Cid has made himself comfortable. I'm not sure how much I trust him, but time will only tell, I suppose. He asked to see his original body. He took off parts that were salvageable that Zero didn't need. He now sounds less like a monotone robot and has an American accent now, can't quite place who it's based on. It's familiar but I just can't place it. I caught him up on everything from the mission to the garden and fighting the Ghul to waking up here. Planning on the mission and hunting him. He congratulated me on the successful mission and took him by surprise. Cid was more than happy to hear Zero wasn't lying about the bait. Not sure how that all worked out, something to do with Arbiters and their culture. Zero cleared me on mech training and I'm now warframe certified and ready to take on Nebula contracts as both ground and mechanized combat. Though by being new there are limitations and being a rookie result and being handed low-grade missions, we can circumvent some of them by teaming up with Cid since he is a C rank, I can join him on his missions and rank up faster as long as I complete some skill tests to prove I can hold my own. Cid has been on the prowl for a good mission for a couple of days now, wouldn't know by looking at him lounging watching some sort of soap opera in the lounge. Today was the day I finally get to call Mom. I've been kind of pushing it off. It never felt like the right time. It took Zero convincing me there will never be a right time. Been sick with anxiety since finally having the courage to call her. Sitting in the shuttle for some extra privacy. The wall showed the calling sign. It only took a single ring before connecting, going right to face time, and allowing the same. "Hello?" asked a woman that looked not to be just over 96 but a woman barely in her 60s, Leo instantly knew it was his mom as soon as the picture connected. Remembering that the Uzal had given the humans life-extending drugs, and medicine as well as advancing the medical field. Seeing his mother, he took a breath and held back his emotions that were steering inside. "Hi, I know we haven't met, but I knew your son. I was placed in cryo just a few days before he went missing." (being placed in cryo was a regular occurrence now). "Oh, I see, and you are?" "Leopold ma'am," I said, hearing my unfamiliar voice speak the words. She quirked her eyebrow. She hated being called ma'am. "Well, it's good to talk to anyone that knew my son. He was a good kid. I never believed for a second he betrayed humanity, still don't if he's out there. Let me ask you this, did he ever tell you about his car? He loved that classic." She was testing me. I never had a car. Dad had a car, a remake of one from Earth in the 20th century. "No, he showed me a bunch of pictures of his bike, though," I said, smiling. Smiling back, "He loved his bike. Sorry, it was Leo's father that had that car, god rest his soul." She said, "I hated both the bike and car, to be honest." "Sorry to hear that," I said. "Don't mention it, happened a long time ago but still think of him every day. Both of them." She looked into my eyes. "Say, did he ever tell you about his brother?" "He mentioned him in passing, said he was the handsome one." "Sounds like Leo," she said with a smile. "Nathan is now an Admiral. He was in cryo until about a year ago, along with his family. He just called not too long ago said Leo is actually alive. Not sure if I should be telling you this, but he is going to look for his brother and has the complete Gaian military at his disposal. No one but a few know that Leo is alive and out there, but I trust you to keep a secret for now." She said. A door opened and shut in the background, out of view. Trying not to show emotion, and dug my nails into my palms to control myself more and more as we talked. She would never give away any information like this unless she suspected something. "Thank you for telling me." "Oh, it's not a problem." She turned around and said something. In walked a girl that looked to be only around twenty. "This is Evelyn, Leo's half-sister. She's enrolled in college and is planning on joining the military here shortly." The girl looked confused, but I could see some of the resemblances. "It's good to meet you, Evelyn. I'm Leopold, a friend of Leo, from back in the day." "It's nice to meet you. Were you on the Njord with Val and the others?" Biting my lip, "No, I met him in college. I was a coder before enlisting." Zero's voice came into my head, "Wrap it up. You're giving out too much detail that doesn't align with your background of this alias." "Sorry, I gotta go. It was nice talking to you both." Evelyn waved bye and walked off. Mom looked at the camera. A sparkle of a tear in the corner of her eye. "It was good talking to you, Leopold. You keep safe out there, remember family is important and you should always stay in touch no matter what. If you find Leo, tell him his mama loves him." "I will. Thank you for your time." I ended the conversation before letting out a breath and letting all the bottled-up emotions out. Zero left me alone for the rest of the night. I ended up falling asleep in the shuttle and was still upset and sad about the call with mom but I didn't want it to affect me as much. She knew it was me. Making my way down to the cafeteria I ate and felt better. Cid walked up and sat across from me. "I found a good first mission. It's D rank, but it should be able to get you from an E ranker to a D in one shot. We