12 Operation Interrogation
Making my way through the various stalls in a mostly Tenno-free Cetus, I finally came across Konzu. I approach him and begin my inquiry. "Hello, are you the Ostron they call Konzu?"
"That's me, Tenno. What can I do for you? Or could it be that you're here to offer your own services?"
"I am and I was wondering if perhaps you could tell me a bit about your settlement and its relationship with that tower over there?"
"Certainly, you see, Cetus only exists in this relative safety because of the tower. Often referred to as Unum, it's highly debated whether the tower itself is sentient or if a separate entity operates the tower. But one thing is certain, the barriers that exist around this place and the peace that we enjoy are both entirely dependent on the Unum. We Ostron revere the Unum, as do the Quills. The Unum even allows us to harvest the regenerative flesh from its walls, which ensures we never go hungry."
"I see, so it would seem that no one has actually seen the Unum in person. I guess a personal visit would be out of the question then?"
"Indeed, Tenno, I'm not aware of anyone who has ever been inside. The Quills claim to communicate personally with the Unum but whether they actually have been inside I don't know. If you wish to speak with the Quills, you will need to prove yourself useful to Cetus. They rarely involve themselves with outsiders, otherwise."
'It makes sense that this small settlement would not be an attractive destination for Tenno, without the lure of Amps. Without access to their Operator, their true bodies, the Tenno have little motivation to seek out the assistance of a reclusive organization like the Quills.'_"Thank you, Konzu, for the information. These Quills seem like an interesting organization I'd certainly like to meet with them. That being said, is their any assistance that I could provide for Cetus at the moment?"
"There is always work for a Tenno here in Cetus. The plains are rich with resources but also dangers, mostly Grineer. We Ostron are more than happy to compensate you for any resources that you acquire and we often will put out bounties, on certain Grineer whose attempts to control portions of the plains are a bit too successful. Also, information regarding Grineer positions, troop numbers, facilities, and vehicles are valuable as well."
"Well then, are there any bounties available currently?"
"There is one, on a Grineer Commander who has managed to take over a sizable portion of the Northeastern plains. Several Tenno have taken on this mission but so far all have failed and refused to make a second attempt. Apparently, this particular Commander is an Enforcer and has very powerful body guards. He is heavily armored and he also teleports, into the bottom layer of the base he has established, immediately upon a Tenno's arrival. The base itself is simply one giant death trap. Every floor is filled with deadly traps, Rollers, and the walls have barricaded balconies with murder holes and Ballistas stationed inside. The bounty is, of course, quite large as a result. The total bounty is one million credits, and 250 thousand reputation points with us Ostron. We have even cut a deal with Hok, our resident blacksmith, to craft a fully customized Zaw for the one who rids the plains of this Grineer."
"Interesting, this seems like something that's right up my alley. I'll gladly accept this bounty and return once it's finished. Is there anything else I should know before heading out?"
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"You now know everything I know, Tenno. I simply hope that you can succeed where others have failed."
"In that case I'll be going. I'll see you again shortly Konzu."
"Good luck, Tenno."
If I'm going to learn more about the Unum, I'll need to do it peacefully and discreetly. I'll need to stay in the good graces of the Ostron and the Quills both, in order to learn more. Not to mention, the Quills possess the knowledge of Amp crafting. Once the Reservoir is exposed, being on good terms with them will be a requirement for most Tenno.
I'm currently on the Southwest portion of the plains, doing a little fishing. I've been all "schemes, murder, and more schemes" ever since arriving in this new Universe. It's nice to just relax for once. Of course, at least one specimen of each fish is being transmated to The Tau-er so it's not a complete waste of time. Since I've already ran across a few unlucky Grineer outposts and cleared them out, I don't have any guilt about having a little break at this point. I can't wait to free myself from the Reservoir. As soon as it's accessible, I'm going to free myself, craft an OP Amp, and capture all three of the plains Eidolons. Despite being a repeatable activity in the game, having infinite tower sized enemies wouldn't make a whole lot of sense if they are all from the same Sentient. The Sentient, like most things, surely had a finite mass and volume and as such only so many Eidolons can be derived from it. So, even if there are more than three once I capture them all, the people of Cetus and its visitors should be able to traverse the plains safely at night. I should be able to craft an improved version of the Grineer's Eidolon Lures, from the ones that I captured earlier, which should make the Eidolon captures go much smoother.
