Cath

The Cradle

Gazes Fondly reluctantly complied with Vreta’s request. The Rothian plopped out of the suit and all of the residual goo on his scales eventually dropped off and made its way back where it belonged.

The yellow-tinged QV blobbed through Freyr’s legs to where her mug lay smashed on the deskplate. Laying flat on the floor, its suit slurped up all the little ceramic pieces and with astonishing speed put them back together. The sludge acted like an adhesive, sealing it. Gazes popped the mug into its mouth to evaluate what may have been inside.

Chitnarit had calmed down a little bit, though she still clattered around on the metal floor with her hairy yet spiky legs.

“I should hope so. Your ship does not seem very comfortable - will you show us where you propose we will work?”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

8.5k?

The Cradle

“Open your mouth, let me inspect you.” Gazes Fondly broadcast. Two translucent appendages floated up, gently grasped one row of Vreta’s teeth each and tried to lever them apart. The QV’s skin flickered yellow.

On the whole, the handlers assigned to receive the scientific teams had lost the attention of their audience. The Tindrel and QV were squabbling in the corridor like a bunch of school children until Freyr loudly smashed her mug on the wall. Ceramic pieces clinked to the floor. Most eyes turned to her, with a notable exception of Gazes Fondly, who was still gazing fondly at Vreta.

“Okay everyone, let's move back into the welcome atrium!” Freyr clapped her hands loudly together and made a shooing motion as she approached the group.

“We don’t have much time, so let's get you up to speed! Our Rothian hosts are excited to show you around.”

The Cradle

At the moment Vreta placed a hand on them, both the offending Tindrel and QV appeared locked together and delicately counterbalanced. After a half-moment of silence where they listened to the Rothian, the Tindrel rocked back off its hind legs and delivered a violent shove to the QV.

“Get off me!”

The QV’s mobility suit lost its shape from the push, but latched onto Vreta’s ankle. It swung around and quickly reformed around his whole body. The QV inside wrapped its various appendages around Vreta’s body and shimmied around until their respective faces were millimetres away. The suit was only just big enough for both of them.

“Greetings, you can call this one…Gazes Fondly.”

“The watery vermin need to watch what their FILTHY wetsuits are doing, or I will rend them down to a mere puddle.” The large Tindrel scientist croaked, clacking angrily on the deckplate.
“This one could say the same about the insects crawling all over your body, Chitnarit.” A second QV burbled. A crowd of the two species of aliens had appeared from the atrium, along with some Humans and Rothians.

Freyr finished her mug of coffee and started walking towards the hubbub.

The Cradle

“Perhaps, but i won’t hold my-”

Freyr paused as crashing sounds came from the reception atrium in front of them. Human and Rothian shouts were mingled with a harsh nasal tick tocking and a decidedly liquidy slurping.

Suddenly, the automatic doors whooshed open and a mess of spindly legs and gel sac exploded out. A large Tindrel female clung onto a QV mobility suit as the waterborne alien furiously writhed around. Using the mass of gel to gain momentum, the QV smashed the Tindrel against the wall. The Tindrel replied by rending the side of the suit with its sharp talon - grey liquid sloshed out before the suit joined back together.

More Tindrel and QV spilled from the atrium. Some of them appeared intent on splitting the two up, others looked like they might join in.

Freyr stopped where she was and took another slurp of coffee. She shot a sly glance at Vreta and tried not to laugh.

The Cradle

Freyr climbed slowly up the metal stepladder and looked into the pod. Her own dimly illuminated face peered back from the mirror-like surface of the water - the wired headpiece cradled her head like a crown of thorns.

“You’re sure this is safe?” she asked again.

“Yes ma’am. We can monitor your vitals from right here on the screen.” One of the doctors responded.

“Should take five minutes or less. Just lie back and relax.”

Freyr gingerly swung her legs round until she was sat on the side, before slowly sliding into the water. It was deeper than expected; she couldn’t touch the bottom. It was warm, and smelled vaguely of chlorine. The flotation packs on her vest soon spun her round so she was on her back with the back of her head submerged.

“Closing the door now, keep your eyes open please.”

One by one, the lights on the ceiling were blocked out until everything was black.

---

Freyr gripped the balustrade tightly. She was on a balcony on some high tower, looking out over endless flatlands. The sky was black and crisscrossed with pink skeins; white wafted through the air. Even though there was no natural light, she could see clearly that thousands of structures were in the process of being built from the same base material as the Cradle itself. Engines, terrariums, menageries, manufacturers, laboratories. The whole plain seemed to creak and clang with the momentum of industry.

The little hairs on the back of Freyr’s arms and neck raised, and she turned around. The Navigator was standing inches from her, crackling with the energy of a thousand suns. It looked much healthier than it had when they’d last been together; the jagged edges of its form had flattened slightly and it had taken on a purple hue with a white hot outline and tiny spots of orange. Its eyes were still the same red pinpricks.

The Navigator studied her for a moment, then looked over her shoulder at the scene taking shape behind her.

“Someone like you stood in this very spot, a long time ago.” It whispered.

“Who were they?”

“Our commander, I suppose. Someone we created to lead us.”

“What do you want from me?”

“I want you to be ready, when the time comes. The development of your entire species has been leading to this moment. Your family is depending on you.”

“Give them back to me!”

“I can’t do that, the Cradle has them. You must find the others and return them here first. Then we will see which of you is ready-”

“Show me they’re alive. I’ll do whatever you want, just please show me they’re safe.”

“...very well.”

After a moment, the Navigator stepped to one side - David and Amy were standing in the circular hall leading to the balcony.

“Oh my…” Freyr’s hands moved to cover her mouth, and her eyes filled with tears.

“Mummy!” Amy wrestled free of her father’s tight embrace and ran to Freyr. She hadn’t aged a day since being taken.

“It's ok baby, Mummy’s here. She’s going to get you out.” Freyr sobbed. David came over and joined the hug.

“I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll kill them all-

---

“Doctor Lang!”

Freyr opened her eyes to find the pod door opening up again and Masgard reaching in to grab her. Alarms were sounding inside the chamber, and she could hear the doctors communicating loudly nearby.

She thrashed around, completely disoriented. Water splashed all over Masgard’s face and tailored suit as he hauled her untidily out of the tub.

---

Freyr had been sleeping deeply for the last couple of weeks, so felt quite groggy when Vreta’s alarm went off ahead of schedule. She quickly got dressed in a grey cotton tracksuit with ‘Navy’ printed on the front, sensible shoes and her standard issue lab coat, unbuttoned. She tied her hair into a ponytail (it had been growing fast) and opened the door two seconds after Vreta knocked.

“Morning! Long time no see.” Freyr said with a sarcastic grin, stepping out into the corridor and locking the door behind her before taking the proffered cup of coffee.

“Thank you. Why are they so early? That is not how I thought this would go.”

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.