EliteCommander

Halo: Aegis Team

@EliteCommander Out of curiosity, is there still room for characters in the RP? I may as well try my hand at a group setting.

@Charlie Foxtrot

I can accept new players, but it usually has to be between missions. To give you fair warning, though, it may be a while before this mission is finished. Though, we have found other ways to introduce people before.

What kind of character are you interested in.

Halo: Aegis Team

Vael 'Virisusai

---

All at once, this entire cave had become their battlefield. They had reached the heart of this monster, and it would do everything it could to protect itself. Vael’s blade had already been at the ready when the vines started to move, and it begand to slice with precision the moment they did. He was still near the front of the group, behind Tar, who had gone ahead as they had entered the chamber. He was not worried about thorns being able to pierce his armor, but they could well have the strength to pull him in if he was not cautious.

Vael could not help Tar at first, as merely protecting himself required all of his focus. Smaller vines could do little to affect him, so his principle focus was on the larger ones. The first wrapped around his right foot faster than he could react, but before it could pull him off-balance, he quickly brought around his other foot to crush part of the vine under his boot. With his sword, he focused on vines moving in closer from different angles towards both himself, and Ryker nearby. He was still in tight quarters with his allies, so his swings had to be calculated and precise.

Unfortunately, Tar had been caught and dragged down towards the pit, though she did find a handhold to resist being pulled in completely. Vael drew his plasma rifle with his free hand and fired on the bulb itself for several seconds. The plasma could easily burn through the outer layers, but it was a massive being, and the heat seemed to be trapped in those outer layers. It would take far too long to damage it with anything short of heavy weapons, but right now, Tar was too close to use such weapons safely.

“Grik, ready your fuel rod!” Vael ordered before rushing forward to try and assist Tar. ”We must get her out quickly!” He said to the others.

The Cradle

“To the contrary, I think now is the best time for you to relax.” Marae replied. “Trust me, I know all about that obsession for answers. That frustration when an answer feels just out of reach, and that desire to just keep pushing, keep trying until it finally comes to you. And the worry you might never find it. Don’t think I haven’t gone through that whole cycle a thousand times over. But our minds aren’t that different. If you just take a step back, let your mind relax. Reset. It can make it easier for you to come back to the problem later and approach it from a different angle. With the added bonus of relieving some stress in the meantime.”

Marae hummed to herself for a moment, this time turning around and looking back towards their own building. “Let’s see, we can’t go everywhere, but we do have a fair amount of options here. We could go get some drinks, or maybe see a movie, or something more specific to this place? I mean, you could say I am like a tourist here. What would you want to show to someone who is an alien to your world? Anything about this place that you’d be eager to ‘show off’?”

The Cradle

Marae was, for a moment, hesitant to answer. While Freyr looked out over the city, Marae’s eyes went towards the sky, watching the rain as it fell towards her. The sky was not visible through the clouds, and even if it had been, the stars would not have been visible for the light pollution. Still, her mind imagined what her eyes could not see. The near-incomprehensible vastness of the universe still seemed immense to the Rothians, but she wondered if it felt any smaller to the Cradle beings? By all the evidence known so far, they were intergalactic beings. How vast was existence to them?

“I…hesitate to get too focused on guesses about the Cradle beings. We have been observing them from such a…limited perspective. They are intelligences that are eons old, and we cannot even begin to describe who or what created them. It is like we are trying to peer at their nature through a pinhole. We should do the best we can with the information we have, of course, but I think it is important that we approach them with the mindset that the truth could be something far outside what we can see with our perspective.” Marae answered. For a moment, she smiled and turned back towards Freyr. “After all, there was a time when Rothians thought we would never settle the stars because the distances involved were far too immense to conquer. And if we did, we would never be able to keep our people together as one. But, that was only because our understanding of physics limited our view. Once we expanded out understanding enough to learn how to send our ships faster than light, it was like the whole universe opened up to us.”

