Freyr could scarcely hide her surprise. She sent a message to Masgard; [i]“Five Nine Five...was that the agent who rescued me?”[/i] She got a simple confirmation from Masgard in return. Now she was really confused. She’d understood the meeting to be about discussing events in the Cradle, not negotiating the release of prisoners.

As soon as it became clear they were about to watch a video, Masgard covertly sent a message to Freyr. [i]“Do [b]not[/b] watch the video. It could be doctored to influence your own memories, as a key witness. Please turn your screen off.”[/i] Although she was curious to see what happened, that warning plus the indication that it’d be gory were enough to convince Freyr. She turned off her display as soon as she was able. Osman turned hers off soon after, obviously not prepared to experience more random, wanton violence. The Director, the Under Secretary and Masgard all watched the video in silence. Their expressions were hard to read, although Freyr did note that the lawyer’s complexion went significantly paler through the course of the clip.

Freyr began to get very uncomfortable. Even without the screen, Freyr couldn’t help but think back to the raw terror of their escape, nausea creeping up from her stomach to her throat. Although she supposed this was inevitable, as the other topic, their escape from the Cradle, was equally traumatic. She poured herself a cup of water from a jug on the table and took a drink to calm her nerves.

After the video finished, the diamond-scaled Rothian unfurled a litany of accusations against the blonde haired lady who’d escorted her to safety. It was a little difficult to understand without seeing the clip, but Freyr pieced together that the Rothians were accusing the agent of trying to kill Vreta. It had struck Freyr as odd that they hadn’t tried to come after the two of them, but she’d put that down to the fact that it was pitch black in the park that night.

The three men in the centre of the Human side listened intently to everything the Counselor had to say. Then they turned to each other in turn, communicating via implant for almost a minute. Freyr watched the Under-Secretary’s fist clench underneath the table. Eventually, they all turned back to look at the Rothians and Masgard replied. “We can’t comment on these accusations until we have time to consult internally, and speak with the agent in question. Perhaps we can pack away that detour for now and stick to the main object of the meeting.” Masgard directed that last part, and the pointed urgency in his voice as he said it, at the Director General. The man with the blue eyes sat motionless at the table, his arms crossed. Freyr could tell he was disappointed at the position he’d been put in.

“You know, we’ve long suspected the Skinner’s Guild of infiltrating the Cradle. They come from old money, and their influence stretches far beyond car bombs and pirate broadcasts. My inquisitors tell me more of their operatives could have been among the team at the compound yesterday. They would have noted your stellar performance, Vreta’Sori. Appearing from thin air to ‘inspect’ an empty facility, only to valiantly fight off those creatures and live to tell your superiors of the experience.” The Director General leaned forward at this point, hands clasped on the table in front of him, his head ever so slightly tilted as he looked at Vreta.

“They’re looking for a way to destabilise this administration. They hate our society’s integration with the Cradle, but they also hate AI and augmentations of all kinds. Something the Rothian civilisation has in abundance. So when they find what any experienced eye could guess is a recently activated Rothian spy operating in the Cradle, they see the endgame. A machine intelligence with practically limitless power, in the hands of one of Outremer’s most powerful allies. However, they also see an opportunity. A chance to turn Outremer and Rothia against each other.” The Director General took a drink of water at this point. The room was utterly silent until he spoke again. 

“By trying to assassinate the agent in charge of gaining intelligence on the Cradle, and making it look like the efforts of the Outremer administration, they’ve killed two birds with one stone. Destroying Outremer/Rothia relations, therefore hampering Rothian chances at technological advancement, and putting the Outremer administration into an embarrassing situation which it may never recover from.” The man looked at all of the Rothians in turn.

“But, I’m not willing to let that happen. I’m going to propose we begin a new era of collaboration between Outremer and Rothia on matters of the Cradle, starting right now. One in which we help each other, and prosper together. That's the reason we're all here today. All you have to do to get started, is release Agent Five Nine Five. What do you say?”