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Kushiko The Void is an interesting place. The subdimensional space is practically /filled/ with both intact and less-than-intact vessels, towers and the like, and with being such an interesting place, equally 'interesting' things can happen.

Such as the presence of the derelict vessel--and a fairly sizable one at that--being present outside of the Orokin Void of the Origin System. One could be forgiven for trying to differentiate between the two terms given the Multiversal Void already well known.

Regardless of these conditions, shortly after it's arrival and being noticed, agents of the Lotus, informants and other space traffic ensured she dispatched her agents, those to warn off, and those to get into the ship to discover not just what happened, but to purge the place of the Infested overgrowth.

It also helps that this Tenno wields a specialized Void key that would allow not just herself, but a few others upon this ship. A frigate with Kushiko's Liset nearby was where the rendevouz coordinates lead to, providing for a location that those wishing to assist could organize to before they boarded through her Void key.

The Tenno in this case, having opted to utilize her Mesa Warframe, the one that looked disarmingly least like a Warframe until one noted her fingers and her blindfolded countenance. She waited on the cargo deck below.
Alexis Maaka     Arriving via her ship, Alexis Maaka was quick to join in on this little Void Direlect excursion. She's got her GASH coil rifle in hand, the weapon clicking and humming to life as she primes the rifle for usage in combat. "God only knows how old this thing must be." Maaka muses, looking around with some awe evident despite her face being completely hidden under her mask.
Sigrun Stem Sigrun is also hitching a ride, while Antichthon has space-flight capacities, they've not gone on manned flights further than their own moon. Still, Sigrun managed to use the magics known to her to design a basic vacuum operation spell for contingencies just like this.

This, an unwieldy looking transparant white bubble extends from Sigrun, capturing the air within. Anything that is not gaseous can pass through without incident, making it somewhat more practical than it looks, but it's far from the most elegant solution to the problem.

"I really can't tell, but if you say it looks old, I believe you." The sharpshooter says from behind her own face-obscuring mask, then runes glow in the air near her hand, magical currents flowing between them in a rapid pattern, and four blue orbs appear in the air, faintly glowing as they hover near her.

A tear in the fabric of the universe appears to open up near Sigrun, each granting a glance into the perspective of the orbs. "These orbs will be surveying the area, please look with me, I know not what to look for."
Valentha Summers Another person hitching a ride? A young blonde dressed in retro-futuristic WW2 aviator's attire, including the big damned goggles. And this time she's wearing the goggles. They're good protection.

    Truly honed and trained senses might pick up magic from her. A considerable amount. And Valentha's awareness doesn't end at ordinary senses either - she's sensitive to greater things. Like the presence of Supernatural Evil, should it be on that ship. ... only the truly best of the best among sensitives will feel past the alterations she's made to her aura, masking her prodigious wellspring of magical power and draconic nature.

    You people get a perky Techno-Wizard who's clutching what looks like a lightsaber handle in one hand and an old west six-shooter modified with some nonsenseible-looking gems and wiring.

    Nonsense except to Sigrun, that is.

    "These Infested, any tips?"
Kushiko Once individuals are assembled on the ship, much of what's going on is taking stock of new arrivals with a familiar acknowledgment of the one who is more known to them. Mesa does not smile; given the context of her Warframe, she simply cannot.

She does incline her head in a friendly way before crouching down, dragging two fingers across the deck, head canted downward for a moment before rubbing her fingers clear of the small particulates and standing once more.

As to Sigrun's unique arrival, it's not just the wielder of the frame turning her head to stare, but another source as a holopanel materializes not far from the group. The visage of the Lotus, that color of orchid and purple dominating her attire as she speaks. "Then let me inform you. What we are looking for first is the presence of Infested aboard this ship."

Another holoscreen opens, a second datastream for the not just Sigrun but Valentha to consider: the Infested do not necessarily /care/ if you're organic or otherwise. Some forms of life are naturally likely to be immune, but the disturbing trend of the Infested is adaptation. Don't give them the opportunity to consider what kind of meat (or otherwise) that you're made of and you're generally in a good place.

Furthermore, the thing to remember is while these things are generally their own special brand of tecno-organic, mutagenic plague victims that was engineered as a bioweapon, they are still made of flesh and bone. Tear them apart, burn their bodies to ash, or drown them in gaseous toxins to eat them out from the inside and you're going to have a good time.

Energy and light flickers around the fingertips of the Tenno as a curious-looking object fills the lattice framework: gunmetal and teal colorations of the Void key.

The Lotus continues; "The object my Tenno here is going to use will transport all of you aboard with her when you are ready. This one is called Mesa, should she choose to reveal her name to all of you, I leave in her hands."

