Cath

The Cradle

595 inhaled sharply through her nose, with gritted teeth and taut posture. It took every ounce of will she possessed to maintain her composure. How dare this alien meddle in her affairs! “You want to do this now?!” The Agent eventually hissed, peeling back her visor and staring right into the Rothian’s eyes with her own augments. Two of the dots were solid blue, one blinked red.

“I am fine. Perhaps if everything in this fucking place wasn’t trying to kill me, i’d be less inclined to violence. With all this shit going on, frankly I’m relieved one of the creatures had the courtesy to wipe my memory once it was done trying to eat my face!” Thebes had slid directly in between the Agent and Rareth now, gently holding her back. “What’s going on back there?” Knossos asked over comms. “Hold on, give us two minutes.” Thebes ordered.

“In case the Grand Datius needed a reminder, I don't answer to you. I serve Outremer, where people are dying every minute we waste, speculating if a sin-eater like me has her head screwed on properly! You do not have to like me, but I am finishing this mission and getting what we need to stop that from happening..” 595 spat, jabbing a finger at her own breastplate while stepping back away from the Rothian. She looked at the Human soldier in between them. “Thebes - have your team take a look through the windows. Right now.” Thebes nodded. “Move in, both sides.” He quickly relayed.

The Cradle

595 didn’t turn to face the Rothian. Her visor remained pressed against the delicate scope of her beam rifle. The bright white light emanating from the open entrance was proving hard to filter. “I’m just trying to see inside. This thing already knows we’re armed to the teeth and leave a trail of destruction in our wake; why try and hide that at the expense of our security? Our presence is known, we can be certain of that.”

She opened her other eye, and saw Knossos and Carthage sprinting around the left side of the structure. Then, the light disappeared from her scope as Thebes stepped in front of her rifle with his back to her and hands linked. She recognised it as a peaceful, respectful way to contain her authority, developed during the long wars that mercenaries like the Sacred Band had fought on Earth and the inner worlds.

The Agent slowly lowered her weapon and holstered it, blinking hard a few times. “Alright, we’ll do it your way. Have we found any other entrances?”

“Just the windows.” Knossos crackled over comms “Every ten metres or so - no coverings.” Thebes jumped in “Can you see through?”

“No sir - they’re too high up. We could climb?”

The Cradle

“Well, it worked…” Carthage scoffed, craning her neck to survey the wreckage behind and below them. “Let’s hope we don’t need to leave in a hurry.” Dr Ngata murmured, looking straight ahead at the beacon. Thebes couldn’t help but think that amounted to quite an expensive maneuver, but needed to keep morale from dropping off a cliff. “We’ll make it work.” He asserted gruffly. “Everyone get ready, we’re close.”

They approached a cluster of mountains that they could see from the air formed a loose ‘X’ shape. Visibility was getting a bit spotty, but 595 could see flood plains surrounding most of this formation. The mountain in the middle was big, even by the standards set so far in this simulation. A broad, towering edifice of black rock, with a luminous beacon of white light on one shoulder about three quarters of the way up.

Now that they were closer, the Agent could see that something similar to snow coated the top of the mountain, including the area around the beacon. There appeared to be a white winding path leading up to a small plaza. And as they approached, the light dimmed so much as to allow them a good look at the beacon’s features with their night vision.

It was a tall, rectangular building made from ivory-coloured stone. Rows of snow-topped steps led from the plaza up to a plinth of solid stone. A row of massive pillars circled the whole structure, sustaining a large sloped roof with exquisite carvings and murals. Light spilled from an opening in the front and rows of large windows 595 spotted along the sides.

“That...was not what i was expecting.” Dr Wetherall remarked, breaking the stunned silence. “It looks like something from Earth.” Athena commented, as a freezing wind and flurries of snow whipped off the sides of the mountain and into their faces.

The fliers took them down onto the plaza and released them. Then, one by one they took off again and swept away. 595 stared at the structure, mountain on her right and open expanse of plains off to her right. She felt like she’d seen this building before somehow. “Lets scout the perimeter, make multiple points of entry if we can.” Thebes commanded. “Knossos, take Carthage and skirt left. Athena, Saddam, right. You’re with me, ma’am. Ma’am!” 595 didn’t respond, already creeping toward the front steps with her rifle raised.

The Cradle

“What?” Saddam spluttered as the team received those coordinates. “Have you lost your damn mind?” Thebes wasn’t so sure. He was mindful of the advanced tech the Datius had showcased throughout this expedition. She had proved a very resourceful asset in a variety of combat scenarios, but it still took the Sacred Band leader a half-second to commit to a strategy which seemed so crazy.

