Cath

The Cradle

Freyr nodded numbly. The gunfire, explosions and screams were ringing in her ears, blocking out most of what the alien was saying to her. She understood what he meant when he began picking Osman up, and grabbed one of her arms to help. The Major groaned and began murmuring something when they finally got her upright, but Freyr couldn’t make out what she was saying. “It’s okay, we’re going to get you out of here!” Freyr reassured her.

She glanced across Osman at the alien awkwardly holding her other arm, seeing him properly for the first time, dimly lit by the Major’s flickering chest lamp. It appeared to be a large bipedal reptile, dark green in colour with yellow stripes down its neck and sides. She vaguely remembered seeing an alien like this before. “Thank you, for saving us!” She shouted after a few seconds. The gunfire had grown a little quieter now, as if it’d moved outside, but it was still very loud.

The soldiers who’d blown their way into the warehouse were much closer now. They’d spread out in a long line, their torches sweeping the area before them. When they spotted the three of them, a dozen soldiers quickly surrounded them, while the rest pushed on past. Most of the soldiers who had stopped had their guns trained on the alien. “Identify yourselves!” One of them shouted. “I’m Doctor Freyr Lang, I was investigating the abductions! This alien, well, he saved Major Osman and myself.” Freyr responded shakily, her free hand raised above her head. Even blinded by the bright lights attached to all their guns, she could tell they were unconvinced. “She needs urgent medical attention, or an extraction from the Cradle.”

Freyr felt a gun poke her back, and a strong hand slide under Osman’s armpit, taking the strain from her. She let go of the Major and took one step away; several of the bright lights followed her. She put both of her hands up. The soldier in front of them pointed his gun directly at the alien. “What’re you doing here?”

The Cradle

The creature issued a window shattering shriek, its face turned toward the ceiling. It’s tendrils all went taut, pulling the door clean off its hinges. Without turning, the creature threw the door over its head, straight at the lizard alien, who was bathed in light from the creature’s flaming underside. “Look out!” Freyr shouted, picking up the torch and running forward. She wasn’t sure what she could do to help; the workstations nearby were packed with tools but shining the light on them gave few clues as to what might be used as a weapon. In the end she left them all and ran instead toward Osman, who lay crumpled near the feet of this mysterious alien.

---

With the door removed, the creature quickly crushed itself through the opening, it’s tendrils trailing behind it like the string from a bunch of helium balloons. Inside this staff room, it found more humans entering through the opposite door, lights shining from the end of their weapons. It didn’t like confined spaces, and desperately wanted to get out. Making itself as big as possible, it charged at them.

---

Freyr heard a cacophony of gunfire and blood curdling screams erupt from inside the room the creature had just entered. One shot fizzed through the doorway and took a divot out of the stone flooring nearby. Freyr rushed the remaining distance to where Osman lay and knelt with her back to the doorway to protect the Major. “Osman, can you hear me?” She shouted over the gunfire, slapping the soldier lightly on the cheek a few times. She seemed to stir lightly, batting her eyelids and opening her mouth.

“She’s alive!” Freyr called, just as three points off in the gloom of the warehouse flashed with small explosions. She could see bright lights spilling through them, and recognised CraSec soldiers running into the cavernous space.

The Cradle

Even as the alien grabbed Freyr’s leg, she could still feel them being dragged across the floor. Slower than before, but they were nonetheless being dragged inexorably toward Osman and the door. However, when the alien whacked one of the tendrils, it seemed to twitch instinctively, giving Freyr enough slack to shake her left leg free. With both of them now being dragged by just one tendril, the creature seemed unable to take them any further. Under heavy fire at the front, it also seemed to lack the presence of mind to reaffirm it’s grip on Freyr. Instead, it released her other leg as well, freeing it up to charge at the Major.

Osman backed up to the wall and fired till the last moment before turning her gun sideways to help deflect any sharp jabs. But instead, the creature turned at the last second and barrelled into her with the full weight of its abdomen, crushing her with it's whole body mass. Osman cried in pain before her head slumped against her chest.

With the immediate threat neutralised, the creature's tendrils wrapped around the door Osman had just emerged from, presumably to prise it open. From her crumpled position on the floor, the torch lying just out of her grasp, all Freyr could do was shout. "Hey, leave her alone!" Her arms were in pain from the fall, but she managed to lever herself into a standing position.

