Cath

The Cradle

Some of the delegates talked privately among themselves for a few moments. Eventually it was decided to manage the facts themselves rather than let the Rothians find out some other way.

There was a pause, then Benoit Souza spoke quietly again.

“We know Psi-Helios is dangerous already. In fact, it's a powder-keg that's ready to blow. Our assets think the Tindrel and QV have discovered some unique properties of the plant-like organism that now covers most of the planet’s surface. They both want to control the synthesis of whatever it is, or at least stop the other. It is a delicately balanced situation which we feel will be best left to…recalibrate naturally.”

João took over. “We need you to promise not to interfere. Outremer cannot be seen to take sides in this conflict. Since this is a joint venture, any intervention made by Rothia which then later involves Outremer will not reflect well on anyone.

Halo: Aegis Team

Tar wrenched off her breastplate and perched on a large crate to receive medical attention. A diminutive male in physician's garb leaned in to inspect the cauterised puncture marks on her chest.

"Internal bleeding is common with sword wounds, but fortunately yours are only shallow. Do you feel any weakness, numbness or tingling?"

"I feel well." Tar growled. The adrenaline of their fight for the cannon had worn off in the hours afterwards, and a dull ache had settled in. Her head was full of images of the Hunter Killer's snarling jaw and the sword searing through her armour.

"Any changes to your hearing or vision? Any pain in your head?" The physician asked, carefully anointing the cauterised divots with bio foam.

"Only from your incessant talking - bandage me up now. I need to prepare for the assault." Tar was looking past the doctor, searching for someone.

"Armourer!" She called out, raising one hand. A white-clad giant turned off to one side, looked at Tar then mentioned for his apprentice to run over.

Tar noticed the youth when he stopped reverently before her. "Take my breastplate - see if you can patch the holes." She pointed towards her discarded armour on the floor.

The Cradle

“We should wait until we can substantiate this lead before committing any military resources to such a distant location.” Benoit Souza spoke up. He’d been promoted from domestic intelligence to Naval Intelligence director by the new administration. You named Plenipotentiary Wallace as the source but, where is she?”

A few more faces had joined the meeting since they’d started, but none of them were the silver haired senior diplomat.

“Hear, hear!.” João Sequeira boomed. Previously Under-Secretary of the Diplomatic Corps on Outremer, he had also been kept around after his failed bid to succeed President.

“The position itself is obsolete, yet we still have them. Why? We cannot get rid of them, and believe me I tried. They are too powerful! Whatever Wallace has claimed must be properly scrutinised; she could be tricking us into advancing her interests.”

“Quite right.” Souza purred. The agency director was much softer-spoken than the former diplomat, but carried a certain calculating gravitas.

“Even if this lead turns out to be worth pursuing, we can’t just show up with a battle group. For those of you that weren’t in the original briefing, let me explain why.”

Souza shared a 3D hologram of a planetary system with the group. Three planets orbiting around two suns. Souza zoomed in on the smallest of the three planets - it was lush and green, with very little visible water and small spots of desert.

“This is Psi-Helios. 27 years ago the system was surveyed and a previously uncontacted civilisation found. The Tindrel and Qalian-Vosh both claimed the system as part of their ecumene. To avoid all-out war, elements from Earth petitioned the galactic community to declare this new civilisation part of the Control program. This means the system was given demilitarised status and peacekeepers deployed.”

The Cradle

The atmosphere was…tense, to say the least, as the teams once again moved their whole lives to a new base. Drones did all the hard work, so Freyr spent most of her time rallying support from her senior colleagues.

They all knew now that she had broken their curfew to go to a party. Their loyalty to their boss had prevented them from voicing concerns publicly, but they made it clear that it hadn’t reflected well on her or them.

Even though Freyr protested in the strongest possible terms that it was a data-gathering exercise with a senior diplomat, without evidence they couldn’t comment on it either way.

---

A group of military transports took them the short distance between the Faultless Spear and the Barbarossa. When they arrived, the ship was a hive of activity - Captain Andersen was busy with another matter, so they were shown back to their lab. While they were setting up and recalibrating their specialist equipment, two doctors came and introduced themselves to Freyr.

“Dr Lang, would you like to follow us for your psychological assessment?” One of them asked politely. After some hesitation, Freyr nodded and followed them out of the lab again.

The Cradle

“It will be done.” The grey-suited representative nodded. He then turned to Freyr, speaking out loud.

“I have marked the location of your transportation on the network. We are wheels up in thirty.”

“But why such a rush?” Freyr asked quietly, but to no avail - the hologram blinked out of existence. She turned back to the mass of people.

News of a miniature vault had struck the science teams like a lightning rod. What had begun as an insistent murmuring had grown in volume until colleagues had to shout to be heard. Some had given up entirely and were just messaging each other via implant, sharing looks with each other.

