Cath

Halo: Aegis Team

“Good luck, Spartan.” Tar called to Aviza over the rising din as Phantoms hovered into position over their armour.

The ride down to the surface of Brissekh from the Blockade Runner was extremely loud and nausea-inducing, like being dropped from a great height. Rain battered their dropship’s canopy and poured down the sides onto Tar’s Wraith. Battle chatter burbled in her ears from the closest teams; her pilot was staying quiet for now.

For a few seconds, she could only stare out at the city she knew so well and feel a mix of nostalgia and fear. While a relatively young settlement at just over two hundred years, the Keep occupied a commanding position over the valley they were deploying into. Three concentric rings of fortifications had been carved out of the black rock, each higher than the last, until the top of the Kaidon’s migdol poked out like a mountain peak in itself. Tar wondered if her little brother was watching from a high window at the army which had just arrived.

As soon as they touched down, Tar fired her turret at one of the defending guns closest the breach the Blockade Runner had made. “Move forward!” She grunted to the pilot, and they began advancing.

The Cradle

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 Cradle

Both the Tindrel and Qalian-Vosh ambassadors had passed word of this far away threat to their superiors, so the documentation wasn’t a shock.

The Qalian-Vosh administrator jumped in first. “No one is allowed on the surface. This one feels it could be a plot to make first contact. Out of the question.”

“You’re only concerned this could interfere with your precious Ga-brosh orbital casino!” The Tindrel admin shot back, their holo turning to face their adversary directly. Both representatives were using slang and short-hand, which was putting Outremer’s translation software under pressure to find equivalents.

“Or is this about the thirteen factories that have just arrived in the system? We won’t let you synthesise the…progressive material. It is our property!” The Qalian-Vosh bubbled, gyrating furiously in their holo.

“Your shoal ship is already poisoning the atmosphere of the planet. Just admit it, our technology is better suited!” The Tindrel holo clacked closer, til they were already in touching distance.

The Cradle

The Tindrel and Qalian-Vosh delegations were both impressive, considering the short notice. Supreme leaders were conspicuously absent on both sides. But Outremer’s civil service identified a senior official from each homeworld, each species’ administrator in charge of operations in Psi-Helios and their ambassadors to Outremer and Rothia.

It was well documented that the Tindrel carapace and wing-sets adapted in colour and texture to blend with their environment over time. So inevitably they came to be scrutinised at diplomatic gatherings such as these, to understand more about where and what each of them was doing. Sometimes the Tindrel wore their colours with pride, however in this meeting most wore obfuscating jackets which left just their saddle-shaped heads and half dozen eyes visible. The few which didn’t had obviously been in space for a long time because they were green-grey; the colour of the inside of their spacecraft.

The Qalian-Vosh floated and swam about, but the hologram always kept track and steady. Only slight movements in the background were perceptible; those too had been obfuscated. Their slick, semi-translucent bodies pulsed with colours that reflected both their position within the society and their overall mood.

“Welcome. Thank you for joining us. We appreciate this is an irregular summit, but recent developments require us to move quickly.” Joao Sequiera began.

“We strongly object to their presence here. Tindrel must accept our supervision of the system.” The QV administrator said. Without the translator, their speech would sound like a softly bubbling mountain spring.

“Bwaa! Qalian-Vosh aggression will not be tolerated! We were there first.” The Tindrel administrator squawked.

The Cradle

Hale massaged both his cheeks with one hand and stared into space for a moment.

Brasikha made a very convincing argument. It was important that Outremer’s new administration was decisive on the Cradle, not least to calm public panic in the short term. That was why the military had assumed transitional authority after all.

Brokering this ambitious new defensive pact would give the Lord High Admiral an impressive policy to sell domestically. It would cushion an announcement that they had collectively decided to help reunite the Cradle beings, and provide comfort when news about the Hegemon’s presumed advances inevitably went public.

Hale was a shrewd political operator, and knew there was no way to bring Outremer’s military or government totally in line. Siding with the Rothians would certainly make him very unpopular in some circles. He’d need to tread carefully.

“My lord?” Souza prompted eventually.