Once again, Marae’s focus was caught up in her memories. In fact, the pair’s chat had brought her back to one of the most impactful memories of her life. “I still remember that evening, actually. That is one I think I will be taking all the way to Eternity. I was on the team that was working to experimentally prove our theories on faster-than-light conveyance. Well…sort of. Tarasair was on the team. That was her name, the first AI. I was mostly there as support to her. Her mind was specialized for the kind of abstract thinking we needed for the strange problems in quantum physics we were trying to overcome, and she contributed greatly to the project. The day we finally confirmed what we had been seeing in our experiments...well, I don’t think I’ve seen that kind of genuine, uncontained happiness since. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that kind of pure wonder and hope since.”

Marae leaned forward against the parapet. “I don’t know if my words can really give justice to how it felt. I intend no offense, of course, but the context around that discovery was very different from today. When you were born, interstellar travel was already a fact of life. Every star you see when you look up at the night sky, you know can reach if you really want to. I was born before we had even set foot on our own moon, much less other stars. Our scientific understanding at the time pointed to the rest of the universe, or even just our galaxy, being forever out of reach in any practical sense. Back then, I did not know if Rothia would truly be the only world I would ever know. And then…we succeeded. The matter we had transported had only been on the subatomic scale; it would be many years before entire spaceships were even in the conversation, but the fact remained that we had done it. We had the proof, beyond any doubt, that we. Had. Done it. Light was no longer the great barrier; there were no barriers. After our initial cheering was done, we got together to celebrate. Brought out the expensive wine and everything. I remember walking out on the balcony and just looking up at the sky. It was cloudy; couldn’t see a single star, but I could imagine every one of them. Every star that we had only viewed through telescopes, all the planets, and asteroids, and everything else I had only ‘seen’ in convincing 3D models, I knew I would actually be able to see with my own two eyes one day. In my mind, at that moment, the universe was finally, truly open to me. It was…” She paused for a moment. In the rain, it was hard to notice the tears in her eyes, but the way her voice became choked up betrayed their presence all the same. “…those clouds were beautiful.”

There was a brief silence between them, and a hint of awkwardness in Marae’s expression when she glanced over again to Freyr. “Sorry, I just…” She began, though she did not complete the thought. “…I do have some ideas about the Navigator’s behavior, but…are you sure you want to talk about all that right now?” She asked, reaching a hand over to Freyr’s shoulder. “You’ve been working non-stop. Today, yesterday, all last week, I haven’t seen you when you’re not working. It is healthy to give your mind a break from time to time, not to mention good for productivity. We should do something fun.” She smiled.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As Clavicus Vile eventually took notice of Fendros’ pack starting to circle around him, he actually appeared surprised for a moment, then soon started to laugh. “Wait…are you telling me that the “Great Huntsman” is actually depending on these insects to help fight me? That is…hilarious! How desperate are you?” He said with an even harder laugh. “I’ll admit, there was a moment there where I was actually slightly worried, but this is just pathetic.”

Regardless of Vile’s amusement, it seemed there was no more provocation needed for Hircine to strike. Pointing his spear forward, Hircine rushed at Vile, prompting the rest of the pack to do the same since Hircine clearly seemed to have his attention. Unfortunately, they had hardly made it a few steps before a brightly glowing magic barrier appeared encircling Vile on all sides to cut the pack off from him, while also trapping Hircine inside with him. “I’ll crush the insects in a few minutes. First, I’m going to have fun with you, Huntsman.”

Hircine turned his spear around, stabbing it into the barrier and unleashing his power through the weapon to try to break through it, but he was interrupted by an incredibly powerful surge of energy struck his back. The magic bore a deep red glow and seemed like it burned at Hircine’s very essence harshly enough to send even him to his knees. It would take more than one strike to defeat Hircine, but this was the kind of power that could injure a god.