can do it either with or without the frame as well. Zero you get any leads on some booms for that thing?" Zero's avatar walked up to the table, "I have indeed. Just need to gain some credits to purchase it, our funds are nearly spent. I have an idea for that as well. We just need to make planet-fall first." Knowing that last time he was essentially stealing, I got a little nervous. "What is it this time, or is it more of the same?" "No, it's legitimate, but still frowned upon. You gotta do it actually," He said. Frowning, "What is it?" "You'll see..." We used one of our shuttles but had been modded for hauling the warframe and resembled a drop-ship more now than its old design. We were headed to the planet Toloros for the mission. There we could purchase gear for us and Belial. Get some credits, and Cid could get whatever he needed from the local Arbiter station within the capital of Tole. The planet was mainly ice and snow and was blinding at our approach. Landing a few miles away from the city, Cid ran as I walked within the heated cockpit of Belial, who stood out like a sore thumb in the gray, white, and blue environment. Stealth for me would be out of the picture. We came upon the city, which was less of a city and more of a single mega-building that rose out of a mountain of ice. The steel door creaked open at our approach and, noticing a few stories above the gate were more doors for spacecraft and shuttles, I assumed. "Business?" an Uzal asked Cid. "Guild business," he said, projecting the mission statement by nebula. "The mech can be parked down that way," he pointed, "and don't be causing any issues while you're here." "Understood," Cid said. He was wearing his gear and held a bag slung over his shoulder with a rifle case in his other hand. The same case that held my sniper rifle. A bay was set up for frames, but Belial was the only warframe within. The rest were all larger but meant for manual labor instead of warfare. Opening the cockpit and still feeling cold blow into the once warm confines of the cockpit. Pulling the heavy jacket tighter around me. "I hate the cold," I said. "Same," Cid said matter-of-factly. Looking at him, he shrugged. "What gets my pumps all slush-like." Shaking my head, "Where to next?" "Head to the area. We need to make some credits." Zero said. "Arena?" "Yeah, this is the only location on this ice ball with an arena. We are going to put bets down on the fights." Shaking my head yet again. We made our way to the arena, which was a dozen floors below the structure, which opened up more and more. It was like a massive sky scrapper but being belt upside down. Cid left and went to get his upgrades. He grabbed our gear and would get us a room while he was at it. "Okay, place bets on fight 3 better for Crusher, fight 2 for Battlemaster, and fight 1 for Peacemaker." Looking at our credits, "How much for each?" "two thousand per bet," he said, which would put us down to 36 credits after. "Are you sure about this?" "Yeah, if not, I can always skim from these people around us." Cringing, "Fine, fine." Placing the bets at the register, getting scanned. The scan was to make sure the bidder wasn't getting tips before or after the fight. People tried to cheat by using their AI, but normally AI would cease to operate even before entering the arena, or at least that is how Zero explained it, the scan was to double-check and make sure. Winning two out of the three net us a substantial sum. Zero kept placing bids of varying amounts on different fights. I began placing my own bids as well. Zero knew who would win before the fight but purposely lost to make it look legit. The main event began, and we placed everything on the fight and Zero placed it on the underdog who won by landslide, which was an old Cerberus model versus a new Nebula Neo-spartan. The Cerberus was shorter but heavier and used it to flip the Neo and get a heavy but clean punch on the cockpit that won the fight within seconds. Screaming my head off and jumping around. Seeing the credits roll in, making three million in credits in a few hours. We made our way to leave. Only a few steps out the door, we were stopped by some large men who were clearly augmented. Both had their arms exposed and had more chrome than skin covering them. "Excuse me, boys," I said, trying to move past. Shaking his head, "The boss wants to see you." "Another time," I said, reaching for the pistol at my hip. One went to grab me when another hand grabbed his wrist and crushed it. A long black hand to shoulder. Then a back trench coat covered most of the rest of the body, but the face stood out. It had a hexagram grid across it that was glowing red between the hexes. Recognizing that jacket anywhere. The hood was pulled over the face, a knife was pulled, and was already in a reverse grip, ready to gut the other one. "Boys, he said another time," Cid said, crushing the wrist of the one he was holding. They both looked at the Arbiter, finally recognizing who and what it was. They backed off, and the one grabbed his missing hand and they turned and left. "Made some friends, haven't you?" "Think their boss lost some money to me tonight." Tossing the knife up and down, "Oh, how much?" "Little over three million." Letting out a flat robotic whistle, "Good haul. Let me guess you cheated?" "Maybe," Chuckling, "Well, if they can't prove it, all is fair in bombs and daggers." "I don't think that's how that goes." Shrugging, "You hungry?" Nodding, Cid brought me to