Freyr nodded thoughtfully. To the casual observer, it would’ve looked like she was considering the new images of the Object on her screen. It had kept the same shape as the scans when it was underground, but you’d have a hard time figuring that out in person. In contrast to the Cradle, which displayed a pearly white exterior, the Object’s skin was like that of Vantablack, Humanity’s first attempt at creating the darkest substance in the universe.

On regular cameras, the Object presented as a black hole, whichever angle you studied it from. Freyr was idly mulling over the possibility of it being a camouflage response to being dragged out of hiding. Now that her heartbeat was slowly returning to normal, Freyr could feel herself drawn more to the facts and figures again. Even from up here, she could make a difference. She could direct the coupling from here, and then go into the simulation from the lab if necessary. But that’d be risky without first digesting the full dataset which was in quarantine down below.

”I think so. I may not agree with how your society is organised, but I agree with you. Whatever your actual job title. I may be in a minority though.” Freyr looked around, and noted the various faces who, having found a lull in the conversation, were regarding Vreta curiously. While everyone on her team knew who Vreta was in principle, they’d never met or talked to him.

Vreta did not notice the attention of the other Humans as readily as Freyr, especially as his mind was more focused on the problems they were discussing. Rhia, however, certainly took notice, though mostly just for the purpose of analyzing any potential risks. The talk of a traitor was worrying for how probable it seemed. There were not many other ways that the Skinners could have realistically gained the intelligence they held.

”If you feel like you can trust me, then we can discuss what we can do about this potential traitor. I tried to keep that Skinner talking when he showed up in hopes of tracing wherever he was broadcasting from, but I had no such luck. He disconnected too quickly. He does seem to be experienced, which makes him dangerous. What we are doing on this project is important, so I imagine their agent here is just as experienced. Given that the issue of the Cradle is important to the Skinners, and your division studies the Cradle, it would not be unexpected for them to have infiltrated your division long ago. For that reason, you should resist the urge to trust any of your team’s members purely because of seniority.” Vreta reasoned.

Pausing a moment, Vreta asked Rhia to bring up all of the relevant intelligence they had on the Skinners, from Rothian reports to simple searches of publicly-available data. In particular, he was interested in the details of their motives. ”These Skinners, they have a rather peculiar and…fervent system of beliefs, don’t they? If what I am reading here is right, they are Human purists. They spurn technological enhancements of the body, as well as opposing Outremer’s dependence on the Cradle, yes? How many members of the team that accompanied you on the Barb lack any significant cybernetic enhancements?”

“Ummm, i don’t know. You aren’t required to disclose modifications until you reach a certain clearance level. So many in my division are first-years, I barely know their names let alone implants. I could try and find out, but it may raise flags somewhere.”

Nearby, one of the scientists turned on a holo-screen projecting the evening news in 3D. “Turn it down! Some of us are trying to work.” Dr Wetherall complained, and the junior duly complied. The reporter in front of the camera was a familiar face, Freyr remembered finding him quite attractive before she met David.

Over his shoulder, she could see a raging fire and black flags of smoke curling from the brightly lit Parliament complex. Emergency vehicles swarmed overhead. “...Weekend sitting of the Cradle select committee, to discuss the recent power surges. Initial reports suggest at least one member of the committee has lost their life this evening. The influential Skinner’s Guild has taken responsibility for the attack, and said while it regrets violence, threatened further attacks until the government reverses key policy changes on Cradle integration. We are now waiting on an announcement from President DeWinter, who was not at Parliament this evening.”

Vreta’s gaze also went towards the screen, if only because many of the others had as well. It seemed the instincts of one of the Humans outside had been correct. Their Parliment had been attacked. Such an attack would seem almost inconceivable on Rothia, and if he was being honest, he was not sure what his proper reaction should be in this case. Fear? Sympathy? What would the Humans expect of him? Diplomacy may have been his job, but he still did not know everything about them.

