EliteCommander

The Cradle

“Perform reconnaissance only. Do not enter the building yet, nor engage in any hostilities.” Rareth said to Thebes before quickly returning her attention to the Agent. “Yes, this is the only time we have to do this. I would have brought this up earlier, had we not been attacked. We might be in a simulation, but we are still on Rothia. For as long as we are on my homeworld, you do answer to me.”

Rareth turned her head briefly to look up at the structure looming over them. “The being that brought us here has not yet shown any aggression towards us. I will lead the way, and I will take the risk, but I do expect you to stay your hand. By definition, the beings of this simulation are an uncontacted civilization within Rothian space, so it is the Rothian government which has jurisdiction over first-contact diplomacy. You said it yourself: Outremer needs help, and we have agreed to help you. So, do not trample upon our agreement and goodwill along with it. So, I ask again, is there anything the rest of us should know? You disappeared, then reappeared by seemingly impossible means. I cannot even be sure that you are the same Agent 595 that entered that cave. Your mind could have been influenced, or even replaced, by something in the simulation when you disappeared. If you could share your recording of the incident, sensor readings, the medical report from Knossos, anything that might help us understand what happened…that is all I want: transparency.”

To reinforce her point, Rareth quickly sent the Sacred Band a copy of all of her recordings and other data from their time in the caves. Everything she saw, heard, and felt, they could access.

The Cradle

“I am not saying you should relinquish your weapon; I am saying you should not be pointing it at our host when we walk into its home.” Rareth looked down and narrowed her eyes at the Agent, then retracted her helmet specifically so she could see the expression. She was not aggressive, nor did she seem angry, per se, but everything about her tone showed that she was deadly serious. “I do not know what will happen inside this place, but it very well could decide whether we leave here alive. I want to make sure that, at the very least, there will be no surprises from the allies beside me.”

Rareth walked a short distance up the steps as well to place herself between 595 and the entrance. “I have seen you as being aggressive, so far…trigger-happy, I think you might say. But that is not even what has the most of my concern. You have acted strangely, especially in the caves. One of those insects disintegrated to ash in your hands, then you seemingly disappeared from reality itself. You appeared in another part of the cavern in an instant, with your IFF tag no longer transmitting. Yet, you showed such little concern at this. It took such convincing for you to even see a medic. Was it pride, or something else? I want there to be no surprises in there; I want us to fully understand each other. So, is there anything you have not shared that would be…relevant to this?”

The Cradle

Frigid, snowy mountains were not locations that Rothians would often visit willingly, but it was far from Rareth’s first time out of her comfort zone. Besides which, between her suit and her implants, she did not feel the cold. Although she would not have admitted it openly, she did allow herself the briefest moment to take in the sight of this place they had came to. Its architecture was alien to her; like nothing she had seen on Rothia, or anywhere else among their colonies. Athena said it reminded her of Earth, and Rareth had no way of knowing how accurate that assessment was.

Whatever its origin, this structure clearly represented something significant in this simulation. Everything else they had experienced had either been simple animals, natural features, or the creations of primitives. This was something else entirely. Its architecture and artistry implied much more advanced origins; although, Rareth still could not be sure if its creators were the same as those who had created the simulation itself. Hopefully, such questions would be answered soon enough.

The Sacred Band approached the situation as expected of soldiers, securing the area and identifying tactically relevant information. Rareth had no objections there, but it was Agent 595’s behavior that unsettled Rareth. She ignored Thebes and started approaching herself, weapon drawn. This was not the first instance of her strange behavior that Rareth had noticed, especially after the incident in the caves, and she would not ignore it.

“Agent!” Rareth firmly declared as she stepped up just behind 595. “What are you doing? We have not come here to pick a fight. I will not have our first impression with this being to be to threaten it. You have been acting strangely for a while now; do not think I have not noticed.”

The Cradle

From what she could see through the linked cameras, Rareth’s plan had worked perfectly. Their shots passed through the wormhole and cut straight through the creature above them. Regardless of its size, it was not as if it was armored to deal with high-powered weaponry. However, they were not fortunate enough for it to simply die alone in silence. It was only moments after its death that it came crashing down below, and took one of their cargo droids with it.

“Nirann, report! What did we lose?” Rareth asked right away.

Nirann hummed a moment and spoke in a tone as if he was grimacing along with it. “That was bot two, so…that was the transit station. Do I have permission to panic yet, or…”

“Permission denied.” Rareth retorted immediately. “As long as we have the comms mast, we can get another transit station. Just focus on here and now. Any other contacts? More threats?”

Nirann again checked the cameras of the cargo bots, along with his own body’s sensors. There were more living things in view, especially below, but nothing that seemed like it had an interest in them. “Uh, nothing that I can see. Yet.”

Rareth wasted no time, and made sure to keep the Nirann on-track. “Then keep working. When we do get a new transit station, you will need to make sure we can return through it.”

The Cradle

Given the angle it was attacking from, none of the group had an angle to fire upon the predator without harming their own flier. Having synced with the cargo bots’ cameras, Rareth did already have the coordinates calculated to transport herself with her gateway device, but she had no way of knowing if she would be able to return to her flier afterwards. Athena suggested shooting through her own creature, but that seemed to be suicide. Rareth was about to free herself from the creature’s claws when the predator started to dive, and another idea came to mind.

