“I can take that first part for you, Madame President.” The Director-General asserted. DeWinter nodded, glad to put some distance between herself and this problematic legalese. The man with the shining eyes answered the Speaker.

“The Cradle has always been categorised as a ‘colonised habitat’ belonging to Outremer, ever since we founded New Antioch. For the past...three hundred and sixteen years it has been sub categorised as a ‘Tier 1 government installation’. This means we are authorised by Diaspora law to deny access for any reason. Given these unique circumstances, if this intelligence can prove that the Cradle is it’s home we are prepared to fast track it’s repatriation. But we cannot do that if you are holding it hostage and withholding it’s equivalent of medical assistance. You may well be contravening the Native Populations framework if you refuse to move it to Outremer.”

Freyr hung, speechless, on every word of this exchange. It was noticeable how much better prepared the Director-General was now, when compared to the last time they’d been together at the Rothian embassy on Outremer. She saw a man who had inadvertently opened up a can of worms, and was now painstakingly catching and killing all of the loose fugitives with the precision of a surgeon. Freyr also noticed that after his initial admonishment of herself, Smith had become utterly emotionless, perhaps to mirror the Speaker herself.

“Thank you, Director-General. I would like to add that we are well aware of the scale of this discovery. We’re looking forward to working together as allies to find a solution. I’m sure we can find some middle ground with regard to data sharing. We will also of course involve Rothia and any other civilisations in the decision-making process.”

“To prevent this being from reaching the Cradle would certainly not be our intention. Quite the opposite, in fact.” Roth’Orsa replied. The apparent disrespect and accusatory words of the Humans towards he Rahn’Saki drew the ire of more than a few Rothians present. The Grand Admiral, in particular, snarled at the Director-General. Again, though, it took only a gesture from Roth’Orsa to calm them.

“Our history of diplomacy speaks for itself, President. In this crisis, the civilizations of our galaxy may well need to cooperate on a level hitherto unprecedented since any of our species have known one another. If the threat is real, and if it is as powerful as the being implied, we may all need the help of one another. To that end, the Rahn’Saki shall be calling upon a summit of all governments of spacefaring nations known to us. There, we will explain everything that has happened, what it could mean for our future, and we will be offering an agreement. As stated before, this agreement will not demand you relinquish your secrets, only that all signatory entities be granted equal access and inclusion into the process of resolving this crisis until its conclusion. At that point, if the Cradle’s creators have not reclaimed control of it, you will retain control of the Cradle. And this agreement, we should say, comes with the full support of the Rahn’Saki. If the Hegemon threatens your world, you will have the protection of the one fleet more powerful than your own. If your people suffer, if they have to evacuate, we will house and support your refugees. If the threat of the Hegemon is severe enough, we will arm you and your ships with modern Rothian weapons with which to fight them. That is the kind of support we are offering.”

Most of the Rothians had already been silent to allow Roth’Orsa to speak, but now they were stunned to hear the offer she had put on the table. To provide aid, or outdated Rothian technology, was one thing, but to offer to arm another species with advanced Rothian weaponry seemed like such an absurdity that even the highest-ranking Rothian officials never would have imagined it. The Humans especially, after centuries of diplomacy with the Rothians, would likely be even more shocked. “With the kind of cooperation we are offering, you know as well as us, President DeWinter, that anything less than a full partnership is frankly an insult. It is the most generous offer we have ever made your people. Take some time to discuss if you like, but everyone necessary to make this decision is present in this meeting. It is a…diplomatic priority for our peoples to become partners in this crisis.”

Freyr could see most of the Human delegates on screen trying their utmost to retain a neutral expression. Pretty much all, in fact, apart from the Director-General, who’s jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed. He began speaking, but was promptly muted by someone else in the conference.

President DeWinter smiled diplomatically. “Thank you very much for expanding more on your offer. I think we’d like to take a short break now to discuss internally. Please excuse us.” The screen abruptly went blank right after, replaced by the sigil of Outremer’s government.

