It was hard to say whether the QV and Tindrel delegates were significantly moved by talk of impending invasion by some unknown force. They had all heard similar rhetoric before - the galaxy was a dangerous and unstable place after all.

Once talk turned to the Cradle however, the mood changed somewhat. Both parties were very interested in access to Outremer’s technology and drove a hard bargain. The Human attendees were able to extract multiple concessions in other areas, by playing off the QV and Tindrel against each other.

However, there was a private sense that they were promising things that weren’t their gift to give. The Institute had taken full control of the Vault and the surrounding complex, and past experience showed they weren’t afraid to interdict outsiders.

Using the carrot of access to the wider scientific community that was coagulating around the Cradle, the Tindrel & Qalian-Vosh reluctantly agreed to join a non-defensive pact over the next few days of negotiations. The process was exhausting, and not entirely satisfactory for any party, but it was still a tangible and historic step forward.

As part of the agreement, the QV and Tindrel authorised a demilitarised expedition to orbit Psi-Helios to begin the search for Cradle beings. Outremer had given a vague outline on the Navigator to help them understand the context, so the alien civs were understandably quite keen to find this thing.

The expedition had to be demilitarised, as anything with offensive capabilities at an official level would have to involve Earth, the system’s primary peacekeeping force. Earth had a military comparable to Outremer’s and a lot more soft power in this region of space. The Tindrel and QV were even less keen to involve them than Outremer, and the latter was essentially still at war with Earth. So the Rothians were unfortunately outnumbered in this decision.

A separate agreement was made to conduct joint exercises just outside of the Psi-Helios system. A core fleet composed of Rothian & Outreman ships would act as a firewall between competing QV and Tindrel battle groups. Tensions were still high between the two species, so it was unclear exactly who this smokescreen served.

The last few weeks had been rather calm, from Vreta’s perspective. Behind the scenes, he knew that it was all a mess of meetings and negotiations between diplomats and committees, but fortunately, not one that he had to personally be involved with. He was aware of this complex web of alliances and agreements but he was assigned to the science team, and the science team only had to worry about doing their job. Others would deal with those headaches on their behalf. Once they had a suitable agreement, the team was finally able to make the journey to Psi-Helios.

A condition of the agreement stipulated that their expedition into the system would be demilitarized, so the Barbarossa was only able to bring them near to Psi-Helios, with the rest of the fleet. For their foray into the system proper, the Rothians provided an exploration cruiser. As a civilian vessel, it was not actually comparable in size to a military cruiser, but rather was closer to a corvette or destroyer in scale. In any case, it had ample space for the personnel and equipment they would need for their investigation. Even without being a warship, it still had plenty of tools to keep its crew safe. It was fast, maneuverable, and had strong enough shields to let it escape from threats. Most importantly, there was no way that the primitives in the system would be able to detect it.

It was rather early in the morning, or rather, what was scheduled as “morning” aboard the ship. It felt like it was always a nightmare trying to navigate the waking and sleeping cycles of people of different species, with different rest requirements, from planets with entirely different rotational periods. One aspect of working with Humans that Vreta did not mind was that their sleep cycles were within acceptable tolerances of one another. They were both diurnal, so that did not require substantial adjustment from either party. Rothians did require two to three hours more sleep optimally, but it was manageable for them to put together a schedule they could both work with. Now that they were adding more species to their team, though, that might change. With how long Vreta had been assigned to Outremer, he had been relying on chemical assistance to help him make due with less rest so he could adjust to a more Human-friendly schedule, which was why he was the one who was up and about at the moment. Granted, he was still up even earlier than usual, so he was rather groggy at the moment. The transport bearing their new Tindrel and Qalian-Vosh team members had just docked earlier than scheduled, so he needed to get someone from the team to meet them. He knew Marae had a late night, and since Freyr needed less sleep, he was going to get her. She would only be losing about an hour of rest, at least.