The Cradle

Freyr gulped, looking into the black eyes of the beast. It had stalled just outside of the glow of the torch she had aimed at the floor, and appeared to be waiting for her to do something. Shifting the light ever so slightly upwards, she noticed exposed cartilage between the top of its legs and the thorax, which presented a potential weak spot. She also observed significant scar tissue around the edges of the human face looking straight at her. It was like the face had grown from the insectoid head not long ago, in a not too pleasant transition.

She vaguely registered the scaled alien talking somewhere in the dark. But none of that concerned her right now; the only reason she was face to face with it was to ask one thing: “David?” she ventured. Her voice was wobbly and high pitched. “David, it’s Freyr. Is...is that you?” She took a few steps toward the creature as it tilted its head to one side. “Who...is David?” A wet, crunchy voice replied to her. “He...he’s my husband. Your face reminds me of him.”

After a couple of seconds, the creature laughed. Freyr could hear tools rattling on a shelf nearby. “They’re mine.” It replied. A glow of hope lighted in Freyr's head, mixed with incandescent anger. She rushed forward, until her torch clearly illuminated it’s large ant-like frame. “You let them go!” She screamed. The creature growled, revealing sharp knife-like teeth. It's black eyes bore directly into hers. “I have a better idea.” It squelched. Freyr felt the tendrils grasping the back of her legs a split-second before they pulled her off her feet. The ground rushed up to greet her as she fell over, her outstretched arms taking most of the impact.

Suddenly the warehouse was lit up by energy rounds, with dozens impacting the creature before it reared up on hind legs and screamed. Slithering round onto her back, Freyr spotted Major Osman behind her. In the flashing glare she could see her shouting, but it was drowned out by the deafening ‘drdrdrdrdr’ of her weapon. The creature charged toward the Major, stepping over Freyr but then dragging her behind by her legs.

The Cradle

Freyr nearly tripped over a low wall between two industrial sheds before stopping to let the two soldiers catch up. When they did, Osman ordered the private to give his chest mounted torch to Freyr, leaving him with just the light at the end of his gun. They carried on running, Osman trying her comms again to no avail. After a couple of minutes, they saw lights flickering in the gloom and headed for them.

They found most of the CraSec search teams covering a warehouse a few plots down from the office buildings. They hunkered down behind a parked corporate buggy while Osman got a sitrep. “There are some really strange noises coming from inside, sir!” The sergeant hissed. True to his word, a mixture of scrapes interrupted the otherwise ominous quiet from inside the shed. “We’re surrounding the place now.” Osman nodded. “If it’s one of the things that abducted the Skinners, we should proceed with extreme caution. Rowe is turning the power back on, and then we’ll call for backup. Box this thing in ti- Freyr! Where are you going!” Freyr was quietly but quickly crossing the distance between the CraSec perimeter and the warehouse. “Fuck! Hold position until I give the signal!” Osman growled before setting off after the scientist.

---

A wet, gravelly crunching replaced the ticking noise in the creature's throat. It's anguished facial expression slipped away to nothing, replaced by a dead stare. When it spoke again, Its voice was no longer that of a little girl, but of something...older. "I remember so little of what I was. But I do remember you. I have seen you, crawling from the ocean to the rocks. How you've grown. I think i have a use for you after all…” The creature’s teeth rattled as it smiled widely and began inching across the intervening space between them.

---

Freyr just knew she needed to face what was inside. If it was one of those creatures, and she could communicate with it, she may learn if David was inside, or whether it had bastardised his features for some other purpose. Who knew what it was doing in this warehouse - it could be digging its way out, in which case waiting for backup would let it get away. She crept over to one of the staff entrances and tried the door; it opened. She slipped inside and turned her torch on but kept her hand firmly clamped over the end to stop it giving her away. She took it off for half a second, and saw she was in a small staff room, with sofas and a kitchenette. There was a door at the opposite end, which she quickly tiptoed over to.

The mesh window of this door didn’t give much away; Freyr could only make out a few faint lights and sparks coming off some kind of machinery. She gave the door an experimental push and it cracked open. Poking her head through, she could hear echoey talking in what sounded like a cavernous space. Her heart was pounding, and her breath came out as ragged gasps. Slowly and with shaking hands, Freyr raised her torch and uncovered her hand in the direction of the talking.