On the subject of energies and the like, there's something cleverly hidden, veiled within. While it isn't necessarily evil aboard the ship that Valentha or Sigrun may be able to pick up, when it comes to the Warframe, the Void energy itself simmers just beneath the surface. A darkness that conceals blinding light and silence. It is many things at once, it is focused into a singular point into the vagabond that is Mesa.

The blindfolded-looking frame regards the group, fingers gripping the Void key in one hand; the sigil and etchings look extremely ornate--is that why the energies feel as odd as they do? Well, she isn't telling, it seems. All she's looking for now is affirmation from the group as their readiness.
Alexis Maaka     "Fire tends to help with killing them, or slashing weapons." Maaka says helpfully while she joins up with Mesa and the others. She claps the Warframe on the shoulder, vaguely recognizing Mesa as one of Kushiko's 'frames.

    She already knows Kushiko by name as it is, but she respects Lotus' request all the same. It's up to Kushi whether or not she wants to name herself. "Don't think I've actually seen this one in action. I do remember Valkyr and Mag Prime, that's for sure." she muses aloud, clutching her GASH readily.

    "Alright, let's get going. Mesa, guess you and me can go take point. Stem, think you can get us a little peek ahead with your orbs?" She asks the sharpshooting magic user, glancing over her shoulder.
Sigrun Stem Sigrun says softly, "I knew we were going into space, so I cast a spell for operating in an environment with no or poisonous air. If it's a ship this old I would prefer not to rely on being able to breath the air within." She justifes the white bubble, thinking that's why she's getting the stares.

"I'll stay near the back, and I will scan ahead." She nocks a glass-tipped arrow, the shaft covered in a spongy tissue that seems to be drenched in some kind of oily liquid. "You said fire?"

The sharpshooter takes a glance over at Valentha, looking the woman up and down, and approaches a little closer, blatantly examining the magic, "Neat."
Valentha Summers Valentha twirls her weapons and yet nods grimly at the Lotus after consulting the data stream. "Union's job to keep stuff like this all bottled up, if not hurled into a volcano somewhere! ... A star for these parts, huh? Or black hole..." She adjusts her clothing once more, and inwardly cringes. She's gotten so used to operating on Rifts Earth and other magic-rich locations. a move to deep space without many ley lines is a taaaad distressing.

    Although speaking of distresing... "Does anyone else feel that? The place smells... purple and rusted... err, I mean..." She scratches the side of her head once, exhales... and ends up peering most fiercely at Mesa. ... then SHIVERS.

    "Alright-- oooh. You're that lady from the magic world. Looking forward to seeing what you can do. Remember my voice? Eheh." The dragon-in-disguise impishly grins, then... "You can count on me to get us out if it gets too dicey. Especially if you can handle a few moments of floating in space, worst comes to worst..."

    With a single flick of her thumb and a possibly-detectable injection of magical energy, her Arc-Blade activates. A blade of pure flame, shaped much like a scimitar, erupts from the emitter. Thankfully the heat is fairly localized. It also doubles as a torch!
Kushiko Mesa reaches for the gun at her back; an elegant looking thing, that somehow manages to look predatory as she glances towards that GASH rifle of Alexis. No words; merely an understanding as she readies her Soma Prime rifle.

On those words from Valentha about the Union, one of the secondary radio transmissions (seemingly Mesa) cuts in: "No, when it comes to the Infested, the Orokin, this is ours to deal with." A pause. "... do appreciate the interest you and yours show, however."

There is a sense of honor and duty that must be fulfilled, after all. She does seem to demonstrate some appreciation for what Sigrun offers; so does the Lotus. "Thank you for conducting scans as well," her visage remarks. "I will be remotely linking in as well once you're all aboard."

And then the noises--those terrible, keening wails over the local band. "... Prepare yourselves. This will be disorienting at first."

At the Lotus saying that, once Mesa seems confident the trio is ready, she stretches her hand forward; a vortex of light blossoms outward, not blinding, but simply distorting and pulsating. It feels so... /weird/. Because as she triggers the Void Key, the group is swallowed by light, flickers at the edge of one's senses momentarily occluding one's sense of physical presence.

It's blessedly brief as the group reappears within the Orokin derelict itself, that pulsation, that vibrato of sound fading just as quickly as it arose.

What greets them, quite plainly, is decay. No doubt at some time that the white surfaces and gilded present were undoubtedly brilliant. But corrosion, untold years that the derelict lacked for any sort of automated maintenance or care has effectively brought a terrible ruin that.

The cylinder-like door just ahead is only partway open. The upper half twitches, sparks intermittently bouncing off the upper guide rail thanks to the enormous column of twisted, brownish tree roots pockmarked by teal lighting.