Having had my fill of fishing, I headed off towards the Grineer Commander with the bounty on his head. Before I arrived, I prep my Specter Force One and task Ivara with scouting the base inside and out once we arrive.
Ivara returns from her scouting and we follow her lead to a discrete elevated lookout. Viewing the Grineer Outpost before us, it doesn't seem that the Commander is around at the moment. That's not really a problem as I still haven't decided whether I want to try and one shot him with Ivara or go full Rambo, both seem like worthy challenges given the history of failures. Although I don't know how heavily armored he is, if it looks like a challenge then I'll take it. If not I'm gonna Gung Ho the place.
Finally, the commander arrives and he's...he's…'What the actual fuck is that?' "Heavily Armored" they said. "Heavily Armored?" Heavily Armored is when you're wearing a lot of armor not when you walk around with a freaking mech suit. Seriously, you'd think someone would have mentioned that the guy walks around in a small humanoid tank. Well shock and awe aside, that looks like a challenge to me. I command my Ivara to place an appropriate amount of Cloak Arrows onto the path between us and the Grineer. Ivara then follows Nova into the outpost and plants a fresh Cloak Arrow in an appropriately discreet location, to allow Nova to remain hidden until the signal is given. Once Ivara makes it back to us, I have her create a single arrow utilizing all her remaining energy to increase its speed and power. I instruct Saryn, to cast Toxic Lash on the arrow. Once the arrow is ready, I order Saryn to send a Torid bomb into the high into the air and towards the Grineer gathered near their Commander. As soon as Nova sees the signal, she prepares to unleash her Molecular Prime. Half way through the bomb's descent, we Mesa, Saryn, and I make a mad bullet jumping dash towards the Grineer. Right before the bomb lands Nova and Ivara both unleash their combined attack. The attacks land almost simultaneously and the crater that is formed from the massive explosion is a bit scary to be honest. 'Man, I knew Specter Force was OP but DAMN!' Not wanting to let this moment of satisfaction blind my judgment, I immediately begin spamming Virulence into the center of the crater at the same time that Nova unloads all of her gravity orbs combined with all of her Antimatter Drops (Dark Star.) Mesa and Saryn are clearing out the remaining Grineer, when the pull from Nova's Dark Star starts getting out of control. I order Specter Force fall back as fast as possible. We make it back to our lookout, and turned around to see the size of the Dark Star has quintupled and is sucking in its surroundings including the Commander's much feared house of horrors. As many of the base's occupants are becoming one with the Dark Star, I briefly begin to worry that this might have been a mistake. However, my fears were soon allayed, as the power of the Dark Star naturally began to subside. The few remaining Grineer begin crawling, out of what's left of the previously unbreachable base. Upon seeing this, me and my Specter Force get back to work cleaning up this mess.
Annnnnd now back to fishing. I know that nightfall is only a couple of hours away, so I wrap up my leisure time, pull out my Arch-Frame, and head back to Cetus. Luckily, Konzu is still where I left him.
"Tenno, I must say when I got word, the Grineer Commander's base had been destroyed and nothing but a giant crater remained, I feared that perhaps you had been caught up in the events. It's good to see you are safe. So, tell me, what do you know about the base's fortunate demise, if anything?"
"Well when I first approached the base it wasn't at all my intention to completely obliterate it but, using my specters synergy with her weapons, things got a little out of hand. Don't worry, the Grineer Commander was the first to die. He was actually the focal point of the explosion that caused the crater. As you can imagine there's not much left."
"You mean to say that your specter caused that explosion? You didn't have to set off some kind of bomb? I had no idea a Tenno possessed such power."
"Well if I'm being honest, I didn't know that would happen either. I had done that synergy before, just not to that degree. When I did, it completely surpassed my expectations. So, I guess, here's to startling but happy surprises."
"Yes, well, to happy surprises indeed and appreciation as well. It would seem that you're due your reward...They're you are, now you only need to visit Hok and he will craft your Zaw for you."