For now, Vreta did not let the news report keep him from staying on-topic with Freyr. ”I don’t think it’s necessary to make inquiries. Modifications show up on medical scans. Given all that everyone had been through, it wouldn’t be suspicious for me to get Rareth to insist on a full psychological and physical checkup for everyone on the project. We just have to make sure those results become available to us, then we can use them to start narrowing down suspects. That, or I go requisition a Rothian scanner capable of making those scans unnoticed. Though, there is one question. Do we know how strictly these Skinners stick to their beliefs? Has a person with implants ever been caught working for them? Or are they too uncompromising for that?”

”That could work. People who’ve been inside the Object would have recent scans already. I think we could all use a psych-eval anyway, we’ve been through so much… Freyr looked around, thinking.

She could tell people were scared, and trying to cope by reconnecting with their peers. She just couldn’t imagine any of them bombing innocents - so much of their situation was a mystery, and Freyr just felt ill-equipped to solve it by herself.

She was glad of Vreta’s help, although he’d need careful management along with all the other interested parties. She couldn’t be certain any of them would favour the Cradle Dead over a new, shiny super weapon.

”I don’t know anything about the Skinners, I've never needed to. Surely we can find someone who does?”

Freyr looked back at the screen. “...viewers may find distressing.” The news had gone back to the studio, but quickly switched to cameras aboard press craft in orbit. The Barbarossa and an unfamiliar-looking Rothian craft were floating among a mass of radioactive wreckage. Colourful purple lights danced on Outremer’s upper atmosphere.

Distraught murmurs and some colourful cursing filled the lab. Freyr bit her lip as her eyes scanned the scene; a tear escaped down her cheek which she promptly wiped away. It's not your fault, she told herself, unconvinced.

”In that case, we may need to seek help. We just have to make sure that anyone we bring this to is someone we can trust. Or trust not to be allies with the Skinners, at least.” Vreta replied. They would need to see what medical records they could dig up before they could do much more, so for now, Vreta could only keep on his guard. Rhia turned more of her focus to observing Freyr’s colleagues for suspicious behavior. She doubted that a traitor would give themselves away overtly, especially so soon after an attack, but even small details could help build a pattern. Their observed emotional state in different situations, non-genuine actions or reactions, minor statements or lies, they could all be useful later on and would be worth saving now.

Rhia also captured Freyr’s physical responses to the situation, though for different reasons. She ran her observations of Freyr through a social assistance program to translate her body language into something Vreta could understand. Fear, anxiety, sadness, Vreta could easily understand why she felt all of it. He had specialized training to help him deal with high-stress situations, and even he was having trouble processing some of this. Freyr was just a civilian, and she was being expected to, in-part, lead them through all of it.

Soon enough, Freyr would feel a massive Rothian hand resting gently upon her shoulder. Vreta’s expression looking down at her was soft with enough of a measure of compassion to equal her fear. “You’re doing well, Freyr.” He whispered, though now speaking aloud. “I don’t think even I would be holding it together as well as you are, in your shoes. It’s alright to worry, or to grieve. You don't have to be afraid to let it out.”

Freyr looked at the hand, then patted one of the claws gently. “Thanks.” She said, sniffing to regain composure. She slurped her tea, enjoying the fragrant taste. She let out a shuddering breath and nodded reassuringly. “I’m fine.”

“Dr Lang, can you look at this for me please?” one of her brightest new intakes she’d kept on Outremer called. Freyr got up and walked over to the young female scientist, what was her name again? Her implant confirmed it was Dr Girard. “What is it?” Several eyes in the room tracked Freyr as she moved, and people began making more productive noises in their groups.

“Check this signal cluster from the Object. Just opened up a few seconds ago.” Dr Girard pointed to a thin wisp of energy emitting from one side of the pitch black mass inside the Vault’s staging area. It was being tracked and dissected by the facilities state-of-the-art sensory equipment, but still represented one of the most sophisticated connections Freyr had ever seen.

