Cath

The Cradle

Joao Sequiera, Benoit Souza and their retinues had been co-ordinating the Outreman side of the preparations from cars. While heading to LHA Hale’s chosen residence, the supercarrier OSC Latinkon, they’d been desperately calling round their Tindrel & QV contacts. The Rothians had pressed ahead with a meeting of five civilisations to discuss Psi-Helios, and all their skeletons were poised to leap out of the closet.

Eventually, the two senior officials had to brief Hale on Outremer’s activity in the system, or risk him finding out from someone else. A Naval Intelligence blacksite may have been training indigenous proxies to fight prospectors from the other three treaty participants. Other operators may have been intentionally provoking the Tindrel & Qalian-Vosh, to stimulate the supply of advanced weapons to both sides.

“Oh you fucking cretins. Why didn’t you tell me before?” Hale shouted at them from behind his desk, deep within the supercarrier’s hull.

“We didn’t want you to get mixed up in all this. Outreman’s are already angry at the establishment for all the unpleasantness in the Cradle. We were trying to manage this covertly.” Souza shot back. Both of them were stood at the other end of the desk, hands clasped behind their backs.

Hale sighed, steepling his long bony fingers on the desk.

"Tell me everything then. We don't have much time."

---

"We have options when it comes to Psi-Helios, Datius Jharn. When it comes to our Cradle, things become a lot more tricky." LHA Hale replied, waggling one finger.

"These aliens have been trying to get their grubby appendages on our crown jewel for a hundred years or more! They won't be so tolerant of its eccentricities and flashes of insanity. They will enslave the Cradle-proper to work for them, crippled and braindead. My men tell me the Navigator is still not fully bonded with the Cradle - it can be separated off and destroyed." Hale was a great orator, with a clear and distinguished voice.

"We can't afford to let that happen."

Benoit Souza jumped in.

"By contrast, the Psi-Helios situation is much more fluid. Our sources close by have said both sides have been massing troops on either side of the system for months. If we tell them something like the Navigator or the Cradle is hidden beneath their feet, there is no predicting what they'll do."

The Cradle

The Tindrel Ambassador burbled quietly, then turned off sound and talked to someone off-holo for a while. João Sequeira conferred with Benoit Souza too - they had become quite a formidable team in the maelstrom following the government dissolution. Their goals seemed to change by the hour, but that was all part of a front for organised defence of Outremer’s holdings and status abroad.

Finally, the Ambassador resumed the conversation after twenty minutes. This was quite common with the Tindrel.

“That is a Demilitarised Control system. As part of the agreement, Tindrel, Qalian-Vosh and Earther parties must consent to any civilian access. What is your objective here?”

Salutations.

Welcome to the Guild! I'm always glad when more GMT roleplayers join!

The Cradle

The Ambassador gurgled within his chest cavity.

“I am a Tindrel representative to Outremer, not Rothian space… João what say you?” Tindrel language was an eclectic mix of gurgles, subvocals and clicks - but this translation sounded to
the senior diplomat like how he imagined an eloquent house parrot might speak.

Most of the Committee had left for other engagements by now, including Lord Hale. He and Souza could approach this however he wanted.

“This is a courtesy call. So far we don’t have any evidence to suggest these ghost ships are more than some isolated incident.”

João barely had time to finish before the Ambassador interrupted.

“Hmmmm. Ok. Thanks for letting us know. I will inform my superiors.”

The Cradle

They decided to contact the Tindrel representatives first.

The Tindrel embassy on Babylon was among the biggest. But it was also located relatively close to the Tower of Babel. So, they had been among the first to evacuate when the Navigator was reunited with the Cradle beneath the city. The Ambassador and most staff had been relocated under police escort to a row of townhouses on one side of a prestigious planned square called Félicien Place:




The houses were purposefully nostalgic, and the Tindrel were too large for the Human-sized rooms, so they had fallen back on the old ways. Junior staff clung to the ceiling with four of their legs as they worked. The higher up the hierarchy you were, the lower you were to the ground. Specialised equipment was stacked up in corners.

The Ambassador had been writing his report for his superiors on Tind when the request came through. Patching through on a secure line, he saw a row of faces looking at him. Some of the faces were very recognisable, and not all Human. Very curious. His mandibles tapped together instinctively, and he shifted from one set of legs to the other.

“Firm greetings of this day to you all. What is the meaning of this ambush?”

The Cradle

“What of these combine ships - can we link them to Psi-Helios?” Outremer’s interim leader broke his silence and appeared prominently on a large window. Lord High Admiral Hale was a military man with nearly one hundred years of experience, his voice crackled like old parchment, but his grey-blue eyes were still bright.

Group Admiral Zihdren puffed out - this was his moment.

“Their attacks grow in frequency and strength, my lord. The Navy has repelled their advances and tried to board and disable them. Unfortunately they have some sort of self-destruct mechanism. No significant wreckage remains.”