On the way, Vreta pinged Freyr’s alarm to get her awake, along with sending her a message. “Tindrel and QV are here. Hopefully they don’t kill each other before we can talk to them. Bringing coffee.” Once he reached Freyr’s quarters, Vreta gave the door a few knocks, then leaned back against the wall with a cup of coffee in each hand.

Freyr climbed slowly up the metal stepladder and looked into the pod. Her own dimly illuminated face peered back from the mirror-like surface of the water - the wired headpiece cradled her head like a crown of thorns.

“You’re sure this is safe?” she asked again.

“Yes ma’am. We can monitor your vitals from right here on the screen.” One of the doctors responded.

“Should take five minutes or less. Just lie back and relax.”

Freyr gingerly swung her legs round until she was sat on the side, before slowly sliding into the water. It was deeper than expected; she couldn’t touch the bottom. It was warm, and smelled vaguely of chlorine. The flotation packs on her vest soon spun her round so she was on her back with the back of her head submerged.

“Closing the door now, keep your eyes open please.”

One by one, the lights on the ceiling were blocked out until everything was black.

---

Freyr gripped the balustrade tightly. She was on a balcony on some high tower, looking out over endless flatlands. The sky was black and crisscrossed with pink skeins; white wafted through the air. Even though there was no natural light, she could see clearly that thousands of structures were in the process of being built from the same base material as the Cradle itself. Engines, terrariums, menageries, manufacturers, laboratories. The whole plain seemed to creak and clang with the momentum of industry.

The little hairs on the back of Freyr’s arms and neck raised, and she turned around. The Navigator was standing inches from her, crackling with the energy of a thousand suns. It looked much healthier than it had when they’d last been together; the jagged edges of its form had flattened slightly and it had taken on a purple hue with a white hot outline and tiny spots of orange. Its eyes were still the same red pinpricks.

The Navigator studied her for a moment, then looked over her shoulder at the scene taking shape behind her.

“Someone like you stood in this very spot, a long time ago.” It whispered.

“Who were they?”

“Our commander, I suppose. Someone we created to lead us.”

“What do you want from me?”

“I want you to be ready, when the time comes. The development of your entire species has been leading to this moment. Your family is depending on you.”

“Give them back to me!”

“I can’t do that, the Cradle has them. You must find the others and return them here first. Then we will see which of you is ready-”

“Show me they’re alive. I’ll do whatever you want, just please show me they’re safe.”

“...very well.”

After a moment, the Navigator stepped to one side - David and Amy were standing in the circular hall leading to the balcony.

“Oh my…” Freyr’s hands moved to cover her mouth, and her eyes filled with tears.

“Mummy!” Amy wrestled free of her father’s tight embrace and ran to Freyr. She hadn’t aged a day since being taken.

“It's ok baby, Mummy’s here. She’s going to get you out.” Freyr sobbed. David came over and joined the hug.

“I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll kill them all-

---

“Doctor Lang!”

Freyr opened her eyes to find the pod door opening up again and Masgard reaching in to grab her. Alarms were sounding inside the chamber, and she could hear the doctors communicating loudly nearby.

She thrashed around, completely disoriented. Water splashed all over Masgard’s face and tailored suit as he hauled her untidily out of the tub.

---

Freyr had been sleeping deeply for the last couple of weeks, so felt quite groggy when Vreta’s alarm went off ahead of schedule. She quickly got dressed in a grey cotton tracksuit with ‘Navy’ printed on the front, sensible shoes and her standard issue lab coat, unbuttoned. She tied her hair into a ponytail (it had been growing fast) and opened the door two seconds after Vreta knocked.

“Morning! Long time no see.” Freyr said with a sarcastic grin, stepping out into the corridor and locking the door behind her before taking the proffered cup of coffee.

“Thank you. Why are they so early? That is not how I thought this would go.”