It's an absolutely haunting kind of sight, and even Mesa seems to be a little bit less than enthused by her body language, however brief. It's... eerily quiet, but it /feels/ like something else is here, even without actually being seen yet.

Present in this place, it's damn well easy to see why it's known as a 'derelict' now. But where's the Infested? Beyond the corrupted overgrowth, there's a disturbing lack of nearby technorganic monstrosities...
Alexis Maaka     It's pretty clear by how Maaka readies her weapon that the cyborg's been doing this for a long time. There's no wasted breaths or looks spent, just motions as the group is teleported to the derelict itself.

    It's a weird feeling, one Maaka isn't unused to, as they all disappear only to reappear elsewhere entirely. As they enter the lost vessel, Maaka's heart stops a beat.

    It's a shock to see this vessel so ancient, overtaken by organic growths akin to the Infested's handwork elsewhere. She can only hope to imagine the sort of history this spaceship has, before it was claimed by abominations of an endless nature.

    Shaking her head, she begins to head towards the nearest door, moving to pry the thing open with her augmented strength. "Mesa, cover me." She grunts, before ripping the door open with a growl of effort. As she heads through, she remains alert, lifting her rifle after checking the drum magazine loaded in place.

    "Now where's the infested here...?" She mutters, her scanners, ears, and eyes open and alert. Usually, the Infested don't take long before they attack. This is much too quiet for such a zone, Maaka thinks.
Sigrun Stem "From Antichthon, yes." Sigrun says in a tone that does little to betray whether she recalls Valentha, but she does add softly, "You always go out like... ''this?''" The flame weapon doesn't get much of a response, it's probably not much stranger to her than any piece of tech she's ran into.

It does appear that the transporation is a little sudden for Sigrun, but she recovers fine after a brief moment of adjusting to her new surroundings. Then she takes a good look around, and takes up cover behind one of the roots of the scenery, three red rings appear in front of her left eye as she narrows her right.

Arrow nocked and ready, she's aiming past Alexis, ready to fire in case anything pops out that needs shooting. Three of the four little blue balls fly past Alexis, scouting around and providing visual feedback to Sigrun, her right eye paying attention to that.
Valentha Summers It feels even WEIRDER to Valentha, as the Void's transportation method is a rift in spacetime. Valentha's attention's drawn to the rush of power moments before anything even's visible. She shivers through the transportation... but upon touching down adjusts her hat with the gun-hand and holds her weapon out with the other.

    "Let's see... the door's state sugggests something went through it and left it like that. Can't just try sensing life, we're surrounded by it..." But she reaches out with her mind regardless, trying to sense surface THOUGHTS of anything nearby. But nearby is about ten meters, so that's unlikely to get very far.

    "And yes! ... and no! I mean, yes, if I go out, it'll be like this. But I rarely go out as much as I want. Techno-Wizard Valentha Summers of Lazlo, /AT/ your service!" the girl chimes merrily, before plodding on forth towards the door and... CAREFULLY peeking through...
Kushiko No wasted movements and perhaps oddly depending on how one sees it, every movement made by Mesa is alarmingly quiet. Twin tails of a syandana flow behind her as she brings that curved elegance of her Soma Prime to cover Alexis for a moment; the Tenno disliked this.

Most of the current systems here WERE okay, but none of the Infested seemed focused on her presence or the presence of the others.

With the advanced scanning options presented, the group obtains at least a /decent/ direction to head off into. Water spills over former fountains and into waterways below; this ship is definitely bigger on the inside than not, and seems to be perfectly setup for maintaining life.

And the direction that is seemingly pointed out is heading downwards, towards the aft end of the derelict itself. Platforms and walkways, steps and corridors of these formerly gleaming, golden halls are bereft of their former glory in all ways. Spiderweb-like patterns of roots and growth are utterly chaotic, as the source appears to be from the ceiling.

Near the root where it disappears into the structure of the ceiling appears to be white somehow. A hint, perhaps that it resists the overriding corruption.

It's when the group begins to head in that direction that they pick up the first signs: an Infested corpse. For the uninitiated, it appears to be someone who wore a rather overlarge space suit; heavy boots and a bluish tinge to the suit.

That's just one leg however.

The other leg has been either extended from or otherwise devoured what remained of this man: corpulent grey and bluish flesh not unlike what's been seen so far dominates what remains of the fallen Infested from the waist up.

Of course the reason why one might say 'what remains' is owing to the fact that cauterized flesh has carved a swath through him... it? Whatever they had for a head. And shoulders. The arm is off to the side over there. True elemental flames heedless of physics ensure that the Infested tissue is very definitely burnt, embers still flickering hotly.

