Gliding through the gap in space, towards the derelict, the distance held many sparkling stars but nothing else. Only between the ships of a few seconds when my mag boots snapped to the floor, and my HUD alerting me. Should have brought a flashlight, I thought. Zero was illuminating most of the tear I just landed on, it was being illuminated by the scout ship. "Anything you can do about lights?" I ask. "Yeah," Zero said. My HUD switched over from an almost completely black interior to soft shades of grayish-blue. Now, able to see much deeper into the ship, but the shadows were completely black. "This will help, just a tad more." The patch along my side began to glow softly, the shadows near me retreated, giving me better visual. "Handy," I said. "I'll let you know if you're getting too far away from the ship, if you do get too far, the ararium will begin to lose sync with the ship and will stop working." "What!?!" I asked. "How do you think it works, it's controlled on a wavelength the ship generates." Shaking my head and clearing the new anxiety I was feeling creep up on me. "You'll be fine," Zero said. "Sure." Moving deeper into the ship proved to be more difficult than I was imagining. No power meant all the doors had to be manually opened. "I just finished scanning the ship. There are sections where you might find some salvage that might be useful. I'll put marks indicating high-value locations up on your HUD." A map of the ship came up in the corner of my HUD. "Can I get something to help me navigate while I move?" I asked, tripping over a downed beam. "Sure, how about this?" My HUD changed and a wire-frame overlay assembled on my HUD showing the outline of everything. Even what my vision was picking up on the floor or hanging off the damaged corridors. "Thanks, that helps a ton." I progressed faster, not worrying about where I was stepping. Finding a set of stairs, and found a weapons locker, it was full but only held a dozen rifles, some pistols, as well as emergency rations, and boxes of Vac suits. I used a couple of slings off of the rifles and wrapped them around the weapons, to drag them along behind me, stopping by a few more of the marked spots but found nothing of note. Skipping the mess, and the living quarters. Making my way down the stairs to the lowest level which contained the cargo hold, knowing Solomon as an industrial leader in heavy machinery, mainly in the field of agriculture and construction, I didn't have high hopes of finding anything more than maybe a few heavy golems, and humanoid worker drones, like the ones I used to repair at my old job. They would still sell well... probably... Pulling myself down the stairs, getting snagged by my jumble of weapons I had drifting behind me on the makeshift leash. Cursing under my breath as I fixed it. Finally arriving at the doors to the cargo hold. The door was shut, of course. Hitting the manual disengage, but it didn't shift from its place within the wall. "Shit, it's stuck," I said, kicking the door. "One second I have an Idea." pushing off the floor, floated up and braced my back against the wall and locked my mag boot to the door and pushed, the door slid a couple of inches, forcing a small gap between the two sliding doors. Changing positions, I was able to push it the rest of the way, allowing me access. Squeezing through the gap, seeing all sorts of debris floating within, mainly tools, and small parts. Walking through and pushing aside debris in my way. Wading my way deeper into the cargo hold. I noticed most of the room was empty. In the center, an open toolbox released all the contents, and probably the bolts, screws flying about. Some larger sheets of steel hung suspended nearby, a few stacks of thick plating were piled up in a nearby section with some drones powered down next to them. A sheet of the same steel was directly in my path, I shoved it aside, and almost had a heart attack. A body of an older man floated not more than a couple of inches away, hidden behind the plate. He was frozen solid, wearing a set of mechanic coveralls, covered in what I would assume was grease and oil. His left arm was missing. My guess he bumped into something at some point in the journey and it shattered off. I didn't stay long; I moved past him and continued looking for something valuable. Only a handful of crates on the back wall, each full of different kinds of drones used for different construction work mainly, The rest was pretty empty of anything else. No frames, no golems. The only other thing I didn't check was the service bay, which was up. In most cases all the bays would be hidden within the floor, only raised to be used when they were working on shuttles or something to contain say welding equipment, or other harmful materials from freely floating around the cargo hold just in case of loss of gravity. The bay door was sealed, the glass was frosted over to see anything past; the bay had atmosphere after the cargo hold didn't. Checking the handle, it easily lifted, allowing me to push the door open. It was completely black inside until I fully stepped in. Towering over me was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. A huge warframe was crouched on its knee in a Kneeling pose, with its palms flat against the floor. "A warframe," I said under my breath. "I don't recall its design. If I was connected to the feeds, I could run a better search," Zero said. The mech even on its knee had to be either a heavy, or a light assault class. It was missing some pieces of its armor, exposing internal components and the frame it's named after, showing no visible weapons. Two hands, with five digits attached to elongated forearms, hung from its armored torso. A singular head protected within the armor of its chest and shoulders, it held an array of multiple cameras for eyes; the head rose to small metal spike-like horns resembling a crown, but the overall silhouette was more human than the bulky square warframes of late. This reminded me more of old school Gundam or maybe Evangelion from the Japanese animes I watched. The cockpit was wide open, held securely within the torso, its design was similar to the older