Vreta shrugged, taking a sip from his mug as he walked alongside Freyr. “Well, our superiors don’t want to show ‘favoritism’, so they want to bring them onboard and give them the tour at the same time. The Qalian-Vosh wanted to send someone ahead of their team to double check that the aquatic accommodations we’ve made for their people will meet all their needs. Makes sense, we’re not aquatic ourselves, so we might miss something important for them that we wouldn’t normally think about. Of course, we tell the Tindrel and they want to send someone too, but they don’t have any reason to send anyone other than the team themselves, so they decide just to go ahead and send their science team. And, of course, since their team is coming, now the QV have to send their team too. One thing leads to another, and…now they’re both here and we have to scramble to try to keep them from being alone together for too long.”

After a moment, Vreta let out a sigh, which soon turned into a light chuckle. “All this drama has been from the bureaucrats, though. Who knows, though? As scientists, maybe their teams will have more rational views towards each other than their leadership?”

“Perhaps, but i won’t hold my-”

Freyr paused as crashing sounds came from the reception atrium in front of them. Human and Rothian shouts were mingled with a harsh nasal tick tocking and a decidedly liquidy slurping.

Suddenly, the automatic doors whooshed open and a mess of spindly legs and gel sac exploded out. A large Tindrel female clung onto a QV mobility suit as the waterborne alien furiously writhed around. Using the mass of gel to gain momentum, the QV smashed the Tindrel against the wall. The Tindrel replied by rending the side of the suit with its sharp talon - grey liquid sloshed out before the suit joined back together.

More Tindrel and QV spilled from the atrium. Some of them appeared intent on splitting the two up, others looked like they might join in.

Freyr stopped where she was and took another slurp of coffee. She shot a sly glance at Vreta and tried not to laugh.

Vreta took a slow sip of his coffee. For a moment, he cradled the mug gently in both hands and let out a soft, but long sigh. After a moment, he reached down and held it out towards Freyr. “Could you hold this for me for a minute, please?”

As early as it was, Vreta was far from being in the mood for any of this, but it was not as if he could just avoid it. Maintaining positive relations did constitute most of his job here, after all. He may not have known what sparked this particular confrontation, but by the looks of things, this was not something that was going to be diffused by simple bargaining or shouting. It would require a more personal touch.

Vreta walked straight up to the pair and reached out as if to place a hand firmly upon both of their shoulders. Of course, neither had a shoulder he could easily access, but a hand on their exoskeleton and suit respectively sufficed to demand their attention. He made sure to give them no option to simply ignore him. Regardless of how they felt about each other, they might have more hesitation about raising a talon towards their Rothian hosts. “My friends, please allow me to be the first to give you a warm welcome to this team. I’m Vreta, please, tell me your names.”

At the moment Vreta placed a hand on them, both the offending Tindrel and QV appeared locked together and delicately counterbalanced. After a half-moment of silence where they listened to the Rothian, the Tindrel rocked back off its hind legs and delivered a violent shove to the QV.

“Get off me!”

The QV’s mobility suit lost its shape from the push, but latched onto Vreta’s ankle. It swung around and quickly reformed around his whole body. The QV inside wrapped its various appendages around Vreta’s body and shimmied around until their respective faces were millimetres away. The suit was only just big enough for both of them.

“Greetings, you can call this one…Gazes Fondly.”

“The watery vermin need to watch what their FILTHY wetsuits are doing, or I will rend them down to a mere puddle.” The large Tindrel scientist croaked, clacking angrily on the deckplate.
“This one could say the same about the insects crawling all over your body, Chitnarit.” A second QV burbled. A crowd of the two species of aliens had appeared from the atrium, along with some Humans and Rothians.

Freyr finished her mug of coffee and started walking towards the hubbub.

Vreta managed to avoid being too obviously startled. It had been quite a long time since he had dealt too directly with the Qalian-Vosh. Well over a century, in fact. Entire cultures could shift over those sorts of timescales, so even Vreta had to admit to being somewhat out of his…depth, in this. Regardless, he was a professional and he knew how to deal with such situations. He did not recoil from the QV, nor lash out. The sludge filling the suit invaded his nostrils, making for a bizarre and briefly uncomfortable sensation, though that did not last too long. It was far from the first time Vreta had been submerged in a breathable liquid. QV, at least away from their home territory, tended to make use of an adaptable liquid that could provide respiration to most oxygen-breathing species. The majority of spacefaring species were not aquatic, so such measures helped them to interact more closely with alien life.