One of the creatures from the video lit up in the torchlight, as did a tall scaled being Freyr didn’t recognise. The creature briefly recoiled from the light before shrieking. It charged forward on it’s spidey legs and almost unbelievably, even to herself, Freyr stepped out from the doorway with her hands up. “I’m just here to talk!” She shouted over the sound of screaming, her torch pointing at the floor in front of her. After a couple of seconds, David’s familiar face appeared from the gloom, barely two metres away. Freyr couldn’t breathe.

The Cradle

The office building’s lift was offline, presumably like everything else in the compound, so they all carefully made their way downstairs by the light of Osman’s torch. The Major’s comms set squawked occasionally but for the most part it was unresponsive; there must be some kind of interference nearby.

They found four helmeted soldiers guarding the lobby, assault weapons at the ready. Freyr realised as one of them turned to greet them that it was Major Rowe. “Sitrep, Lieutenant!” Osman barked. “Comms are down sir, I can't make contact with our teams sweeping the compound. They are likely following your last order.” Osman nodded. “Take one of your men and see how we can get the power back on. You, escort these civilians back to the trucks and keep them sa- hey! Where are you going?” Osman called to Freyr as she jogged out of the front doors. Freyr stopped and turned.

“If this disturbance is in any way connected to the abductions, I need to be there.” Osman was impressed by Freyr’s resolve; the teary mess of a few minutes ago had transformed into a grim-faced desperado. She nodded “Copy that, I'm coming with you.” Osman gestured to the last unassigned soldier. “You - with me. Lets go!” Freyr turned and resumed running, with the Major and a CraSec grunt in hot pursuit.

---

The creature tilted its head menacingly to one side as it apparently listened to what Vreta had to say. It revealed rows of long, sharp teeth and made that same fast ticking, cracking sound from its throat. When it replied, it had the voice of a little girl, perhaps nine or ten. “Will you help me find my toys? I miss them so much. I lost them a very very long way away. Hidden and alone...asleep. We-” The creature stopped, looked up slightly and loudly sniffed the air; its teeth gnashed together in its mouth. It looked at Vreta again. “Would you like to meet my parents? I will take you to them.” It shuffled forward slightly on it’s spidery legs, the violet appendages dangling above the Rothian's head.

The Cradle

This industrial warehouse was being used to test cutting edge interplanetary communications systems. The main feature was a tall, complex-looking comms array pointing to the ceiling, with banks of consoles sat around it. A creature very similar to the ones that had kidnapped the Skinners was perched halfway up this array. It’s thin, faintly glowing tendrils were stuck inside various control panels on this machine. It was obviously at full power, because a faint humming reverberated around the warehouse.

When the creature heard Vreta shout, it craned its stubby neck until the pale human face was starting right at him. After a split second, it screamed in an in-human voice that started shrill and ended in a guttural roar. At the same time, all of its tendrils exploded from their anchorages inside the comms array, sending a huge shower of sparks out into the Warehouse. The lights inside flickered and died, leaving a almost-total darkness, punctuated only by the effervescent glow of these appendages, reflecting off it’s glistening face.

It jumped down and skittered across the intervening space, until its face hung in front of Vreta, just out of arm’s reach. It’s tendrils waved gently in the air between them. It’s mouth moved, unsure at first, as though unpracticed. Just a wet ticking sound emerged at first, but gradually hoarse words followed. “Who....are…you?” It edged a little closer.

Halo: Aegis Team

Tar 'Mdalak

The ship was alive with activity, even to Tar, who was a relatively late arrival. Sailors dashed between sections, making last minute checks to the cruiser's status. Excited soldiers moved from their barracks to an armoury, before heading fully laden to the hangar bays and air locks. Tar would normally make way for them, but she was now dying to find out what was in store for her and her fellow Commandos.

She breezed through a security checkpoint and a set of blast doors to the Special Operations Control opened in front of her. It was a smart set of rooms that included barracks, a mess hall, an armoury, training facilities and a variety of meeting rooms.

It was from one of the meeting rooms that a Human female Tar didn't recognise emerged. She guessed she was probably a high ranking ONI officer, utterly anonymous in her dress and expression. She gave Tar a polite nod as they passed each other.

