EliteCommander

The Cradle

Moreso than anything said so far, the claim that the creature had attempted to make contact with a location on Rothia caused a stir among the Rothian delegation. There were quick looks between one another, as well as frantic conversation in their minds between their implants. ”The creature attempted to make contact with something on Rothia? Did you see anything that would confirm that, Vreta?” The Ambassador asked.

“No, not directly at least.” Vreta answered. “There was no way for me to examine the comms device before the creature turned hostile. I can say that it did seem to be familiar with me as a Rothian, but its words were vague. One interpretation of those words would imply that the creature, or its creators, was aware of our people early in our evolution.”

The Ambassador gave a glance towards their technical advisor. “Mras, is what the Humans say even possible? Could a Cradle program even send a message outside the simulation?”

Mras did not appear entirely confident, but he answered nonetheless. ”I would have to study the Cradle directly to give a definitive answer, but conceptually, there would be nothing preventing it. Everything we know about the Cradle suggests that, for all its mystery, it is simply a highly-advanced and ancient computer. A computer that has been linked with almost every aspect of Outremer’s infrastructure. I do not know what limits the simulation imposes, but an artificial intelligence within could attempt to access those connections.”

”There is always the chance that this is a fabrication, but…to what end?” Counselor Joll commented. ”The patterns of Human behavior regarding the Cradle have been remarkably consistent for as long as we have known them. They want to keep it to themselves. They do not even share it freely with other Human colonies. This revelation, if true, would mean that they will need to go to Rothia to find their answers. They would have no choice but to cooperate with us, which, of course, gives us a great deal of leverage in the negotiations. I simply can think of no motivation for them to lie about this.”

Once she heard the others’ opinions, the Ambassador wasted no more time. “If what you say is true, this could be a remarkable development, Director-General. You will have to forgive some skepticism, as our planet has been mapped in extensive detail, but there is enough uncertainty that I can entertain the idea there may be something to it. I can say that we are interested in the cooperative study of the Cradle, but it must be a full partnership. If there is indeed something connected to the Cradle on our homeworld, we must be able to study both what is found on Rothia, and the Cradle here on Outremer. With you being afforded the same courtesy, naturally.”

The Cradle

Ambassador Taranik, Counselor Joll, and Vreta were all unfazed by the Director General’s accusations, owing to their experience. Only the attaché, Mras, showed any discernible reaction, though he was not privy to the full truth as the other Rothians were. The Ambassador waited patiently for the Human to complete his statement in full, conferring just briefly with her associates beside her before giving their response.

“Director General, it is my understanding that Vreta’Sori gave a full statement that explained his presence in the Cradle to you personally. As such, I would expect that you would have been able to confirm his story with both the Rothian and Human corporations involved. I have already been able to do so, without issue. I would expect that you currently know that he was being truthful regarding his association with the corporation that owned the warehouse in question. If you have any evidence of an ulterior motive for Vreta’Sori’s presence in the Cradle during the event, then you may present it. Otherwise, I will have to insist that you make no further attempts to derail this discussion with baseless accusations.” The Ambassador replied calmly, but firmly.

Once she got her necessary response to the rather serious accusation of espionage out of the way, Taranik moved on to the more impactful parts of the discussion. “But yes, the reason we are here for this meeting is because we still believe in the idea of cooperation between our people, despite the evidence of an attack against one of our citizens, supported by Agent Five Nine Five. Although I do admit that the likelihood of such cooperation has been compromised by this event, I still do retain hope that we might come to some accord. But before we can make any decisions regarding your agent, I do wish to hear what you have to say about the Cradle. About the reason you have called this meeting today.”

Although the Ambassador had given no indication of agreeing to the Director General’s demand, there was at least a slight concession buried in her response. Despite announcing her belief in the agent’s association with the attack, she, rather specifically, did not take further negotiations off of the table. The contradiction was enough to demonstrate that she was willing to work with him on an agreement, but the Rothians knew that Outremer did not have nearly a strong enough position to make them give in to such demands right away.