“And we have no other avenues of inquiry?”

Benoit Souza answered. “We have begun to dispatch teams to known inhabited worlds, but the process-”.

“Then there is no time to waste. Summon the Tindrel and Qalian-Vosh ambassadors today - inform them of the threat in broad terms and explain that Outremer and Rothia will be conducting joint exercises around the Psi-Helios system as a precaution. They can either fall in line or be destroyed.

Hale’s eyes focused on Datius Jharn, towering over her in the conference room. “I think it's time to put our new alliance to good use.”

The Cradle

Some of the delegates talked privately among themselves for a few moments. Eventually it was decided to manage the facts themselves rather than let the Rothians find out some other way.

There was a pause, then Benoit Souza spoke quietly again.

“We know Psi-Helios is dangerous already. In fact, it's a powder-keg that's ready to blow. Our assets think the Tindrel and QV have discovered some unique properties of the plant-like organism that now covers most of the planet’s surface. They both want to control the synthesis of whatever it is, or at least stop the other. It is a delicately balanced situation which we feel will be best left to…recalibrate naturally.”

João took over. “We need you to promise not to interfere. Outremer cannot be seen to take sides in this conflict. Since this is a joint venture, any intervention made by Rothia which then later involves Outremer will not reflect well on anyone.

Halo: Aegis Team

Tar wrenched off her breastplate and perched on a large crate to receive medical attention. A diminutive male in physician's garb leaned in to inspect the cauterised puncture marks on her chest.

"Internal bleeding is common with sword wounds, but fortunately yours are only shallow. Do you feel any weakness, numbness or tingling?"

"I feel well." Tar growled. The adrenaline of their fight for the cannon had worn off in the hours afterwards, and a dull ache had settled in. Her head was full of images of the Hunter Killer's snarling jaw and the sword searing through her armour.

"Any changes to your hearing or vision? Any pain in your head?" The physician asked, carefully anointing the cauterised divots with bio foam.

"Only from your incessant talking - bandage me up now. I need to prepare for the assault." Tar was looking past the doctor, searching for someone.

"Armourer!" She called out, raising one hand. A white-clad giant turned off to one side, looked at Tar then mentioned for his apprentice to run over.

Tar noticed the youth when he stopped reverently before her. "Take my breastplate - see if you can patch the holes." She pointed towards her discarded armour on the floor.

The Cradle

“We should wait until we can substantiate this lead before committing any military resources to such a distant location.” Benoit Souza spoke up. He’d been promoted from domestic intelligence to Naval Intelligence director by the new administration. You named Plenipotentiary Wallace as the source but, where is she?”

A few more faces had joined the meeting since they’d started, but none of them were the silver haired senior diplomat.

“Hear, hear!.” João Sequeira boomed. Previously Under-Secretary of the Diplomatic Corps on Outremer, he had also been kept around after his failed bid to succeed President.

“The position itself is obsolete, yet we still have them. Why? We cannot get rid of them, and believe me I tried. They are too powerful! Whatever Wallace has claimed must be properly scrutinised; she could be tricking us into advancing her interests.”

“Quite right.” Souza purred. The agency director was much softer-spoken than the former diplomat, but carried a certain calculating gravitas.

“Even if this lead turns out to be worth pursuing, we can’t just show up with a battle group. For those of you that weren’t in the original briefing, let me explain why.”

Souza shared a 3D hologram of a planetary system with the group. Three planets orbiting around two suns. Souza zoomed in on the smallest of the three planets - it was lush and green, with very little visible water and small spots of desert.

“This is Psi-Helios. 27 years ago the system was surveyed and a previously uncontacted civilisation found. The Tindrel and Qalian-Vosh both claimed the system as part of their ecumene. To avoid all-out war, elements from Earth petitioned the galactic community to declare this new civilisation part of the Control program. This means the system was given demilitarised status and peacekeepers deployed.”

The Cradle

The atmosphere was…tense, to say the least, as the teams once again moved their whole lives to a new base. Drones did all the hard work, so Freyr spent most of her time rallying support from her senior colleagues.

They all knew now that she had broken their curfew to go to a party. Their loyalty to their boss had prevented them from voicing concerns publicly, but they made it clear that it hadn’t reflected well on her or them.

Even though Freyr protested in the strongest possible terms that it was a data-gathering exercise with a senior diplomat, without evidence they couldn’t comment on it either way.

---

A group of military transports took them the short distance between the Faultless Spear and the Barbarossa. When they arrived, the ship was a hive of activity - Captain Andersen was busy with another matter, so they were shown back to their lab. While they were setting up and recalibrating their specialist equipment, two doctors came and introduced themselves to Freyr.

“Dr Lang, would you like to follow us for your psychological assessment?” One of them asked politely. After some hesitation, Freyr nodded and followed them out of the lab again.