Cath

The Cradle

“Daddy, Do you see that? Open your eyes.”
“Don’t look at it baby. Don’t look at the lights. They aren’t real.
“It's Mummy!! Mummy help us!”
…
“Freyr!”

---

Freyr woke with a start, plastered in sweat despite the air conditioning. She grabbed at the cosy blanket over her and jerked upright, completely disoriented. Brushing hair out of her face, she took in the sumptuous double bedroom. In front of her was a big walk in shower, and to her left was a closed door. The wall to her right was entirely composed of glass, and after rolling up the blinds Freyr put a hand up to shield from the bright afternoon sunshine. Eventually the windows adjusted to dampen the light, and she finally remembered where she was.

Réunion unfolded like an intricate origami figure below her. Three stepping stones down to the azure blue lake, adorned with elegant arcologies, hydro-dams and decadent tropical parks. Mist and clouds floated about the mountain peaks on either side of the city and the opposite side of the lake. She made out brightly coloured sails from the multitude of yachts racing out on the mirror-calm waters. Freyr felt her heartbeat return to normal, and sighed. She’d always meant to bring Amy here. She’d visited once on department business and knew straight away her little girl would’ve loved the water.

There was a knock at the door.

“Come in.” Freyr called, maneuvering her legs off the side of the bed. She was fully clothed except for her shoes and jacket.

There was a click outside, footsteps and then another click, and then another click. The door to her left open a crack. “Everyone decent in here?” A familiar voice asked.

“Yes. Come on in.”

Masgard Xandrus’ handsome bearded face appeared around the door and smiled. His freshly suited body followed, along with a tray of food and a glass of pink juice. “I tried to remember the last time you ate something, and couldn’t. So i brought you breakfast, or should i say dinner?” Xandrus chuckled, approaching the bed.

The Cradle

The Facilitator stared soberly up at Rareth - an eyebrow twitched. He mopped his sweaty brow with the cloth again. “I’ll see what I can do. A friendly word of advice though: you should get your people off-world before things turn really ugly. This isn’t even close to being over, believe me.” He pointed at the TV. The picture showed Group Admiral Hale, who they’d met at a previous conference, addressing a cloud of journo-drones via secure uplink.

“-bring the perpetrators to justice. Please allow our law enforcement and civilian services agencies do their work, and remain in your-”

The Facilitator brought the hardline up to his ear again. “Go for the Vault…Code please…Confirmed. I’ll send them up - make sure you’re ready.” He put the phone down and called loudly into the room. “CRD, Rothian delegates, pack your things! You’re heading out in FIVE minutes! Sergeant Skopec, assemble your team. You’re going up with them.”

---

Freyr would’ve argued harder to remain in the Vault, where they could make a real difference, if she’d been able. But she felt too groggy after her sleep to put up much of a fight. A headache split her right down the middle, so the most she could do was hold back the endless waves of nausea and stay close to Dr Wetherall as they scrambled to evacuate the Vault. A coterie of anonymous technicians filed in to take up posts left by her team.

“Come, my dear. Let's go and get you some fresh air.” Dr Wetherall soothed, offering an arm for support as they left the control room. She looked back one last time at the picture of the Cradle hanging in the air, the Navigator spinning slower around it. She hoped it wouldn’t be the last time she could lay eyes on it.

---

The ride up to the surface was somehow even more tense than the journey down. The camp outside the Vault was buzzing with activity, with all manner of vehicle speeding about. Black-clad soldiers were everywhere, scanning CraSec forces and loading them into troop transports. Freyr started when she thought she saw 595 in the throng as they drove through, but it was just a man wearing very similar armour. He was standing in the middle of a melee of soldiers and giving orders, pistol drawn and tapping impatiently at his thigh.

The rail system out of the Vault complex and up towards the surface was jam packed with soldiers and civilian personnel. Freyr realised at that point that her team was no longer the most important piece of the puzzle. She exchanged a concerned look with Vreta, who seemed to always be hovering nearby.

---

At least fifty heavily armed operators, led by Sergeant Skopec, surrounded them on their way through Babel Tower to their exfil pad. It was a couple of hours before dawn now, and the wind bit at Freyr as they finally arrived in an open-air hangar where four armoured transports waited. The front and back vehicles were already full, so they all piled into the third one and they took off almost before everyone had strapped into a jumpseat. Through the open (but shielded) doors at the back, Freyr just about made out a cloud of drones following them into the air.

They banked out of the hangar in tight formation. Freyr caught a glimpse of black smoke from the Parliament estate billowing into the night air, against a backdrop of Outremer’s moon. Many of the city’s lights were still on, presumably with people unable to sleep after recent events.

She felt no such issue anymore. Despite the bitter cold in the transport, sleep tugged at her like a comforting blanket. Her eyelids drooped as she crossed her arms and leaned her head against Dr Wetherall’s shoulder. “Wake me when you need me.” She slurred, as everything went black.