... did we mention if you have a sense of smell, the stench is overwhelmingly awful? Sure it's been dead for a little but good lord...

At least for now, there doesn't appear to be any hostiles that Sigrun is catching wind of, but there's some sign of more bodies onward that she, Alexis, Valentha and the Mesa Warframe can catch sight of... is this a trail being left behind?

...What fresh horror lay ahead that was tearing apart these Infested?
Alexis Maaka     Maaka was definitely quick to switch off her olfactory sensors. Good thing too, because the smell of dead infested is /horrible/. She's got experience to attest to this, believe this narrator.

    She looks in utter confusion at the bits of Infested the group comes across, trailing her rifle slowly across the room. "Uhhh...huh."

    Apprehensive at her own decision, Maaka opts to go and follow the trail, lightly stepping across the pile of bodies and bits of bodies left in the wake of whoever came before. "Reminds me of that galleon we we met on, huh?" SHe asks, glancing at Mesa for a moment. This is beginning to be a trend, discovering derelicts with countless dead already laid out.
Valentha Summers Valentha, being an apex predator, DEFINITELY smells that. And her nose wrinkles fiercely. "Ewwwwwwwghhhh...." The disgusting APPEARANCE of that unfortunate infested man on the other hand, gets little reaction from her besides a sympathetic grimace for whoever that fellow once was. She's seen this kind of thing before. Far too much.

    "Well, we sure did locate signs of the Infected presence. But here's a mystery... who or what brought it down? This smells too foul given its state of decomposition. Recently killed, if I had to guess. Not TOO recent... but you'd normally see more grotesque decay.... with ordinary beings." She can only shrug. If this thing doesn't decay at the same speed... not much she can do.

    "But whatever killed it did so with little effort. There's only one serious wound..."
Sigrun Stem Sigrun keeps her little mobile eyes out scanning, but she also moves forward, keeping her profile small and her eyes peeled ahead. She moves like a trained professional, despite the unfamiliar surroundings, every step seemingly taken to maximize her cover and minimize her profile.

Once she reaches the first corpse, her left hand (still within the bubble) reaches out, and the gem glows, red runes lighting up above it until a faintly expanding yellow glow goes over the corpse, performing a near complete analysis on anatomy and any damage to it. She doesn't speak, and with the mask obscuring her face, it's hard to say what she thinks.
Kushiko Something nags at the back of Kushiko's mind. A familiarity but one she cannot place, staring at the remains of the Infested. An old instinct tells the child behind the Warframe she should know this, but it ends in a blank accompanied by an unnerved sensation.

Such a sensation leads to Mesa speeding up a little as the room where more broken bodies have been discovered opens up into a massive chamber. If one thought the roots before were pretty big, the ones here have grown even more prodigiously, forming bridges over chasms in the Orokin structure that defy belief.

It does become clear with examination that the group would see: these overgrown roots have simply grown into parts of the structure after growing so wildly out of control, previously floating platforms and other machinery now wholly integrated into the greater sum of the corrupted root system.

Mesa on the other hand is taking advantage of the opened up area and root system. Intent to take a vantage point, she feeds the Lotus in on where the trail of bodies leads, the myriad wounds and injuries painting a bizarre, yet nearly familiar picture as she propels herself upward to attach herself to a pillar near the ceiling of the grand chamber.

Navigating the root system is fairly easy, thanks to the scans being taken by the present company, though it leads towards what looks to be very likely a dead end. A storage chamber of some sort?. Launching herself towards, she lands in front of the barely functioning door, steam hissing and billowing faintly from the complex machinery far above.

White-gold discs intermittently fire golden lasers into directions that simply have no chance of actually hitting anything, so they are definitely not responsible for what hurt the Infested here. Embers occasionally float upwards from the bodies, wafting upwards until they seem to singe the upper trunks of the root system present in the grand area.

A circular chamber lies ahead for the group: the multitude of bodies gathered in the vicinity of the room's arch was a dead giveaway. Quite literally 'dead giveaway' given the misshapen bodies of a trio of Ancients crumbling to ash. Undoubtedly due to the wielder of such elemental flame, that same flame which sears inexorably through their bodies to scatter them to the wind.
Meren   Eventually, the gnarled roots, broken platforms, and white marble-like stone lead upward into a single spacious chamber. It has vast vaulted ceiling overhead, though massive plants and roots twine through the wall itself like so much lattice.

  The stone is dense and heavy, too much so to be cut by mere steel, but there are intermittent gashes in the rounded platforms ascending upward. Something about them seems almost recent. The charred, blackened swaths are certainly not old. No dust lies on them. These burns are recent.

