5 Free at Last (Updated)

I make my way, to my room aboard the orbiter. I sit down in front of the observation window and begin my meditation by focusing on the consolidated energy, from dispersion. I can feel it easily enough but, like Ordis said, it doesn't seem to do anything the way that the PE or BE do. I try focusing on what I know my frame is currently capable of. As I do, I sense the consolidated energy break into to two parts. One part seems to be similar in power and purpose to my frame's current abilities. The second is far larger and doesn't seem any different than from before the split. I focus on the first energy and try to visualize it as my Ivara. Once the image is completed I will it to integrate into my frame. Slowly at first the image, of Ivara, begins to atomize and disperse. As it does so, I sense a tingling sensation in every part of my frame's exterior. As the tingling sensation moves towards my core, my inner Ivara's dispersion accelerates, and then suddenly, it's done. I can now sense that the upgrade was a success, as my frame's capacities are now marginally better than they were. At last, the path to greatness has been revealed! I resume my upgrading and after I use up all the consolidated energy possible my frame's been upgraded sixteen times. I suppose there's no reason not to think of these upgrades as levels, especially considering that 'my upgrade sixteen Ivara' doesn't sound nearly as cool as the other way around. After raising sixteen levels in one go, all four of my abilities are now available to me.

With my level acquisition now out of the way, I return to the inherited Tenno knowledge and continue meditating for a couple of hours. After which I realize that my Artemis Bow, that I've been wearing across my back in classic Tenno fashion, can actually be stored in the same manner and method as resources. With my meditations complete, I hit the sack and don't look back.

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'Ah, nothing like waking up to a face full of endless space.' Today is my first day of freedom in this new Universe. The first time I can relax and not have to stress, about possibly dying at any minute. There will be plenty of time for that later. I plan to take it slow today and acclimate myself to everything that I've learned so far.

First, let's see what my deconstructions have yielded. "Ordis, report. What's the situation with my deconstructions? I should have blueprints for all of those deconstructed weapons, correct?"

"Ordis has completed the deconstruction of all Arsenal weapons, Operator. Blueprints, for all deconstructed weapons, have also been obtained. Twenty three mods and eight mod blueprints, were also recovered. Most of the recovered mods were duplicates, Operator."

"Hmmmmm, are there any resources that could have been recovered from the deconstructions?"

"There were resources that were recovered, Operator. There are some resources like polymer bundles, that if damaged or are otherwise altered, can no longer be of use. Elemental resources however can usually be recovered in their entirety."

"That's good, but I'm going to need more resources and especially credits if I'm going to advance in this world. For now, I want to expand my Arsenal of both weapons and frames. First thing is first however, Ordis, see if you can locate the Galleon that I infiltrated before fighting Vor. I need to test my abilities,level my frame, and acquire a great many credits."

"That's a simple matter, Operator. The Nav Segment we obtained from them should lead us there. They should be, in the same general area, as they can't travel too far without it. It wouldn't take us long to get there. If the Operator acquires valuables that are to massive or numerous to fit in his inventory, the Liset has a tractor beam as well as its own frame-style inventory only larger. Anything, of value, can usually be sold at a Relay."

"Excellent! Then take the orbiter, just outside their detection range. I'll take the Liset, once we arrive."

Once we depart, I spend most of the trip looking through my recently acquired mods. Four are bow and gun damage mods: Buffer (Base damage increase), Pyroclast, Cryoclast, and Electroclast. One modifies a gun's range, Scoped, and another modifies a gun's fire rate, M.P.P. (More Pews Please.) The other two are melee mods, another Buffer and Pyroclast. I place my Artemis Bow, inside the Modifier as I've taken to calling it, and install Buffer and the elemental mods. Walking over to the Foundry, or The Founder, I task it with constructing Twin Grakatas, a Vulkar, and a Machete. As it turns out, elemental mods don't mix the way they do ingame. If you want radiation or blast damage, you need mods specifically for that damage type.

"Operator, the galleon hasn't gone far from where we left it and we are currently on approach."

"Excellent work, Ordis! Let's see, how these Grineer dogs deal with a fully powered Ivara." 'Well, I have all four, of my moves anyway.'

