EliteCommander

The Cradle

“The equipment is already set up and ready in the field laboratory. To bring the scanning equipment up to your ship requires keep a constant presence aboard your ship. We still have to protect our technology, after all. It will need to stay under armed guard, which means negotiating for the constant presence of an armed guard with your Captain. It would be much easier for your team to come to the surface.” Rareth replied.

There was a slight tinge of irritation in Rareth’s voice, though it was hard to tell at exactly whom it was directed. She did not look directly at Freyr when she growled under her breath. “And for that matter, why are you operating on the Barbarossa at all? The lab we constructed above the object contains the full array of necessary equipment, both yours and ours. It was constructed fully cooperatively between our two people, it contains facilities and equipment that are comfortable for both of us. Having our science teams move to constantly work separately will be to the detriment of our efficiency. Now that we have negotiated full cooperation between our people on this project, it would be quite a strange time to move away from having our teams work together in a hybrid lab.”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Do’rhajul did not speak his answer aloud. He simply stood alongside Sabine and readied his shield. His service to Sabine could not end until Vile’s defeat, and he would not leave her side until Vile’s threat had ended. Ahnasha, meanwhile, stepped aside to give a look over Leaps. It was hard to tell at a glance if he was hurt, as spells could leave injuries that would not be visible through his armor, but he did not act as if he was hurt. Though, Ahnasha still frowned as she looked up at the tower. “I don’t think Leaps is going to do too well in a tower like that, at his size.” She mentioned to Fendros. Her first thought would be to let Ri’vashi make use of him, but since she was quite insistent on joining them in their assault on the tower, she turned to Saras instead. “You should take Leaps. I’m sure his lightning will be helpful holding the pass, just…take care of him.”

---

The pack could not afford to delay for long. The majority of their forces had to move quickly to defend the pass, though Ri’vashi did gather a force of some of their reinforcements to join them in assaulting the tower. She made sure not to take too much away from the defense in the pass, and rather just brought enough to comfortably fight within the tower.

The hill leading up to the tower was somewhat steep, but rather open. It would have been easy to get surrounded, had there been anything to resist them. All of the Daedra seemed to be behind them, as there was nothing to so much as slow them down during their march up to the tower.

As they drew nearer, more details came into focus. Even from a distance, they had been able to see that there were three columns consisting of immense amounts of energy spiraling up towards the top of the tower. Meesei could now feel that they were made from pure magicka, and they were coming together at a focal point at the very top of the tower. It was a power that was almost blinding to her senses. Though, the tower itself was also notable. Meesei could see cracks running all up the structure, as if it had been fractured into a thousand pieces, then put back together.

“This tower, it looks almost…familiar.” Meesei commented. “It reminds me of descriptions of the Crystal Tower in Summerset. The one that fell during the Oblivion Crisis.”

Halo: Aegis Team

Moving down through the structure, the team kept their pace as quick as possible. It was vital to their mission that the enemy leader not be allowed to escape. As per their mission parameters, capture was preferable, but even killing him would be acceptable should capture not be an option. The only outcome that would be considered a failure would be if he were to escape.

There was some resistance as they moved down into the tunnels, though nothing like what they had encountered in the chambers above. With how swiftly the team had made their attack, the Insurrectionists had not had the time nor resources to organize more than their initial defense. A good portion of them were likely still caught up in the battle above ground. The few rebels they did encounter tried to set up ambushes, but against a team like Aegis, they did not so much as slow them down.

Near the bottom of the structure, Shih guided the team into an elevator leading down deeper into Sarcophagus’ superstructure. The rebels had tried to lock it down, but fortunately, they did not seem to have any special understanding of Forerunner systems, so Shih was able to easily override it. After reaching the bottom, it was only a short run through the halls to reach the rebels’ underground landing platform. The hallway opened up into a large, flat platform in the middle of a massive, hexagonal tunnel, though it was cluttered with crates and equipment. The hallway exited out near the middle of the platform, so there were multiple dropships on either side of them. Most of them were of different models with different appearances and loadouts, ranging from fully-armed UNSC pelicans, to police and civilian transports.

Making full use of every sensor at her disposal, Shih started scanning area as soon as they stepped through the door. Based on the information she had recovered from the rebels’ network, she was able to identify and mark the leader on their HUDs before any of the team had even set foot on the platform. The enemy commander was off to their left, about a hundred meters away near the edge of the platform. He was equipped in what appeared to be ODST combat armor, though it was heavily modified. He had been coordinating the evacuation, though the moment he saw Aegis team arrive, he and the soldiers around him made a run for the nearest pelican on the platform. Unfortunately, he was close enough that he would certainly reach it before anyone on Aegis could.

The Cradle

Given the true motivations of her actions, Rareth’s first attempt in negotiating was to try and convince the Humans to allow the civilian scientists to go ahead and get to work while they worked out a deal for the military personnel. She stressed the short timetable they had and pointed out that the civilians did not have the same issues with the scans as Andersen was concerned with for their soldiers. However, Human pride did come to the Institute’s aid in this case. Despite the fact that Rothian forces were even more capable of protecting the scientists than the Humans were, they would only be satisfied with a Human presence.

Rareth was not afraid to chastise them for obstructing the project for matters of pride; however, she did not argue for any longer than was necessary to keep up appearances. In the end, she agreed to allow the project to proceed without full scans, under the condition that anyone affected would sign a rather comprehensive waiver before being allowed to proceed, in addition to the Captain signing a formal agreement between herself and the Datius. For the most part, the paperwork was a formal acknowledgement that the Captain understood the health risks involved, and that the Humans were knowingly proceeding against the recommendations of Rothian medical personnel. It also waived any legal liability on the part of the Rothians for any future health issues among Human personnel as a result of the decision.

Eventually, the project did get back on-track to start. The Rothian science team had been ready to begin for hours, and indeed likely would have entered the simulation themselves had the delay lasted too much longer. They had only to wait for the Human team to be ready to start, and to that end, Rareth contacted Freyr directly shortly after her meeting with the Captain concluded.

“Dr. Lang, I am sending you a copy of some paperwork that some of your team may need to sign. It waives liability for us in case any of your team decide not to follow our medical advice. Though, for civilians like yourself, you do have a choice. I still highly recommend that you allow us to perform these scans. Having before-and-after imaging of the brain could be highly valuable in identifying and treating any neurological issues, and it would be best to have data points from both of our species.” Rareth recommended.

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.”