She barely had time to wonder why ONI was present in person on a Sangheili ship, when she heard the familiar voice of Commander Skell calling to her from the meeting room.

"Ah, Tar! Just who I needed to see. Come in here and close the door."

Tar obeyed, sloping into the long, tall meeting room and closing the door behind her.

Skell sat at the head of an imposing circular table with a holo unit embedded into the centre. He was an experienced soldier, with one of his mandibles missing and scars all over his exposed hands and arms. Tar had heard lurid tales of his savagery during the war, and felt them incongruous with his jovial attitude. This made it hard for her to trust him completely, but so far he’d proven to be a wise and strategic commander.

“We don’t have much time, so i’ll be brief.” Skell began from his seated position. “The shipmaster…” He motioned to the holo. “has informed me of a risky mission. There are three Jiralhanae ships on the other side of Sarcophagus, holding position over a den of rebels. Our battle group will take care of the Brutes, but there is a team on the ground that aims to capture the leader of the rebels. The plan is to insert this team into the very heart of the base while reinforcements assault the base from the outside. This mission will require a skilled pilot, so you will take a phantom, pick up this ground team, and drop them into the base. If you have questions, then hurry, because you have one minute.” Skell explained quickly. His usual, relaxed attitude had been replaced by one that was uncharacteristically straightforward, so their time constraints were easy to believe.

"But sir!" Tar objected, moving forward a pace. "If there are Brutes to kill I would much rather be with my brothers than ferrying operators around. Can't you get one of the regular pilots to 'volunteer'?" Tar couldn't shake the feeling that a clue to her father's whereabouts lay in one of those ships. If there was any chance she could be part of a boarding party, she was going to take it.
Skell was quick to snap back in a firm voice, giving no ground literally or figuratively. “That was not a question, that was a complaint, and I did not give you permission to complain. The mission requires a skilled pilot who can deal with ground fire, and that is you. If you survive the insertion, you can support your brothers from the sky.”

Tar wilted a little, but recovered quickly. She had been given an important job, which she did find quite flattering. "Yes sir." She saluted.

Skell brought his fist to his chest and slightly bowed his head. “Good, then get to your phantom.” He said, though has he started to approach Tar, he placed a hand on her shoulder and gave the Sangheili equivalent to a grin. “And you need not be too upset. The heavy plasma cannon of a phantom will rip apart a Brute just as well as your blade. Now hurry, we go to a standby position in 5 minutes.”
Tar leapt into action; 5 minutes was not a lot of time in Sangheili military speak. Nodding eagerly, she turned and ran from the room. There was no time to equip in the armoury, so she exited via the blast doors and headed for the closest hangar. Special operations maintained several enhanced Phantoms near SpecOpsCon, and Tar knew they carried a small personal weapons arsenal onboard. That would have to do for this mission.

Skell got in contact via her helmet comms as she passed impatiently back through a hangar airlock. “I’ve found you a co-pilot; he's waiting for you in Lot 51. The team you’re picking up are Callsign Aegis. Good luck."

"Understood. Thank you sir." Tar replied, stepping from the airlock into a crowded hangar. Ground crews flitted between rows of parked Phantoms like insects feeding on ripe fruit. She found Lot 51 by checking signs suspended from the ceiling and began picking her way toward it. Halfway there, she stopped to grab a weapon strap and two fire grenades from a passing cargo platform.

"Commander!" A hoarse voice called to her. Tar looked up to find a short, stocky Sangheili waving to her from underneath her Phantom. She jogged the remaining distance, saluted to and then took the extended arm of the Male. "You must be my co-pilot?" She asked. "Prax Vol, at your service!" The Sangheili half said, half yelled as dozens of Phantom engines started at once. Let's get you in the hot seat, Sister!" Tar nodded, gesturing for Vol to lead the way.

They headed up the grav lift to the Phantom's interior. Tar quickly checked the vehicle's armoury in a locker next to the cockpit. There was a decent, if slightly lackluster selection of assault weapons and sidearms along with two fuel rod cannons. She pulled a Storm rifle from the rack and clipped it onto the strap she’d collected earlier.

Pushing on into the cockpit, Tar found Vol conducting pre-flight checks in the co-pilot’s seat. He turned at beamed at her. “We’re ready to leave, commander.”