"Thank you, Konzu. I don't know when I'll be back but it shouldn't be too long. See you then."
I go immediately to Hok, finalize a design for my Zaw, and I watch the entire process of its crafting. With my Zaw now crafted and gilded, I head back to The Tau-er.
As soon as I arrive at The Tau-er, I head to our newly acquired Neural Sentry to interrogate her. "So, Sentry, do you have a name or should I just call you Sentry?"
"Call me what you will, Tenno devil, I'll never tell you anything."
Sigh, 'I knew this wouldn't be easy.'_"Listen, I know you don't want to fail in your duty but the second I conquered the tower you had already failed at that. Not to mention, the Orokin, as I've already told you, no longer exists. They are all gone and you aren't doing them or yourself any favors by withholding information from me. The only reason I'm even asking you is to expedite the process of obtaining this information. I'm going to find out sooner or later. The only thing you are accomplishing is to delay the inevitable. I also have no need of you alive or in any particularly healthy condition if you aren't going to talk. That being said, I have quite a few experiments that would benefit greatly from a live Neural Sentry test subject. As long as you tell me what I need to hear, I will cause you no harm and will eventually release you. If you continue to resist, however, I'll be forced to find other ways to make use of you, lest my foray into your tower be for naught."
"..."
"..."_'At least she's calmed down a bit.'
"...what do you want to know?"
"Thank you, for cooperating. I'd like to know everything you know about the tower you were controlling. What it's made of, how the machinery works, how the implants work and where they come from, I want to know everything. Once you've told me about the tower, I'd like to hear what exactly you are and what your origin story is."
She begins to explain the various workings of the tower and continues to do so for nearly an hour. She explains that the Ayatan Sculptures and the Ayatan Stars that power them are essentially miniaturized and simplified versions of how most Orokin technologies work. In the case of the stars, the casings are made from a transparent material that is lined with a psionic energy barrier designed to contain dark energy. Dark energy is forced into the casing until it is at a certain density. Once the dark energy is dense enough, the casing is sealed and the star is complete. Cephalids are embedded into both the star casing and the statue that direct the flow of dark energy in an appropriate manner to accomplish the designated task. Only white Ayatan Stars use dark energy, however. Blue and red stars use psionic and bio-energy respectively. When I told her that I had deconstructed several Orokin ships and that none of them had any thing like this in them, she informed me that the ships I had deconstructed were not built with a full regiment of Orokin technology. The Orokin being a ruling class and having the services of hundreds of slaves and servants at their disposal, they never had any use for such large transport style ships. The people who served them however needed them in order to carry out the tasks given by the Orokin. The Orokin's workers would build their ships in as close an imitation of Orokin technology as permitted. Any ship with genuine Orokin technology would most likely be a much smaller personal transport craft. The implants, so it was implants after all, were constructed within an entry less room on the first floor and mixed in with an inert airborne pathogen and released into the ventilation. In order to successfully control a seeded individual the nano-implants would need to travel through the nervous system to the cerebellum. Once they form a large enough mass within the cerebellum, a signal will be sent out alerting the Neural Sentry who then establishes a connection with the hosts implanted brain and takes control. Once a connection is established, the control is almost absolute. It is not necessary to consciously control an implanted individual at all times the connection maintains whatever compulsions have been placed until new orders are given.
She also went on to describe the way in which many of the components are constructed as well as the functioning of her fancy headgear, which is still interesting if not very surprising. Finally, she told me that she was an Orokin clone. That when an Orokin built a tower they would clone themselves and place upon them various implants and compulsions to ensure compliance. Part of the reason why she was able to divulge this much information to me, who is an outsider and intruder, is because the connection to the Orokin who owned the tower had been lost long ago. She had suspected the truth but refused to believe it, until I came.
'This has been quite the enlightening experience hopefully she will prove useful again at some point.'_"I really must thank you, Sentry, you've certainly helped fill in some gaps in my knowledge. That being said, you've fulfilled your end of the bargain. Would you like to leave or would you like to work for me. I know you probably don't like me very much but I could certainly use someone, not only with Orokin blood, but also with first hand knowledge of Orokin technologies and how to operate them. If you'd like I could even remove your implants and give you your tower back, so long as you can swear your allegiance to me and operate and maintain the tower under my command. So what do you say?"