END OF PART ONE

Halo: Aegis Team

Tar slowly edged her Spectre forward into the cave, careful not to disturb the vines on either side. The tunnel ahead narrowed quickly, so she proceeded in front only until a person could just about squeeze past either wing, then stopped and powered down the vehicle. The canopy hummed open and she clambered out, leaving her carbine in its holster. “We’re alive.” she reassured Yalu.

Tar walked a few paces further into the cave, until she was nearly swallowed by the darkness. She then silently unhooked one of the blades from her back and turned it on. An eerie red glow threw long shadows on the walls, exposing thick vine trunks that dug into rivulets on the floor, walls and ceiling. There were pink flowers even here, despite the lack of sunlight.

She gently moved her sword closer to one of the vines on the wall, and with a distant sound like bloody innards slopping from a stomach wound onto the floor, some of the flowers turned to face her. “This Tengmaa is awake. Do not touch the vines. It may try to constrict us.” Tar growled softly, looking around to see if any of the other boughs were moving.

The Cradle

“I don’t know, i-...” Freyr stared into the opposite corner of the room, trying to remember. She saw the ‘O’ of Osman’s mouth as she shouted “good….luck” through her clear visor in their direction. She blinked out a tear when the thought of those infected people baying for live blood.

Freyr remembered their walk through the flickering lights of the underground garage, and the ride through the subway under New Antioch. A shiver ran down her spine when she recalled their horrifying encounter with those bugs, and that massive amalgam in the park!

Freyr bit her thumbnail, still looking into space. She couldn’t remember much about GCHQ, except that it led to her meeting the Navigator. 595 was just snatches of conversation in her recent memory.

“She said she had to go for a while. Maybe that’s what she did.”

Freyr exhaled deeply, her whole body juddering with the stress. She looked over at the Facilitator. “Have you heard from Dr Wetherall? Is he alright?” The Facilitator nodded. “He’s safe at the Bridge, keeping the link active as planned.” He resumed tapping at his pad, standing in the middle of everything. Lights blinked on the map of NA and countless sounds dribbled into Freyr’s ears. She nodded gravely.

Hours passed. Despite everything, Freyr fell deeply asleep in her chair. Someone put a small cushion behind her head. David & Amy came to her in a dream, the fine details of their faces blurred and abstract.

Eventually, the battle map calmed down. The few remaining CraSec guards on duty inside the Vault were replaced by black-clad soldiers with ‘OCI’ freshly emblazoned on their chest plates. More high-ranking military personnel filtered in and out of the complex. At some point, Dr Wetherall wobbled from the harness room and plonked into a chair next to Freyr, his age-lined face pale and drawn. He sent for a cover, and carefully arranged it over his leader’s body. He then gratefully accepted a nice cup of tea.

The Facilitator took another phone call, then he motioned for Rareth to come over. “Top side is clear. You can take your team out. My orders are to move the CRD to Réunion while we check Vault integrity.” He talked quietly.

The Cradle

Freyr nodded appreciatively at what Rareth was saying. She slumped into a spare swivel chair, utterly exhausted. “I’m not holding up very well, I’m afraid.” She sighed, rubbing her eyes. “Everything is moving so fast. At this rate I'll need to start Glanding.” Any citizen on Outremer with a bit of money to spend could have custom drug glands installed in their bodies. These allowed owners to secrete on command any of a wide selection of synthetic drugs, from the merely relaxing to the mind-altering. Freyr had considered it in university, but never had enough funds. That wasn’t an issue anymore, though.

“How about you?” She asked, still cradling her datapad.

After a little while, the Facilitator finished his call with the Cabinet Office. “Alright, thank you. Call here once you know more. Bye.” He hung up the phone and wiped the sweat off his bald pate. He turned to an aide. “Turn the news on, up there.” He pointed to one of the big screens up front.

“DEWINTER RESIGNS. MARTIAL LAW DECLARED.” read the tape along the bottom. Images of cars arriving and leaving the Parliament estate played on screen. There were police and military everywhere. “Who needs enemies when you can do all this on your own?” The Facilitator murmured, crossing his arms and watching the screen.

Halo: Aegis Team

Tar responded quickly to the orders, banking her Spectre to match where her finger was pointing. The right side of her vehicle clipped a tall tree where she’d under-compensated for the wind. Her Spectre swung the opposite way, towards Yalu’s craft that had turned off earlier.

Tar yanked on the controls and they peeled away from each other after a light bump on opposite wings. She activated the boost and her Spectre whooshed up the side of the basin towards the caves. The underside of her vehicle clattered against the forest floor, drawing a few horrendous scraping sounds which reverberated up into Tar's legs. The wind plastered wet leaves, mud and small animals to the hull as she drifted around another tree with spiky purple leaves. “We’re close; up here!”

Eventually, the basin wall levelled out onto a small ridge. In the middle, two black cave entrances, surrounded by lighter rock, hunched against the storm. The same dark green vines Tar had seen down in the basin evidently originated from these caves, as they crept across the rock, nestled into natural grooves. The tendrils were thick and fewer, which indicated to Tar that this was an older specimen. Still alive and dangerous though, as shown by the small pink flowers dotting the vines.

