In the aftermath of their meeting with the Director-General, Vreta did not spend much more time on Outremer. He stayed long enough to cover his tracks, as well as to deal with some matters for the corporation he was representing and keep up his cover story. However, he eventually returned to Rothia after less than a week for the official reason of safety, given that he was the target of a supposed terrorist attack. From there, he continued in an advisory position regarding the situation on Outremer.

The approach of the Rahn’Masser in the months that followed was one of patience, on Vreta’s own advice. They took no further risks with trying to learn what the Humans were keeping hidden, and instead simply monitored the situation through publicly-available means. The fact that the Cradle was heavily locked-down by the Outremer government was essentially confirmation that the event Vreta witnessed was not an isolated one. There was even a growing sentiment of concern and confusion from Outremer’s citizens on their government’s sudden and drastic reversal of policy in regards to the Cradle. Frequent, rolling power outages across Outremer’s infrastructure also spoke to persistent issues within the Cradle. The Rothians could not know the details from the outside, but from their perspective, they did not need to. They just needed to wait long enough for desperation to set in. They did, in the meantime, attempt to search for whatever it was the creature in the Cradle had supposedly tried to contact on Rothia, but without any information on where or what it was they were looking for, finding it in any quick time was only a remote possibility.

Eventually, the months of waiting were rewarded. Vreta himself was not involved in the negotiations, but the agreement the Rothian government reached with Outremer gave them a satisfactory degree of cooperation in the investigation. With the information they were given, they quickly began to assemble a research team, mobilize soldiers for security roles, and gather ample resources to assist the investigation. For Vreta himself, he finally had a direct part to play once more. Officially, he had retired from his position at the Zuraxi’Synkuur corporation and had taken a position as a government contractor in its place. He had been appointed as the Rothian liaison to the Human half of the task force that was quickly forming. Given his specific experience with both Humanity and the Cradle, as well as his skillset, he was the natural choice for both official and unofficial purposes. 

[hr]

Vreta could not say he was thrilled about the prospect of logging in to the Cradle once again, but at least this time he was in more control of the situation. For one, he had his own pistol at his side, as well as a retinue of armed and armored Rothian soldiers at his side. Human entry harnesses still could not simulate Rothian technology, so their arms and armor were all of Human origin, adapted to their bodies, but at least he was not so defenseless. However, the main reason he felt comfortable entering this nightmare of a simulation was that he would not be wandering more than a city block away from the transit station. He went to the CraSec outpost just next to his entry point, sent word to the Director of the Human contribution to the expedition, and stayed put exactly where he was to wait for their arrival.