue lights, perpendicular to my body, begin to run back and forth, from my head to my feet. Approximately three minutes later, the machine finishes its work and releases me. 

     "Operator, it would seem that the qualitative change is mostly in the efficiency of your cells as well as an increase in your attunement to the Void. Both of these changes, however, are very slight and if not for the thorough nature of the scans being used they wouldn't even be noticeable. I wouldn't expect much, in the way of visible differences in performance, from these changes."

     "Well, it's good to know exactly what it is that's happening to my body, so I'm not repeatedly going through a bunch of mystery changes. Thank you all again. I really appreciate the work you've done, in regards to this matter. Now that I've got a solution to the extreme fatigue in front of me, however, I need to get back to my rehabilitation. Also,  considering the fact that I've done nothing for two days straight, that makes it even more imperative. You are all dismissed."

     'Sweet! With this machine at my disposal, I should be able to progress much more quickly. First order of business, physical training.'

     I spend the rest of my "morning" genuinely pushing myself to my absolute limit in everything, from stretching to strength training to cardio. I shower quickly, before jumping into what I'm calling the Subsidizer. Once it's worked its science, I hop out feeling refreshed and begin practicing different applications of dark energy. 

     I try focusing the energy into a classic beam. Once again, these simplistic applications are not hard for me. I then go through the area of effect force push, going invisible, and Void Dashing. The invisibility was only slightly more difficult than the beam and Void Dashing only slightly more difficult than the invisibility. With all of the standard moves out of the way, I decided to try and apply the energy regeneration effect, from the Zenurik school, to my Void Dash. 

     It takes me about thirty minutes but I eventually got the hang of it. I don't know if all of the Focus Abilities are this easy to learn but if they are it's going to feel kind of like cheating. Now that I've solidified a combat foundation and I know I can develop Focus School Abilities, I can put off experimentation, with the application side for now.

     Before I return to my meditations, I quickly reform my Dark Vein System and utilize my energy veins to perform the Void Blast. The beam produced is clearly more potent than normal. I even try the Energizing Void Dash and the regeneration rate is increased. It seems that this new configuration actually has some benefits, aside from just feeling right. 

     Having confirmed everything that I wanted to confirm, I finally return to my meditations. I decide to implement some changes to the Dark Vein System. I extend even smaller capillary like veins, from their primary branches all the way to my skin, and task them with absorbing dark energy from the environment. I also revisit the energy sphere and attempt to optimize the energy pathways that flow through it. After forming a few extra primary veins in some isolated areas, I make sure that all the changes I want are in place and working properly. Then, I hold and maintain that configuration, for four hours.

     Once I rise from my meditations, I'm once again shaking and sweating profusely. I head immediately to the Subsidizer and wait for my vigor to return. Eliminating my fatigue and repairing my damaged tissues seems to take much longer than just the scans. The last time was thirty minutes and this time was forty. 

     Having been thoroughly Subsidized, I begin another round of physical training. I go back for more Subsidies and then another round of meditations. With one last round of Subsidies and a shower, I get back to my much deserved sleep. 

----------POV Change---------- 

     The Operator has left me with the task of capturing Teshin. Presumably, he will attempt to infiltrate the Reservoir and when he does we're to apprehend him. I just received word from Helminth that he's spotted Teshin arriving on Lua. The Operator has been training nonstop, for thirty eight days now. His body is in much better condition than it was and I'm certain that he'll be glad to finally have a chance to put his new found strength to the test.

     As I send the signal to our forces on Lua to prepare for my arrival, I receive another message from Helminth. Two Balor Fomorians and four Grineer Galleons approaching quickly. The Operator speculated that these events would occur much sooner and it's uncharacteristic of him to be this off and he didn't mention anything about Grineer ships, much less Fomorians. His knowledge of future events seems to have forced the Queens to take more drastic actions. The construction of these ships is almost certainly the reason for this delay. 

     "Helminth, take evasive maneuvers and do not engage. Engage invisibility, only if necessary, and make sure they don't target the Reservoir. Keep their attention as best you can."

     'So the Queens seek to challenge the might of the Tenno, do they? Well, if that's the case, then challenge accepted. I contact Sentry within the Traveler. 

     "Sentry, raise the threat level on the Traveler to Eminent. Initiate Emergency Protocol: Point of Contact. Target: Lua. Hostiles: Six Grineer ships Two Fomorian four Galleon. Friendlies: One, The Flesh Tau-er is currently taking evasive maneuvers. Also, initiate Bye Bye and On Blast Protocols."

     "At once, General."

     I immediately step through a custom portal, leading to Teshin's general vicinity. I then trust the others to do their parts, as I focus on mine. 

----------POV Change----------

     "At once, General."

     'Hahaha, I finally get to put this bad boy into action!' It was true what I told the "Operator," as the other's call him. I really had no idea what I would've done with myself,  if I didn't have my Tower. That is, until the Operator dropped by to discuss plans for the Traveler. As soon as I saw those plans, I knew I had to be a part of it. It was a truly magnificent idea. Most of the time I spent in my tower was either waiting, hibernating, or expelling intruders, while the room I occupied kept me alive and protected from the surrounding dark energy. After years and years of mostly boredom or hibernation, I'm not particularly bothered by the lack of physical activity or extended periods of dullness. 

     Once the Traveler was completed, the Operator stationed me inside, as its Sentry as I had requested. It's gotten steadily more hectic ever since its maiden voyage. This is, however, the first time anyone has dared to test its power. It's time to teach them the error of their ways.