“CoWiUnCo.” Thebes barked when Rareth fired some kind of bright light, awkwardly hefting his gun above the claws grasping his chest and aiming at the point set in front of them. The four syllable shorthand wasn’t strictly speaking accepted terminology, but he knew all of the soldiers under his command would understand it as “Comply With Unorthodox Commands”. The team reacted immediately, as did 595 who had regained some conscious control and was vaguely following the plan.

Energy bursts, a tungsten bolt and one solid laser beam disappeared into the hole created by the bright flash, and they carried on firing until it shut again. The fliers bucked and rolled, thoroughly spooked by all the action, but still on course. There was no immediate sound from the predator above them, until it’s carcass crashed into one of the cargo bots trailing their convoy at a couple of hundred miles per hour. The package of robot and dead flesh thundered down to the plains below, and exploded in a huge fireball.

The Cradle

“I have flares - if i can reach them, they might scare it off?” Carthage suggested. “Not from down there; all our fliers will see them too.” Thebes cautioned, before questioning the Rothians. “What sort of countermeasures do these cargo bots have? Anything we can use offensively?”

“Can I synchronise my targeting reticule with that bot’s topside camera? I could take a shot through my flier’s wing.” Athena jumped in, already seeing if she could maneuver her railgun into position. “It’s diving!” Dr Ngata warned, his eyes fixated to the bot’s feed.

The fliers let out a unified ‘SCREEEE’ and tried to break away and flee, but they seemed bound together by an invisible string. So after some wasted effort, the creatures fanned out instead, all flapping furiously in the same direction but presenting a range of altitudes and positions. “They should be scattering - something must be keeping them on course!” Ngata realised, before addressing thin air. “However you are, let them follow their instincts, people are gonna die!”

“Negative! Stay on course and keep us together!” Thebes countermanded, hoping whatever they were going to meet was still listening.

The Cradle

“Thank you kindly. I do hope we’ll get the chance to set up an actual base camp at some point. With a bit of peace and quiet, I'm positive we can align the code base and bring people in and out safely. Are you still running those calculations, any luck?” Dr Wetherall spoke quickly at Nirann, keeping his eyes trained squarely on the beast carrying Rareth in front of him. “Afraid of heights, Doctor?” Saddam asked, studying the scientist from off to one side. “Huh, is it that obvious? The things we do for knowledge, eh...”

The team flew on in formation, listening to the rhythmic flap of the creatures’ wings and the wind whistling past their sensory net. After a while, they crested a mountain range at the other end of the forested plains, clearing a set of jagged peaks by just a few metres. Dark scrublands stretched in all directions, with small shapes moving at speed below. “Nice, some prey animals for a change.” Dr Ngata commented, looking straight downward at a herd of stampeding horned bovidae.

595 barely noticed; she was mesmerised by the beacon. That bright light in front of them was growing bigger now, though it appeared to be dimming at the same time. They could only be half a dozen miles away now. “Is it some kind of building?” Thebes muttered, zooming in as far as his optics would allow. “Looks like it.” The Agent replied woozily.

Before long, the creatures carrying them began emitting high pitched squeaks and flapping faster, banking slightly from side to side while speaking to each other. “Woah, what’s happening?” Carthage asked, struggling in her beast’s talons at the back as it suddenly lost altitude. “This isn’t good. Can anyone see anything above us?” Ngata called, craning his neck to peek out from under the wing of his carrier.

The Cradle

“Oh yeah, thanks. Never thought of doing that.” Thebes replied acerbically, motioning for the team to move to the edge.Their suits did protect from falls, but it was what happened after the falls, if they were split up, that worried him. He’d already lost one operator after five successful years, and he’d object to anything that could lead to losing another.

The Sacred Band maneuvered the scientists to the ledge and then stood either side of them at wide intervals, guns in front of them pointing straight upwards. 595 assumed their stance, looked down the line and once she was happy everyone was ready, she spoke up. “Ok. We’re ready for transport.”

Nothing happened right away. The winged beasts chattered quietly, watching them curiously. And then, after a fraught few seconds, the bull sitting on the deck closest to them flapped into the air. He passed over the top of them, grabbing Rareth around the middle with his muscled back legs. He dragged the Datius off the edge, soaring down into the valley below before gradually gaining height.

“Looks terrify-” Dr Wetherall didn’t get to finish before another winged creature swooped down from the nest above and grabbed him. 595 filtered out his shouting and screaming from the comms channel. Creatures grabbed Nirann, Athena, Dr Ngata, the rest of the Sacred Band and finally her.

The Agent had always thrived on adrenaline and thrills, so she yelped with pleasure, drinking in the scenery from above as thermals whooshed past her. “Everyone alright?” Thebes asked. “All fine back here.” 595 answered, trying not to wiggle in the creature’s iron-clad grasp. “Hey look! There’s a settlement in the forest!” Dr Ngata called. 595 looked down at the fuzzy marker the scientist had placed.

