13 Sentry-fication

The Sentry stared at me for a while before answering. "What do you plan on doing with the tower?"

     "At the moment nothing. I simply need someone to maintain it, until I need it. Eventually, I'll have need of living quarters, training rooms, and other accommodations for my allies. I will at some point establish an organization similar to the Sol Tenno Federation that exists for the benefit of all Tenno but is disconnected entirely from the Lotus's influence. I won't tell you how it is that I know this no matter how many times you ask so don't even try. The Lotus, the one the Tenno revere as a mother, is actually a Sentient who was brainwashed by the Orokin to view the Tenno as her children. She was intended to act as a leash for the Tenno and to keep them under control. Her real name is Natah and whether she means us Tenno good or ill is beside the point. She is a Sentient and as long as this is the case the potential exists for her to turn against us, be it willingly or otherwise. She already has a history, of having her entire perspective altered to something fundamentally at odds with her previous behavior. On top of this, the other Tenno are literal children and with all of their memories wiped upon their awakening they are even less than children. They are like newborn babes born into adult bodies that were designed for killing. Many don't even know that they have a body of their own that is still suspended in cryo sleep. They are the perfect pawns, for even a manipulator of the lowest order. The Tenno have spent all of their new lives doing the Lotus's bidding and it will not be an easy task to win them to my side. If things go as I've planned them, then I shouldn't need to sway them at all. That being said, you can see that I intend the towers as a fortress base for my Tenno allies. I suspect that we will eventually have to go to war with the Sentients, although I'm not as certain about that part as I am the rest."

     "...Wow! That's quite a bit of information. All of it a bit hard to believe. I'm not really sure what to make of it. How can I be sure if any of this is true, if most of it hasn't even happened yet?"

     "Ordis, you've been listening correct?"

     "Correct, Operator."

     "Then tell our friend, Sentry, here about the numerous occasions in which I've demonstrated my knowledge of things that I reasonably should not know."

     "The Operator, on several occasions, has correctly predicted events that no matter how I analyze them I cannot find a logical method by which he might have known such things. In one instance, he accurately predicted the location of an Old War Relic before successfully retrieving it from the hands of the Infested. Operator, is it okay for me to discuss the nature of your most recent escapade?"

     "Go ahead, Ordis."

     "Before infiltrating your tower, the Operator asked me to contact a black marketeer, named Darvo. He requested information about a thief named Maroo, whom I can attest has never been in the Operator's presence. The Operator went to the location indicated by Darvo and seeded this Maroo's ship with numerous tracking devices. He then went to Mars and seeded a sizable portion of both the surface and atmosphere with drones capable of detecting the tracking devices. The Operator is certain that this Maroo character will soon arrive on Mars for some purpose and it is then that he intends to resume his pursuit of Maroo. If you are having trouble determining whether or not to believe the Operator's claims, perhaps you could observe his dealings with Maroo and see for yourself that he speaks the truth."

     "An excellent idea, Ordis! What do you say, Sentry? Want me to put on a little show for you?"

     "Well, I don't know that I would frame it that way but, yes, I suppose I would."

     "Wonderful! Ordis, do we have an escort drone or an escort Specter?"

     "We do not, Operator, should I begin construction on one?"

     "Yes, make it five Tier 1 Frost Escort Specters. It shouldn't take too long to finish the first one. Whenever it's finished have it escort Ms. Sentry here to her temporary quarters. I'll be in the Prime Lab. We should be receiving that alert any day now, so you won't have to wait too long."

     I return to my Prime Lab and continue my study of Ducalidium. I'm not making much progress but then I've yet to acquire any Sentient specimens or their cores, which I suspect will be a key to unlocking the potential I'm searching for. 