“Very well. We can try it your way and start a limited defensive pact, covering the Hegemon threat, with the immediate aim of de-escalating Psi-Helios. But, I want discretion on when and how we approach Earth with this offer. I want to see whether we can bring the Tindrel & Qalian-Vosh to heel first. As for the science teams - what does the savant Dr Lang think?

Souza & Sequiera looked at each other, then Souza replied.

“I believe the Cradle Institute is taking the lead on optimising our team now.”

The Cradle

“I fear having to rely on anyone apart from ourselves. As I just said, we’d be opening up to others who have proven themselves to be fickle and predatory. The Outreman people don’t deserve that.” Hale said.

“And I fear that if we tell the other civilisations what may be hidden on this planet, they will try to take it for themselves.” Joao Sequeira chimed in. “Because that gives them leverage over proceedings."

---

The exam room was cold. Goosebumps rippled down Freyr’s bare arms as she stepped out from behind the changing screen. She was now clad in a lightweight bathing suit with buoyancy blocks positioned around her midriff.

The doctors were waiting for her by the pod. One held a headpiece with a multitude of wires protruding from the back. The other held pads which looked like they were for her body. Masgard Xandrus stood nearby with his arms crossed. He smiled encouragingly, though a look of concern flashed across his eyes.

Halo: Aegis Team

After getting patched up, Tar stalked over to one of the clusters of ex-Covenant storage crates, littered with weapons and equipment. Pushing to the front, she snatched up plasma grenades and tucked them away in her armour. They’d pack more punch against materiel than her usual spike grenades.

Tar grabbed a jetpack and slung it over one arm. She was still without her armour, clad in just her thin underdressings. She leaned over and pulled a carbine out of its housing in a third crate, along with plenty of ammo. Lastly, she slapped her customary Maulers on each thigh.

Tar turned and nearly jumped when she found the armourer’s apprentice standing in front of her. He held her mended cuirass - with only a fleetingly short time to spare, they had just magnetised metal patches to it as a temporary measure. She grunted with indifference and raised both arms, guns and equipment hanging off them.

The armourer’s apprentice tentatively approached, holding the cuirass out in front of him. When it got close to her skin, the back flaps wrapped snugly around her with a satisfying *clank*. The interlocking parts shimmied around until they made a perfect fit around their owner’s torso.

“Give the armourer my thanks.” Tar hissed, striding round the youth and heading for the armoured column. She fastened her jetpack as she went.

She’d only just arrived back with the rest of her team when Vael gave the order to mount up. Tar roared, raising her carbine into the air and shouting for the chaotic mass of rallying troops.

“Glory awaits us! Take it, it's yours!” It got a smattering of encouraging replies from the crowd. The Commando bashed her new carbine against her chest to raise more noise, before jogging towards the front of the column where she’d take a turret in a Wraith.

The Cradle

Hale breathed in heavily. One hand played with the picture of three girls that faced him on the side of his desk.

“We’ll lose our independence. We’ll lose our whole way of life, that’s come from centuries of co-existence with the Cradle.”

He put the picture back.

Even if the Hegemon doesn’t exist, I fear this is exactly the sort of excuse Earth will use to reunite our ‘little federation’. Their influence runs deep in our society, even today.”

“Forgive me, but I feel we’re drifting from the more pressing issue of access to the Psi-Helios system.” Benoit Souza interjected.

“All we need right now, is a promise that our teams can enter unmolested. We can promise to leave the locals alone if we think that will do any good.”

The Cradle

“Oh, nothing.” Hale tapped his mahogany desk with his index finger’s nail.

“We protect ourselves first, and always have, because we can never expect the same from them. This isn’t just about the Tindrel and the QV, but Angjusk, the Renaissance, the whole Diaspora. They all stand to exploit this crusade. Even Earth.”

Benoit Souza and João Sequeira bristled at the thought, looking at each other.

“With all due respect, All-Conqueror, I expected a longer term view from you. You and many of your kind would have been alive when Human civilisation ripped itself apart.”

The Cradle

Hale’s eyes narrowed about two millimetres.

“Our fortress is built on the combined might of two of the strongest navies this galaxy has ever seen. Over a thousand ships of the line of battle, and two million fighters to go with them.”

He swept one forearm out to the side, then clenched a fist.

“I think I know what side of the walls our friends will want to be on, when it comes to it. Regardless of how much they know, they won’t want to face this alone.”