“It’s searching for the Cradle. It’s awake!” Freyr exclaimed, temporarily forgetting everything else. In three hundred and fifty years, no one had seen active signals from a creature like the Cradle, this was history in the making! “This corresponds with the codex we uncovered in the thing’s mind - it’s how they join together, it must be.” Dr Wetherall murmured, gently queuing calibrations to the equipment for downstairs to implement. People crowded around them to get a closer look.

Vreta was aware of this codex, though he did not have the time to dedicate to studying and understanding it himself. Marae’s team had studied it just as much as Freyr’s, so that was enough. Perhaps with the exception of some of what the Institute may or may not have known, his people were no longer being kept out of the loop. Marae’s fame was well-earned, as she had led her team admirably in catching up to the Human experts over the course of the project. The subject of the Cradle was legitimately complex, even moreso than they had been expecting going into the project, but the Rothians did have the advantage of a longer history of scientific knowledge to draw from. It was enough for them to keep up, at least.

Vreta stepped up behind the group of scientists, watching the screen over their heads. “If it is searching, then we probably should not delay much longer. Can we let it into the vault now? We don’t know what it might do if we take too long. It may well have the capability to break through.” He suggested.

“No, I want a chance to study it before this recoupling.” Freyr snapped. She keyed her access code into the console and relayed that directive downstairs. “That door is seven metres thick, with an isolated switch. I think we’re safe for a little while.” They watched the will-o-wisp extending from the side of the Object sniffing at the doors into the Vault.

Freyr was torn now. In theory, she could enter the Cradle from the very lab they were standing in - there was a room full of harnesses just next door. They could get this process underway immediately, rather than risk losing the initiative.

But this could be her only chance to study the Object up close before it joined with the Cradle, and going to the Vault was the best place to do that. The harnesses in there also had some special...features which could come in useful if she was to monitor proceedings from the inside.

In the end, her mind was made up for her, when Thrace boomed: “Coast is clear! Pack your things, those of you who’re heading downstairs. We’re moving out.” Freyr looked up, and noticed most of her team were staring at her, waiting for her orders. She cleared her throat. “Same teams as before. Stay in close contact and stick to the plan, alright? Lets go.”

Vreta was about to make an argument in favor of avoiding delays, but it ended up being unnecessary. They were going to be making their way underground right away, so any further delay would not likely be long. The Human Sergeant was taking the initiative to take the lead, so Vreta fell in line with the science team. They would have an escort of soldiers, though Vreta was still not expecting another attack. He felt that, if they were the targets of the Skinners tonight, they would have been attacked on the landing pad.

In any case, Vreta still at least acted as he would if he were in danger. Normally, he would want to blend in to the crowd, but he could not help but to stand out as the only Rothian among the scientists. He also had his sidearm that could make him a target, but he supposed that would be better than an attacker prioritizing one of the civilians. At least he could take a few hits.

Thrace had claimed that the way was clear, and the amount of officers that Vreta saw did certainly suggest they were taking the threat seriously. They were almost as well-equipped as the soldiers themselves, and they did seem to be effective at clearing the way ahead of them. He saw some simply standing guard at the junctions of hallways, while others looked to be searching rooms, or perhaps patrolling. Either way, they could give the impression that there was an army securing the way ahead of them. Perhaps it could be comforting to some of the scientists, but Vreta was acutely aware of the fact that their numbers might mean little if their enemy could walk freely among those who were meant to protect them. And of course, once they boarded the monorail, they would just be back to the soldiers protecting them.

The group was escorted a floor down to board the monorail. Thrace had soldiers guarding them on all sides, making sure both that no one got close, and that none of the scientists fell behind. They were not running, but they were keeping a brisk pace forward, so they did not make too bad of time in reaching the monorail. As they approached, Vreta had Rhia keep an eye out for sabotage as best as she could, though he was aware that the sensors she could access had limits.