“Was this really your plan?” Another, weak voice sounded out near to Sabine. It came from the dog in the cage, though it did not seem like it was actually “speaking” aloud. It felt more like the voice was in the minds of each and every member of the pack. “Yeah, you’ve got my name right, but my master doesn’t really need me to fight anything, on account of the fact that he still has my half of our power. It feels like it’s only been a few years since my essence re-formed after I was killed…by that axe, actually. I really hate that thing. Been in this cage ever since.” He said, gesturing one paw towards Fendros.

The Cradle

Now that she had been invited, Marae stepped up alongside Freyr near the parapet, looking out over the city. There was a grin in her expression as Freyr was talking about her own family, though she showed some brief discomfort when Freyr asked her about children. “Oh, I…no, I’ve never been approved for reproductive privileges. I’ve applied, but if I’m being honest with myself, I’m not likely to ever be approved. My genetics fail to meet a lot of standards. Lung function, cardiovascular health, immune responses…it’s all things that have been medically corrected, but you can’t fool your genes, and genetic therapy can only go so far. It’s the same for a lot of Rothians my age, though. We come from a time before the Rothian genome had been so drastically improved.”

After a moment, Marae did start to smile again as her mind drifted back to some more pleasant memories. “Of course, my genetics didn’t stop me from creating life. The first true Rothian AI…I would say she was like my child in every way that mattered. I brought her into the world, though it required a lot more mathematics than the usual method.” She chuckled. “I raised her too. Back then, most Rothian hatchlings were raised by their own parents, and I suppose I got to experience the same thing. It might have been a bit easier, though. You can’t exactly tweak the algorithms in an organic child’s brain if they are learning the wrong lessons.”

Halo: Aegis Team

Vael 'Virisusai

---

Vael grunted as he glanced back towards the entrance of the cave. The storm still raged outside, and showed no signs of weakening. ”We do not know how long this storm will last. If we can reach our objective through this cave, then it is where we must go. I will lead. Tar and Ryker, move behind me. Grikgar, Roy, Elna, and Flint move in the middle of us. Everyone else guard the rear. Have your blades ready to cleave any vines should they attack. We have the weapons to destroy this plant if need be.” He ordered definitively.

As they moved deeper into the cave, light from the outside became more and more dim, though the low-light vision provided by Vael’s HUD was more than sufficient to allow him to keep leading without issue, not to mention the bright blue glow of his energy sword.

Eventually, the relatively narrow passage opened up into a much larger chamber. The small stream on which they had been walking flowed down into a basin, filled with water, surrounding the massive Tengmaa bulb. That sweet smell in the air had only grown stronger the deeper they went, but now that they were in the main chamber, one could finally see that the scent was a mask as well as a lure. In the basin surrounding the bulb were a large collection of carcasses in varying states of decay, though not rotting exactly. Something about the water seemed to be preventing the normal stages of decay, though the animals caught within did seem to be dissolving over time.

At first, the movement around them was subtle, and easy to miss if one was not attentive. Thorny vines moved towards their feet from below all around, looking to puncture their skin enough to apply its toxin.

The Cradle

For the most part, both the Human and Rothian teams worked as much as they could with the resources they had available to them. There was no shortage of data for them to sort through, but they lacked a proper lab setup at the moment. Still, with such a high concentration of brilliant scientists in one space, they were able to come up with solutions to stay productive. Nirann donated some of his processing power to running analysis or simulations when needed. Within Vreta’s mind, he had Rhia sort through every bit of data storage he had to search for any information the Navigator might have left behind for him.

Through communication with Rareth, Vreta was kept up-to-date on her negotiations with the new Outremer administration, though he was not yet privy to how the Rahn’Saki was responding back home. He did expect that they were making their own plans and arranging contingencies for actions that Outremer might take. As obscure as the Rahn’Saki’s motivations were, he had never known them to face a situation unprepared. In the meantime, while Rareth herself was generally dealing with negotiations in person, she had sent Void Company to the arcology to serve as the Rothian contribution to their security. Having a team of Rothian supersoldiers on-hand was a comfort, at least.

