EliteCommander

The Cradle

Marae nodded. “Agreed. We do have such a limited time to carry out our work. I’m sure a simple talk with Rareth will be enough to clear up any problems you have. If there is anyone on your ship, or team, with experience in neuroscience, they are more than welcome to assist in analyzing the data from the scans. Once they can see the data themselves, they may be able to explain to your people the advantage of using our devices.”

Though they were all clearly in a hurry, Marae still had one more matter to bring up to Freyr. Based on the smile she had, it was something she was particularly excited to share. “Now, there is one more thing.” She added. “I have a project of my own I intend to take on, based on the data from our first insertion. Much of the interaction we have with the object pertains to a mix of artificial intelligence, computer science, and neuroscience. All of that falls quite squarely into my area of expertise. Some…work I have done in the past has inspired me with an idea. Don’t set expectations too high, I am only just beginning to explore the idea, but I believe I could develop a method to prevent ‘Cradle death’, as you call it. A way to prevent the neural shock in the real world that comes with expiring in the simulation.”

The Cradle

Marae frowned, or at least gave the Rothian equivalent. “I know you brought your best for this expedition, but Rareth doesn’t want to take any chances. Brain damage is a serious concern, especially with the symptoms Agent 595 was exhibiting. No offense, but our equipment can map a brain in far greater detail than yours, and will be much more likely to catch the problem. Besides, more detailed scans means more data points for determining what could have caused the issue in the first place. If there are any problems, you’ll have to talk to Rareth about it. She’s the one who made the decision.”

For a few moments, Marae took the time to to review what information she had on Cradle terraforming. What Freyr described was not inaccurate, but Marae was not convinced that they had the complete picture. “As for terraforming, it is not dangerous to us, yes, but can we truly say for sure that the same is true for the environment itself? So much is unknown about the Cradle and similar objects. Humanity has terraformed the Cradle for centuries, and now, the Cradle itself is becoming hostile to outsiders. It is true that we cannot simply assume that the two are related, but neither can we rule it out. The deeper mechanisms that control these objects are still an unknown. Perhaps we can at least start by trying to contact the being again? Then, we can ask directly if such processes harm the simulation.”

The Cradle

Marae tilted her head, exhaling slowly as she considered what Freyr was suggesting. “Terraformer? We’re…going to have to get together with Rareth and have a talk about that. This object is an inhabited space; it’s not ours to reshape as we please. Unless we have permission from that being, I really would not feel comfortable with that. For the mission today, I was just hoping to be able to make contact again. Perhaps brief the being on our plan, and ask questions if we can? Though, given the way the last encounter went, that may be an optimistic hope.”

“At any rate…” Marae continued. “…speaking of injuries, Rareth is mandating a few safety regulations based on what happened last time. She wants full medical scans with our best equipment on anyone who had entered the object before she will approve them to enter again. She’s particularly worried about the possibility of neurological damage with repeated entries. The problem might not come up again now that we’ve fixed the language issue, but that doesn’t help anyone who has already been in.”

The Cradle

After Vreta was given a clean bill of health, he followed Rhia’s direction for their appointment with their superiors. When Vreta entered the meeting room near the top floor of the building, only two others were inside: Rareth’Jharn and Director Valic’Ans. Vreta could not help but to feel some anxiety come over him. Datius were something unique among his organization, something exceptional. He had never even properly met a Datius before this mission, and now he was in a private meeting sitting at the table with two of them. For an Agent like himself, it was of course an honor to be trusted by them, but also equally nerve-wracking.

“Excellent. The doctors sent word ahead that your procedure was completed successfully. Has Rhia properly settled in to her new environment?” Rareth asked after Vreta took his seat.

This time, instead of just appearing to Vreta, Rhia accessed the holographic systems in the room and projected her avatar into the seat beside him. “Affirmative. I’ve run diagnostics thrice over, Vreta, and myself, is ready to go.”

The Director nodded. “Good, then we’re ready to begin. And it is good that we are; we are not going to have a lot of time to act. It is just a week or so before we will be ready to move the object, and we need to know if that is wise by then. Now, to start, this attack you suffered, Agent Vreta. We have started receiving results from the analysis of your storage drive. It will take some time to fully analyze its contents, but we can confirm with reasonable confidence that the virus was made at least partially with Cradle technology. We don’t think the complete virus ever made it into your head. From what we’ve seen so far, it seems clear that the virus in your head stayed in communication with its source, but it never fully uploaded. We may not get a full picture of its capabilities, but the Humans likely could not have created it on their own.”