  That vast chamber is empty, except for the blackened and still-smoldering remains of dead Infested. At the arch, something had held off the throng of hungering Infested. The corpses are piled and still smoldering.

  A hard ringing sound comes from further in the chamber, just out of sight from the incline. It sounds like something metallic ringing as it rebounds against the stone, and it's followed almost immediately by a second blow; a wet, sickening /crack/.

  As the first of the group files into view, perhaps with a certain caution, they'll see it--

  Standing in the midst of the dead Infested are a few live ones, converging on a single towering figure -- a bulky, muscular humanoid figure. It's a cyan so dark as to be almost black. Lighter accents line its limbs here and there, and there are points of lurid orange energy against the darkness. Where a humanoid head would be, there's a long, draconic snout, reminiscent of a whiskered dragon. Much like the Warframe navigating the open column, this draconic being has no eyes. It has only points of energy that are very vaguely suggestive of them. It wears pieces of strangely runged, biomechanical armour at its shoulders, ankles, and over its chest; beneath the armour is a strange, energy-bright and shifting sigil. Something about it has the look of a Warframe... but something about it is also different from any that Kushiko has ever brought to bear.

  It's currently beating the tar out of three Infested Chargers at the same time, and whipping around in its hands is a bladed staff in gleaming white with golden blades. Energy trails from it the same blue as the Orokin structure.

  The Infested fall back to regroup, tensing to spring--

  --and then both the Infested, and the group approaching from below, will find themselves blasted by a hot, searing wave of orange flame.

  Well that's one mystery solved!

  It might crisp anybody who goes into the room too quickly, though.
Valentha Summers Into the strangest of chambers the group goes... and Valentha actually shivers again. She's no stranger to such violence, but the great EASE with which that creature's accomplishing its work is breathtaking.

    Valentha whispers a few words and gestures quickly, channeling power from within. Blue energy sizzles and crackles over her fingertips before she extends one palm protectively and projects a barrier. Should keep people from getting extra-crispy at least, but if it went up against that blast at CLOSE range there's no way it would hold...

    As it is, it crackles and sputters!

    "... Here's hoping they're FRIENDLY..."
Sigrun Stem Sigrun moves to stand near Valentha, her own well-trained eyes taking in the environment. She doesn't outwardly react to the violence beyond, but the way her hand moves to reach out for Valentha's barrier and runes form in the air, inert.

"Don't have the reserves to maintain a constant barrier, but I can strengthen it on a moment's notice if necessary." Sigrun says quietly, clearly sharing the concern for what would happen if they are rushed. She keeps her other hand holding her bow, just in case.
Alexis Maaka     Maaka makes her way into the room, her rifle ready as she polices the room. "Negative contacts. Everything here's dead." She says, sounding confused still as she nudges a body out of her way.

    "This is really weird. You SURE you don't know any other Tenno strike forces out there?" She asks, eyeing Mesa directly. It's as good as she'll get to speaking with Lotus and or Kushiko, after all.

    Of course, they get their answer as Maaka spies someone fighting and winning against several Chargers. "What the hell? Contact, contact!" She raises her rifle, trying to get a good shot before suddenly FLAMES.

    Maaka swears in surprise, before she tries to get as far away from the explosion as possible, ushering the others as well to get clear.

    And then she speaks, "...hi?"
Kushiko Not having memories that are fully intact /sucks/.

This is something that Kushiko comes to the conclusion of upon the full and total acknowledgement of what she's seeing in front of her. The lack of memories, that pockmarked landscape surrenders only silence, bequeathing frustration at not knowing.

However, with the torrential gout of flame careening for them as they were, there's really not much to do except /MOVE/. Shield or no shield provided by Valentha.

Mesa's expertise demands that it be bullet, not elemental flame to absorb with her shields, so this results in her suddenly twisting and spiralling upwards, grabbing ahold of the door's arch to cling to like a spider just inside the chamber, training her weapon down at the Infested group below.

Best not to dwell how the Warframe does that anymore than the way Chroma is invoking the sensation one is dealing with a Dragon.

All the same, there is something /true/ that Mesa--no, /Kushiko/ senses. She might not yet realize it, but part of her is desperately hoping, as wary as she might feel. Instincts calling her to join her fellow in honorable combat against the Infested, but Chroma...?

Chroma invoked a sensation she could not yet place just yet. It's then she answers Alexis' inquiry, but only after she might drop down once that ruinous flame had consumed the Infested, standing just barely in front of Alexis and to one side, but her weapon is not raised at Chroma.

Not without cause yet at least.
Meren   The fire seems to do exactly what it's supposed to do. Infested wither and die as the scourging flame strips away their skin and machinery, bubbling plastisteel and boiling organic tissue. They fall away, crumbling husks, lifeless before they even hit the ground.