They met back up with 595 and most of the other suits at the chrome security checkpoint guarding access to the Mono. Freyr knew that name was out of date now; they’d replaced the old mono with a dual-rail gimbal system a hundred years ago, but all efforts to change the name had failed. Dr Wetherall never failed to gleefully retell that story after a couple of drinks.

The Agent smiled with a tightly closed mouth, spreading her hands slightly to welcome them, pistol still grasped in one of them. “Safe and sound. Is this everyone?” She asked Thrace. “Some of my team are still in the HQ, to avoid concentrating everyone in one place.” Freyr answered for him, stepping forwards. “They need protection tonight, while we do this.”

595 nodded, then flicked her free hand at one of the suits standing by. “Double security up there - no police.”

“Wilco.” Some of the suits set off along the bright white corridor at a fast walk. 595 watched them go, then grinned at the assembled group. “Alright. Let’s get this party started, shall we? The rails are live all the way downstairs.” The Agent turned and led the way through the checkpoint.

Behind the checkpoint was a cavernous tunnel, half polished metal and half ancient rock. A faint breeze ruffled Freyr’s hair from inside, like the breath of some mountain dragon. She buttoned up her lab coat - it was cold down below.

Vreta kept quiet while Freyr spoke to the Agent. It was not his place to advise on security. That would not normally stop him, granted, but in this case, he did not know nearly enough about the facility to have a helpful opinion. For now, he would just have to keep sharp and aware of his surroundings. As he followed the group through the checkpoint, Rhia held off on trying to access any of the security systems in the area. Heading into the more secure areas of the spire, unsurprisingly, was accompanied by more secure systems. Rhia had little doubt that she could break through, but it was not something she wanted to do lightly. She would just have to settle for Vreta’s sensory implants.

As strange as the Cradle itself was, the inside of the Spire almost felt stranger to Vreta, in a way. At its core, it was a massive stone structure, but with the Humans’ own technology integrated seamlessly into its architecture. He had to admit that they had done well with adapting their own creations into the original structure. Part of him wondered why they had not preserved it as an archeological site of an alien civilization. It was not as if they had not done so for other ruins on other worlds, but he supposed he already knew the answer to that. The Cradle buried underneath made this place quite exceptional.

The cavernous expanse past the checkpoint was in closer to its original state than the levels above, though that was likely just because they did not need to use the space when others were easier to build in. Still, it was an impressive sight that gave sense to the scale of the spire, even from within. Vreta felt a chill against his scales as he stepped into the monorail, which he noted had two rails, for some reason. He might have normally made some comment about it, but recent events made lighthearted conversation seem like something in poor taste at the moment. The air was fine for now, though if the temperature dropped too much, he would need to rely on his thermal implant to maintain his internal temperature. He took a seat without complaint inside the sphere-shaped transport. He had done a great deal these last few weeks, but at this point, all there really was left for him was to wait and see what happened with the object.

Despite all the stress of the last few hours, the team stared, awestruck, around them as they walked out of the thick entryway and into the main area. The Tower of Babel was completely hollow, with a yawning expanse over their heads towards the peak and a jet-black abyss below. The deafening quiet was punctured only by the clack of their shoes and claws.

An array of sensors mounted on top of a control room perched off to one side of the hole scanned the group. Freyr briefly looked and saw a technician in a white uniform at the distant controls within the brightly lit cockpit, flanked by two suited spooks with guns. More floodlights came on at that point, and gasps erupted from the group.

The whole interior surface of Babel was pockmarked with ancient alien dwellings, carved from the rock. Little windows looked out onto crumbling stone terraces facing each other around the whole diameter.

Freyr knew that analysis of the dwellings indicated the species which’d inhabited Babylon before them extended to just over a metre, with six legs and wings. Hardly any organic matter had been found to substantiate these creatures, and that only stretched up to a hundred thousand years before Humans arrived.

As they traversed the walkway jutting out over the hole below, Freyr noticed the dual-rail system fondly dubbed the Mono. It burst out of the depths below, with rails carrying on all the way to the top, with a junction stopping at the end of the walkway. As she watched, a giant transparent orb arrived at their station along the subsidiary rails, and the doors unfurled towards them.