“That was my impression as well.” Vreta replied. “It was very adaptable; moreso than I would expect from a Human program. Still, the parts that did enter my head, my implant would have still been able to contain. It would have done so more quickly, had I not focused on trying to preserve so much information.”

With a flick of her wrist, Rareth brought up a holographic document and pushed it in front of Vreta. “That is true, but we cannot know what the source program was capable of. We cannot afford to underestimate anything made from, or by, the Cradle. From the data you gathered, we do know that, before it ceased operation, the virus did transmit a partial scan of your neural map. We are still working on getting a complete picture of what they may have learned, but we do have thoughts on how to use that to our advantage.”

While Vreta was still reading the report Rareth gave him, Director Valic quickly continued where she had left off. “If Agent 595 was willing to attack you in a mere training simulation, we have no reason to believe she will not attempt it again, perhaps in more dire circumstances. She has her scan, but as of right now, she does not know that your neural map has essentially been completely overhauled. If you keep your upgrades quiet, don’t let anyone know about Rhia, then the Human Agent won’t know her scans are out-of-date until it is too late.”

Although Rhia did technically need to think about the suggestion, the time she required to come to a decision was hardly perceptible to the others. “That shouldn’t be too hard. I can keep a low profile. Whenever I need to interact with any external systems, I should be able to rig up an interface to imitate Vreta’s previous model of implant. The outside systems won’t know the difference.”

“Good. We will keep you both updated as we learn more from our analysis. In the meantime, you should get ready to join in this investigation into the object. The Rahn’Saki decided to include Dr. Freyr Lang into this investigation, so we are obliged to work with her as best as we can. Preferably subtly.” Rareth said, though her expression was not entirely encouraging. “We may have our work cut out for us in that regard. Not all of the Human representatives seemed particularly thrilled that Roth’Orsa was able to negotiate full-cooperation. I suspect there may be some pushback, especially from the Director-General’s people. It may be a…diplomatic fight for us every step of the way to maintain that equal cooperation.”

Vreta was silent for a moment. He brought a claw up to his chin as he thought back on his time among the Humans. Out of everyone in the room, he was actually the most experienced in living among them. “Well, if they are intent on resisting cooperation, I imagine they will want to maintain their control however they can. Using their equipment, their facilities. Honestly, it might not be hard for the Agent to convince their scientists of that. From what I’ve seen, even without any pressure, their scientists do seem to prefer their equipment, even if ours is much more advanced. I would expect them to say they are more familiar with it and they want to work with what they know. They have a whole lab on the Barbarossa that they might prefer to use.”

Rareth frowned, giving a quick sigh. “Hmm, if the Agent can get the scientists to agree with her, then it might be difficult to keep them working on the surface with us. From the Barbarossa, the Institute will be able to keep track of everything that passes through the ship’s transmitters, so it will be hard for us to act discretely.”

Rhia spoke up again, but not with the look of concern that the others were showing. Instead, she almost seemed excited about something. “True, but that also works for us. Those harnesses, they form a connection between the mind of the user and the object. The mind isn’t actually uploaded, but for the mind inside the simulation to be able to act and remember things as that person, the information still has to be transferred between the harness and the object at some point. In the underwater FoB, the Cradle harnesses are fairly close to the object and beam their signals directly to it. Not really much of an opportunity to intercept them, especially without anyone knowing. But, if that signal has to cross from a ship up in orbit, all the way down under the surface of the planet, well…there are thousands of points at which we, or anyone really, could intercept and save a copy of that signal without either the source or destination being aware of it. The trick is being able to decode it once we have it. Those signals are rather complex. They encode the neural map of an entire Human brain, but if we put enough effort into it, we may be able to look inside the heads of anyone who enters the simulation. Thoughts, emotions, memories in particular, that could be valuable intelligence.”

“Not bad.” Director Valic remarked. “So we might be able to gain some advantage either way. Still, the Institute will be expecting us to push for equal cooperation, so that is exactly what we have to give them. Try as best as you can to keep the scientists working together on the surface.”