The Cradle

There were glances exchanged between the Ambassador and Counselor Joll'sho'Andai, though no others were privy to the private conversation taking place between their implants. The Ambassador was the one to respond to the human. "I suppose we shall address this issue right away. We had intended to call for a meeting ourselves to discuss the attack on our citizen. Counselor, if you would." She said, gesturing to Joll.

With just a thought, Counselor Joll instructed the room's hidden projectors to create holographic screens in front of everyone seated around the table. "I will begin by showing the evidence that led to your agent being detained. Our citizen, Vreta'Sori, was attacked in ambush, but managed to defend himself against his attackers. His implants recorded everything he saw and heard that evening. I will show the recording from the point that your agent arrived. If you wish to see anything from before that point for context, then simply ask afterwards. Oh, and I will warn you that this recording does show, in detail, the deaths of several of Vreta's attackers. Some images you will see are rather graphic. Any of you who are not required to view it may choose to disable your screen at any time."

The video that followed showed what Vreta went through that evening from his perspective. It showed what he saw or heard, though it did not capture his thoughts, nor any messages sent through his implants. They saw the agent arrive and explain the danger Freyr was in, her request that Vreta join them, as well as her insistence that they go to Freyr's apartment after Vreta suggested going to the embassy. They saw the first attacks from the old woman and the man with the meat hooks, and that the agent shot them both. During the escape, thanks to the night vision in Vreta's implants, they saw clearly when the ambushers emerged from their camouflaged tarps, cutting Vreta off and allowing the agent and Freyr to escape.

The recording also showed the fight in just as much gruesome detail as Vreta saw in person. After Vreta quickly slit the throat of the first attacker, the brightly-colored Rothian, Mras, shut off his display with a visible look of unease. Though, the fight did not last long. It was quick, bloody, and left Vreta as the clear victor. The most important detail that could be gathered from that point in the recording was that his attackers were indeed armed with guns, but chose not to use them until they were losing.

The Counselor allowed the recording to play through Vreta's return to the market, where he learned that the first two attackers had been shot non-lethally by nerve rounds, then continued on to his arrival outside Freyr's apartment. Ultimately, she ended the recording at the point where Vreta first met Mr. Xandrus.

Without skipping a beat, Counselor Joll continued making her points as the recording stopped. "As you can clearly see, there is more than enough evidence to proceed with the charges against your agent. For her not to be working in cooperation with those attackers would require a very long, very unlikely string of coincidences to be true. She led the two of them on a path directly towards a prepared ambush, and despite Dr. Lang being the apparent target of the attack, they allowed the two of them to escape unhindered in favor of surrounding Vreta. If the attackers had twelve people available for the ambush, why did they not use all of them in the market, since they clearly intended to attack in the market with the first two? They were clearly prepared to make their ambush along a fairly narrow path in the park, but how could they be so sure Vreta would choose to go directly to Dr. Lang's apartment after the first attack, as opposed to going directly to the police, or calling for help? Which, I will mention, Vreta intended to do before the agent insisted otherwise. And these are just some of the more prominent coincidences. I could go on. What I can say, in summation, is that the only explanation I can find for these events that is not highly improbable involves that agent working with the attackers to carry out this ambush. I have spoken about this at length with the Ambassador, and the conclusions we can draw from this are are both disturbing in different ways. Either your agent betrayed you by attacking your allies, or you betrayed us."

The Cradle

Vreta already had his seat at the far end of the row of Rothian diplomats when the Humans were guided into the room. He observed each of them as they made their way to their seats on the other side of the table, noting a few familiar faces among them. The lawyer, Mr. Xandrus, , the augmented man that had interviewed him in the Cradle, the soldier they had saved, and of course, Dr. Lang. Vreta had not been completely sure if Freyr would be present, though it was not what he would consider a surprising development. She was, after all, an expert on the Cradle, so if this meeting was indeed about the Cradle, her presence made sense. Vreta’s presence likely would have been comparatively more surprising from her perspective, as well as the fact that there was no longer a trace of the grievous injuries he had received just the previous night.