The Speaker gave the Rothians leave to break for recess, and people began standing up and or talking. Most of the Human scientists began chatting among themselves. Freyr stretched her arms, reaching for the ceiling, before linking hands and gently twisting her back. She then rubbed her eyes, yawned and stood up. She caught 595’s eye again. “How are you feeling?” Freyr asked.

“Never better.” 595 grunted distractedly.

“You should get some rest. You’ve been through the wringer.”

“I plan on sleeping for a week once this meeting is done.”

Freyr nodded, patting the sitting Agent on the shoulder and surveying the rest of the room.

Despite the fact that the only one among the Rothians aside from Roth’Orsa to speak had been Nirann, most of the Rothian leadership already looked to be exhausted of the meeting. The revelations that she had brought forward and the offers the Rahn’Saki had made had certainly left them with a lot to process. There was, perhaps, some lingering awkwardness between certain Rothians and the Humans in the room. All of those who had been considered disrespectful towards the Rahn’Saki had been speaking remotely from Outremer, but not all of the offended made a distinction between them, and those in the room with them. For Vreta, he could not say he was terribly thrilled about that fact. His job was to smooth over relations between the two teams, and he felt like he was going to end up having a lot more work after all of this. Provided this meeting ended up securing their overall cooperation, of course.

Vreta was near enough to Freyr that it took just a short few steps once he stood to join alongside her and 595. He kept a respectful distance, especially from the Agent, and mostly focused his attention on Freyr. “And how are you holding up, Freyr? I feel like they just threw quite a lot at all of us. I’m sorry the negotiations got so…personal to you. I, well…I wish you didn’t have to go through that in front of everyone.”

Freyr looked at Vreta and smiled without showing any teeth. “Oh, hi. Thanks, I’m hanging in there. I’ll probably have to offer my resignation tonight. Clearly my judgement is compromised.” 595 chuckled into a cough from the chair beside her. “You can’t resign; we need you.” The Agent mumbled. Freyr’s eyebrows bounced and she looked down at the lounging individual. “Lucky me.”

She looked back at Vreta and crossed her arms. “You’ve seen almost everything i’ve seen recently. How do you think this will go? Are you worried?”

Vreta breathed a short laugh through his nostrils for just a moment, looking down towards the floor. “I know I…usually have the answers to these sorts of question. It is my job, after all. Clearing up misunderstandings, explaining Rothian customs, expectations. But, uh, well…I haven’t the faintest idea this time. This is all so wildly unprecedented. I don’t think I can understate that fact. The Rahn’Saki have never taken care of diplomacy themselves, and that offer they made…I never would have thought I would see one like it.”

For a moment, Vreta stopped and took in a breath. He had finally been able to voice his surprise, so he tried to think of what he could say that would be helpful. “One thing, I suppose, I can say about the Rahn’Saki is that they are not liars. Every deal, every agreement they have committed the Rothian people to, they have honored. This offer is real, and I think your leaders would be insane to deny it. But, your leaders have to know that no species in their right minds would take a backseat to a matter of their own survival. It is a generous offer just for an equal partnership, and I hope your leaders see the wisdom in accepting it. I truly hope they accept it, because if they don’t…well, there is no outcome here where the Rahn’Saki surrender our fate to Outremer’s government.”

“It feels strange, doesn’t it? Being helpless.” 595 murmured, looking into the distance. Freyr glanced down at the black-clad Agent. She had gone from looking deathly pale to being quite flushed. Freyr quickly put the back of her hand to 595’s forehead. She pushed Freyr away but not quickly enough. “You’re burning up. What did the medics say?”

“They said I'm fine, it’s just a reaction to re-entry. Leave me alone and I’ll be right as rain in a minute.” 595 snapped, shifting away from them in her seat.

Freyr looked back at Vreta apologetically. “Sorry. I would like to say i’m confident we will reach an agreement...But, as always there are strong opinions on all sides. My worry is that we’re moving heaven and earth for a creature that hasn’t actually given us empirical evidence to back up it’s story. Ideally, we’d gain more information before making a decision we’ll regret. But i don’t think that is a priority for everyone at this meeting.”

