Cath

The Cradle

The waiter arrived and Vreta ordered. “I’ll have the same.” Freyr confirmed, smiling at the waiter before he turned away to relay their order to the kitchen. She’d been well drilled in dinner etiquette by her parents and tutor in their absence, she even heard the mantras in her head:

It is best to play it safe when someone else is paying for the food and drinks, especially if you didn’t know them well. Ordering the same food as, or something less expensive than your host is a sign of respect across many cultures.

Freyr began tracing the contours on the outside of her crystal tumbler when Vreta asked about her husband. She knew that if she closed her eyes and focused, she’d be able to see him and her daughter on the back of her eyelids in an instant. But that’d make her cry properly, so she didn’t.

“David is...well he’s hopeless really. Even he’d admit that.” Freyr chuckled. “He wouldn’t say boo to a goose. Amy had him wrapped around her little finger. One time I caught them going for late night ice cream because she said she couldn’t sleep without it.” Freyr looked up at Vreta, smiling. “He’s the kindest man i’ve ever met, and that’s why i married him. In my role, you need an anchor or you’ll fly away…”

Freyr fell silent and still, staring into the distance before reanimating after a few seconds. “What about you? It sounds like you’ve had some adventures - what were your partners like?”

The Cradle

Freyr couldn’t quite believe it. A sparkling avenue of hope that’d been closed from the day she’d seen her family in the Morgue, and was told of the situation, was opening up again. She felt tears welling up again, happier this time, and patted at her eyes with one of Kalax’ tissues. “I, um, I don’t know what to say!” Freyr exclaimed, laughing softly through her tears. “Thank you, for wanting to try at least. That means a lot to me. However, I don't have the authority to set those trials up. I’m not even sure who would. Perhaps we could ask Kalax to put out some feelers?”

At that point, the loud POP of a cork made Freyr look round. It seemed the Outremer Security Council delegate had been invited to join Kalax and 595’s table, having just exited onto the balcony via another door. A waiter stood by their table with an ice bucket and a recently opened bottle of champagne, pouring it into three delicate crystal glasses. Kalax and 595 howled with laughter at some joke before standing up to greet the delegate. Freyr looked back and smiled at Vreta, feeling her face with her hands to make sure all her tears were gone. “Shall we order?”

The Cradle

Freyr choked on her drink, spluttering and patting her chest for a few seconds until she could breathe again. That was the last place she suspected this talk would go. “But...why? No Rothians have ever died in the Cradle before, you’d have nothing to gain. Not to mention the fact that it’d be incredibly expensive and potentially futile research. We’ve tried every possible solution and had no luck at all.” Freyr felt her temperature rising. Just talking about this topic brought her back to seeing her family laying in the Cradle-Morgue, technically alive but completely unresponsive. Freyr quickly dabbed her eyes with a napkin just as two eye-catching individuals entered her field of view.

Kalax and Agent 595 had obviously had time for a quick change, because they both wore long, strapless black dresses of an exquisite material. 595 sported a delicate gold pendent that plunged into her cleavage and a very stylish clutch bag while Kalax wore a shiny black dinner jacket and a small, round, red hat on his head. They exited onto the same balcony as them and crossed behind Vreta before making their way past the table. 595 noticed Freyr looked distressed and quickly knelt beside her. “What’s happened, are you okay?” She shot a venomous look at Vreta. "Would you like a tissue?" Kalax asked, handing Freyr a pack. “Thank you. Yeah, i’m fine, just please go. I need a minute.” Freyr responded, continuing to dab her eyes. “See what you’ve done?!” 595 theatrically rounded on Vreta, wielding her clutch bag. “Five-Nine-Five, please fuck off! It’s me, not him.” Freyr demanded shakily.

595 seemed unconvinced, but gave Vreta the ‘i’m watching you’ look. “We’re right over there, let me know if you need me.” She signed off, linking arms with Kalax to head to their table, some thirty feet away. "I'm sorry..." Freyr sniffed, finally regaining some composure. "I just really wasn't expecting to talk about this right now."

The Cradle

Freyr confirmed she was no longer needed for the day with Captain Andersen, which was customary as a passenger on an Outreman warship. She quickly made her way around the remaining delegates, saying thank you for the meeting and goodbye for now. “Did you want to stop by my place and get changed, Dr Lang?” Ambassador Verengonig asked as she walked toward the exit.

“No thank you. That was really unprofessional by the way, butting into my conversation like that.” Freyr directed her venom primarily at agent 595, who she was sure masterminded the whole thing. “Says the woman consorting with spies at every turn!” 595 snorted. “I am just trying to save you from a precipitous fall from grace down the line, sweetie.” Freyr huffed in despair and stormed off.

She was in a foul mood when she rejoined Vreta in the flyer to the restaurant. She had secretly wanted to indulge the Ambassador and dress up, but was fed up to the back teeth of being condescended by this mysterious guardian angel she’d picked up along the way. Freyr hadn’t forgotten 595’s words about Vreta, but the agent's polarising behaviour had inclined her to risk it, if purely for the pleasure of disobeying.

“Wow.” Freyr gasped upon seeing the view from the balcony on one side of the restaurant where they were seated. She temporarily forgot her annoyance as she took in the landscape behind the capital’s dominant mountainscape “You certainly aren’t short on views in Threria.” They sat down and a Tindrel waiter clacked over on all fours to pour them a starting drink from a jug. “Is this an every day affair for you?” Freyr asked, taking a sip.