---

Marae could not answer Freyr’s call immediately, though she did return an alert that she would be ready to talk momentarily. After a few minutes, a hologram of Marae finally appeared in front of Freyr once she connected to the channel. “Sorry about that; I was working on one of the designs for the new equipment. Based on all the data collected in our last insertion into the object, we started working on a more compact transit station. My team believe they have figured out how to integrate our power source, and Nirann has been working on modifying the internals to get them into a more compact frame. We’ve fabricated our first prototype, so how soon can you and your team get down here?”

The Cradle

About the next half hour was spent with Vreta having about three different types of diagnostics run on his body while answering questions to the doctors. Rhia’s internal diagnostic finished long before the other two, and she gave him a clean bill of health. Vreta could easily believe her, as he was well-aware of the fact that she had knowledge of every single cell in his body. Or at least, that was the reach of his implants, and she had taken the place of his implants’ central operating system. Really, he had few options except to trust her. In principal, he was still in charge, but that was convention enforced through Rahn’Masser rules and regulations, not anything physical within his mind. They were meant to be partners, so there was nothing that shackled her in his implants.

Rhia continued to appear in a Rothian form within Vreta’s vision, but it was only he that could see her for now, until she decided to show herself to others. “Once the doctors cut you loose, we have an appointment to meet back up with Rareth. With how long you’ve been under, they’ll surely have at least some preliminary results by now from studying that virus. Though, we can’t take too long talking. Investigations into the object will probably start soon enough, and we’ll want to be there for that.”

Vreta tilted his head towards Rhia, though it occurred to him that he should probably avoid making gestures towards her in public if he wanted to avoid any peculiar looks from others. ”Are you sure? This is all pretty new to me. I imagine we, or…I, at least, would benefit from a good orientation and some practice with your capabilities.”

”Normally, yes.” Rhia nodded. ”But, we’re not really operating on our own timetable right now. Besides, the best way to learn is by doing, right? Don’t worry too much, you’ll pick up what you need easily enough. And I already know what I’m doing. You’re not the first head I’ve been in. I was partner to a Datius for almost a century. He’s retired from field service now, though, and I was looking for something new.”

”A Datius?” Vreta remarked. He was surprised, but this time avoided showing that outwardly. ”I imagine there are some amazing stories you could tell from that. I’ve seen Rareth’Jharn in action.”

Rhia chuckled for a moment. ”Yeah, those were great times. Great…classified times. Don’t worry, though. We can make our own stories. It looks like the doctors are almost done.”

The Cradle

When Vreta opened his eyes once more, it took a moment for him to start breathing again. His core software had already booted up before he was conscious, while secondary programs started to come online once he was awake. His surgery, along with most others on Rothia, was performed by quick, precise, and reliable machines, but even for them, the complete overhaul of his neural structure was a task that lasted several hours. He had been told beforehand everything the procedure would entail, which was why he was surprised at just how…normal he felt. At least, for the first few seconds.

Vreta had been moved from the auto-surgeon to a hospital bed before he had awoken. The sensors in the bed beneath him were constantly scanning his vitals and sending the results to the two doctors that were looming over him while his implants were coming online. The pair of them were both occupied looking at charts and readouts on various holographic screens floating around them, while talking back and forth to one another mostly in medical jargon. However, there was a third being that he could see: a Rothian woman. She caught his attention right away, not in the least because of the vibrant designs of her scales. Repeating patterns of various shades of orange and yellow stood out between black and white accents all across her body. She seemed to be sitting between the two doctors, right on top of some medical equipment, yet they did not look at nor even acknowledge her existence. Vreta was still too weak to get out of bed, and besides which, the doctors would likely still want to keep him under observation for a while. However, he did look up at the Rothian, finally acknowledging her where no one else had.

The woman stood up to her feet and walked past the doctors, again without notice. “Well, you’re finally awake. Glad I finally get to meet my new host.”

Vreta nodded his head and took another moment just to breathe. He still remembered his briefings on this; answering her aloud was not even necessary. Merely thinking would suffice. ”I suppose so. I would introduce myself, but I guess you already know everything there is to know about me.”

The woman chuckled briefly. ”Not quite. Even for me, it will take a while to sift through six centuries of memories. Even then, memories, by themselves, don’t give all the context. Anyways, I’m Rhia’Sel, and if the mission briefing I got is anything to go by, we’re going to have a lot of work to do.”