dump. Some hole in the wall near our logging. and had some sort of red mushy paste simply called kibble. Looking around, "This tastes awful..." I said, dropping the spoon in the barely eaten food. "Why are we here? It's obviously not for the food?" Cid looked at me and put his elbows on the table. "Oh, I don't know..." Cid said, looking around. "I think it's quite quaint," he said. "Really?" "No, I'm just fucking with you. That looks like dog food. Never seen a dog before..." he said, turning his head. The light within his face shifted and dimmed. "Why are we here, then?" The door opened and, walking through the door, came a couple of large goons who were wearing heavy coats with weapons tucked under their coats. They were followed by another man, who was wearing a nicer, heavier jacket and a well-tailored suit underneath. Cid nodded his head in their direction "Him". Onboard the UGF Orion - A heavy dreadnaught class battlecruiser on the border of Gaian and Uzal space. A young woman in officer uniform saluted a man in his late thirties, Sharpe features, cleft chin, and piercing blue eyes. They were within his personal office attached to the ship's bridge. Behind the Admiral and commander of the Orion were large windows that shone out into space, a few glass cabinets with trophies, and even a few family pictures. Looking at one, the woman could see someone she missed deeply. "At ease, Captain. Have a seat." He said, extending his hand towards the open chairs across from his desk. Dismissing a floating projection next to him. Val recognized it as one of the recent fights with the Ghul. Hatred boiled up for a second, changing her hair color briefly before centering herself and pushing it down again. "Their tactics are all hit and run or simply put guerrilla warfare over a large scale. It's the only way they can fight us and the Uzal while keeping peace with the Arbiters." she thought. "Admiral Connors," she nodded and took a seat. "I heard from my superiors you wanted to have a face-to-face, but I don't see why it had to be in person. We both had to come a long way out of our ways to make this happen," she said, frowning. "I believe it is necessary for what must be discussed. First, you were the last person to see my brother before he disappeared all that time ago, isn't that right Captain?" "It is, sir, as stated in my report." Nodding, "Yes, now tell me what wasn't on that report. Why did you volunteer for this mission you're on?" Taking a second to think, glancing at the picture of Leo and Nathan, "He was a friend, and I believe he never betrayed us. I have a mission to locate and apprehend him and I want to find the answers, Sir." Nathan leaned forward. He slid a device across the table. It looked like an oversized wedding band. Touching it, the band began to light up with soft blue lights. "Val, I believe my brother is innocent as well. I was thawed out to lead the next attack on a Ghul settlement, but between missions, I've been tasked by the Navy to find my brother alive or dead and retrieve his module. I don't know what that is about, but I sure as frack don't want to see my brother on a steel table, do you?" "No, sir." "Just call me Nate." Nathan leaned back and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You have feelings for him?" "I did, do....they're complicated..si...Nate." Smiling before chuckling, "I see, he always was charming in a nerdy way." "He could kick some ass too," She said, she said, smiling. Cheeks turning a shade redder. "I saw the ship's videos. I honestly never knew he could move like that." "Neither did I. He was with my team for a couple of weeks and turned out to be a badass." Leaning forward, reaching for the ring, "I got your back if you got mine. Find my brother and get to the bottom of this." The light turned off, and he pushed it forward. "A gift," Nodding, "Thank you, sir." "You're dismissed, captain," the admiral said. Val stood and saluted, turned, and left. She had no leads, but she was going to find Leo. Her light cruiser wasn't planned to depart for another few hours. She decided she was going to log into Caliber one for a bit and blow off some steam. Logging in, she checked to see if Leo was online or not. It became a ritual, but never once has he been on since she woke from cryo a few months ago when word that an Arbiter died to Leo Connors on some backwoods planet. She had specifically called for any duty that required to locate Leo after he vanished, or simply any fresh news on him. She spent her time in the marines helping fight back the first few years of the Gaian and Ghul war before deciding to wait for news on Leo in cryo. She needed to find him. The war started off cold, mainly intelligence and cat-and-mouse type stuff, and it slowly became centered on small fights in space over resources. Later came the major attacks on planets within Gaian or Uzal space orchestrated by the Ghul. It all seemed random. It was fast and dirty whenever the Ghul would arrive. It became more of a hunt for the Gaian, but the Ghul's ships had stealth capabilities which helped them hide for the most part. Ground warfare was one-sided, and then the Gaians started using warframes which turned the tide. Until the Ghul started bringing in their own mechs. The Gaians are currently at a standstill but the Ghul has the upper hand with being able to protect themselves from external attacks. No one besides the Arbiters knows where their homeworld is and what part of space they occupy outside of it.