The Cradle

Freyr chuckled, running a hand through her hair. “It’s okay. I’m only joking.” She glanced behind Vreta again and almost betrayed an expression of complete shock at what she saw. Both Kalax the Ambassador and 595 were looking at her now. They were both facing the same way, their left side to her and their backs to the majority of the group. Kalax was subtly sticking his rear out and had an index finger stuck against his pursed lips in a ‘sshhhh’ motion. 595 was gyrating slowly up against him, gently patting his behind with an impish grin on her face.

“I have some ladies evening wear you can borrow. I import the latest sartorial vogue from Outremer and other Human colonies.” Kalax joined their private comms. “Kalax and I will chaperone you lovebirds on your date, now we’re all firm friends.” 595 added. WILL YOU TWO BEHAVE?! Freyr mind-shouted, before hurriedly smiling at Vreta as he began to turn to where she kept glancing, presumably catching on that she was preoccupied. “Ok, that does sound lovely! I think the meeting is well and truly over.” Freyr said, feigning a good look around the room.

595 and Kalax were closest, deep in conversation, as were most of the other delegates. “Do you want to go soon? I can be dismissed and we can set off now if you like.”

The Cradle

“Yeah, gorgeous.” Freyr murmured, nursing a glass of water. She’d done a quick circuit of the room after the meeting had concluded, introducing herself to Kalax and a few of the Rothian researchers. Now though, she stood by the box containing the Phoenician Staff, a hand caressing the smooth wood as she gazed into the distance.

She looked at Vreta and laughed softly, searching his eyes for some kind of cue as to his meaning. “It sounds like you’re asking me out on a date, Vreta’Sori. I’ll have you know i’m a happily married woman. What’s this about?” She smiled, only half-serious; a nice dinner without the trappings of the Barb hanging around her sounded like a nice distraction.

”What did i tell you? The guy is obsessed.” A voice interrupted her tranquil mindset. Freyr glanced behind Vreta and spotted 595 looking at her while talking to the Security Council delegate. ”Are you listening in on my conversation right now?” Freyr shot back. ”It’s my fucking job to protect you, Dr Lang. May i remind you that everything we say and do on Rothia is recorded? That succeeded in sending a shiver down Freyr’s spine. “Perhaps we could arrange a private setting on the Barb instead? I don't want to intrude on Rothian social circles more than I need to.” She suggested to Vreta.

Halo: Aegis Team

Tar 'Mdalak

---

Tar moved down the ramp into the belly of the installation with her new squad. As she wasn’t certain what kind of environment would greet them, she pulled out her sword and held it unactivated in the hand that supported her raised pistol. It wasn’t an ideal configuration, but at least now she could quickly pivot between medium and short range if needed. Tar didn’t know how the team operated, so she positioned herself in the middle of the formation rather than at the front as was her instinct.

They reached a chamber littered with debris, and she learned from the team’s AI of the situation. It seemed the team were entitled to an opinion on how to proceed, which struck Tar as odd. However, she wasn’t about to miss this opportunity to get into a position where she performed best. “I’m comfortable in close quarters. I will go right.” She volunteered, taking this brief pause to tap the magazine of her stolen Mauler, listening for an idea of the number of bolts still left.

The Cradle

“They were always likely to prefer a Rothian lab.” Said a person she hadn’t been introduced to yet on the group chat as soon as Marae mentioned it. From the comms signature, Freyr knew it was one Kalax Verengonig talking, Outreman Ambassador to Rothia. Freyr peeked down her side of the table and spotted a long, elegant man with an ‘asteroid belt’ physique that fitted the bill.

“But we have a state of the art Cradle lab on the Barb. We don’t need to integrate!” 595 retorted. “We might learn something, Agent. Make the call, Dr Lang.” Captain Andersen shot back.

“We’d be pleased to see your lab, and show you ours. I think between our two workshops we can find the right tools for the job.” Freyr replied out loud with a smile, trying to be diplomatic. “As for the experiment on Human DNA, it’s ongoing and inconclusive so far.”

The Cradle

“Urgh - talk about laying it on thick.” 595 sent in the Human delegation’s group chat while the Datius was talking. Freyr didn’t dare look to see if anyone outwardly responded to the quip. Looking at the towering alien figure, she thought the black-clad agent was the bravest person she’d ever met, even if she hadn’t said anything out loud. Freyr nodded at the Datius. “We can share that with you as a priority.” She answered, keeping her voice level and constructive.

“Am we alright to give them the DNA tests and language research?” Freyr shot across the private channel while the Rothian lead scientist was talking.

“Yeah that’s fine. Lets see what they come up with.”

“Yes, we could scarcely believe the results ourselves.” Freyr answered, looking across the line of lizardy faces hanging on her every word. “But we’ve quadruple checked now. It’s our belief that whatever is at those coordinates encoded your DNA with a message millions of years ago, in the hopes you would eventually find your way to the Cradle. I don’t want to overstep at this early stage...but it may even have given you some of the tools you needed to become an intelligent, dominant species from an early stage of your development.”

A reaction that Freyr didn’t quite understand rippled through the assembled Rothians. She pushed on, keen to finish what she had to say. “But yes, of course we can share this with you and welcome your new perspective in analysing the evidence. We’ll also share what we have on the Cradle’s language set once we’re set up in the lab.”

The Cradle

Agent 595 jumped in immediately after the large Rothian was finished speaking. “That won’t be possible at this time. The Cradle ecosystem is very delicate, and we can’t risk any potentially catastrophic outward interference. Even if it’s by accident as a result of our efforts on Rothia.” Freyr glanced at her before jumping in after. “However, we have made good progress in identifying when the Cradle jams signals and what that looks like on modern equipment. If we apply the learnings here, we might notice a pattern that betrays the presence of Cradle-tech?” 595 begrudgingly nodded her approval.