“Call me Tar. Good.” She slung her Storm rifle over the back of her seat before settling in and strapping down. The interface above the viewing window showed a countdown to jump.

27...26...25…

“So, where are we headed?” Vol asked.

“Paxopolis surface. We need to pick up a team who're going after a human rebel leader.”

“Ah. I smell ONI treachery.”

“I think you’re right.”

The countdown reached zero, and the whole hangar became eerily quiet. The whole fleet was now waiting for a signal from the surface. Tar counted three extra minutes in her head - Prax checked the instruments over and over again.

Suddenly, the whole hangar bay began rumbling. The slipspace jump had started; They watched it’s progress on their instrument dashboard. As soon as the energy signature died down, lights began flashing and Phantoms lifted off from their lots as one. As their vehicle was up against the wall, they had to wait for most of the others to leave before they had room to maneuver.

Tar and Vol deftly spun the Phantom round and followed the taxi path to the hangar doors. “Prostrate Disciple leaving the nest.” Vol announced over comms. “Acknowledged. Good hunting, Five One.” Hangar Control responded.

Gunning the engines, they pushed through the hangar’s forcefield and into the atmosphere above the surface of Sarcophagus. A beacon called to them from the sphere’s surface; Tar adjusted their course to head for it. After a hard descent, they leveled out within a hundred feet of the arid landscape below. Keeping close to the ground would make them harder to detect by any forward units.

Clearing a dusty cliff face, they finally made visual contact with the rebel base. The other drop ships from the Repentant Proselyte and the rest of the fleet were swarming around the outside of Forerunner facility, drawing plenty of small arms fire. “There’s Aegis team!” Prax pointed. Their waypoint led to a mesa overlooking the base, where a small collection of life forms waited. Tar flicked on the comm channel associated with the waypoint. “Aegis team, this is the Phantom Prostrate Disciple, approaching for pickup. Please climb aboard.”

Tar brought them in for a fast, controlled final descent onto the mesa, sending sheets of dust into the air. Vol kept the side doors closed to improve protection for the passengers but activated the grav lift so Aegis team could board.

The Cradle

“Freyr, i’m so sorry! I never wanted any of this, but now do you see how much we need you?” Karos soothed over Freyr’s howling. He knelt down next to her on the floor as she sobbed into her hands and placed a reassuring arm around her. “What is happening, why is she crying like this?” Osman demanded. “As I suspected, those creatures have the face of Dr Lang’s husband, who was abducted months ago.” Karos replied, looking up at her.

Osman grabbed him by the arm, pulled him back to his feet and moved him away from Freyr. “Are you out of your fucking mind? What kind of sicko brings a grieving woman to identify their husband as the face of a giant insect?” Osman hissed. “That grieving woman is also one of the most brilliant xenobiologists on the planet!” Karos hissed back, pointing to Freyr. “She may be the only person on Outremer who can figure out what’s going on. I had to try!”

“That’s exactly what it is.” Freyr said. Both of them turned to look at her. “What is?” Karos finally asked. “An insect. An ant, to be precise.” Freyr continued. “Human settlers throughout the ages have inadvertently brought them all the way from Earth, hidden in food or raw materials. And when we first entered the Cradle via the underground vault, we brought them into the Cradle.” Freyr got up, an idea tugging at a thread in her mind. She wiped tears from her eyes and rewound the recording to the first few frames where the creature was visible - she hid the face behind the second human man.

“In some of the first records about life in the Cradle, they noted the Cradle responding differently to smaller lifeforms like ants. As they strayed into the uncontrolled zone, it would hijack them, sort of like other well known parasites. Control the body and add extraneous features.” Freyr was searching through a database of scientific reports at this point, seeking to back up her hypothesis. There was something comforting about delving into information from the distant past to distract from the present.

“Here we are.” She said, pulling up pictures from three hundred and forty years previously, in the first years of the Cradle. It showed a common type of ant standing in a petri dish, with tiny purple stems sprouting from its body. “It’s pretty similar to our friends on the video.” Karos remarked. “Exactly.” Freyr confirmed, turning to them. “So, what are you saying, Dr Lang?” Osman asked. “Well, based on the evidence available, i’d say most of the genetic makeup for these creatures didn’t come from inside the Cradle. It may not have the means or the imagination to design it from scratch, so it’s hi-jacking our fauna, making it bigger, adding those appendages and that...face.” She exhaled deeply again.