ones with only a few changes. The "Solomon industries" logo of the "SI", within a circle in red, was over its shoulder armor. Within the cockpit, "4/72 - 1 of 1", and a signature in silver marker was visible on the inside of the cockpit hatch. "I don't know what any of this means, but I'm pretty sure that is the founder's name, and something else, I always sucked at reading cursive," I Said. "It says, 'Maxwell Solomon, here rises the king, Belial, the wicked'" Zero finished. Putting my hand on the shin of the mech, "Oh, I really gotta know the backstory to all this, I bet it's good." "Same, there is so much we missed," Zero said. Belial, I know it's a demon from scripture. Taking a step back and taking a look over the warframe, "It kinda does look like a demon," I said, noticing its elongated arms, and legs compared to the traditional to scale nebula designs which looked more like out of games like Mechwarrior from the 20th century. The armor of Belial was dull black with transparent lines segmenting its armor. "How do we get it out," I asked. "Secure all of it, and whatever else to the warframe and I'll do the rest," Zero said. It took a few hours, but I managed to get the debris that might have been used on the warframe into empty containers, and the five crates as well, all tethered to the frame with the remaining slings from the rifles I first got. "Now what?" I ask. "Now get within the cockpit of the mech and I'll do the rest." Climbing within the mech, was thrilling; I have never been inside a real one. I touched the controls and nothing happened. I sat within the mech looking out into the small repair bay, wondering how Zero would "Handle it," to my surprise his idea of handling it was to cut his way in the ruined vessel. Lasers flared around the mech bay, red beams sliced through the haul of the ship like a hot knife through butter. Half of the remaining ship fell away, pushed off by the scout ship. After the way was cleared, the scout ship flew around, turning into position. The small ion propulsion jets along the haul allowed for point turns. The airlock was directly ahead of me within seconds. "Push off and get in, I'll tow the frame home," Zero said. Pushing off, gliding through the zero gravity, grabbing onto the scout ship's open frame, taking a seat before the hatch sealed. Followed by the door into the shuttle itself. Taking off my helmet and hanging it on the hook next to the door. "I want to watch you grab it out of the bay," I said, starting to take off my suit. The view on the wall changed, showing the open bay of the derelict. The mech was kneeling with its head bowed like it was being knighted by some royalty. White threads left the scout ship and attached to the mech, pulling it from the derelict and under the scout ship. The frame and cargo were pulled into contact with the bottom of the scout ship's haul, then covered with a thin sheet of white liquid, shielding the cargo from flying debris during transit. Shortly after, we pushed off the last section of the ruined Solomon ship and jumped again, this time within the crimson nebula. It's red mist obscuring the screens. It didn't take long to arrive back at the base. Flying into the base, I was finally able to see what it looked like, Nothing; it was completely invisible, only becoming visible after we passed through the shimmering shield. We dropped the cargo off near the teleportation point, and Zero landed the ship. I exited, carrying my gear, stretching on the ramp, wincing at the pain in my side as I did. "Follow me," Zero said within my head, and his avatar walked out of the teleportation pad. Zero lead me through the pad and onto a floor I haven't been on before. It was a small room with multiple vats filled with blue liquid. Each was 5 meters tall, each cylinder went from floor to ceiling. "This is your regeneration pods?" I asked. "Yes, they are," Zero said. One of the vats drained of blue liquid and opened, similar to the pods, the opaque glass melted away leaving an open pod. Stripping and hanging my clothes near the white clothes rack, I stepped into the vat. The door sealed me within, and warm liquid filled the pod. "This is going to suck," I said, fear starting to take hold of me. The liquid-filled the vat, I held my breath, it burned in my lungs. "Take a breath," Zero instructed. I steeled my nerves and finally inhaled. The liquid entered my mouth and filled my lungs, rushing through my mouth and nose. Then, just like that, I could breathe again. Being underwater like this was an odd feeling, as I floated within the vat. "I'm going to sedate you until you're completely healed, then you'll wake up within your bed." and that is all I remember before I woke up within my bed covered with soft silken sheets. Taking in a breath, and stretching, noticing I didn't wince this time, pushing the covers down baring my torso, examining my stomach, which was well developed with well-defined muscle now, compared to the slightly flabby one I began my journey with. The wound was gone, like it never even existed. Rubbing where the knife wound was. I dropped my head back on the pillow, thinking of the near-death experience back at the planet against the Arbiter. Just now coming to terms with the fact that I, or we, actually took one down. Give or take the pint of blood I spilled for it. On the desert planet of Coquin, inside the domed city of Vestale. "Ma'am, there is no sign of Leo. The Villa doesn't even look lived in." said a young woman wearing the UGFM standard combat armor. Walking towards her commanding officer from the gate of the Villas. At her approach the Arbiter who the commander was talking too turned away, its black and white armored body standing out amongst the crowd of UGF personnel. The young private cleared her throat, "Commander?" "Yes, sorry, the Arbiter's have come up with equally as much as we have. They have more searching at the sight of the appearance." Leo seems to be more sneaky than I thought, the commander thought with a hint of a smile on her face. "The Vilden sect won't give us anything more than simply letting us walk through their property." said the private. "I don't expect much