Halo: Aegis Team

Despite the strength of his defenses, as well as his rage and resolve, the Brute chieftain’s armor could only take so much. His body could only be pushed so far. Yalu’s carbine found a weak point in the armor, so all of the heat, kinetic force, and radiation found its way right into the Jiralhanae’s body. He lost the use of his arm, and with all that surrounded him, it made him an easy kill. A few shots from Elna was all it took to finish him off.

Few of the rebel Humans had survived the firefight, and those who did were quick to retreat out the other side of the chamber. With the immediate threats dealt with, it was easy to take a look around and see where they were. Some of the crates had been broken open during the fighting, and there were weapons visible. This was the armory, which meant that the console they needed to hack was in one of the adjacent rooms. There were not many rooms to search, so it did not take long for Aviza to bring Shih to the console. It was in a small room through a door on the left side in which the rebels had set up some of their equipment. Whatever the room’s purpose, all Shih needed was access to their network.

As Shih had alluded to before, the insurrectionists’ network security was surprisingly robust for a rebel cell. Even a smart AI like Shih took a minute or so to get through into the network. It was clear that the rebels either had a few talented members, or some resourceful allies, but in any case, Shih was able to recover the information they needed for their mission here and now. In the time it took for Shih to complete her work, Vael’s team was able to double-back and rejoin with Aviza’s, so they would all be able to move together.

By cross-referencing the intelligence pulled from the network with rebel communications she had been intercepting, Shih was able to determine their target’s most likely location. ”It seems like one of our suspicions was correct. The rebels discovered tunnels underneath the surface that spread out in all directions. They have plans in place to use them as an escape route in just this situation. If I’m reading this right, some of those tunnels are large enough that they were able to get entire dropships down there. They’re evacuating everyone they can right now. Their commander is organizing things, but he’ll be leaving soon enough too. I…think I’ve identified a path to his pelican, but if we don’t hurry, he will get away from us.”

The Cradle

For Vreta’s procedure, the medical center he was taken to was located in the Rahn’Masser’s headquarters itself. He and Rareth went their separate ways upon landing, but the doctors already knew to expect him. In fact, they already had his treatment queued in the machines and ready to go. As far as procedures with neural implants were concerned, replacing a storage drive was quick and easy. Its physical location was close to the access port in the back of the skull, so it was a simple matter of opening the port and having the precise tools to remove it. Vreta did not even require sedation for the process.

Once removed, the storage drive was no doubt taken off right away for study. Given the nature of the program that had attacked him, it was safest to consider that drive to be permanently compromised, along with any systems it touched. As long as proper quarantine procedures were followed, though, it would be safe to study it and learn what they could. Vreta could restore most of the data that had been on his drive from external backups, once he had a new one.

Up to that point, everything had gone about as Vreta had expected. However, what he had not anticipated was the report he was given right after the drive was removed, while he was waiting for the replacement. It was a report detailing the discussion that took place between Roth’Orsa and Freyr, and what it contained was both enlightening and alarming. Without internal memory, only Vreta’s vital implants were still active, so it took him longer to read through the report the “old-fashioned” way.

Ultimately, Vreta could not be sure where this would lead. It seemed like they were not sure whether or not the Institute actually had any dangerous plans in mind, but the possibility that they could was too risky to leave alone. If they were being deceived, it could be dangerous to reunite the object with the Cradle. It seemed likely that Vreta’s own directives might change out of this, if he was being briefed on these events. Given the sensitive nature of this issue, all information would be on a need-to-know basis.

After a while, Vreta did start to question why it was taking so long for someone to return with his replacement storage drive. He had been alone in a waiting room reading the report, but when someone did finally come in, it was not one of the doctors. His guest was once again the Datius Rareth’Jharn, which no doubt meant that no one would be disturbing them until their business was concluded. He sat straight up and clearly gave Rareth his full attention, while she was the first to speak.

“I’ll assume you’ve read the report, so you know the situation. I only learned myself just a few hours ago, but I have had a discussion with the Director. This is a matter in which we will need to tread carefully. We have to maintain our alliance with Outremer, but it’s possible their government is being lied to as much as we are. You will be at the center of this as much as I am, so you will need to be ready.” Rareth explained.