  In the midst of that inferno, embers still whirling and dancing around it -- and a dark cyan cloak of some kind whipping behind it in the wind of that hell-fire -- the draconic figure turns, fixing its sightless head on the approaching party. Two of those dots of energy are roughly where eyes might be, but they're too opaque to be optics.

  The way its eyeless head moves suggests it sees every operative present, here. Its elongated head tilts up to track as Mesa instinctly clings to a wall. Yes; it seems to have seen her, too.

  The dragon Warframe hesitates, polearm lowering slightly, tilting its head in distinctly confused gesture. It might be mirroring its distant Operator. There's no translator needed for that gesture: 'what are you doing here?'

  With the Infested dead, it seems reasonably safe to engage the... friendlies? Are they friendly? They don't look like Infested. But those two accompanying Mesa do look little weird. They're obviously not Warframes.

  One hand rises, but not for a gun or weapon -- instead, its clawed hand forms a fist, and one forefinger pops out to point very clearly at Mesa, and then points very clearly at the ground in front of itself, where the other two are gathered. Get down where it can see you!

  Thankfully, Mesa already has that idea.

  Chroma neatly sheathes its weapons with a /shink/ as the polearm clamps back into place through whatever arcane mechanism it uses, and the Warframe folds its arms in very non-warlike gesture.

  Something crackles near its head, as though it were trying to open one of those holoprojector squares of its own; perhaps to speak with the others directly, but all that happens is a pop of static and some fizzing, garbled audio. Nothing happens.

  Despite not speaking or having a recognisable face, Chroma looks annoyed by this turn of events.
Alexis Maaka     Maaka just looks at the holographic interface, tilting her head as she slings her rifle. There's a pregnant pause, and then she asks, "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" with a shaky chuckle. Yeah, mock the space ninja asskicker. That's a good idea.
Sigrun Stem Sigrun erases the runes that were prepared for a shield, lowers her bow and looks towards the stranger. Her face is not visible, the wooden mask hiding it does a good job, but the blue eyes behind it are, and they show curiousity. "Please do not harm us, even if you cannot communicate with us, we would prefer not to get incinerated."

She looks towards the people that already have been, "I assume you came here for the same reason we did, to clear out these 'Invested.'" The tone of her voice suggests that this is not normal for her, "Seems you beat us to the job. Thank you." She glances towards the Warframe that came with them, "My stated fees still apply."
Valentha Summers Valentha Summers also approaches after the barrier fades. "Whew..."

    She regards the 'Chroma' quite warily, but offers a cheeky smile after circling slowly with her arms held down loosely and weapons powered down.

    "ImPRESSIVE work," the dragon-in-disguise commends the strange... other.
Kushiko This... this guaranteed a hint of trouble. Not so much that they would have to engage Chroma, no, but it was becoming aware of what was going on; if the Lotus had no idea this was going on, then there was some kind of Void interference or something.

She could only let the Lotus see what she could do to reestablish systems in the interim.

She doesn't quite relax just yet, the largely mute Warframe with it's blindfolded visage giving no hints as to where it's actually looking, only a vague sense of it as she momentarily gestures to the trio accompanying her to indicate a sense of safety.

In response to Chroma's sheathing of his weapon, she places her own on her back, clipping it there with a faint pulsing noise. The gunslinger glances for a moment towards the chamber they left, and seeming confident enough that they aren't having any more Infested join them anytime soon, turns her attention fully on Chroma.

At first, her own gesture seems to mirror Chroma's, though its more akin to 'I should be asking you the same!' but then her head tilts only slightly as she notices the holoprojector having issues. It's then that her own holoprojector flickers to life, projecting two individual panels. The first is the familiar Lotus.

The other is... something a little unusual, if born out of necessity: Kushiko did not lean towards the notion of revelations for one reason or another. But the presence of Chroma here, and the events surrounding it dictated a change in action.

Thusly it was a purple-haired youth, the chaotic swirl of the Void behind her as if she were floating in some vermillion dreamscape. It was the Lotus who spoke first: "I will ensure you are compensated, Sigrun. In the meantime I will attempt to reestablish suit links so we can speak properly." she directs to Chroma.

The odd eyes of Kushiko within the holoprojection were keenly focused on Chroma as Mesa moved to visually inspect the Dragon. "... I hope we can remotely fix that," Kushiko herself muses.

Otherwise conversing with the Operator would be a bit problematic to say it gently!
Meren   Somehow the big dragon-like Warframe manages to radiate annoyance, despite having no words and only body language to communicate with. This technological failing is clearly aggravating to whoever the Operator governing its actions may be.