In any case, Vreta did not say anything for the moment. He did have a place in this discussion, but it would be the professional diplomats that would be taking the lead this time. Although, the mood of this discussion was set the very moment the Humans walked into the room. Ambassador Taranik and Under-Secretary Sequeira were already quite familiar with one another, so he was likely to notice her strange behavior right away. The Rothians, in general, tended to be quite friendly with their approach to diplomacy. Especially after they had been working together a while, the majority of meetings with the Ambassador started with smiles, handshakes, and friendly words, even if the matters they would end up discussing were quite serious. This was the first time in all his time dealing with her that João was greeted with nothing but a cold, emotionless glance from Taranik.

“Welcome. I hope we can have a productive meeting today. Please take a seat.” Taranik said flatly to the Human representatives. “Your request mentioned that you wanted to gather to discuss a matter relating to the Cradle. Please begin; we should not delay.”

The Cradle

By the Humans’ own suggestion, their meeting would be taking place within the Rothian embassy, so naturally, the Rothian delegation was the first to be present and ready. The one leading their delegation was, of course, the Rothian ambassador herself, Taranik’Nhet. She had been in charge of Rothian diplomatic efforts with Outremer since the embassy had first been established. She was a millennium-old Rothian with dark green scales and black stripes. The second among them was a woman named Joll’sho’Andai. She had light tan scales, with a repeating diamond-like pattern of darker brown scales across most of her body. She was an expert in both Rothian and Human law, as well as the treaties and agreement that bound the both of them. She was the one in charge of the “official” Rothian response to the attack on Vreta.

The last of the Rothian representatives attending the meeting was an attache named Mras’Yona. His role at the embassy was more of a technical advisor than a diplomat. He rarely dealt with Humans directly, but rather advised other Rothian citizens and businesses on the acceptable usages of Rothian technology on Outremer. Given that the subject of the meeting was the Cradle, he was present mostly for his technical expertise. His appearance was strikingly different from any of the other Rothians in attendance, Vreta included. Their technology allowed them to customize their scale pigmentation in any way they desired, almost as quickly and easily as a Human could change clothes. In order to match Human expectations for professionalism, most Rothians who dealt with Humans regularly opted for more natural colors and patterns, but Mras had no such expectation on him. His scales were like an art piece. The backdrop was bright green in color, while the patterns across his body resembled a species of flower from Rothia. The stems connecting them were black in color, while the petals were vibrant and iridescent, shifting between colors depending on the angle of the viewer.

The meeting room they had chosen was one of the smaller ones, as they were not expecting a large Human delegation. The embassy itself was a Human structure, so its architecture was no different from the rest of the city, though the Rothians had upgraded it to suit their needs. The table and half of the chairs in the center of the room were appropriately sized and shaped for Rothians, while the chairs intended for Human guests were smaller, but elevated higher so as to bring them on “even” terms. There were few other obvious features in the room, as most of the technology that the Rothians had integrated into the building was hidden out-of-sight unless it was in-use.

The Cradle

Depite having been up late into the night, Vreta still had no choice but to start his morning early. The events of the previous day had generated enough paperwork and meetings to fill most of his morning. Though, the night had, at the very least, dealt with his wounds. The holes that had been melted through his flesh were nowhere to be seen once he removed his bandages. The new scales that had grown over them were immaculate, with not so much as a scar to remind him of his ordeal. As well, his implants’ readout of his current vitals showed no remains of his internal injuries. The nanites that had flooded his body had worked quickly to mend him. Once their task was complete, the majority of his nanites returned to a dormant state, while the excess he had been injected with had recycled themselves into raw materials.

On the insistence of the local police, Vreta gave his statement just after having a rather sizable breakfast. Fortunately, the police were willing to come to the embassy to speak with him, else there would have been more delays with arranging an escort for him. When speaking with the Humans about the attack, Vreta kept his responses straightforward and fact-oriented. He provided them with a copy of his recording of the attack, and for any questions he answered, he tended to just explain what happened in that recording. Altogether, he made sure that any word he gave on record to the Outremer government could not be disputed for its accuracy.