Peeking, out of the door of the storage room that I'm currently in, I scan my surroundings. After wall running up next to the ceiling, I bullet jump, at a ninety degree angle away from the wall while shooting a dashwire towards the wall. Grabbing the wire, I flip myself up into a crouching position on top of it. I exercise my Sentry to its fullest. There they are. I'm currently in a long rectangular room with a holographic orb, floating between two hemispherical indentations on the floor and ceiling, at the far end. On my end are two massive enclosures that are clearly protecting some type of machinery. A path runs both in between the enclosures and on either side. There's a door, on a raised platform with stair access, directly behind the holo-orb. My quarry is approaching the door, from the hallway beyond. 'I think I'll test this out.' I pull out my Artemis Bow, equip an Artemis Arrow (consumes energy,) and apply Navigator to it. I take aim, at the open doorway, and let it fly. The sudden sensation, of controlling this fast moving projectile, is quite disorienting. However, I had anticipated this and quickly recover. Keeping the doorway in my sights I continue onward until I see my quarry. Immediately I confirm, what I deduced from Sentry. They're all in a single file line, in order to pass neatly through the door. I quickly line up my Navigator Arrow, in order to pass neatly through their heads and accelerate it to maximum velocity. Thunk, thunk, thunk, in rapid succession, the oblivious Grineer fall to the ground. 'Well, that's definitely what I'd call a successful test run. Now,... I think it's time to Prowl.'

The Artemis Bow ability, from the game, didn't exist in this world. My AB is a part of my frame. I can access it any time I want and all of my abilities, except Navigator, rely on it being equipped. My fourth ability is Artemis Arrow. It's much more versatile, than the game version. Not only can I release multiple arrows at once and control the angle of their spread, I can also control how many arrows to fire at every shot by applying more or less energy. I can even charge one arrow, with the power of multiple arrows. Having witnessed the deadliness of AA's newly discovered capabilities, I wonder if Prowl will have any surprises for me.

Looking down the hallway where the three unlucky Grineer came from, I notice its a four way intersection. Ignoring the door at the opposite end of the hallway for now, I decide upon the left path. Before I can even take the first step towards it, my Sentry alerts me to multiple threats heading into the holo-room. I quickly run back through the door, up to my DW perch, and I activate Prowl. Looking at all the Grineer, filing into the room, I wonder what the hell is going on? Actually, come to think of it, it probably should've immediately been suspicious that a room with all of this technology in it would be completely empty. 'Dammit!' I curse myself. 'How stupid can I be? If I don't start paying attention, I'm going to end up getting killed. I wonder what's happened that caused them all to leave and then return all together. Well, I don't suppose it matters now that they're here.' I count a total of twelve Grineer: two Heavy Gunners, three Elite Lancers, and seven Lancers. The two Heavy Gunners are heading to opposite sides of the machinery enclosures. They each have an Elite Lancer in front of them and a Lancer behind them and seem intent on patrolling the the machinery enclosures. The third Elite Lancer is interacting, with the holo-orb along with two Lancers. Around the base of the holo-orb, there is a halved semicircle of consoles that allow access to the door upon the platform. The three remaining Lancers are operating these consoles. It seems these Grineer have upped their security and altered their patrol compositions. 'Hah! Very well, challenge accepted!'

I follow overhead, until the patrol on the right, is obscured by the enclosure they're passing. I drop a sleep arrow into the Heavy, it lands just a sec before I land behind the Lancer, stealth kill. I side step the Heavy towards the Elite, stealth kill. Heavy, stealth kill. I bullet jump back up to my DW and scout the other patrol. The patrol is on the other side of the room so I place another DW. As I reach the other side, the patrol has come to the end of the path but they aren't turning around. They're going around the corner. 'Dammit! Why the hell would I just assume that they would turn around. Despite all I've been through, I'm still apparently treating this like a game. Shit! No time!' I dash back across and, sure enough, the patrol is headed directly into the path of the now corpse patrol. I drop a cloak on the bodies as I book it towards the other patrol, who are about to turn the corner. I put a sleep arrow, in the Heavy. I land behind the Lancer, only a second after the Elite begins to fall, an AA sticking straight out of the top of his head. Stealth kill,...and then my Prowl wears off. Shit! I dispatch the Heavy and bullet jump back to my DW. Sentry eases my mind, no more enemies are coming and all of the Holo-workers are still tending to their business.

'Damn! I was caught up, in my scheming and murdering, and didn't even notice my energy was nearly depleted. It seems that instead of deactivating when running and jumping, Prowl, in this world, simply begins consuming drastically more energy. Hmmm...I'm not really sure if that's better or worse. Regardless, I think I have a much better grasp of my abilities now. Once my energy recovers I'll dispatch the rest and explore some more of this ship.'