Once again, Freyr knew a meeting she had called to restore peace was now well and truly out of her control. For a moment, a white hot anger bubbled to the surface; her mouth and fists clenched. Then she sighed, and raised her voice to be heard.

“Everyone pack up your gear - lets go and find out what is happening together!”

The Cradle

“My apologies. It is not your responsibility to inform the Outreman elements - we assumed you were busy.” The hologram responded sniffily.

“Rareth’Jharn.” Another disembodied voice prompted the Datius. Her physical body was present in another virtual meeting with some of Outremer’s naval high command. One of the faces on the screen was Group Admiral Zihdren, a shrewd hawk of a man and close associate of Group Admiral Hale, current leader of the interim administration.

“Next item - our scanners in the Gulgar system on the Levantine Rim are picking up similar signatures to the machines which attacked you last week. We’re sending a carrier strike group to meet them and would give you the opportunity to present a united front. That system supports approach vectors for both Rothian & Human worlds.”

Both Rothian & Outreman officials had been preoccupied over the last couple of weeks with a matter of dire importance and utmost secrecy to most of society. Huge automated ‘combine’ ships had been showing up from the dark void between galaxies and making their way quickly towards various Rothian worlds and Outremer. Powerful yet unco-ordinated, these craft looked cobbled together and totally unfit for biological life forms of any description.

The Cradle

Freyr didn’t respond directly to Marae, instead speaking out loud to the light blue hologram, gesturing as she went.

“Our people are still recovering from a traumatic ordeal - I’ve only just woken up after sustaining a head injury. Surely, we can attend from this ship and-” The muttering slowed to listen into her side of the conversation.

The hologram interrupted, maintaining a private channel. “Your entire department is required to operate in close proximity with other elements of the new CRCI taskforce from the OSC Barbarossa. Gunships will be docking at the Faultless Spear momentarily - please make your way on board.”

“You can’t keep treating us like this - look at what happens!” Freyr retorted loudly, pointing to the scientists who had just left.

“It is regrettable, but I'm afraid time is not our friend. No one is irreplaceable if the need is great enough.”

The Cradle

“There is no stopping this thing!” Dr Kwelix called , shaking her head as the group of rebels strode off up the field. Freyr wanted to call again after them, but didn’t know what to say. The esteemed particle physicist may have been right.

“All is not lost; I’ll talk to them.” Dr Wetherall whispered in her ear from where he’d sidled over to support his boss. Dr Lang nodded, returning the gaze of this blue-tinged avatar in a grey suit as the scientists gathered around whispered among themselves.

Immediately, they sent a private message to both her and Marae: “You are required to attend an emergency session of the Committee for Friendly Relations with Cradle Intelligences, scheduled for tomorrow morning. Beforehand, you must present a full report of your team’s findings and undertake a psychiatric evaluation. Dr Lang, you must make your team ready for immediate transfer to the OSC Barbarossa.”

The Cradle

“We do have a lead!” Freyr answered, raising an index finger matter-of-factly. “Plenipotentiary Wallace told us that a nanobot swarm has been eliciting behaviour very much like that of the Cradle when it was searching for the Navigator. Hijacking some factory system to ping other planets. They-...what is it?”

Freyr stopped mid flow as loud muttering was rising from the crowd. Another junior member of her team spoke up. “Plenipotentiary Wallace? Who is that? Just another shadowy asshole who doesn’t care if we live or die?”

“No, um, she’s an ambassador to the Rothians!” Freyr protested, shaken.

“And why is she the one leading this team? What have they got on you, Dr Lang?” The woman talking to her stepped forward slightly. Dr Kwelix, physicist, one of the new intakes.

“They don’t have anything on me! I’m just trying to…” Freyr tailed off as a blue, semi-transparent avatar approached their group from up the hill towards the tent. They blinked in and out of existence as they flashed through the field, moving forward ten metres at a time. The avatar stopped at the edge of the group, and looked expectantly at Freyr with hands clasped behind their back. They were in formal dress with no markings.

Dr Kwelix and the others followed Freyr’s gaze. “Of course. Here comes your latest handler, come to tell you what extraordinarily dangerous and frankly opaque project we’ll be working on next. You know what? I’m done. I have a family - I can't work like this.”

“Please don't go! I have a family too - I know how you feel.” Freyr reached out a hand, but Dr Kwelix was already walking away. Several others followed her.

The Cradle

“We can’t possibly do this alone.” Dr Kim spoke up from the crowd. “You said the Navigator’s colleagues, family, whatever - they could be anywhere in the galaxy right? We’ll need a scientific expedition on a scale never seen before. Not just the Diaspora and the Rothians, but other species too, surely?”

“My dear boy - most of the rest of the Diaspora is not exactly well disposed to Outremer.” Dr Wetherall chortled from the sidelines by Vreta. “Somehow I don't see them helping us.”