  The holoprojections pop open beside Mesa, with the familiar half-face of the Lotus, and Chroma seems somehow relieved at that. Then Kushiko's face shows, with its blue-black hair and pale eyes. Chroma tilts its head in distinct gesture -- 'man remembering.' Or Warframe remembering, as it were. It tilts its head the other way, then, shaking it very slightly.

  Apparently giving up on remembering long-forgotten details, it looks over slightly as a third holoprojection pops open beside the other two; this one located more beside Chroma's elongated snout.

  It's garbled and suffused with the chaotic swirl of the Void; interference, perhaps. There's also more conventional static over it. After a few seconds, it resolves itself into a grainy image of an older boy with a shock of bright cyan hair combed neatly to one side, bright cyan eyes with a bit of a squint, an aquiline hooked nose, a broad mouth, and strong cheekbones and chin. He's wearing some kind of spacesuit like Kushiko, though the accents on his are cyan. He has no prosthetics over the skin of his face.

  He frowns; his mouth is moving, but there's no sound.

  Then suddenly there's a spate of static, which eventually resolves itself into words.

  "--as supposed to be an extraction team arriving hours ago." His voice is husky and low, breaking very occasionally not because of a change of pitch, but because it's simply fragile. The timbre of it almost sounds as though he has a cold, minus any congestion, but he appears to be reasonably healthy. "I think I've taken care of all the Infested; I'm not detecting any signs of more, but my systems are malfunctioning. Void interference. Ordis has gone completely silent, so even if there weren't an extraction team, I wouldn't be able to get back to my Liset."

  He tumbles to a halt, blinking owlishly and then squinting at Valentha, Sigrun, and Maaka, leaning forward in his seat. "You're not Tenno." Brilliant, Sherlock. He then turns, squinting at Mesa, just as Chroma turns, inclining very slightly forward in mirror of its Operator. "Sister! I was beginning to think there weren't any other Tenno /left/ out there. I wonder how long I've been on this derelict."

  A beat of silence.

  "Oh. Sorry. I guess I should introduce myself, shouldn't I? I'm Meren." His hand rises, gesturing to indicate himself briefly on the holoprojection." Then, the Warframe lifts its clawed hand to gesture to itself in mirrored gesture. "And this is Chroma. Thanks; we owe you one."
Sigrun Stem "I am Sigrun Stem, a monster exterminator from a world called Antichthon." Sigrun introduces herself quickly, her mask staying in place. "I am not Tenno, indeed, and I'm not entirely certain what the term means." Her species, beyond 'humanoid shaped' is actually rather hard to tell, with the lack of any skin showing. "I am glad to see you're safe, then." She pauses to consider 'owing her' "We can talk about debts later."
Alexis Maaka     "Maaka. Nice to meet you too, pal." the cyborg nods to Meren. "We've been working with your fellow Tenno and the Lotus for some time now. Sadly, I can't answer how long it's been myself. Probably a few centuries, but that's just me guessing." SHe shrugs as shoulder, then gives Sigrun a pat on the arm. "I wouldn't worry about debts, Lotus tends to pay handsomely with resources and creeds."
Valentha Summers "Oooh, he DOES speak. Hiya!" Valentha relaxes once it's revealed to be a friendly guy behind this creature. She leans forward, adjusts her hat... "Valentha Summers of Lazlo, Techno-Wizard! ... Something of a dimension hopper these days too. And all-around adventurer! Like I said, great show. That's one less pile of horrible monsters people need to worry about!"
Kushiko It's difficult to discern, but there's a frown on the Lotus' veiled features: Meren's explanation fills the holes in the 'what' that she has been wondering. The /why/ on the other hand, is yet to be determined: given the fact this derelict showing up the way it did... it paints the picture of a space-time anomaly, what with the Derelict itself appearing outside the Origin Systems.

Never you mind the way those pale lilac-blue eyes of Kushiko's have not seen fit to take themselves off Chroma, her mind gnawing at the gaping holes in her memory with continued frustration; a stance that Mesa has adopted in similar fashion.

It's only after a few moments of uncertainty does she cease attempting to will her memory into being with that stare, the prosthetics on her forehead becoming briefly veiled by a few stray strands of hair falling forward. With a some annoyance, she brushes them away, Mesa imitating the gesture.

With Meren's story in hand, the Lotus purses her lips, "This derelict is outside the normal systems you and your fellow Tenno know of. We do not know how long you've been out here without analyzing this vessel further." She pauses. "Hopefully once we leave this place we'll be able to reestablish contact with Ordis and get you and your Liset out here--"

It's then that Kushiko speaks, "If not we will not rest until you're back with Ordis and your Liset," breaking into a quiet smile, at being called a 'Sister', not actually by blood but it kindled rememberance of the old ways once more. She had not interacted with another Tenno in some time, or so it felt.