"That's me, Tenno. What can I do for you? Or could it be that you're here to offer your own services?"
"I am and I was wondering if perhaps you could tell me a bit about your settlement and its relationship with that tower over there?"
"Certainly, you see, Cetus only exists in this relative safety because of the tower. Often referred to as Unum, it's highly debated whether the tower itself is sentient or if a separate entity operates the tower. But one thing is certain, the barriers that exist around this place and the peace that we enjoy are both entirely dependent on the Unum. We Ostron revere the Unum, as do the Quills. The Unum even allows us to harvest the regenerative flesh from its walls, which ensures we never go hungry."
"I see, so it would seem that no one has actually seen the Unum in person. I guess a personal visit would be out of the question then?"
"Indeed, Tenno, I'm not aware of anyone who has ever been inside. The Quills claim to communicate personally with the Unum but whether they actually have been inside I don't know. If you wish to speak with the Quills, you will need to prove yourself useful to Cetus. They rarely involve themselves with outsiders, otherwise."
'It makes sense that this small settlement would not be an attractive destination for Tenno, without the lure of Amps. Without access to their Operator, their true bodies, the Tenno have little motivation to seek out the assistance of a reclusive organization like the Quills.'_"Thank you, Konzu, for the information. These Quills seem like an interesting organization I'd certainly like to meet with them. That being said, is their any assistance that I could provide for Cetus at the moment?"
"There is always work for a Tenno here in Cetus. The plains are rich with resources but also dangers, mostly Grineer. We Ostron are more than happy to compensate you for any resources that you acquire and we often will put out bounties, on certain Grineer whose attempts to control portions of the plains are a bit too successful. Also, information regarding Grineer positions, troop numbers, facilities, and vehicles are valuable as well."
"Well then, are there any bounties available currently?"
"There is one, on a Grineer Commander who has managed to take over a sizable portion of the Northeastern plains. Several Tenno have taken on this mission but so far all have failed and refused to make a second attempt. Apparently, this particular Commander is an Enforcer and has very powerful body guards. He is heavily armored and he also teleports, into the bottom layer of the base he has established, immediately upon a Tenno's arrival. The base itself is simply one giant death trap. Every floor is filled with deadly traps, Rollers, and the walls have barricaded balconies with murder holes and Ballistas stationed inside. The bounty is, of course, quite large as a result. The total bounty is one million credits, and 250 thousand reputation points with us Ostron. We have even cut a deal with Hok, our resident blacksmith, to craft a fully customized Zaw for the one who rids the plains of this Grineer."
"Interesting, this seems like something that's right up my alley. I'll gladly accept this bounty and return once it's finished. Is there anything else I should know before heading out?"
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"You now know everything I know, Tenno. I simply hope that you can succeed where others have failed."
"In that case I'll be going. I'll see you again shortly Konzu."
"Good luck, Tenno."
If I'm going to learn more about the Unum, I'll need to do it peacefully and discreetly. I'll need to stay in the good graces of the Ostron and the Quills both, in order to learn more. Not to mention, the Quills possess the knowledge of Amp crafting. Once the Reservoir is exposed, being on good terms with them will be a requirement for most Tenno.
I'm currently on the Southwest portion of the plains, doing a little fishing. I've been all "schemes, murder, and more schemes" ever since arriving in this new Universe. It's nice to just relax for once. Of course, at least one specimen of each fish is being transmated to The Tau-er so it's not a complete waste of time. Since I've already ran across a few unlucky Grineer outposts and cleared them out, I don't have any guilt about having a little break at this point. I can't wait to free myself from the Reservoir. As soon as it's accessible, I'm going to free myself, craft an OP Amp, and capture all three of the plains Eidolons. Despite being a repeatable activity in the game, having infinite tower sized enemies wouldn't make a whole lot of sense if they are all from the same Sentient. The Sentient, like most things, surely had a finite mass and volume and as such only so many Eidolons can be derived from it. So, even if there are more than three once I capture them all, the people of Cetus and its visitors should be able to traverse the plains safely at night. I should be able to craft an improved version of the Grineer's Eidolon Lures, from the ones that I captured earlier, which should make the Eidolon captures go much smoother.
