The ship floated almost lifelessly in orbit around the dead, rocky planet. Occasionally, a spurt of energy would push the ship upwards, briefly away from the planet, a vague, failing attempt to reorientate itself. Inside, a lone being sat, lost in their thoughts.
The being didn’t look human. A strange suit made of both organic and mechanical parts, multiple eyes blinking at the immense darkness of both the barren planet and the endless space past it. It was human once. Back when there were humans.
They were called Tenno. Powerful warriors in equally powerful armour, defending a small, human-controlled solar system filled with monsters that wanted to conquer it. That was, until their sun started dying. With nowhere else to go and nothing to power their homes, ships and wars, the slow decline was supposed to be a great unifier. It never was. The many clusters of humans continued to argue among themselves and act on their own.
Plans were made. Plans were carried out. Plans went wrong. Most plans did nothing to cease the sun’s death. A few plans slowed its death. Only one sped it up, and with terrifying consequences. Some said the Corpus came up with it. Some blamed the Grineer. Others blamed the Tenno for failing their duty.
In one minute, Mercury was gone. In eight, the Earth boiled away. Waves of planet-melting energy tore the solar system apart, leaving nothing but a handful of barren rocks.
Those that survived scattered like vermin. But in their tiny ships, there was no feasible way to travel across the vast wastelands of space between them and other worlds. Over time, the chatter between survivors faded away, as they attempted to fly towards other solar systems, drifted out of reach or died off.
Manny Tenno had been in the safety of the Void, far away from the sun’s death throes. When they returned, there was nothing but ashes. Like every other survivor, questions were asked and quickly ignored. Tenno who had once been friendly to one another became ravenous beasts, hunting in packs to devour or capture anyone who got in their way. Many Tenno betrayed their roots, becoming the monsters they had sworn to destroy.
Over time, the hungry clans of Tenno began consuming themselves. Until all that was left were a handful of ancient warriors, lost in the depths of space, with no one to defend.
This Tenno was one such survivor. A scavenger, a whimsical memory of the old ways. This Tenno had made many a sacrifice, just to remain alive.
Things had been somewhat easy at first. They’d settled on their own, among the remains of an old relay. As more vicious Tenno closed in, they had to flee, taking what supplies they could. Many a year was spent trying to stay away, until they found themselves flying away from the solar system. They knew it was a doomed strategy, that the lone Tenno would probably not survive, but it was better than being consumed by former friends.
But that was not enough. Even in the depths of space, aggressive Tenno lingered. One attack damaged an engine. Another attack left them with no heating for a week. The Tenno was glad that it had fought off its attackers, killing them the same way they had killed countless Corpus, Grineer and Infested enemies over the decades. Whatever remained would be salvaged and used for repairs.
Finally, the Tenno was alone. Everything was decaying. It didn’t matter. They were alone.
Until the Tenno’s human body started to die. Choices had to be made. Out there, in the cold depths of space, they would most likely die a slow death. There was only one option. They had to turn back, back towards the solar system that had spawned them. Maybe it wasn’t dead. Maybe there was someone still out there that could heal the Tenno’s stricken body.
They never thought that a horrible accident would be the solution.
The Tenno’s ship needed repairing. Regularly. The Tenno would occasionally have to use one of their Warframes, generally their beloved Volt, complete with their Archwing gear, in order to do what their ship’s Cephalon was unable to do automatically. Most of the time, this would not be an issue, but during one such repair, mistakes were made. The ship’s power disappeared, then surged, overwhelming much of the ship’s facilities, in particular the Tenno’s transferance system.
By the time they recovered, the damage had been done. The Tenno’s body was damaged beyond repair. The Tenno’s mind became trapped inside its Volt warframe.
Weeks were spent trying to comprehend what happened. The process was not reversible. The Tenno’s frail body quickly withered away without its sharp mind to keep it together. Tenno and Warframe were one.
There were upsides though. The Tenno no longer needed to be sustained. The warframe’s body was impervious to the many risks of space, particularly the long, cold weeks spent without proper food, water or heating. With the built-in infested gardens and the scavenged remains of other warframes, the Tenno could repair their new body as required. The facilities used to keep the Tenno alive could now be used to keep the ship alive.
Feeling renewed, the Tenno continued on their journey back home. Over time though, their mind began to decay, their warframe’s personality intruding on their own. Without any sort of guidance, the journey back took too long. Resources began to dwindle, with no wrecks or defeated enemies to sustain them. Just to keep the ship working, the Tenno had had to destroy so much, including its other, no longer usable warframes. They needed to get back home. It was the only place they knew.
As they reached the origin system, the emptiness and loneliness set in. The Tenno realised the truth.
There was nothing there. Nothing but smouldering rocks. Gone were the gas giants and their beautiful rings. Gone were the ice fields of Pluto. Gone were the vast oceans of Uranus and the humbling deserts of Mars. Gone was the entirety of Mercury, consumed and destroyed forever. The solar system was dead.
And so was the Tenno’s ship.
In their deranged attempt to come home, the Tenno had pushed their ship to the limit. It was falling apart, and more time was being spent fixing than flying.
As a final wish of the ship’s Cephalon, they flew towards what remained of Earth, the place where warframe, Tenno and Cephalon had all awoken. That is how they ended up there, a dying ship controlled by a dying Cephalon, orbiting a dead planet. The only living being was the Tenno, its mind decaying inside its lifeless warframe body. There was nowhere else to go.
With a sigh, the Tenno headed into the desolate, tattered engine room, ready to power down the ship and put everything into stasis. Both Tenno and Cephalon could sleep forever. Maybe, just maybe, something would find them one day and wake them up once more. Until then, all they could do was sleep.
This thought comforted the Tenno as they closed their eyes, the creeping cold slowly taking over their body.
Maybe it was time for a third dream…