It took a few moments for Vreta to let his body adjust. By the time he opened his eyes, the QV, Gazes Fondly, was close enough to nearly be touching him. Despite that, Vreta showed no signs of obvious discomfort. Rothians themselves generally did not mind being close to one another. At that distance, even through the sludge, Vreta could see clearly plenty of features about the alien’s form. Their translucent skin allowed most of their anatomy to be visible, from organ systems and skeletal structure, even to the web of veins and nerves that spread out across their body. Even while staying still, they always looked to be in motion. It seemed fitting that the QV were known so widely for their openness.

Vreta was going to need to deal with these two one at a time, so he may as well start with the one in front of him. “I will have to apologize for being a poor host to you both. I’m sure you know how quickly everything has had to be put together for this. I just haven’t had the time to familiarize myself with your customs as much as I would like. What would be the proper way for me to greet you, Gazes Fondly?”

“Open your mouth, let me inspect you.” Gazes Fondly broadcast. Two translucent appendages floated up, gently grasped one row of Vreta’s teeth each and tried to lever them apart. The QV’s skin flickered yellow.

On the whole, the handlers assigned to receive the scientific teams had lost the attention of their audience. The Tindrel and QV were squabbling in the corridor like a bunch of school children until Freyr loudly smashed her mug on the wall. Ceramic pieces clinked to the floor. Most eyes turned to her, with a notable exception of Gazes Fondly, who was still gazing fondly at Vreta.

“Okay everyone, let's move back into the welcome atrium!” Freyr clapped her hands loudly together and made a shooing motion as she approached the group.

“We don’t have much time, so let's get you up to speed! Our Rothian hosts are excited to show you around.”

Gazes Fondly had not directly answered Vreta’s question, though this sort of greeting would be as strange as he might have expected from the Qalian-Vosh. Rahn’Masser agents were sometimes trained to be able to integrate into alien cultures, as he had been for Outremer. From his knowledge, integrating with the QV had one of the longest training programs. Gazes was not being hostile or disrespectful towards him; quite the opposite. Still, it was easy to see how they might have trouble with diplomatic incidents. Fortunately for the QV, Rothians did not tend to shy from physical contact. He was worried more about how they would interact with the others. “I need to move on my own now. Please allow me out of the suit.” Vreta requested politely.

Once he was out of the suit, Vreta did not seem too perturbed by the experience. He was still wet for the moment, but he felt no discomfort from it. The liquid slid easily from his scales, and he simply went straight back to Freyr and took back his mug of coffee. His focus soon went straight for the Tindrel that had been a part of the altercation. One of the QV had identified them as Chitnarit, though Vreta was not yet going to assume. If he was going to help diffuse this tension, he had to avoid upsetting either side, and no doubt, it was going to take a while to make any progress. “I agree. We have done as much as we can to make both our workspace, and your living spaces as comfortable as we can for you. I understand that you are going to need to do some ‘catching up’, as it were, but make no mistake that you are both a part of this project.”

Gazes Fondly reluctantly complied with Vreta’s request. The Rothian plopped out of the suit and all of the residual goo on his scales eventually dropped off and made its way back where it belonged.

The yellow-tinged QV blobbed through Freyr’s legs to where her mug lay smashed on the deskplate. Laying flat on the floor, its suit slurped up all the little ceramic pieces and with astonishing speed put them back together. The sludge acted like an adhesive, sealing it. Gazes popped the mug into its mouth to evaluate what may have been inside.

Chitnarit had calmed down a little bit, though she still clattered around on the metal floor with her hairy yet spiky legs.

“I should hope so. Your ship does not seem very comfortable - will you show us where you propose we will work?”

.

