Drifting

More nightmares... Now packed with screaming and thrashing. Wonderful.

What did I do to deserve this...

I've fought my wars, I've done my duty, I've kept to my honor, my code, no matter what it requires of me.

I've bled enough, been ripped apart inside and out to the point of breaking?

And now... this...

Nightmares of losing it all, of sadness and grief, of misery and sorrow.

Of me being so... so alone. It hurts to even think about... My soul is so isolated, so, set apart.

But even with these nightmares, eventually come such joyful dreams, ones filled with light and warmth, of happiness and wonder.

I'm not alone, at least, I hope so. I want to be happy... is that not what everyone wants? Happiness? Solace in life? Tenno are only different from humans due to our cursed gift. We harbor emotions, we feel pain, suffering, all of it. We were made as weapons but still are alive inside. And now all I feel is isolation, forced solitude. Even when my fellow Tenno are by my side, even when Kitalla is sitting next to me, I still feel like a part of my soul is missing...

The Sentients returned, we failed our one task, even if it is just Hunhow, we still failed. He went after the children... the younger Tenno. Many of us are aged, our Warframes and somatic alteration have allowed us prolonged age, but us older Tenno are very few... The pain of existing outside of transference was unparalleled, but we adapted ourselves. We used warframes, we weren't husks, we were Tenno, and often we would fall without anyone noticing. The suits themselves can, revive, us, but that process isn't as, successful as I wish it could be.

On the fields of war, now, and even echoes of the past found in archives, we can be named heroes.

Every Tenno knows what we are, we are reluctant heroes, forced to wage war that we didn't even begin, we lose our friends, family, lovers, comrades, and their names will never be remembered, our names won't be remembered, and we will die like flowers on a trampled battlefield...

"Hey... Kano, what's wrong?" A freshly awoken Kitalla asks of me.

"Nothing, Kit, you should get some rest. I'm alright, I promise." I put on a forced smile, lying to the calmed berserker.

"Kano..." She starts, but I cut her off,

"I'm. Fine." I wince at my cold words. Weeks of sleepless nights, of waking cold and afraid, and I haven't told her of one incident, I would play it off as just, doing some diagnostics, like I needed to fix up the ship or my warframe. Something so she didn't know the truth.

"I... I know you are lying, but you also seem like you don't want to talk... I'm always here for you, you know..." She spoke softly, eyes trying to peer into mine, pleading to see the golden blue that was kept in my gaze. I wished to see her vibrant green eyes, they always brought me comfort, but I couldn't dare look her in the eyes right now.

If I were to do so, it would cause me to fall further into grief.

"Just a nightmare, sorry to wake you." I say quietly, "Go back to sleep okay?" I ask her gently.

"Alright Kano, I'm here if you ever need me okay?" Kitalla said with a feigned smile, trying to seem happy for me.

"I promise I will, when I need to." I had already broken that promise just now. I needed her comfort, her soft voice, welcoming touch, warm smile.

"Sleep well Kano." She whispered as she laid back down, closing her eyes to rest again.

I simply nodded in response, closing my eyes and hoping for at least an hour of sleep.

I was abruptly awoken by a shake to my shoulders, Kitalla was above me, shaking me.

"What happened?" I sat up with a jerk, almost smashing my skull into Kitalla's above me.

"There is a Grineer Galleon sweeping the orbit of Jupiter, we're gonna be caught up in their sweep."

"Why did you wake me? Have Ordis pilot us out of here." I say simply, starting to open my eyes a bit more.

"He's not able to fly the ship. We're out of fuel, we never got to re-fuel the ship at the relay, it was attacked before we could. We've made a lot of jumps, we burned through quickly." Kitalla says rather matter-of-factly. I sighed, I knew we were low, but not this low.

"I have saved power for the cloaking and interior life support, Operator." Ordis' voice cuts through on the ship's P.A.

"I figured it would be the best option. I sent a message to Maximus and the other Judges of Hexis, they are sending a fueling ship to help us out," Kitalla begins, but I stop her,

"On what condition? The syndicates don't do anything for free." I state, even if the Arbiters did owe me a few favors.

"So long as we help protect it when the tanker goes to deliver fuel to a Steel Meridian colony. That was the condition." Kit states, not quite keen on me cutting her off at first, but she understood my skepticism.

"Alright, I suppose we just sit tight till help arrives I suppose." I simply shrug as I look around the ship, gazing out the center window.

Space, no matter how dangerous it is, still holds a certain amount of charm to it. Mysterious beauty if you will. My line of sight is broken as Kitalla steps before me, looking a bit agitated.

"So we just sit here with our thumbs up our asses till either the Grineer vaporize our Liset or some fuel tanker arrives to possibly save us?" Her voice was laced with venom and bitterness.

"I know you don't like it, Kitalla, but we must have patience. The Grinner ship isn't that close, and we are still cloaked, as long as the power holds out." I say with some optimism, I didn't like these odds either, but I wouldn't show it, just had to have some faith.

An odd word that is. One that was lost to me for years, but I found it again, in some form or another. Turning off that thought, I look up to Kitalla with a soft smile, trying to soothe her still unmoving anxiousness.

"Just sit down and relax alright? I'll be in the lower deck. Just head down if you need me." And with that, I stood, and descended the auto-ramp.

"Commander, we just caught a message," the Grineer communication technician called out on the main deck of the Galleon. "Tenno origin, va tok, seems to be a distress call, galkor, fueling request. They're dead in space sir." Cold grey steel clattered as the bulbous ship, and the green paint was flaking from age. This particular Galleon had been around for years past normal ship lifetime. It wasn't just a warship anymore, it was given a new mission; hunting Tenno. The ship's name, "

"Close in on the cloaking signature, ensure they are pulled in. Engage tethers, reel them in."

The sudden jerk and the ear piercing screech shattering metal knocked me to my knees, I looked around frantically, seeing a Grineer boarding tether piercing my ship. My helmet formed around my skull as I felt the air in my lungs be ripped away. I barely was able to breathe as I grabbed weapons. I hand Kitalla her my Jat Kittag, powering up the hammer's thrusters, I grab a Latron Wraith, handing it to Her as well. I keep my Lex Prime at my side, Dakra Prime in its place on my back, the golden blade shone brightly as the red lights around the hull began to flare as the alarm sounded. No shit Ordis, of course there were intruders.

I motioned for my Shade sentinel to come closer as I pulled Kitalla close to me, the Shade could only cloak a small area, so she had to be practically pressed against me. I nodded to her, holding my hand out. Immediately she took it, and I pulled her close to me, and Shade cloaked us both.

Feeling the tether pull us in, I stayed still, but my heart was pounding. My eyes darted around, making sure that not too much of my ship was damaged. I reach over slowly to a control panel, safe locking all my resources and weapons. The Grineer wouldn't care about locks, but I was just hopeful none of my weapons or resources would be stolen. I had to wait till we were pulled in. I could easily separate my ship now, but their guns would rip us apart, turning us into glittering shrapnel sent into space. I would have to wait till we got inside, deactivated the guns, either deactivate coms or possibly just wreck the ship as a whole. My mind was racing as to what should be done, but I knew one thing.

These Grineer scum would not get me, my ship, my gear, and most importantly, they would not get my Kitalla...

My Kitalla? Hm... It has a nice ring to it...

I know I know... You must all be pretty disappointed in me. No new chapter in almost a year. I just hope you all will like this new chapter, and that you will enjoy what I have to write for you all. Life has again been kicking my ass and I apologize for not being able to write more. I have a lot of ideas to write about but I need help, if any of you do have any thoughts on what should happen next, I will take those suggestions into consideration. Thank you all so much.