She’d alert the others once they’d parked - no sense in complicating things. “Let's shelter inside!” Tar recommended, moving her Spectre towards one of the dark cave entrances.

The Cradle

“Regardless of whether maintaining a foothold in the Cradle is worth it or not, those men and women are following orders. Just the same as all the rest of us here.” The Facilitator spat, sweeping his arm around the room again. His voice was low but pointed, so as not to disturb the others. The two of them had evidently been sparring for a while, Freyr thought, glancing back.

“You wanna leak more classified video to the press? Be my guest - the media has already splashed it all over the news cycle. We are seeing this through, unless we hear otherwise. The alternative is rolling back three and a half centuries of progress.” He argued.

“Sir. The Cabinet Office for you.” An aide waved a phone at the Facilitator from the wall behind them.

“One second.” The Facilitator turned and called to Dr Lang, who was staring intently at the report she’d been handed. “Dr Lang - please give me some good news when I get back!” He turned and brushed past Rareth to take the call.

The Cradle

The Facilitator didn’t seem keen on debating the merits of a free press right at this second. He also didn’t appear to think much of Rareth’s proposed strategy. He huffed himself. “Any of these geniuses will tell you that we need to be inside the Cradle to properly observe.” He motioned around the lab. “All of this equipment depends on readings taken from around our occupied space in the simulation. Isn’t that right, Dr Lang? We aren’t leaving ground zero - our people inside know the risks. If you want to pull your super squad out, one of these gentlemen would be delighted to give the order.” He waved his hand dismissively towards the planners sitting nearby.

Freyr looked round absently when her name was called, but she wasn’t listening anymore. One of her staff had sidled over and placed a summary document with everything they’d learned so far and enquiry paths they were to follow next. Practically everything on the page was a potential breakthrough they would’ve worked a generation for in the past. Freyr was still too wired up from her experience in the simulation to take that much data on board. “We need to find out how the Navigator forced the internal door open too. Can you follow up with Systems on that?” She whispered instead.

“I can’t let anyone leave this facility until we’ve been given the all clear.” The Facilitator carried on speaking to Rareth. “The safest place for everyone right now is inside this Vault, I can assure you. The staff here have been thoroughly vetted.”

The Cradle

“We can operate most of the transit network, including at the Bridge. But a combination of signal black spots and inoperable infrastructure mean we only have about 5% coverage of a shifting comms web at any one time.” The closest analyst explained while multitasking on screens.

“21st Battalion is ready to go in. I have their orders here - six company locations..” Another older analyst piped up, holding a hardline receiver against their shoulder while they called across the bank of consoles. Pinching a file off the screen next to them, they threw it across the room at the analyst closest to Vreta and Freyr.

“Have we tried talking to it?” Freyr didn’t really want to be on the military side of the room. Her team were busily working away towards the front - she eyed them longingly. “Yes, nothing yet.” The Facilitator replied distractedly, as his pad began vibrating. He checked it. “You should know that word of what's happening here has leaked to the public. Your faces are all over the news.” He spun the pad round so they could see what was on the screen.

A respectable conservative news agency had published amateur pictures of CraSec shooting infected people in New Antioch’s administration district The title above them read: “SECRET PLOT TO ‘UNLOCK’ CRADLE LINKED WITH DEADLY EXPLOSIONS”. Below the main spread was a little security camera picture of Freyr & Vreta pushing through the crowd at the space station upon arriving back at Outremer. The space station that was now a floating cloud of debris.

“We have well and truly ripped off the sticking plaster now.” The Facilitator smiled grimly.

The Cradle

"The non-essential civilian drawdown is nearly complete." The Facilitator assured Vreta, flicking a map of the Cradle's surface up on a big screen by them. Numerous dots indicated evacuation centres, with datapoints listed to one side of each. "As these sites are closed down, CraSec, OCI, a mess of private contractors and your Void team are being pulled back to protect the Bridge and key transit hubs until this surge passes." He explained, pointing to a red hexagon that denoted the link between the Cradle and the outside world.

Motioning quickly, the Institute officer led them to the back row of computers, where a variety of military co-ordinators and high ranking officers had congregated. Rareth Jharn peered over them. "Run the clip we were just talking about." The Facilitator badgered one of the analysts on the end of the row. They ran a video in the corner of their busy screen.

It showed footage from someone's chest cam, amid a chaotic scene of smoke, plasma and shouts. The soldier was running along a high walkway on the side of the Bridge's main tower. metre long spikes rained down on the defenders, pinning people to walls in a mist of blood. Fleshy creatures with six legs, claws and a barbed tailed clambered up the sides of the tower around them. "Stop." The Facilitator said, and the frame froze.

"Zoom in. There they are. Comms are still patchy, but the unit you split up with made contact ten minutes ago. We also found them in this footage."