Once the others are dead, I decide to contact Ordis, before I continue.

"Ordis, do you read me?"

"Loud and clear, Operator."

"Can you tell how many Grineer are on this ship?"

"One moment, Operator, while I initiate a scan....There are currently, two hundred and thirty six Grineer on board, Operator."

"Hmmmm...Is there any way I can take over the controls of this ship, hack the ship's AI or something."

"This...I don't believe so, Operator. I suppose, I could do it but I would have to be in physical contact with the ships systems."

"So there's no way to get you on board this ship? Aren't you just a mass of True Data? Shouldn't I be able to manifest you somewhere on the ship, take you out, and then either replace or reposition you?"

"...Operator...what are you saying? Are you trying to gid rid of me Operator?"

"Not permanently, ya dope! Can't you see I'm trying to accomplish a mission here? If I can get you onto this ship, and you get control of it, think of possibilities, Ordis."

"Ummm, Ordis, could maneuver the ship at the Operator's discretion?"

"...and?"

"I must confess, Operator, that I'm at a loss? What is it the, Operator plans to do?"

"The Void, Ordis! The Void! We take control of the ship, fly into the Void, and then everyone on board dies or goes insane, except for me. Also, because no one can follow us into the Void, we can take our time planning our next move."

"Wha...my...Operator, you're a genius! What an absolutely amazing plan!"

"No, Ordis, I'm not a genius. You are just stupid. You are made up entirely of psionic energy encoded with a maximum amount of information. Your primary purposes are storing, processing, and analyzing information. You even have a conciousness and critical thinking capabilities to assist you to that end. Ordis, you quite literally had one job and you fucked it up!"

"...Ordis, is sorry...Ordis, will contemplate his shortcomings."

"Good, then make ready for my extraction from this ship as well as your extraction from the Orbiter."

"Of course, right away, Operator."

Back on the Orbiter, I confront Ordis.

"Alright, Ordis, how do we do this thing?"

"Operator, if I may, I have been thinking about what you said earlier. If you're willing, I believe I have a more effective method of accomplishing this mission."

"Alright then, let's hear it."

"Operator, if you wait just long enough for me to construct a sort of Cephalid duplicate of myself, I can transfer myself directly to the Liset. Then the Operator can instead take the Cephalid to the galleon's primary interface and I can control the galleon remotely from the extraction point. Eliminating any possibility of someone infiltrating the Liset during my absence."

"Hahah, now that's what I'm talking about? How long until this Cephalid is constructed?"

"It shouldn't take more than five minutes, Operator. I'm a Cephalon after all, and information is my job. It's who I am and what I am." Ordis replied proudly.

"Excellent, Ordis! Let's get this done quickly. I don't want them getting that replacement Nav Segment."

As one might expect, once the Cephalid was finished, it was a fairly trivial matter for my Ivara to get into the primary interface and embed the Cephalid. I began Prowling the galleon, keeping a sharp eye on my energy consumption of course, taking out stragglers and the occasional patrol and recovering my energy when neccessary.

As soon as the ship started to depart everyone on board started panicking. It's been absolute chaos ever since we departed. It isn't like there's anything they can do though. We obviously put the entire galleon on lock down as soon as we had control. After eliminating all the Grineer that were closer to the outside edges of the galleon, I'm now culling those closer to the center. Ordis opens only the doors that I need, I pass through, and then it immediately closes again. The entire galleon is a giant kill box. 'Will they even last, until we get to the Void? Well, it doesn't really matter. For a job like this, the safety of the Void is a must.'

"Operator, we are approaching the void. No ships have attempted to follow us, and I believe this mission is already a complete success."

"Ahhh yes, so close, Ordis, so close! Let's not get ahead ourselves though. Let's do what has to be done, and we can celebrate later."

We entered the Void, about half an hour ago, and the effects of the saturated dark energy are slowly beginning to manifest. Many are already falling into madness. Their numbers have been drastically reduced. I'd say there are only about sixty of them left, the commanders included. I keep Prowling and killing, until there are only about ten left alive. I wish I could say that there's an epic battle waiting for me with these last ten, but by this time they've all been affected by the madness. Also, the entire point of this strategy was to avoid epic battles. Taking their lives is like taking candy from a baby. I walk in, slaughter them mercilessly, and head to the control deck.

'Epic battle or no, I've got a mutha fucking galleon bitches. Hell, yeah!'