     Thirty five hours later, Ordis alerts me to Maroo's presence on Mars. I, along with Sentry, board the Orbi-tau-er (just thought I'd throw this in here) and head to Mars on the double. I have my Ivara keep Sentry cloaked as we arrive on the ground and proceed to Maroo's location. Once my "Ivara in a pod" noticed the presence of Maroo's ship she should have utilized her Arch-Frame, followed the ship to its destination, and planted Tracker Darts on Maroo herself. Ivara leads the way and we eventually heads past Maroo's ship and into a  Grineer Settlement, which is not currently overrun with Infested. I suspect that Maroo's little break in is what will lead to the future Infestation. I decide to wreck the place just because they're Grineer. Once we arrive at the portal leading to the Derelict, I set up a modified version of Larva that covers the entire portal and can be maintained by physical contact and a steady psionic energy supply. It's like this that we wait for Maroo to come back out. 

     "So why exactly are you interested in this thief to begin with?" Sentry asks me.

     "This portal leads to an Orokin Derelict that contains an Arcane Machine and a codex. There are six codices altogether and the Corpus have three and the Grineer have two. The Grineer believe the codices to contain the secret to reversing the degradation of their DNA and the Corpus believe it to contain the secrets of an Orokin treasure. I don't have a lot of faith in the codices themselves but I still want to study them as well as the machine itself. The reason Maroo is here is because she was hired by the Corpus to recover the codex for them."

     At this time, I detect movement within my Larva and wrap its tendrils around my prey. Maroo starts screaming and suddenly stops as I expose the back of her neck and knock her out. I transmat her to the ship and Sentry and I both head back to the Orbiter.

     Back in The Tau-er, Sentry and I arrive at Maroo's cell and begin our interrogation. 

     "Who the hell are you people and what do you want?" Maroo asks as we approach. 

     "I am a Tenno, and this is Sentry. You don't need to know anything beyond that. As our captive, it's not your place to demand answers. That right belongs to us. As such, tell me, what were you doing in that Orokin Derelict? Keep in mind I already know what you were doing. I'll know if you are lying. I simply want you to explain to Sentry about the situation."

     "..." She looks back and forth between me and Sentry a few times trying to gauge how to respond. She chose wrong.

     "... The Grineer had taken me prisoner and I was escaping from them. I accidentally stumbled into the portal and, when I finally found my way back out, I was being assaulted by these nasty gooey arm things." She lies.

     "I see, so it's the hard way then. Very well. Ordis, modify this cell to eliminate any light coming in and make sure not to provide her with any food or water, until she is ready to tell the truth."

     Sentry gives me a weird look but still follows me as we head towards the exit.

     "...Wait, wait, fine I'll tell you the truth. I'm a thief and my name is Maroo. I was hired by the Corpus to retrieve a codex from within the derelict." Sentry's eyes go wide, as Maroo confirms everything that I've told her.

     "Very good, now where is this codex so that I might analyze it?"

     "What do you plan on doing with me? If I give you the codex, I won't get paid. Surely, you didn't bring me here just to rob me."

     "What we do with you afterwards is up to you. However, the matter of the codex doesn't hold so many options for you. Me asking you for the codex is simply the easy way. Even if you refuse to hand it over, I have ways of acquiring it forcefully. So will you maintain your insistence on doing things the hard way?"

     Maroo stares daggers into me. I guess we're not going to be friends. "Here take it...I hate you!"

     "Excellent! Now I simply need to acquire the others and then we can drop you off wherever you would like. Since the period of your incarceration is tied to the time it takes us to acquire the others, perhaps you'd like to be of assistance in this matter?"

     "I would if I knew anything. The only thing I know is that the Grineer have two codices and the Corpus have three. I have no idea where."

     "I see. That is fine though because I know where they are already...Well, Sentry, are you satisfied with the reliability of my information?" I asked Sentry, once we had stepped out of the room. 

     "...I suppose so. It would certainly seem like you know the things you claim to know. I've yet to see a single trace of the Orokin and I'm not sure what I would do if I left on my own. Even though I know the Tenno betrayed the Orokin, they did wipe their own memories in penance. It's hard to be mad at someone who is completely unaware they did anything wrong, especially when they're so childlike. The Sentients however are unforgivable and I would very much like the opportunity to pay them back for their betrayal. I suppose swearing my allegiance to you and continuing to operate the tower that you took me from would be the best way to do that."