Vreta crossed his arms and stared ahead blankly for a few moments in thought, before soon turning his head back to Freyr and nodding briefly. “I think you might be right. We really don’t have any guarantees. I’ve seen Rareth’s recording of what happened, most of it, from start to finish. I skipped a lot of the walking, but I’ve viewed the major events. In most circumstances, I would want to do a lot more investigating before committing to a decision.”

For a moment, Vreta looked back and observed Roth’Orsa. He still could not get over how…strange she was. Even now, while most of the others were stretching their legs and talking among themselves, Roth’Orsa was still just sitting in her seat, staring blankly ahead in waiting of the meeting to reconvene. Regardless, her eccentricity did nothing to lessen his opinion of her. “I don’t think we are the only ones who think this way, though. I’ve noticed how Roth’Orsa speaks about the being; always qualifying her statements. ‘If what is says is true. If it is being honest.’ I don’t think the Rahn’Saki just trust it outright. But, we’re not in a position to be waiting around. We may lose out on the option of its help if we delay too long. Choosing to trust it is probably just the most likely path towards the best outcome, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Rahn’Saki do try to take some precautions, just in case. There will be some time before we can get the device to Outremer that they can spend preparing.”

Eventually, Vreta did turn his attention to Agent 595. He paced around briefly until he was behind her, then gave Freyr a look of concern. Granted, her behavior was consistent with the personality they had always seen from her, but after what he had seen in the recordings, he could not help but to think that it might be worse than she was letting on. Walking up alongside her, he placed his hand gently upon her shoulder. “I would not be so cavalier with your health, Agent. Anything could have happened to you when you disappeared. If you want, I could talk to some people and get you set up with a full brain scan on our best equipment. If something left behind any damage, we might be able to help you.”

Freyr followed Vreta’s gaze to Roth’Orsa. The Rothian was beginning to arouse her interest, both as a biologist and as an AI scientist. But her mind was still mostly focused on the intelligence they’d found just hours before, and Freyr was conscious about making any potentially seditious comment while situated among all these important officials. Freyr nodded sagely at Vreta’s analysis. “Yes. If i’m not dismissed, I’ll try and get some more answers before we leave Rothia.”

“Get your hands off me, Vreta’Sori.” 595 growled when Vreta came over. I’ll scan my own brain, thank you.” The Agent shot out of her seat and perched on the edge of the conference table to get away from both of them. She grabbed a nearby flagon of water and poured a large glass for herself. Freyr watched 595 greedily finish the whole glass before changing the subject. She didn’t want to antagonise this temperamental woman that appeared bound to herself by an invisible string, any more than she already was.

“So...the Cradle Institute. That organisation the Director-General mentioned... There are a lot of institutes based in the Cradle, but I suspect this one is new to me. Are you a member too?” 595 displayed a wry smile. “Sure. Why not.”
“Will i find anything if i search for the name?”

“I highly doubt it.”

“What’s it’s function?”

“We function for all of Outremer, and the Diaspora.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

595 shrugged, pouring herself another glass of water.

Pretty much as expected, Vreta maintained his calm. He shrugged off the Agent’s irritation, and similarly shrugged off the answers she gave to Freyr’s questions. By Vreta’s reckoning, 595’s career was not likely to be too dissimilar to his own, so he knew well that no answer she gave about herself would be trustworthy. It whatever she said was not a fabrication outright, it was probably active disinformation. He felt he gained more insight in the recording of how she behaved in the simulation. Still, it could not hurt to see what answers she would give to certain questions, even if her honesty could not be trusted.