---

Freyr was not alone out in the garden, even aside from the guards that were always present in seemingly every part of the building. Marae’Ano had decided to take a walk outside as well. Ever since they had gained access to the garden, it had been a popular spot for the Rothian team members. They tended to enjoy the heat, and Marae did not seem to be agitated by the rain in the slightest. She did not even bother with keeping overhead cover, instead allowing the rain to simply slide from her waterproof scales. As long as the water was warm, it was actually a reasonably pleasant feeling.

The rain did serve to somewhat muffle Marae’s footsteps as she approached behind Freyr. “Hello, Dr. Lang. Do you mind if I join you?” She asked, though her eyes were soon drawn to the picture she was holding. “Is that your family?”

The Cradle

“There are innumerable worlds in our galaxy, but not all that many intelligent species.” Marae remarked. “If my husband is correct, and there is a connection to intelligent life, specifically, then we only need to focus our search on their homeworlds. Now that we know what we are looking for, that is not an unreasonable search area. Rothians have spread sensors all across our galaxy listening for signals that would indicate undiscovered civilizations. A few of the species we know of now were discovered in that manner. There are parts of our galaxy isolated enough that civilizations could remain yet undiscovered within them, of course, but we do have a good place to start.”

Nirann clasped his hands together. The body he was using had no capability for facial expression, yet he still managed to convey some sense of slyness to his body language. “And like I said, we do know what we’re looking for now. We have…positive relations with a lot of species out there, to varying extents, especially when it comes to trading. Even your own estranged homeworld. It wouldn’t be that hard to stick a good quality sensor suite into a trading vessel and have it do the scans for us during its usual rounds. The other species out there aren’t as…advanced as either of us, so we should be able to do it without them being any the wiser. Of course, we’d need to involve them if we actually find something, but we could still do this first part ourselves.”

Vreta crossed his arms, slightly narrowing his eyes at Nirann. “I would really rather not choose trickery as our first option. As you said, Nirann, we have spent centuries fostering our relationships with other species. Not all are ‘friends’, or even formal allies, but we are trading partners with nearly every known species, and we have established beyond any doubt that we honor our agreements when we make them. If we make good enough offers to them, we can get them to cooperate diplomatically.”

The Cradle

Vreta turned towards Dr. Wetherall. “I am implying that there may have been a being related to the Cradle on your homeworld at a point in time roughly two thousand years ago. Whether it is still there, though, I would have no way of knowing. And of course, there are alternative explanations to what the Navigator told me, as I said. But, if there was a Cradle being on your homeworld, then it would not surprise me at all that you find yourself here now. You may have been led here in some way, without your population as a whole knowing. Remember, we found the Navigator on my people’s homeworld, and it claims its kind have seeded life in this galaxy. Had the Navigator not been buried so deep, had it been more accessible to us, we may have found it long ago. In that case, it may have been us that was led to the Cradle.”

For a moment, Vreta rubbed his head, trying to focus on the details of his meeting in the Cradle. Unfortunately, there was nothing that came to mind which could answer Freyr’s question. “I don’t remember it telling me where to find more of its kind. I remember it pointing out a potential location in Andromeda to find evidence of the Hegemon, but nothing about other Cradle beings. It is still possible that it sent me away with the data, though. It could, perhaps, be stored away within my implants. I just need to take some time to go through my data storage and look for unrecorded changes.”

It was not long before Nirann interjected. By the way he had been staring at Vreta, he had been waiting eagerly for him to finish speaking. “That is a good idea. By all means, do that, but…even if it didn’t leave you anything else, we may already have what we need to at least give us a start. Think about it, the Navigator claims his kind are life-seeders, right? We found one on the Rothian homeworld, Outremer had intelligent life before you arrived, even if it didn’t survive to modern day, and now we have information suggesting that there may have been a Cradle being on the Human homeworld at some point in time. Every Cradle being we know of has had some connection not just with life, but with intelligent life. I’d call that a pattern, wouldn’t you? If that pattern holds, then we might find what we’re looking for by searching the homeworlds of known intelligent species. Now that we have mountains of data from our scans of the Navigator’s object, we know what to look for.”