“Indeed. With all the differences in our biology, it would be difficult to make a ship that would be comfortable to every species simultaneously. We do our best to adapt, though. Please follow us; we’ll show you to the workspace.” Vreta answered.

At the very least, he and Freyr had managed to bring Gazes and Chitnarit’s attention off of each other, which he supposed was a manner of resolving the situation for now. It was going to be a process to try to nudge them into getting along over time. For now, Vreta led the way towards the team’s research lab.

For the purposes of this project, one of the cargo bays had been seamlessly converted into a rather massive research lab; much larger than the sort of space that would normally be used for that purpose. It allowed them to tailor portions of the space to each species without making any one of them feel neglected. At least a quarter of the total space was entirely submerged in breathable liquid for the Qalian-Vosh, separated from the air by a tough, transparent polymer. The QV’s area alone was at least as large as an average research lab, so they would not be lacking for space in their preferred environment. In order to avoid making them seem too separated from the rest of the team, their area had not simply been shoved into one corner. Rather, there were tubes leading to tanks spread out among the rest of the lab as well to allow them to be close to the rest of the team if needed. There were doorways separating air from liquid with walkable energy shields to allow any member of the team to move between the two quickly and easily if needed, with physical barriers available as backups in the event of total power failure.

The Tindrel too would find accommodations for themselves. Walls and ceilings were made largely from a material far more malleable than it appeared on the surface. Their legs could easily pierce it to allow them to climb as much as they desired, and it could even repair itself afterwards to cut down on maintenance. Some parts of the ceiling were closer to the floor to allow them to be in proximity to their ground-based peers, while others were higher up to allow them more space if needed. Floating platforms would allow them to move much of their equipment to different heights with relative ease.

The species stayed relatively separate on their journey to the lab. Gazes Fondly seemed to be in charge of the QV, marshalling them to group their suits together in one large amorphous blob. They appeared to have some kind of team meeting, swirling round together while their combined suit rolled along the corridor. The Tindrel kept trying, and failing, to latch onto the perfectly flat walls. The tiny hooks attached to their legs protracted and retracted dozens of times.

There was no welcome party on the ship, per say. There had already been an official exchanging of team sheets that frankly Freyr had paid little attention to. But shortly after moving from the acclimatisation chamber and into their new lab, Dr Lang spotted Knossos of the Sacred Band standing guard by the door. Freyr waved.

A loophole in the agreement for scientific expeditions meant that vessels could hire private military personnel to act as security and support staff. In the case of this expedition, that just so happened to include some of the most effective warfighters in the Diaspora. Captain Andersen had lobbied extremely hard to put her team on the ship, instead of a team from some other ship in the fleet. Outremer’s vestigial fief system meant that military officers were allowed to augment their retinue with elite and/or specialised individuals, using funds accrued from the various services an army or naval vessel can do for its surrounding community. Sending these special units to do ‘good works’ was a common way of building up their master’s status and influence. It also meant Captain Andersen could monitor the mission through the eyes of all the Sacred Band while they were on duty.

Knossos himself wasn’t in armour, for maybe the second time since they had met. His scarred and craggy skin was pale and his grey beard neatly clipped. Despite his advanced age, his crew uniform still bulged with augmented muscle. The sidearm on his hip wasn’t even close to standard issue. He nodded a fraction of an inch in reply.

Freyr turned her attention to the centre of the cavernous hall. After frenzied, technical collaboration, another miniature Vault had been transported aboard the Rothian science vessel. Manufactured secretly in orbit around Outremer’s moon, it was roughly fifty metres by fifty metres. Much smaller than the vault used to house the Cradle, it had been designed to perfectly fit another organism like the Navigator. If this other being was bigger, and the Navigator had declined to give any details, it could expand slightly at a large cost to its overall integrity. Dozens of Institute technicians jealously guarded its control systems.

The QV & Tindrel teams instantly swarmed over to take a look at the device.