“This is progress!” Karos beamed. A beam which folded into a guilty grimace in the face of Freyr’s obvious distress. “Listen, Freyr, I am so sorry again to bring you here. But this is exactly the kind of info we can use! I couldn’t tell you about it beforehand, as it would’ve coloured your judgement. I needed to see if you recognised that face without any-” The comm set on the table chirruped, and a voice called from it. “Major, there’s some kind of disturbance in one of these testing sheds, what would you like us to do?” Osman quickly picked up the handset and raised it to her mouth. “Establish a perimeter, we’re-” Suddenly, every light, screen and piece of equipment went dead.

They were plunged into darkness, until Osman’s suit torch clicked on. “Lieutenant, come in!” the Major quickly moved out of the atrium into the main office area to look out of the windows. When she came back, she had drawn her sidearm. “Everything is dark. Follow me.”

The Cradle

The camera covering the incident was located in the same atrium they were in. Freyr looked up and over her shoulder to locate it behind her. The initial view was quite far from the action, but she could zoom and enhance it with little trouble. It was also a bit gloomy, as only the emergency lights were on. The timestamp at the start of the video was the dead of night in Babylon terms, so Freyr guessed everyone had long gone home.

After a few seconds, four dark shapes appeared from the stairway in the corner of the frame. Freyr guessed these were the Skinners. They didn’t look out of place, as they wore the standard issue Cradle newbie jumpsuit, however from the footage they were clearly on edge. The one in front brandished a pistol to ensure the office area was clear before motioning his colleagues forward. Two of the other activists were carrying bulky briefcases, which they laid down on two of the free tables. Once they’d been opened, Freyr paused the video and zoomed in. One of them was a laptop and one of them was clearly some kind of bomb.

“How the fuck did they get a bomb into the Cradle?” Freyr asked. Major Osman shrugged. “We’re looking into it now - they may have had help. Keep going, it gets better.” Freyr hit play again.

One of the activists armed the bomb, another connected their laptop to one of the consoles and then began typing manically. The other two checked out of the windows and generally looked nervous. “What was that?” Freyr asked, pointing to a section of the screen covered by the big side windows. “Just wait.” Karos murmured. One of the guys standing guard seemed to notice it as well, as he stuck his face to the glass and peered in that direction. He turned around, shouted, and the other person rushed over as well. Freyr turned the sound on.

“I didn’t see what it was… i think it’s below us!”
“Ok. We need to wrap this up now!” How long until it's armed and the data is ours?”
“Two minutes.”
“I need five.”
“We don’t have five fucking minutes, we need to get out of here right now.”
“Wait...did you hear that?”
“Yeah - get the scrambler armed and then we’re leaving. I’m gonna check downst-”

A loud crash made Freyr jump in her seat. In the blink of an eye, the activist standing by the window had just disappeared out of it. The man who’d just turned away to go downstairs whirled around, as did the two others on the opposite side of the space. The leader raised his pistol, but clearly hesitated when he saw what came through the window. Freyr leaned in til her face was almost touching the glass, not quite able to grasp what she was seeing.

It had six insectoid legs, shiny black, and a compact, armoured carapace. But quite unlike anything Freyr had seen before, the carapace and abdomen behind that were punctured by at least a dozen violet tendrils. They worked as appendages to heave the creature through the gap and also held the immobile man it’d captured like a limp doll. The thing had a short neck and a face… Freyr’s breath caught the moment she saw it. It was a human male’s face, pale and contrasting with the sheer black of the body and legs. The eyes were bulging and completely black, but she recognised the face nonetheless. Her mouth dropped open and a silent scream shook her body as her eyes filled with tears.

The creature had David’s face.

The rest of the abduction was very brief. Screams rang out on the recording as the leader fired his handgun at the creature. But when another of the things crashed through a window behind him, they were quickly overrun. The creatures held all four of them aloft like broken playthings and scooped up the unarmed briefcase bomb before exiting via the same windows they entered.

But the only thing Freyr saw was her husband’s visage through streams of tears as she howled in anguish at the screen.