“Quickly! Ready your weapons! On my mark, everyone fire on these exact coordinates!” Rareth commanded. The beast was closing quick, and she did not have time to explain her thoughts. She simply updated everyone’s HUD with a marker then aimed her own particle cannon. The point she told them to fire upon was indeed in everyone’s line-of-sight, but it was also directly ahead of them and appeared to be just a random point in the air. Nevertheless, Rareth’s other arm opened up, but instead of deploying her plasma blade, its emitters were glowing with an intense, white light. She aimed forward and shot out an orb of white light so bright it would have been like a second sun, had there been another sun in the sky to begin with. Just before the orb reached the point in the air Rareth had designated, she shouted: “Mark!”

An instant later, the orb of light collapsed into a wormhole that warped spacetime around itself. At the same time, the destination portal appeared straight in the path of the diving creature, facing directly towards it. Rareth fired her particle cannon into the portal, and she hoped enough of the others would listen to her orders to have an impact. Her gateway device was not intended to hold a wormhole open for more than a quick moment, so it would not last long.

The Cradle

"My subroutines never stopped. We've already aligned most of the code, really. A mind is the most complicated piece, but I'd have about...eighty percent confidence in a return trip right now. It shouldn't be too long before I can bring that up to a certainty." Nirann answered. However, the disturbance in the creatures carrying them soon interrupted the conversation.

“On it!” Nirann answered right away. With his remote control of the cargo bots, it was easy enough for him to raise one of them up enough to give its camera a good view of the skies above them. He shared the view among the team, which gave them all sights on the silhouette of a large creature far above them. It was still quite distant at the moment, but its shape was steadily growing closer.

Rareth deployed her particle cannon as she observed the camera feed. Whatever this creature was, it was several times larger than even the fliers that were carrying them. There was nothing else in the area that Rareth could detect, and the reactions of the fliers were certainly consistent to that of prey agitated by the presence of a predator. The danger seemed real, and Rareth would have to be ready to react. Her micro-missiles would likely be able to cause sufficient damage, but there were more concerns than just the threat itself. Rareth did not know how direct of control the being guiding them had over these creatures, and such explosions could spook them and cause them to scatter.

For as long as she still had time, Rareth had her neural implant calculating potential trajectories and destination coordinates. The predator was getting steadily closer to being in Rareth’s range. “What are our options? Do we have any equipment that could scare it off without affecting our own fliers?”

The Cradle

By this point, there was little surprise that Rareth did not show any anxiety, excitement, nor any other emotion openly. She kept her focus, and any words she spoke came across in a calm, even tone. She had no interest in sightseeing, but she did record every observation she could make about the ground below to build out a map of the area. She did not expect to need it, but there was no reason not to take the opportunity in front of her. Otherwise, Rareth just kept monitoring her suit’s sensors to keep track of how much pressure the creature was applying at any given moment.

So far, there had been no surprises in their flight. The creatures had grabbed everyone as the being had said, and they were still all in sight of one another. Rareth was still ready to act quickly if needed, but hopefully it would not be necessary. She doubted this being would have gone through this trouble if it did not intend to at least speak to them.

“Don’t worry.” Nirann replied back to Dr. Wetherall. “As long as its in my head before we leave, I’ll make sure we hold on to all our data.”

The Cradle

Rareth turned back briefly with a look towards the Agent and the soldiers. “Do your suits not protect you from falls? I doubt we are going to be leaving ourselves helpless here. Just be ready to speak up and ask for help should anything go wrong.” She recommended.

After double-checking that all of her equipment was secured, Rareth stepped out onto an open area on the cliff to wait for the creatures. “If this being intended to attack us, it likely would have already done so. I do not think I need to remind you that this is the best chance you have had in your history to receive direct answers about the Cradle.”

Nirann let out a simulated sigh, then walked forward onto the cliffs as well. “I guess these things are better than nothing. I’ll guide the bots on remote. If they can keep up with Rothian military transports, then I’m pretty sure they’ll do fine following these…things.”

The Cradle

Once again, the responses of the Humans and Rareth were drastically different. While their weapons were raised, Rareth holstered hers on her back and approached the edge of the cliff with the avian creature. Regardless of how many steps she took forward, the beast did not react aggressively, nor defensively. “Lower your weapons. You heard what it said. These creatures do look strong enough to carry us. We may finally be able to reach this meeting.”

“You…sure about this, Rareth? I don’t know how high up I trust these things to take me.” Nirann commented hesitantly as he stepped out of the cave within sight of the avians.

Rareth reached out one hand and placed it gently upon the creature’s chest. “Nirann, that body can insert from orbit. You’ll be fine.”

Nirann shrugged. “Yeah, yeah, I know. But then I can’t be so dramatic. I guess as the Humans say, don’t…look at a gifted horse’s teeth. Is that right? I don’t have my databank with me.”

The Cradle

This time, Rareth did not give 595 a straight answer. Her only, brief response was: “My equipment loadout is classified.” She had intended to avoid using her experimental hardware if she could help it, but it had become necessary. She had no more equipment remaining that she had not already used, but she had no motivation to provide that information. For their trek through the caves, she allowed the Human soldiers to lead, as she wanted to stay near the back and protect from anything that might attack from their flank.

The typical aggression of the Humans was growing to be an irritant for Rareth. They likely could have passed by the creature they encountered without conflict, considering that it was not near to their nest. Indeed, she did not have a favorable judgement of much of their behavior during this expedition, but she still had to press on. What mattered was getting to that beacon and finding the answers they needed.

It was at the far end of the caves where Rareth took the lead once again. She did know that the cave emerged into a waterfall on the other side, but she had not scouted beyond that before. “Wait a moment. Let me see if I can find an easy way down.” Rareth remarked as she stepped out of the cave onto the cliffs. In particular, she worried about the creatures nesting just outside. There was a possibility they could be dangerous, or at least defensive of their nest, so she prioritized keeping a respectful distance while searching for a way down.