"Kushiko," she offers, not just to Meren, but to Valentha and Sigrun equally, the words flowing off her tongue in a surprisingly bright fashion. Confirmation of Chroma being Tenno operated was a relief, but the fact he couldn't get his Warframe back to the Orbiter via the Liset was also a huge concern.

The Lotus picks up where the others have left off. "It would be a good idea to extract for now, with the Void key Kushiko has, we should all be able to transfer back to one of our ships to continue debrief and hopefully, relieve you of this Void intereference."

Worse comes to worse, they can take Kushiko's Liset back to Origin.
Meren   "Monster hunter," Meren muses, looking thoughtful over the holoprojection. Chroma simply stands at the ready, but his draconic snout is turned towards Sigrun, indicating the Tenno is watching. "I guess you could say that's one of the things Tenno do. I guess you could think of the Infested as monsters. They used to be... other things, but now they're just a mindless hazard." On the screen, Meren frowns. We used to purge them, in the old days, and we do it still."

  Both Tenno and Warframe fold their arms, as though decisively. "Yeah. I figured as much. I'd heard that a few Tenno were working with people in the... 'multiverse,' but I hadn't experienced it for myself. So I guess you're what people outside the Origin System look like."

  Chroma checks its weapons as Meren squints over the projection. "Wait, you mean I've been on that derelict for hundreds of years? Really?" He sounds distressed at the possibility. He turns to face the Lotus' projection. "Oh. Well, maybe it wasn't hundreds of years. I lost contact with Ordis hours ago; I'm not sure how long my ship's been out there. I'm hoping Ordis kept it close to the derelict, but I don't have any way to know for sure."

  Meren folds his arms, frowning, though that frown lessens a little at the almost-smile Kushiko shows. It's nice to see another Tenno. Although they've worked with all the races of the Origin System, it's impossible to be comfortable with anyone but their own kind... and although she hasn't seen it yet, Meren is probably more firmly rooted in the old ways than many.

  "Kushiko. Kushiko..." Meren repeats the name, frowning again, this time to try and fit the name to some scrap of memory. He doesn't seem to come up with anything satisfactory, though, eventually pulling a face and shaking his head. "Sorry. I don't remember anything. There's a lot I don't remember."

  "Yeah. Lead the way," Meren adds, Chroma raising its clawed hand and gesturing vaguely. "I'll just take up a little room on your Liset until we can find my Liset. I'll take point, just in case I missed any of those special little horrors in the hallway."
Kushiko Monster hunter is /definitely/ something the Tenno are. Among other things, but when you drill down to the core, you could put that first and foremost, especially with 'monster' being a relative thing.

As to the topic of conversation, the Lotus notes quietly, "There have been issues with spacetime ever since the Moon was removed from the Void. It is entirely possible that may be causing relativistic issues." Beyond that, the Lotus does not yet see fit to elaborate. No need to until they can suss precisely what the hell caused a Derelict to appear in the Multiverse outside Origin.

"I wish I could remember too. I feel like I should, but..." Kushiko trails off, a little sad, a little regretful that she doesn't. But that's okay. Maybe new memories would be had. "Let's go! This place isn't safe, and there's an extraction point... it might be cramped but I can try and use that Void key again for Alexis and the others..."

One way or another, they were getting off, as her holoprojector flickers off, followed by the Lotus; they would use the radios at least, as she reached for her AkSomati, giving the twin machine pistols a quick spin once Meren's Chroma took point.

The nice thing is, with Meren here as long as he was, he damn well ran out of Infested to kill--sure, some Infested remained in another farflung part of the ship, but there was a hole cut open the size of a small moon in terms of ability to get to extraction.

Never you mind that Meren's smart thinking revealed he was only a short distance away from the extraction point: crossing the grand chamber possessed and overtaken by that gnarled system of roots, and down a corridor would lead to a formerly grand hall, stairs ascending with gaps in the center.

This room, like many others was dominated by the twisted Infested tree system, but remarkably it seemed to keep this area safe: given that it hosted a number of places where a Liset or other landing craft could attach at one end, it was a perfect spot for Mesa to reactivate the Void key for Valentha, Alexis and Sigrun to depart with.

Because afterwards she would step aboard her Liset through the humanoid-shaped recess and presenting a new, empty recess for Chroma to step into once she finishes locking herself into place and aboard her Liset.

One could only imagine the confused conversations taking place between Kushiko and Ordis right now, though with the Void interference he had no proper way of knowing temporally and relativistically what was happening.