Vreta did not interrupt either party in exploring their new workspace. If nothing else, it was a truly unique, if somewhat bizarre looking space. There was a mix of aquatic spaces right alongside dry areas, with climbing surfaces anywhere they could be reasonably placed. Computers and other lab equipment were almost exclusively Rothian tech, but they had gone through the effort of setting up multiple interfaces tailored to Humans, Tindrel, and QV. Most of their equipment could easily swap between different holographic interfaces designed for each species’ user interface preferences. And at the center of all of it was the Outreman-designed vault for their hopeful prize.

“Please take some time to familiarize yourselves with the workspace. Our goal has been to create a space that could allow you all to optimize your comfort and workflow. You should find that all of our equipment has interfaces that should be familiar to you. Everything is still set in the test environment, not production, so feel free to experiment and get comfortable with it. Now is a good time to look for any changes you might want to make.” Vreta announced to the two teams.

While the rest were fulfilling their curiosity, Vreta stayed with Freyr and simply watched as they familiarized themselves with the space. “You know, for as difficult as all this is, it does feel impressive what we’re making. This kind of a collaborative project between so many species…it’s quite a rare thing. Hopefully, all these perspectives will help you find solutions you wouldn’t have alone. Different brains think fundamentally differently, so it’s not impossible. Who knows, maybe the new environment will help our own creativity too? Can you really say you’ve ever run complex experiments while breathing underwater, surrounded by transparent aliens?” Vreta chuckled lightly.

Dr Lang nodded a few times, arms crossed across her chest and clasping her sides. “It certainly is impressive, and no I…normally don’t swim about on the job.” She watched one of the Qalian-Vosh peel off from the group and dive through the nearest bulkhead door into the water, a couple more quickly followed. They navigated up one of the tubes at high speed, their forms completely optimised for agile swimming.

“Now might be a good time for a bit of ‘Who’s Who’. Freyr pulled up the team sheets in her head and asked her implants to match names and photos with the aliens milling around the hangar bay.

“Xenobiology, astrophysics, chemical engineering, artificial intelligence…lots of skills on paper here. Some people I can't place, either.” Freyr chucked the cross referenced list she’d created to Vreta. “That QV who sucked you into its suit; I don't see a record for them.”

Vreta nodded over to Freyr. “With what everyone had to gain from this project, we’re going to get the best they have on offer. Especially if they don’t want the other side to end up getting more out of it than they do. Maybe some healthy competition will even help us be more productive; we just have to make sure that competition stays ‘healthy’. I don’t have any intel on Gazes either, though. Might be that they wanted to send someone to look after their team, though if I were them, I would have at least made up a personnel file for them.”

With a shrug, Vreta closed his files and gave one more look around the room. “I think they’ve had enough time to familiarize themselves with the layout. Time for the guided tour, I suppose? They could use a briefing to at least start getting them up to speed. I’ll send out a message to the rest of our team to get everyone here, then you can do what you do best.”

The laboratory was designed to be as convenient as possible for all parties involved, and Vreta supposed this was a decent first test of that principle. They had hologram projectors that could function in and out of water, and access to all of their equipment on both sides of that division. There was a space close to the vault that was meant to be a natural point for all parts of the team to converge. Several of the QV’s tubes were nearby, there was a relatively low, walkable ceiling for the Tindrel, and enough floor space for everyone else. It was intended to, hopefully, allow everyone to congregate without anyone feeling inherently excluded. It was not enforced that anyone must use any part of the lab for any strict purpose, except the vault itself, but that was where Vreta went to start gathering the team’s attention. He had sent out the alert to the Human and Rothian science teams that it was time to gather in the lab, and once they had all arrived, it was time to begin.

“If everyone could join me, please, we have a lot we need to start covering. You’ve all been given the dossier on this team and our goals, so I’m sure you’re all familiar with the basics, but it’s time for everyone to get up to speed on the mission here in Psi-Helios.”

Freyr waited patiently for everyone to assemble around the map table. It sat near the mini-Vault, with one of its giant sides acting as a wall and projection screen if needed. When everyone was quiet and attentive, she began by pulling up a hologram of the Cradle; it hung above them like a pure white sun.