Having had my fill of fishing, I headed off towards the Grineer Commander with the bounty on his head. Before I arrived, I prep my Specter Force One and task Ivara with scouting the base inside and out once we arrive.
Ivara returns from her scouting and we follow her lead to a discrete elevated lookout. Viewing the Grineer Outpost before us, it doesn't seem that the Commander is around at the moment. That's not really a problem as I still haven't decided whether I want to try and one shot him with Ivara or go full Rambo, both seem like worthy challenges given the history of failures. Although I don't know how heavily armored he is, if it looks like a challenge then I'll take it. If not I'm gonna Gung Ho the place.
Finally, the commander arrives and he's...he's…'What the actual fuck is that?' "Heavily Armored" they said. "Heavily Armored?" Heavily Armored is when you're wearing a lot of armor not when you walk around with a freaking mech suit. Seriously, you'd think someone would have mentioned that the guy walks around in a small humanoid tank. Well shock and awe aside, that looks like a challenge to me. I command my Ivara to place an appropriate amount of Cloak Arrows onto the path between us and the Grineer. Ivara then follows Nova into the outpost and plants a fresh Cloak Arrow in an appropriately discreet location, to allow Nova to remain hidden until the signal is given. Once Ivara makes it back to us, I have her create a single arrow utilizing all her remaining energy to increase its speed and power. I instruct Saryn, to cast Toxic Lash on the arrow. Once the arrow is ready, I order Saryn to send a Torid bomb into the high into the air and towards the Grineer gathered near their Commander. As soon as Nova sees the signal, she prepares to unleash her Molecular Prime. Half way through the bomb's descent, we Mesa, Saryn, and I make a mad bullet jumping dash towards the Grineer. Right before the bomb lands Nova and Ivara both unleash their combined attack. The attacks land almost simultaneously and the crater that is formed from the massive explosion is a bit scary to be honest. 'Man, I knew Specter Force was OP but DAMN!' Not wanting to let this moment of satisfaction blind my judgment, I immediately begin spamming Virulence into the center of the crater at the same time that Nova unloads all of her gravity orbs combined with all of her Antimatter Drops (Dark Star.) Mesa and Saryn are clearing out the remaining Grineer, when the pull from Nova's Dark Star starts getting out of control. I order Specter Force fall back as fast as possible. We make it back to our lookout, and turned around to see the size of the Dark Star has quintupled and is sucking in its surroundings including the Commander's much feared house of horrors. As many of the base's occupants are becoming one with the Dark Star, I briefly begin to worry that this might have been a mistake. However, my fears were soon allayed, as the power of the Dark Star naturally began to subside. The few remaining Grineer begin crawling, out of what's left of the previously unbreachable base. Upon seeing this, me and my Specter Force get back to work cleaning up this mess.
Annnnnd now back to fishing. I know that nightfall is only a couple of hours away, so I wrap up my leisure time, pull out my Arch-Frame, and head back to Cetus. Luckily, Konzu is still where I left him.
"Tenno, I must say when I got word, the Grineer Commander's base had been destroyed and nothing but a giant crater remained, I feared that perhaps you had been caught up in the events. It's good to see you are safe. So, tell me, what do you know about the base's fortunate demise, if anything?"
"Well when I first approached the base it wasn't at all my intention to completely obliterate it but, using my specters synergy with her weapons, things got a little out of hand. Don't worry, the Grineer Commander was the first to die. He was actually the focal point of the explosion that caused the crater. As you can imagine there's not much left."
"You mean to say that your specter caused that explosion? You didn't have to set off some kind of bomb? I had no idea a Tenno possessed such power."
"Well if I'm being honest, I didn't know that would happen either. I had done that synergy before, just not to that degree. When I did, it completely surpassed my expectations. So, I guess, here's to startling but happy surprises."
"Yes, well, to happy surprises indeed and appreciation as well. It would seem that you're due your reward...They're you are, now you only need to visit Hok and he will craft your Zaw for you."
"Thank you, Konzu. I don't know when I'll be back but it shouldn't be too long. See you then."