out of this, I have to go make my report, we'll stay in orbit for a bit. Get the shuttle prepared, " The commander said. "Yes, Ma'am," saluted the private. The commander matched the pretty private's salute with her own, "Leo, where are you?" she said to quietly for anyone to hear. On the Valik scout base, deep within deep space near the crimson nebula. Getting out of bed, it was finally time to change my identity, not really sure what the whole procedure entails. Still marveling at my physique, no scare, no bruising, all the damage I got from the fight with the Arbiter was gone now, even the residual pain from my broken hand, none of it hurt anymore. I might not be a fan of the vats, but they worked miracles. Getting up and taking a long bath felt great. I got dressed and headed for a quick breakfast and morning workout; I felt ravenous like I haven't eaten in days. Steeping out the door, finding Zeros towering avatar waiting for me. "Care if I join you this morning?" he said. "No, but do you eat?" I asked. "No, but I do enjoy the small talk," he said with a chuckle. "Fair enough, lead the way." Filling a plate, and grabbing juice from the kitchen, I sat down across from Zero's avatar. "So, when do I change my identity?" "It's already done. Thought you would notice when you woke," he said. "What, I don't feel any different?" "Not much really changed, but look at this," Zero said. The table became a screen. Moving aside my plate I could see a 3d image of my face, or my old one, next to it was one I didn't recognize. "When...in the pod, while I was out." coming to the realization before it even got out. "Right, while you were regenerating, I went ahead with changing your identity to one that suits our needs," he explained. Looking at the unfamiliar face and even going as far as touching my own. My cheekbones were a little higher, and my jawline and nose became sharper, cheeks a tab bit less chubby. My hair color didn't change, nor my hairline. Each ear had a hole for a piercing at one point, and a scar on my eyebrow was now gone. "This will be enough, when my name is cleared, can it go back to the way it was?" I asked. "It is, and it can be reversed," he confirmed. Zero told me that my new alias, a now Leopold William Smith, you're an ex-marine, served 2 tours each on you seen action. You have no family; you are from Gaian, capital, just like from before. You have the same hobbies, and you went missing two years ago in a passenger shuttle, with 5 others. All considered dead or missing. "I scrubbed anything leading back to you. I installed all the necessary changed to your firmware within your implant, we will need to upgrade that tech at some point. Other than that. I can fill you in on anything else, but I say. You woke up within an escape pod and have been on a journey since. The only friends you might have been in the military and even if they reach out, say you don't remember much of anything after 6 months ago or something like that. Hit them with the old amnesia trope. One second... nope not a trope, here are the records from a doctor, I made." Zero said. "Okay, what about you, where you able to switch identities?" I asked. "Yes, after some work, you took minutes to solve, I spent the better part of a week working on mine." He said, shaking his head. "Week, that's how long I was in the pod?" I asked. "Yeah, the damage was more extensive than I first thought. He ripped up your kidney something fierce, if you didn't apply field aid I'm pretty sure you still be on that desert," he said. "It was a close one, wasn't it?" "Yeah, too close, we will be better prepared next time." "Next time, we have to fight more Arbiters?" I asked. "I'm not sure, highly unlikely but never say never." "So you're free and clear then?" "Yes, I was able to change my code using the parts of the Arbiter and set it up as a type of spoof network, as long as it's running my identity will be hidden, I would be considered your personal AI, a type 3 civilian AI Mr. Smith. I'm officially dubbed Kalel, but I changed that to Zero right away," he said. "That's good, Clark." "What?" Zero asked confused, "Oh, haha, a superman reference, I missed having access to the web unhindered." "Wait, we have network access out here, is it safe?" I asked. "I'm also jamming the signal for the net here and sending it to different planets and vessels to mask our location. But yes, we have free access to the net, and well all of them besides Arbiter's subnet." I pulled up information on my family. "Should I call?" I asked. "Would you be able to lie, she can't know you're alive, or this alias. We could fix that, but I need some time." "I'll wait. What's our next step?" "Depends, I think we need funds, and access to someone within the Gaian military to talk to," Zero said. "My brother?" Nodding, "That is a logical choice, let's plan to establish ourselves, and get in contact with him. We'll need credits and resources for whatever we do." "Agreed, how do we go about that?" I asked. A holo appeared on the wall of the kitchen, an advertisement for "The Guild" playing out a cartoon of civilians fleeing from black-armored soldiers shooting and burning everything down behind them. "Join today and save your neighbor." "You're saying we should become mercenaries?" I asked. "No better way to make bank, and might I remind you, that you have a powerful AI inside your brain?" "No, you don't, but now I have another toy, and it stands about 8 meters tall." "Actually, it's 10 meters tall, and weighs 48 tons." Zero corrected. "Those numbers seem off, it's as tall as an assault but weighs less than a heavy?" I said, finishing my plate. "Correct, this design is well, different, all off it is custom and top of the line even for current warframes, I cross-referenced all of this year's models against it, and if I was a betting man, I would put all of my money on it in a straight-up fight." "That good?" I asked. "More so," he said. I got up and downed my juice. "I want to go check it out," "I think you'll be more surprised when you get down there," he said. And on that note, we both headed to the teleportation pad, both of us with a little extra in our step.