Chapter Text
Jeygel-28 enjoys being stationed on Uranus. The sounds of the water and crashing waves are calming. The Corpus mainly leaves the planet alone. The Tenno rarely have a reason to attack the stations either. But the biggest reason why he enjoys it here is because of his commanding officer.
It is an honour to work with the esteemed Tyl Regor. And Jeygel-28 especially likes the care he shows to those under him. Jeygel-28 was originally from the Mercury Fleet Battalion under Captain Vor, but after the death of the captain, and following a massive Tenno attack on Uranus, Jeygel-28’s galleon was ordered to be stationed on the outer planet. Jeygel-28 was lucky for his platoon to be assigned to the Titania Labs, Tyl Regor’s personal labs.
The heavily modified Grineer, with his entourage of Tubemen, had personally greeted his platoon upon their arrival. After his greeting though, he had them all line up on the runway, where they all stood in orderly filed lines as the heavy rain battered against their armour. Like the rest of his comrades, Jeygel-28 stood still and at attention, his eyes forward and his standard issue grakata gripped firmly and pointed downwards. He eyes did not wander from where they were looking at even as the heavy thumps of Regor’s cybernetic feet came closer.
He remembered how the larger Grineer stopped in front of him and began to inspect him. Regor made a ‘tsk’ sound before asking Jeygel-28 why his armour was in such poor condition despite appearing to be rather lacking in visible clone rot. Jeygel-28 replied that his clone rot was mainly in his mental faculties and he just barely qualified to be a Lancer instead of a Butcher.
Regor’s masked face had displayed none of his emotions and the man simply continued on with his inspection. When he was finished with his self-assigned task, he stood in front of the assembled soldiers before loudly ordering Jeygel-28 to step forward. Jeygel-28 was confused, but followed the order without question as he was created to do. Once he was stopped in front of the scientist, Regor proclaimed that the rest of Jeygel-28’s platoon would be led to their barracks by the Tubemen.
For Jeygel-28, he was lead personally by Regor to the man’s laboratory. There they had a long discussion, more so Regor was constantly going on about potential being thrown away or discarded for stupid reasons. But one thing Jeygel-28 knew was that Regor saw something in him, enough that he was offered to become one of his Manics.
And now, here Jeygel-28 is. Maybe not as one of Regor’s beloved Tubemen, but as one of his trusted Manics. Having undergone multiple treatments, cybernetic implants and granted the signature armour of the Manics. Jeygel-28 can certainly say that he is happy as he patrols the sealab.
Which is why he gets startled as a strange sound filters through his helmet’s audials. It was a sound he can’t say that he’s ever heard before. It sounded like vocalisations that were constantly being cut off before a new one would replace it, but they were indecipherable.
Jeygel-28 follows the faint sound, the strange noise becoming clearer the closer he gets. It soon becomes apparent that the sound is coming from an isolated storage room. Creeping closer, Jeygel-28 takes on a more hunched stance as he flexes his rubedo-lined claws, ready to rip whatever lay beyond the door to pieces. He takes the last step to be in range of the door’s sensor.
The sound of the door opening makes me cut off my crying as my head flies up. My voice catches in my throat and time seems to come to a stop at the sight of the larger figure in the doorway. The Manic, because what other Grineer mobs had such a distinct design, also stood completely still as it seemed shocked by the sight of me.
Though it doesn’t take long for time to speed back as the Manic lets out an unfamiliar shout before it begins charging at me. On instinct, I bring my arms up to shield my face as I cry out in terror, knowing that my pitiful defence would amount to nothing in the face of the Manic’s attacks. But the pain does not come, as instead, there’s a surprised cry followed by the sound of a body hitting something metal.
I tentatively lower my arms from my face and I am left stunned by the sight in front of me. The Manic is picking itself up from the floor, shaking its head as if it is dazed. But that isn’t the only thing. There is a bubble of sorts around me, not far from my curled up position. The bubble itself is made up of what looks to be a thin layer of silver mist as golden, hexagonal plates drift along its surface, occasionally fading in and out of existence.
I don’t get more time to analyse it though as the Manic once again makes a lunge towards me, but it is stopped again by the bubble. This time I get to witness its momentum being diverted backward, like a tennis ball being thrown at a brick wall. It gets back up again and I bury my face in my knees again, closing my eyes as I begin begging and praying for there to be anyone out there to hear me and to get me out of this nightmare.