     "It would indeed, Sentry. I'm glad you are choosing to stay with us. With that settled, I'll return you to your tower and you can give me a tour of the place, along with a more detailed explanation of its operational capacities."

     Once my tour is over, I promise to bring Sentry a new Cadre of Corrupted Candidates as soon as I get the chance. She seems satisfied with this and so I head back to The Tau-er. Back aboard the The Tau-er, I transfer Ordis to the Orbiter, prep my Specter Force by equipping them all with plenty of Cephalids,  and head off, in the Orbiter, towards a Grineer Galleon at Pantheon, Mercury and then to a Corpus ship on Roche, Phobos. 

     As soon as we arrive at Mercury, I send my Ivara out to seed the galleon. Once the ship is locked down and under our control, I set the ship on a course for our next destination on Phobos, I recall Ivara, and head back to the Orbiter. At Phobos, I send Ivara in first and then task the rest of my Specter Force with locating various consoles around the ship and embedding the Cephalids. Ordis conquers the ship's Cephalon, a task made much easier by his previous victory, locks the ship down, and redirects it towards the incoming Grineer Galleon. We intercept the galleon and travel alongside of it, back to Void Town. 

     Instead of heading back to The Tau-er, we go directly to Sentry's tower and force all of the occupants of both ships into her tower. As soon as all of the Corrupted Candidates have been offloaded, Sentry locks down access to the tower and begins the implanting. 

     With all six codices in my possession, I set Ordis to the task of investigating them and the Arcane Machine. We've already placed the unified codices into the machine and received the same message as in the game but I'm hoping that we discover something more about it.

     Maroo? Who is that? Oh, right, that Maroo. Now that I think about, I think she "accidentally" ended up in the Cadre of Corrupted Candidates. Can't have loose ends flapping about in the wind now can I?

     Anyway, I think it's about time I started looking for the plot line Warframes starting with Limbo, Mirage, and Gaara. 

     "Ordis, I need you to analyze the nature of the Void Space Boundary, as well as analyzing the various energies that occur in both here and the Void, and attempt to determine any similarities or connections between the two. There should be a Warframe that has access to a dimension between us and the Void and can exert control over it. I'm not certain what the theorem that makes this Warframe possible looks like but I know that from your perspective it should initially seem to be incomplete but when viewed in its entirety appear as though it's being described with nothing but pure mathematics. 

     "I must stress again not to question how I know these things, because what I'm about to tell you is going to sound very strange. If, in your attempts to discover this theorem of an alternate dimension, you need some guidance think on the things I'm about to tell you. The theorem should appear to be nonsense but with logic within the nonsense. I don't know what the phrase 'inverting the entropic mass of void quantum' means but the theorem's formula for it should, from your perspective, seem rather naughty. The theorem's diffraction principle may seem to be full of dangling ratios but the dynamic constant is expressed in pure numbers.

     "Now as I've hinted, I have very little understanding of what these things mean. I only know that there is a rift dimension between us and the Void, there is a Warframe that can control this rift, and the theorem that makes this possible should from a Cephalon's perspective resemble the statements I've given you. Do you have any questions, Ordis?"

     "Ah, well, as long as asking how you know such things is off the table, then no. I don't have any questions but I would say that this is certainly the strangest command you've ever given me. That being said, I must admit to being quite excited about the potential consequences of this investigation and I'm absolutely dying to get started."

     "Good to hear, Ordis, but first I need you to do some scanning around the various planets for Sentient lifeforms. I'll head back to the plains and get some scans of the various Eidolons there so you'll have more data to work with. Once we've acquired at least one Sentient specimen and I can successfully locate them on my own, you can begin the investigation into the Limbo Theorem. Although, it may be necessary to craft a device that can store and emit dark energy, in order to capture the Sentient. Some type of modified Ayatan Sculpture would probably do the trick. I'm sure Sentry's tower probably has at least one sculpture and a white star if not more."

     "Ah, the Limbo Theorem. I like the sound of that. I suppose we should craft you that void  device and find you those Sentients so I can get this investigation started."