595 motioned with her head and the half-dozen suits that still surrounded them got in. The orb closed back up and promptly retreated back down into the depths. Not long after, a second orb appeared, and 595 motioned for the scientists to get in. “Have half your men take the next one.” The Agent ordered Thrace, who nodded and picked them.

595 gestured encouragingly towards the vessel. Freyr and Vreta led the science team in - they were followed by half a dozen CraSec operators and the Agent, which made the space quite tight. Freyr sat down and fastened herself into one of the seats facing outwards, next to Vreta. “Impressive, right? They seemingly built their entire civilisation around the Cradle, just like we have.” Freyr murmured - anything was better than this uneasy silence.

595 gave the control room a thumbs up, and the orb dropped silently away from the platform, taking them into the depths of Babel.

Once again, Vreta had to contend with squeezing into a seat too small for him. Agent 595 and the rest of their security detail were not prioritizing comfort when they filled the vessels, and rightly so. Protecting them from any potential threats around them certainly took precedence. Vreta had to lean back in his seat and pull his tail up between his legs just to avoid crowding the people to his left and right too much. It felt as awkward as it looked, but he did want to be considerate to them. To his understanding, Humans had a concept of “personal space” and could become agitated if it was infringed upon.

Vreta turned his head down briefly towards Freyr beside him, though his gaze soon moved outwards towards the ruins as their vessel moved down deeper into the spire. He could not say he was an expert on the history of this place, but he had at least looked into publicly-available information during his study of Outremer. The vast chamber and the designs of the dwellings carved into its sides were fitting for the type of species theorized to have lived here. Though, there were details that Vreta did find curious. Construction based primarily around carving and stonework suggested a more primitive culture, yet why would a primitive civilization base themselves so completely around the Cradle? For any society without the technology to access the simulation itself, the Cradle would be little more than a strange metal sphere. He supposed he could imagine it becoming an object of religious significance, in that case, but he was not sure if even that would be enough to explain how focused those ancients had been on the Cradle. Only very small settlements had been discovered elsewhere on the planet; the majority of their populated seemed to have been here.

“I wonder if they were more advanced than their dwellings would suggest? I cannot imagine the Cradle being terribly useful to primitives…unless the Cradle could reach out to them in some way?” Vreta speculated. “Has there ever been any compelling evidence to point towards the reason for their disappearance?”

Freyr stared out of the transparent side of the sphere as they plumbed the depths of the tower. Nearer to the spire’s base, the buildings became bigger and more communal, with more elaborate carvings. Freyr remembered reading that these structures were far older - the stratification of the tower had only emerged in the final thousand years this species was around.

Going significantly faster than normal, their sphere reached the bottom of the tower before slowly leveling out. They were no longer headed straight down, but rather through a large horizontal tunnel, with more alien structures all around them. Floor, walls and ceiling. The dual-rail system carefully tiptoed through the middle.

Freyr gazed longingly at the sheer metal bulwarks that closed off causeways to unused parts of the ancient city. For a fleeting moment, escaping into the dark seemed like quite an attractive prospect. She coughed delicately. “They created the proto-harnesses which form the basis of today’s tech. The first colonists found three of them in the Cradle’s chamber, hundreds of years ago. Where they went is a subject of eternal debate.”

“Mama used to tell me they were still alive, hiding in the dead parts of their city.” Dr Apalkov growled. “And that they’d come and take me in my sleep if I didn't eat the food she cooked.”

Vreta tilted his head towards Freyr, showing equal measures of surprise and curiosity. Not all of the discoveries the Humans had made about these beings were discussed openly, it seemed. “You are saying that it was not Humanity that originally developed the Cradle harnesses? I have heard some of our scientists theorize that might be the case, but that was just speculation. The technology that would allow for interfacing a mind with software so completely is a relatively recent development for our own species. Within the last few centuries. Some thought that you were at a rather early stage as a society upon finding Outremer to make such an advancement unassisted.”