Alas, my pleas go unanswered and the Manic tries a few more times to get past the shield keeping me safe, each time getting met with failure but still making me flinch and continue my earlier sobbing, this time out of fear.
Jeygel-28 is annoyed. No matter how much he strikes, the shield around the intruder won’t let up. The vexing vocalisations from the creature are not helping his temperance either. After his sixth attempt at attacking, Jeygel-28 decides to take a different approach. With a huff, he steps away from the creature, making sure to keep it in his sight, before reaching up to the side of his helmet and pressing a few buttons in a sequence to comm his superior.
“Ah! Jeygel, tell me that this is important. I am currently busy with a very delicate experiment and I do not need the interruption.” Tyl Regor’s voice is tinny and a bit rushed as it comes through Jeygel-28’s audials. He hates interrupting the scientist’s experiments, but the current situation would likely require Regor’s intervention, “<Intruder found on lower level of lab, Sir. Intruder not attacking.>”
The line goes completely silent and Jeygel-28 idly notes how the creature flinches at his voice. ‘Rude.’ Soon, his superior’s voice comes through the channel again, this time less rushed and more intrigued, “Is it a Tenno?” Jeygel-28 shakes his head before remembering that Regor can’t see him, “<Not Tenno. Not Corpus. Not Infested.>”
All Jeygel-28 receives is a hum before Regor speaks again, “Alright, I’ll be there in a few minutes with a security detail. I am quite intrigued at your discovery. Keep watch of it, make sure it doesn’t leave.” And with that, the comm cuts out and Jeygel-28 moves away from the cowering creature, noting that it was trying, unsuccessfully, to sneakily watch him if the two blue lights of one of its sets of eyes peeking out from above the crook of its arm is any indication. Jeygel-28 goes down into a squat against one of the walls and makes sure that his red optics look directly at the intruder’s blue orbs, causing it to avert its gaze.
And so they wait.
Tyl Regor was annoyed at first. If it was anyone but one of his Manics or Tubemen, he would have been much more furious, but Jeygel’s report was interesting to say the least. It had been a while since he has felt such anticipation, if he was a lesser man, he would be drooling at the chance to perhaps test on a completely new entity.
And so he left his lab before ordering a nearby squad of Lancers led by a Gunner to follow him. Now, he and his security detail are nearing the location that was attached to Jeygel’s comm, a solitary storage room in the middle of nowhere. Regor turns to the troops following him, “Stay here in case the specimen tries to escape. Shoot to disable and do please avoid killing it.” After receiving the confirmation that his orders were heard, he turns back to the doors and begins stepping forward, a feeling of excitement burning in his chest.
As soon as he steps close enough for the door to activate, his interest is piqued tenfold at the sight of the creature, enough so that he completely ignores Jeygel snapping to attention and saluting. His attention is completely fixed on the creature that’s rocking itself back and forth inside the bubble, soft sounds escaping it.
The creature is small, not tiny, but still rather diminutive. Its body seems to be completely made up of a silver and bluish metal with a slim figure that only served to highlight its unimpressive size. With its arms wrapped around its legs, he can see the protrusions from its forearms connect to wing like structures that seem to wrap around to its back. Two much larger protrusions are attached to the sides of its waist, resembling a waistcoat made up of feather-like plates stacked atop one another, a pattern that’s present on a similar, smaller sheet of metal around its head, creating a look that resembles long hair. Its head is topped by two feather like structures that reminds him of the recovered archives that showed images of the ‘horned’ owls from ancient Earth.
Lastly is its face, which Regor is getting a very good look at as it’s staring right at him. Well, face is a generous term for the smooth, featureless surface, the only actual facial feature being four eye sockets, one stacked atop the other on each side, each containing a shining sky blue gem with a faded white centre that’s staring at him in wide-eyed fear. A mercury-like substance is leaking from its sockets in an imitation of running tears.
He takes a step closer to see the details of the creature more clearly, but stops as it tries to push itself further against the wall, the shield moving with it. He hums before letting out a chuckle, “My, aren’t you a skittish one?” He expects the creature to try and make itself look smaller or for it to try to form more of a distance between him and itself.
What he doesn’t expect is for a voice to come from it, “P-please don’t hurt me…”