“Of course, Datius.” Vreta answered with firm confidence. “I already have a good position among the research team to be closely involved with the investigation heading forward. What is my next objective? The report did not mention our plan going forward.”

Rareth shook her head. “Because we don’t have one. At least nothing more specific than what you’ve already read. All of this has just happened in the last few hours. Our goal is to investigate and learn what we can. It is up to us to determine how best to do that. And given this whole matter with the virus, both the Director and I agree that it sheds new light on the potential capabilities of the Institute, or at least what they can harness from the Cradle. We believe that all agents directly involved in this investigation will require the greatest level of preparation we can give them. Your neural implants will be receiving a software upgrade, and will require a substantial hardware upgrade to accommodate.”

For a moment, Vreta felt confused. “But my implants are already top-of-the-line. There aren’t many upgrades they can have, unless…”

Vreta’s eyes widened slightly. His implants were the top in their class, so there was only one option left for improvement: the highest class of implant. To integrate a full, living AI with the mind of a Rothian was the best that could be offered, and it was no trivial task. A full Rothian AI was an immensely complex neural network that required powerful hardware to operate. It was well-known that Rothians could fit such processors in artificial bodies, but to integrate it into a living Rothian mind was another matter entirely. Officially, such implants did not even exist, but unofficially, Vreta knew they were given only with special approval, and only when needed. These style of implants were far more comprehensive than most. Not only were they much larger, physically, but they touched virtually every part of the brain and nervous system. Its parts could be upgraded or replaced, but as of yet, no way had been discovered for a brain to survive having them removed. Not only would this upgrade require comprehensive brain surgery, but once he went through with it, there would be no going back.

To all of these considerations, Vreta looked into Rareth’s eyes and answered without hesitation. “I understand. I am ready.”

The Cradle

Rareth turned her head slightly towards Andersen. “All is well. I just wanted to speak to the Sacred Band. I will be leaving shortly. Vreta’Sori, I would like for you to join me. In light of recent events, a few questions have come to mind that I would like to ask about your previous experiences in the Cradle.”

“Of course, Datius.” Vreta answered with a small not. Naturally, he expected she was lying about her reasons, but he would not deny a Datius regardless.

Moving her focus back to Thebes, Rareth continued to show her sympathy, as least as much as it could be conveyed across species. “If you think that is the path he would prefer, then I respect your choice. I can understand if your people do not prefer to engage in ceremony. Though, if I may ask the favor, would you consider allowing me to at least add his name to the list of honored? Given the secrecy of our work, it may be beyond your lifetimes before the details of his deeds can be told, but I do feel he at least deserves to be remembered among those who were lost before they could see eternity. You need not answer now; just think on it. If you make a decision, you can tell…well, any of our people, really. The answer will find its way to me.”

---

After they parted ways with the Sacred Band, Vreta ended up joining Rareth when she left the ship. He originally intended to speak with Freyr when he could, but events in the simulation changed those plans considerably. Rareth waited until they were the only two passengers aboard a Rothian transport bound for the surface before she finally spoke up openly to Vreta. “The hacking attempt, was your implant able to recover any logs from the event?”

Vreta nodded. “Even better. I was able to create a write-once partition and direct a copy of all changes to be saved into it. Any code she injected into my head, any transmissions, any changes that anything made or attempted to make, are all saved within the partition.”

While not going as far as smiling, it was easy to see from her tone and demeanor that Rareth was pleased with the result. “Excellent work, Agent. We will get you down to the medical center right away to deal with it. Meanwhile, I will go speak with the Director. This may change aspects of our approach going forward.”

The Cradle

Rareth moved along just ahead of the group. She gave a brief look towards Kjartan, but otherwise continued on with what she was saying. “A life is not something we take lightly. A Rothian life, or a Human. Memnon was your friend, and a member of your team. Your customs of course take precedence, but he did die fighting for Rothia as well. If there is no conflict with your customs, I would like to offer our honors also.”

Once they were in a space where they could loiter freely, Rareth stopped once again. “When a Rothian soldier dies, there is generally a public…what would be the best word to describe it to you? A vigil? It is an observance to honor the life and death of the fallen. It is a more public event than the funeral. It would be our way of showing respect to him, but you would know better than I if he would want to accept such a thing.”