For a moment, Vreta’s gaze followed Freyr’s out into the ruins. Their transport was moving quickly through the depths of the spire, but Vreta could still make out enough detail to see how expansive this alien civilization had once been. “Perhaps a hive-like mentality could explain it, or…perhaps some biological advantage towards digging and carving, but…no.” Vreta murmered, mostly to himself, though he soon turned his attention back to Freyr. “Were you aware of the difficulty of creating harness-like technology ‘from scratch’? If they truly created this technology themselves, I would expect them to be closer in advancement to my own people. When Humans discovered this planet, did they find any other examples of this civilization’s technology? Any electronics, or anything else not carved from stone? Satellites, perhaps? Low orbit satellites or space junk would face orbital decay, but anything higher up, like geostationary satellites, would remain in orbit indefinitely.”

Their sphere powered along the rails towards a massive set of blast doors which molded around the rails at a narrow spot. Automated cannons tracked their approach. It looked like they were going to crash, but at the last possible moment the blast doors shot open and they swooshed through. Some nervous laughter washed over the front of the carriage.

“I don’t think so. None that made it into the public record, anyway.” Freyr shook her head, carrying on the conversation. “There have always been rumours though…” Dr Apalkov leaned across her to talk to Vreta, his breath smelling vaguely of boiled cabbage. Freyr leaned back and away from him. “Like why the first colonists chose Outremer, when we’d been allotted a much closer, more viable planet in the first place. They must have noticed something.”

Six months ago, Freyr would’ve scoffed at this kind of conspiracy theory, but now she wasn’t so sure. “Yes, but that could’ve been the biosphere.” She reasoned. Apalkov shook his head strenuously, leaning back. “Not visible over that distance - not three hundred years ago.”

They passed through another set of blast doors, and then arrived at a security checkpoint outside an even more imposing metal door with an older design. Guards on the platforms either side of the rails questioned 595 while floating droids scanned each person in the sphere. They lingered on Vreta for almost a minute, beeping and honking to each other before eventually giving everyone the green light. It sounded like the guards wanted to take Vreta’s weapon, but 595 eventually smoothed things over before returning to the sphere. Freyr suspected the Agent would secretly be delighted if Vreta made himself look threatening, even if it was by accident. She smirked.

The doors in front of them opened much slower than the rest, with loud mechanisms unlocking within before the viewing beyond became clear. They were heading into the Vault chamber, a brightly lit dome-shaped cave, about a mile high and a few miles in diameter. In the centre of the chamber sat a solid metal cube of Outreman design, a few hundred metres across. The sides were crisscrossed with gantries and viewing rooms, and on top was a baffling array of communications equipment.

Surrounding the cube and taking up most of the floor area was the mythical Vault command complex. Modern now, but with a few elements stretching back to the first few years of Outremer’s colonisation, a geometric town of research buildings and barracks rippled out from the Vault in concentric circles. Freyr spotted ant-like figures moving around below them as they glided into the cave, along with tanks and mounted gun emplacements. “Wow.” Freyr murmured. She’d been here once before, years ago, but the air of wonderment hadn’t worn off.

Vreta shifted uncomfortably in his seat upon hearing the answers the others gave. The origin of the harness technology was already worrying enough, but to hear how little else these ancient aliens left behind made suspicion seem like the only prudent response. “So, are you saying that your people found this planet with the ruins of an ancient civilization advanced enough to interface their minds with a machine, yet with not a single trace of their technology left behind? There was a species that dedicated its civilization to the Cradle, which went extinct mind you, and the only thing they leave behind is the one thing you would need to use the Cradle yourself?”

For a moment, Vreta buried his face in his hands and let out a long sigh. “By the rings, this whole project may be a mistake.”