I go immediately to Hok, finalize a design for my Zaw, and I watch the entire process of its crafting. With my Zaw now crafted and gilded, I head back to The Tau-er.
As soon as I arrive at The Tau-er, I head to our newly acquired Neural Sentry to interrogate her. "So, Sentry, do you have a name or should I just call you Sentry?"
"Call me what you will, Tenno devil, I'll never tell you anything."
Sigh, 'I knew this wouldn't be easy.'_"Listen, I know you don't want to fail in your duty but the second I conquered the tower you had already failed at that. Not to mention, the Orokin, as I've already told you, no longer exists. They are all gone and you aren't doing them or yourself any favors by withholding information from me. The only reason I'm even asking you is to expedite the process of obtaining this information. I'm going to find out sooner or later. The only thing you are accomplishing is to delay the inevitable. I also have no need of you alive or in any particularly healthy condition if you aren't going to talk. That being said, I have quite a few experiments that would benefit greatly from a live Neural Sentry test subject. As long as you tell me what I need to hear, I will cause you no harm and will eventually release you. If you continue to resist, however, I'll be forced to find other ways to make use of you, lest my foray into your tower be for naught."
"..."
"..."_'At least she's calmed down a bit.'
"...what do you want to know?"
"Thank you, for cooperating. I'd like to know everything you know about the tower you were controlling. What it's made of, how the machinery works, how the implants work and where they come from, I want to know everything. Once you've told me about the tower, I'd like to hear what exactly you are and what your origin story is."
She begins to explain the various workings of the tower and continues to do so for nearly an hour. She explains that the Ayatan Sculptures and the Ayatan Stars that power them are essentially miniaturized and simplified versions of how most Orokin technologies work. In the case of the stars, the casings are made from a transparent material that is lined with a psionic energy barrier designed to contain dark energy. Dark energy is forced into the casing until it is at a certain density. Once the dark energy is dense enough, the casing is sealed and the star is complete. Cephalids are embedded into both the star casing and the statue that direct the flow of dark energy in an appropriate manner to accomplish the designated task. Only white Ayatan Stars use dark energy, however. Blue and red stars use psionic and bio-energy respectively. When I told her that I had deconstructed several Orokin ships and that none of them had any thing like this in them, she informed me that the ships I had deconstructed were not built with a full regiment of Orokin technology. The Orokin being a ruling class and having the services of hundreds of slaves and servants at their disposal, they never had any use for such large transport style ships. The people who served them however needed them in order to carry out the tasks given by the Orokin. The Orokin's workers would build their ships in as close an imitation of Orokin technology as permitted. Any ship with genuine Orokin technology would most likely be a much smaller personal transport craft. The implants, so it was implants after all, were constructed within an entry less room on the first floor and mixed in with an inert airborne pathogen and released into the ventilation. In order to successfully control a seeded individual the nano-implants would need to travel through the nervous system to the cerebellum. Once they form a large enough mass within the cerebellum, a signal will be sent out alerting the Neural Sentry who then establishes a connection with the hosts implanted brain and takes control. Once a connection is established, the control is almost absolute. It is not necessary to consciously control an implanted individual at all times the connection maintains whatever compulsions have been placed until new orders are given.
She also went on to describe the way in which many of the components are constructed as well as the functioning of her fancy headgear, which is still interesting if not very surprising. Finally, she told me that she was an Orokin clone. That when an Orokin built a tower they would clone themselves and place upon them various implants and compulsions to ensure compliance. Part of the reason why she was able to divulge this much information to me, who is an outsider and intruder, is because the connection to the Orokin who owned the tower had been lost long ago. She had suspected the truth but refused to believe it, until I came.
'This has been quite the enlightening experience hopefully she will prove useful again at some point.'_"I really must thank you, Sentry, you've certainly helped fill in some gaps in my knowledge. That being said, you've fulfilled your end of the bargain. Would you like to leave or would you like to work for me. I know you probably don't like me very much but I could certainly use someone, not only with Orokin blood, but also with first hand knowledge of Orokin technologies and how to operate them. If you'd like I could even remove your implants and give you your tower back, so long as you can swear your allegiance to me and operate and maintain the tower under my command. So what do you say?"
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