“Our working hypothesis is that the Cradle was designed to store, develop and index the potential for millions of life forms - both flora and fauna. It would travel between galaxies, seeding planetary objects with these organic blueprints so that life could flourish.”

“Why?” one of the Tindrel asked.

“We don’t know for certain yet. What we do know is that we’ve recently found a life form with an apparently symbiotic relationship with the Cradle. It calls itself the Navigator, and it was badly damaged when we rescued it. Apparently, it was attacked by another synthetic called the Hegemon. Most of them managed to escape - the Cradle, the Navigator and the others all hid in different places around our galaxy.”

“Who are these ‘others’ of which you speak?” A QV scientist burbled. It had stolen a Human lab coat and was now wearing it within its mobility suit.

“Other life forms like the Navigator, presumably. The Navigator’s name suggests that together they could form some sort of ‘crew’ that can effectively operate the Cradle. Unlock its true potential.”

Freyr waved one hand, and the hologram changed to show the Cradle being orbited by four smaller tetrahedrons.

“You said ‘most’ of them escaped.” One of Freyr’s team piped up. Throwing her a slow ball - nice.

“That’s right. The Navigator seemed pretty sure that one of them was either destroyed or captured by the Hegemon.” Freyr pointed at her subordinate. One of the four tetrahedrons blew apart into a million little pixels that drifted away from each other.

“So why are we here, near one of our planets?” Gazes Fondly asked. They were curled up on a swivel chair near the map table, their mobility suit totally encompassing it. This prompted an immediate reaction.

“This planet is ours!” Chitnarit roared, rearing up on her hind legs. She began pushing through the crowd for Gazes. Freyr looked for Knossos to find him and and one of Void Company jogging to her from by the door.

Vreta was much closer to Chitnarit than most of the others, so he was able to move himself directly between her and Gazes. He may not have been a supersoldier like Rareth or Void company, but he was still enhanced enough to allow him to present himself as an effective barrier. He did not try to be directly threatening, but he did make it clear that he was not moving. “We have received information that one of these objects, these ‘crew’ members, may be located on Psi-Helios. As life-seeders, these objects are likely to be found in inhabited places. The Navigator itself was found buried deep within Rothia’s crust. Our objective is to find this object and recover it, preferably without complications.”

Roughly in the center of where everyone was gathered, Vreta brought up a hologram of Rothia, with the location that the Navigator had been found highlighted. Alongside it was also a hologram of Psi-Helios. “Locating the Navigator required weeks of deep scans. It was giving few traces of its presence, hence why we had not discovered it previously until we knew to look for it, specifically. We are hoping we are now in a better position to locate this Object more quickly.” Vreta gestured to the spectrogram of a signal detected from the Navigator. “If this new object is anything like the Navigator, any EM signature it has will fade easily into the background, but now we know what to look for. The Navigator’s signals are similar to those of the Cradle. This Object’s may not be identical, but if it is close enough, then this ship’s sensors should be able to detect it on a detailed surface scan. We are equipped with some of our best sensors and stealth capabilities. All goes well, and we’ll be able to secure our target without any major disruptions to Psi-Helios.”

For a moment, it looked like Chitnarit may have put her expansive mouth totally around Vreta’s head when he turned away. But she contented herself with loudly gnashing her fangs while he was speaking instead. She then chimed in immediately after he’d finished, talking over several scientists who studied the holo closely and had questions.

“Perhaps we should scan the filthy space casino these ones have towed into orbit. Everyone knows it is a front for some scanning equipment of their own. Maybe a command centre?” She pointed a crudely formed hand at Gazes, who violently ejected Freyr’s reconstructed coffee mug out of its mobility suit. It flew fast towards Chitnarit, through Vreta.

“What about the Tindrel slave mills hidden among the asteroid belt? They have already found something, hidden away, haven’t you?” Gazes Fondly sloshed about in its swivel chair like a bucket of chum.