“I don’t think any part of me was expecting a straight answer to that one.” Vreta chuckled, looking down on the Agent. “Maybe there is something you can share, though? Despite my worries, I do actually think we will still be working together after this. It’s the only sensible choice for your people to make, so I would like to keep up that spirit of cooperation. That being in the simulation, what do you make of it? Freyr does have a point; we don’t really know if we can trust it. I saw on the recording that it leaned in close and spoke to you. What did it say? Do you think we’re doing the right thing here by bringing it to your world?”

“You want to know what it said?” 595 purred, leaning forward with her glass resting in her lap. “I couldn’t hear it very well because it was fading fast. But it pulled me closer and whispered…” 595 grinned, showing perfectly aligned teeth, before putting on an uncanny impression of the energy creature. “Save me...from all these endless posturing meetings. I’m dyingggg.”

The Agent hung her tongue out the corner of her mouth, crossed her eyes and made a loud choking noise. “That’s nothing to joke about!” Freyr protested angrily, which only made 595 laugh harder. “You are too easy! It didn’t say anything; not that i could make out anyway. It just grabbed me, the temple thing that we were in began crumbling, then blackness. Next thing I remember is staring up at a hunky medic.”

Soon after that, the screen behind 595 blinked into life with President DeWinter’s face on it. She began speaking before everyone could find their seats again. 595 made no effort to move right away, forcing Freyr to wrestle her seat out from under the Agent's feet.

“Hello again, apologies for keeping you waiting.” DeWinter began. Lord Hale and Benoit Souza appeared on screen on either side of her. The other officials, including the Director-General, were missing. “After some discussion, we believe we can accept your terms, in principle. Our team will be in contact with a legal agreement text shortly. Please make all necessary preparation for moving the object ahead of time - let us know how we can assist. Do you need anything else from us before we get started?”

Vreta simply sighed and let out a huff through his nostrils. He had not been expecting her to be forthcoming. Though, he did pay attention to what she did not say. Not only did she not reveal what the being said, she also did not give her opinion on their present plan of action. She made no argument either against, or in agreement with what they were doing. It was little for him to go on, granted, but it did make him suspicious.

Regardless, the Human representatives returned suddenly to the meeting shortly afterwards. Most of those in attendance had to quickly get back to their seats, but of course, Roth’Orsa was still waiting exactly where she had been sitting in patient silence. When they revealed that they were essentially accepting the terms, she simply moved on to answering their question without skipping a beat. “Yes, while we should not delay in pushing forward with out plan, we should also establish contingencies. In the event that the being does not do as it claimed, for any reason, we should be ready to react. We should prepare observation equipment to monitor every step of the process, in and out of the simulation. We would also recommend moving civilians a safe distance away from the Cradle itself.”

Freyr could see that the President was now well out of her depth with these technical details. And in the absence of the Director-General, it finally fell to her to organise everything. She jumped as soon as the President shifted her gaze to look at her. “We have a full suite of monitoring equipment with us on the Barbarossa. Ideally, we would have a team inside the simulation at all times. Our first port of call should be attempting re-entry, using the newly consolidated codebase.”

Freyr considered the next part carefully. “The Cradle itself is in a secure environment underneath Babylon, built to contain sustained nuclear fusion on the inside and orbital bombardment from the outside. In theory, the city is totally safe. However, we don’t know the outward capabilities of this entity nor the Cradle. To be on the safe side, I would also recommend evacuating the city.” 595 kissed her teeth and shook her head derisively at this point.

“But that is your call, Madame President.” Freyr pressed on despite the distraction, shooting an corrosive look at the Agent beside her.

DeWinter nodded gravely, calculating the political risk behind her eyes. “I’ll consult with my cabinet, but it may be difficult to achieve without declaring a state of emergency. And once we go down that route, I can’t stop what happens next. What else?”

“Our recommendation is to evacuate. Decisions regarding your people are certainly yours; we can only give our suggestions. Just know that, should you decide to evacuate, you will have our full support and assistance in that task.” Roth’Orsa commented before, as requested, moving on to her next point without delay. “The Rahn’Saki have only one other point to address. The terms of our deal stipulate that we do not demand your secrets regarding the Cradle. We do honor our agreement, but we do still ask for any data you might share. Any information you are willing to give may improve our response, and may save Human lives. We recommend that you take the time to discuss among yourselves what you are willing to share before the device arrives at Outremer.”

