[h1]The Welcome Wagon[/h1]
The rest of Barbarossa's two week journey to Rothia passed in a flurry of activity for Freyr. The discovery of Cradle-like interference in Rothian genetics had to be verified beyond a shadow of a doubt. The team cross referenced seven different Cradle creature samples with the complete library of Rothian DNA history Vreta provided. On day four, Freyr could say with some certainty that a complex message was hidden in Vreta’s junk DNA. Part of that message was incomprehensible, but they were able to extract the same coordinates the comms array had pinged back on Outremer.

After a couple of mandated delays, they tested a sample of Human DNA in the same way on day three. 595 showed up with a delegate from the Security Council and classified it Top Secret, meaning the experiment was conducted behind closed doors.

Apart from work, which took up about seventy percent of her waking hours, Freyr spent time in the combat simulator with 595 and (sometimes) Masgard. They practiced on targets and gradually became more familiar with a variety of weapons. Freyr found out that Masgard was something of an Outremer aristocrat; he could trace his lineage back to the small first wave of colonists that landed on the planet. He had been a partner at one of Babylon’s top law firms before being poached to work for the Director-General.

Freyr couldn’t coax any details out of Agent 595, not even her real name. The captain had referred to her as ‘from Cradle Security’, but Freyr sincerely doubted that was the case. CraSec, up until a few months ago, had been a bunch of glorified night watchmen. Behind 595’s friendly, occasionally excitable persona was a vicious solo operator who seemed at ease in extremely dangerous situations. On day seven, she clinically dismantled multiple combat droids in hand to hand combat with Freyr and Masgard watching in disbelief. The same day, 595 insisted on clearing a kill house meant for four people on her own.

To unwind from all this, Freyr spent a bit more time in the beach room. However she couldn’t stay in there alone, often electing to invite Vreta. That was on her own, she always ended up thinking about how she never got the chance to take David and Amy to a beach. In fact, every one of Freyr’s waking moments not occupied by frenzied activity somehow wound back to thinking about her family. She did not sleep easily, and her dreams were plagued by Cradle monsters.

She was excited to see Rothia, having read up on what to expect beforehand. But when Vreta invited her to the observation deck on arrival day, it surpassed all expectations. “Oh, wow!” She exclaimed, covering her open mouth with both hands at the sight of the famed black hole. “Look at that..” Masgard murmured beside her. “Very picturesque, Vreta’Sori! I can see why you wanted us to come all this way now.” 595 grinned, patting the top of Vreta’s tail where a Human’s behind would’ve been. Freyr’s team were like kids in an aquarium, pressing their noses to the glass to get as close as possible. “Such a pretty planet, too!” Freyr cooed, taking in all the colours of the rings. She took pictures via her implant and resolved to show them to David and Amy when she saw them next.