True enough, there was a clearing in the forest below, with some low clusters of crude buildings centred on some kind of totem pole. “I hope we can salvage our recordings, dear boy. This expedition has yielded a gold mine of data.” Dr Wetherall observed, having calmed down a little bit, though his voice was still strained.

The Cradle

“Gift horse or not, I don’t like it. It gives these things a chance to split us up, drop us into the jaws of some other alien killing machine.” Thebes sniffed, staying where he was. A cargo bot idly nudged into his back until he gently pushed it away.

“The alternative is hiking through another dark forest. And, judging by the distance still to go, more obstacles after that. Together, we’re one of the most effective combat systems in the galaxy, but how much more can we really take? We’ve already lost one of our own, barely made it out of that marshy valley alive.” 595 reasoned.

The Agent lowered her weapon and edged further out, turning to look at the large winged creature who was studying Rareth with some interest. She cleared her throat, unsure how to address the voice. It wasn’t clear whether it was inhabiting the beast before them, or was coming in from afar. “Do we have your word, that you will transport us safely, and together?”

”These ones will transport you safely. We must meet as soon as possible.” The voice replied.

“If i may...with the comms mast now working, we could request they spawn in flyers for us to use instead?” Dr Wetherall ventured. “You can fit two of the Barbarossa’s slimmest utility models onto our four by four slate at a time. This means we could have enough seats for everyone in a couple hours…”

”No external signalling. It is forbidden.” The voice clamoured. 595 tapped the opaque alloy of her visor with two fingers and looked at Rareth. The weaker elements of the team were running out of steam - they needed to resolve this mission ASAP. “Ok. We’ll ride with these creatures. How do you want us?”

“Stand on the ledge. These ones will grasp you like prey.” 595 looked back at the Sacred Band and scientists. “Saddle up - that’s an order. Someone have the cargo bots follow along behind.”

The Cradle

595 surveyed the valley as the team and cargo fanned out just inside the cave entrance. The good news was that the beacon had grown closer now, perched on the shoulder of a mountain on the opposite side. The bad news was that some kind of forest separated them from their goal.

From what she could tell in the low-light, the trees in this forest were different from those surrounding the lake earlier. They were much taller, and didn’t seem to glow with any of those eye pods at first inspection. That didn’t stop 595 loathing the thought of a romp through the middle of it.

The Agent stepped slightly out of the cave entrance and looked through the sight of her beam rifle at the cliffs straight above her. She could make out a lot of commotion further up, with some large bodies fidgeting in and among large crevices. She didn’t need Dr Ngata to conclude that the landslide they’d just facilitated may have agitated this group.

“See a way down?” Thebes asked, watching Rareth closely. Just then, that same alien siren noise erupted in their comms channel. Quieter than before, but still very disruptive. 595 went onto high alert with the others even though, somehow, she had felt it coming moments before. When she refocused her sighting on the cliffs above, the flapping and cawing had stopped. Instead, she could see dozens of heads watching them. “You are closer now. These ones will carry you to me. We must be quick.” a familiar, andryogenous, synthetic voice returned to their private channel.

With that, the first of the winged creatures took flight, circled round their position before landing on an unoccupied part of the ledge. It was large, and fierce looking, with spines running down it’s back and glinting UV eye parts. The Sacred Band trained their weapons on the beast, while 595 kept her sights locked onto their nest.

The Cradle

Thebes looked Rareth up and down. “Alright… Let’s kit up then head out - I want four in front and four out back.” The Sacred Band quickly re-equipped, grabbing new and calibrated weapons from the rack. None of them spoke publicly, many instead choosing to keep their eyes lowered as they sorted their gear. A cacophony of metallic clicks and snaps echoed through the cavern as they fitted fresh batteries and replenished ordinance.

”That was a useful magic trick just now. Is there anything else you can do that we should know about?” 595 sent to Rareth over private comms what Thebes had been silently thinking. She grabbed a spare pistol from the rack and magnetised it to the back of her suit, watching Rareth the whole time.

“Alright, move out!” Thebes ordered once he was satisfied everyone had what they needed. They formed up and began quickly picking their way through the cave system in a tight formation. After a few minutes, they stumbled upon a lone centipede creature from before, gnawing on some flora attached to the waterside rocks. The Sacred Band promptly tore it apart with guns and knives as it tried to flee. They then carried on following the water until they emerged onto another valley on the other side.

“What’s that noise?” Saddam asked, breaking radio silence. A faint cawing sound wafted down from above, mingling with the sound of water falling down the side of the mountain.