With just a thought, Roth’Orsa pushed holographic copies of a surprisingly detailed estimated timeline of the excavation ahead of them to everyone in attendance. “You should expect our gateway to arrive at Outremer in just over a week. By the time our gateway reaches you, the gateway around the device should be assembled and ready. We will be able to transport the device as soon as you are ready, at that point.”

President DeWinter stole a glance at 595, who was staring up at her from beneath her eyebrows, head tilted slightly down. The president also nervously looked off-screen at something for a moment. “Noted. We’ll discuss that privately and see what we can do.” She replied half-heartedly. She looked glad when her copy of the timeline arrived. Freyr saw her face light up marginally when she opened the file. “Excellent, thank you. Dr Lang, do you have any thoughts?”

Freyr nodded quickly, scanning the timeline as well. “Yes. Our teams will need to be in-situ on Outremer before the object arrives. Since the source gate here on Rothia will be deep underground, I imagine we’ll need to pair another one elsewhere for key personnel to jump in just before?”

“A gateway can link to any other gateway of the same class. It should be no trouble to send the science team through just ahead of the object.” Roth’Orsa answered Freyr without actually looking at her.

With their agreement having been essentially reached, there was nothing else earthshattering to discuss for the remainder of the meeting. There were a few matters that they discussed, mostly involving setting up a tentative schedule for meetings between certain important individuals to iron out the more minute details of their cooperation. For that, Roth’Orsa finally started to allow the other Rothian leaders to speak for themselves.

When the last of the screens finally went dark and the Rothian representatives started to take their leave, Vreta finally felt he could breathe a sigh of relief. All-in-all, everything went mostly as well as he could have hoped. They finally had official terms for full cooperation on this project, and not a moment too soon, in his mind. With everything they had learned about these objects and potential threats ahead, they could not afford to be tearing each other apart.

Vreta expected Roth’Orsa to take her leave quickly, but instead of heading back through the doors, she and her guards instead got up and started moving across the room…straight in his direction. At first, he wondered if there was something the Rahn’Saki wanted of him, but it only took a few moments for him to realize that it was not he who she had her eyes on. He was sitting next to Freyr, and it was she who Roth’Orsa was approaching. “Dr. Freyr Lang. We would speak to you. In private.”

Freyr had gotten up to leave with the rest of her team when she noticed the Speaker was approaching them. Several of the Human scientists stopped in their tracks as she drew near, unsure of whether to scoot past or wait respectfully. Freyr tried to remain calm when it became clear Roth’Orsa wished to speak with her. “Yes, of course. Happy to help.” Freyr smiled nervously.

“Ooh, are you proposing a tryst? I’d like to join if that’s ok? Xandrus too.” 595 butted in, motioning to the public relations executive who had been sitting inconspicuously among the Human congregation. He looked up quizzically from the holopad he’d been engrossed in for half of the meeting. "Just to ensure there's no misunderstanding." 595 smiled politely.

Roth’Orsa did not so much as make eye contact with Agent 595 when she replied. “We would speak to Dr. Lang in private.” She repeated, with little offer of debate. She was not aggressive, nor emotional in any other way, though her bodyguards certainly showed more outward disdain towards the Agent the moment she even seemed like she was questioning the Rahn’Saki.

Vreta could not help but to feel a mix of confusion and jealousy. A private audience with the Rahn’Saki was perhaps the greatest honor one could receive. He wished he could join Freyr as well, likely for very different reasons than 595, but unlike her, he knew well not to try and question the will of the Rahn’Saki.