Ultimately, regardless of Vreta’s feelings on the matter, it was likely too late for him to change their course. Especially on what amounted to a hunch. Whatever was going to happen, they would not likely have to wait long to find out. As they headed past the checkpoint, Vreta did naturally turn his gaze towards the object at the center of the vault chamber. Unless he was mistaken, it was the vault itself. It was a Human-made device, a cube that contained the single most important object to all Humans of Outremer. Whether they wanted to use it for their own ends, or divorce themselves from its influence, everyone on Outremer had some goal in mind for it. On Vreta’s part, he just wanted answers. To him, there was an uncomfortable uncertainty surrounding every stage of this project. He would much prefer to know for certain whether he needed to use the Cradle, befriend it, or throw it into a void star. Nothing short of actual answers would rid him of that uncertainty, but at the very least, he could still appreciate the sight before him. When they were motivated, the Humans really did have respectable engineering capabilities.

“Well, when you put it like that, maybe we deserve everything we get. Whatever that might be!” Apalkov chuckled heartily. He carried on chatting about what this reunion of the Cradle and the object they’d found might mean. Freyr just chewed one of her nails nervously, staring into space. Ordinarily, she would have argued the Cradle’s corner out of instinct. Now, she didn’t know what to believe - all she wanted right now was to extract her family from this situation in one piece, and then run a trillion miles.

Their sphere glided over the first couple of concentric circles, before swooping down alongside a platform in the open Mono terminal. Rows of similar orbs waited to leave on multiple different tracks outside the main terminal building. Blue sparks flew in an adjacent yard as spidery droids repaired vessels and other equipment.

Freyr leaned forward to get a better look at the people waiting for them. Rareth stood out like a sore thumb, next to the mess of Humans. She was pleased to see two of her senior researchers next to the Datius, armed with data-pads for them to get caught up from. Freyr vaguely recognised one of the CraSec people, though she couldn’t recall where from. Apart from that, there was one well-built, bald man in a black uniform and about a dozen CraSec soldiers and suited spooks, all armed to the teeth.

"Here we are! Make sure you've got everything, and follow me." 595 ordered, eyeing up one person on the platform in particular as the doors opened.

Even before their transport had come to a complete stop, Rhia had sent an addendum to her last report privately to Rareth’Jharn. Confirmation that the Humans had not invented their harness technology on their own was important information, though Rhia agreed with Vreta that it would not likely change anything at this point. By itself, it did not prove that there was any extra danger to what they were about to do.

Rareth’s gaze went to each and every individual who stepped out of the transport in turn. In the second or two she gave to each, she checked for physical injury or other signs of distress. By appearances, there was no one who had been physically harmed among the attacks, though there was plenty of stress to go around. She, of course, did not react outwardly in any way to Rhia’s report, but it did add on to all she had to think about going forward.

“It is good to see that you are all unharmed.” Rareth remarked. “Marae’s team has been working with your people here to get us set up and ready. Unless you have any last-minute changes to make, we should be prepared to begin whenever you are. Marae’s prototype emergency protocols are installed and active on all of the Rothian harnesses, and they are available for use on the Human harnesses as well, should you choose to use them. From what she has told me, they could possibly prevent Cradle death, in the event.” She explained, somewhat directly to Agent 595, but addressing the whole group.

Regardless of what official authority she may or may not have had, Rareth was not a woman to sit on the sidelines and follow the direction of others. When faced with a problem, her initiative was to solve it, and she did not suffer anyone who would make themselves an obstacle without cause. With or without official authority, she spoke with a complete and utter confidence that could project authority and coerce obedience out of any pliable mind. Of course, that was an approach that was mostly effective with underlings, rather than those who were closer to being her peer.

Shifting her focus to the attacks themselves, Rareth turned her attention more directly to the Agent. “I’ve taken the liberty of personally assisting in bolstering our security. I have only the initial reports on these attacks, but if they could bring explosives in proximity to both your Parliament building and your prized flagship, then we should not discount the possibility of infiltration, even here. While you get to work, I will stay in the real wold and focus my efforts on keeping our teams protected.”