Roth’Orsa did not take Freyr far from the conference hall. There was another, smaller meeting room just down the hall. Her bodyguards did join her at first, though she left even them outside to guard the door when they went inside. She did not object to Freyr taking a seat, if she chose to, but Roth’Orsa herself remained standing, strangely still, and with Freyr now being the subject of her eerie stare. “You are the chosen expert on the Cradle among your people, yes? Yet, we have observed there are others with greater authority on the Cradle. They are…intrinsically linked to it, yet obscure their connection to it. The Agent who identifies only her number, the Director-General, those of their organization, what do you know of them?”

“Ok, sure thing. We’ll just talk later.” 595 flipped from smiling sweetly at the Speaker to fixing Freyr with the trademark glare she knew so well now. Freyr withered a bit from the giddy heights of privilege under the Agent’s gaze, but still had the presence of mind to dismiss her team. “It’s alright - I’ll be fine, you guys go on ahead. I’ll catch up.” Freyr smiled encouragingly to the people around her as the Speaker led her away.

Freyr didn’t feel comfortable enough to take a seat when the strange Rothian led her into the room. So she just stood awkwardly opposite the speaker, fingers interlocked in front of her waist, listening for Roth’Orsa to begin.

She nodded politely at the Speaker’s first question, then chuckled morosely when she realised what this was about. “I know they will force me to tell them whatever i tell you.” Freyr ran a hand through her hair and looked into the distance for a moment. The weight on her shoulders was unbearable, and she had no idea which choice was right at this point. It was all just too much.

Eventually, Freyr turned off her implants. She blinked a couple of times to clear the cloudiness from her vision before looking back at the Speaker.

“I don’t know anything about them, is the short answer. Ever since being inducted into the government I’ve heard...stories, I guess, about shadows controlling the Cradle from New Antioch, or somewhere beyond the Border. But I never gave them any serious thought until this all started. Now, they own my department and who knows what else, and the Agent has barely left my side for weeks.” Freyr stopped and sighed, breathing deeply to calm herself. She massaged the bridge of her nose, then chopped her hand down in front of her.

“There is something going on behind the scenes, I can feel it. But everyone, including me, is too terrified to do anything. Who knows what they’re capable of? I have...people, counting on me to stay alive and figure all this out.” Do not cry, do not cry - not in front of the Speaker. Freyr thought to herself.

“We will not demand any secrets from you. It shall be your decision what you choose to share. It will be your people who are most impacted by what we discuss here.” Roth’Orsa replied to Freyr, though she remained perfectly quiet while Freyr was giving her answer, to the point that it was as if she was not so much as breathing.

Roth’Orsa gave a rare pause as her stare somehow seemed to go even deeper into Freyr’s eyes. “Your facial features are consistent with an expression of…fear, sadness. We are aware that your motivation to preserve the lives of your family drive you. We do not consider this a weakness, but it can make you…predictable. It is possible that certain elements within your society might use that predictability against you. We would recommend trying to pay close attention to how others are treating you. Even the small things, details in how they speak to you, can provide clues to their intentions. The events of that meeting have given us reason to question the identity and motivation of the Cradle Institute, or at least of its members that have been presented to us.”

The Speaker’s words were as blunt as they had been back during the meeting, and her tone remained calm and unchanged. “It is known to us that Humanity has had a presence in the Cradle for centuries. It has been known to you that the Cradle can influence the minds of artificial beings, but only recently has it been revealed that it can most likely claim the minds of Organics, as evidenced by your encounter with the creature that bore your husband’s face. The capabilities of intelligences within the Cradle is an unknown variable, in truth, but recent evidence has placed them as being far more competent than previously assumed. The behavior and judgements of both the Director-General and Agent 595 during the meeting were opposed to the most likely predictions given by our calculations. From our limited data, our impression of the Cradle Institute is that they are an organization with considerable power and control over the Cradle. And the Cradle, of course, is the greatest asset of your people. This plan, which the Director-General agreed to enthusiastically, will inevitably relinquish control of the Cradle to an alien entity. We had expected them to behave in their own self-interest to attempt to maintain control over the Cradle, and that they would require that all other reasonable options be exhausted before they would agree to our plan.”