It was not until Vreta was able to get a secure, superluminal comms line back to his superiors on Rothia that he started to give his own judgment on the events of the previous day, both in the Cradle and out. In his opinion, there were opportunities now that the Rothians could not afford to waste if they wanted to uncover the mysteries of the Humans’ prized Cradle. In Vreta’s opinion, the attacks by the creatures in the Cradle showed that Outremer’s government did not have as firm of control over the Cradle as they would like their people to believe. He could not know if this was a new development, or if attacks like this had occurred in the past and subsequently been swept under the rug. However, the fact that so much of Outremer’s administration and organization was tied to the Cradle made them especially vulnerable to any problems with it. The fact that Vreta had seen this might have been a motivation for the attack in the park. Most certainly, Vreta did not believe it was Skinners that were responsible for the attempt on his life. Vreta had seen firsthand that the Cradle was fighting back against the Humans. That was a vulnerability that the Rothians could leverage, so the attack could have been motivated by a desire to prevent Vreta from sharing what he had learned. The fact that he had survived, though, made matters all that much worse for the Humans. Unless their government was willing to throw their agent to the wolves and brand her a terrorist, they had compelling evidence that there was a government-sponsored attempt on a Rothian citizen’s life. That alone could be a justification for war, but even if his people did not want to resort to violence, it could also motivate damaging sanctions to the Outremer economy.

What Vreta had not expected was that the Humans themselves would be the one to call a meeting. Rothian diplomats had already been preparing to demand a meeting with Human officials to discuss the previous day’s events, but before that demand could be made, they were sent a request for a meeting with the apparent purpose of discussing the Cradle. It was not a move that Vreta would have expected, given their previous patterns of behavior, which made him wonder if there was something more he did not know? In any case, due to his personal experience with the attacks in the Cradle, the Rothian representatives had requested his presence at the meeting. Whatever the Humans’ motivations, Vreta would be able to see them in person.

Halo: Aegis Team

Vael 'Virisusai

---

For the somewhat improvised explosive that Grikgar had thrown, the effects did not entirely go to plan. Though, it was still far from a failure. Normally, a plasma grenade would detonate a few seconds after coming to rest, which could make them easy to evade for those not stuck by them. However, the excess plasma from the active grenade melted through the power source’s casing in-flight and detonated it before it even touched the ground. The resulting airburst sent superheated plasma burning through the center of the rebel heavy weapons squad, either killing or incapacitating three of their number.

There was at least one rebel with a fuel rod gun remaining, but Vael was in position to see him as he tried to scramble to his feet and take aim with the large, unwieldy weapon. Vael had gone most of the way up the ramp, but stopped at the top. He peered just over the top across the roof, then drew his carbine and braced it on the roof in front of him. His position was off to the rebels’ right flank, so he had clear lines of sight on many of their foes. The first shot he fired to reveal his location went straight through the center mass of the Human with the last heavy weapon.

For most of the remainder of Aegis team, there was little cover and a lot of pressure from the rebels they were charging into. Many of them would find their shields steadily draining from hits they were taking. However, there was also little cover for the rebels as well, and they did not have shields nor sufficient armor to protect them. A few had taken to using Kig-Yar point defense gauntlets, presumably that the Brutes had been willing to trade to them, but most lacked suck protection. From his position on their flank, Vael focused fire on the Humans with the shield gauntlets first, as they could not protect against both his angle and the rest of the team at the same time.

Vael had seen the phantom go down on the far side of the roof, and it did seem like there were some hostiles emerging from another entrance that were moving to secure the crash. However, Vael could not afford to divide his attention from the battle in front of him.

The Cradle

Neither Vreta nor the commander said a word to the lawyer as they left. The commander arranged for another dropship to pick up Vreta and take him directly to the Rothian embassy, while he dealt with taking their prisoner to a Human jail, and all the subsequent paperwork that came along with it. Vreta doubted that he would be returning to his hotel room for the remainder of his time on Outremer, so he made sure to have peacekeepers sent to his room to retrieve his belongings.

Given that local hospitals could not provide the level of care that Rothians expected for themselves, the Rothian embassy did have a small medical facility on-site. It was mostly contained within a few rooms in one wing of the building, but it was more than enough to handle any medical emergencies for important Rothian citizens. Fortunately for Vreta, he did not have to spend a great deal of time being treated. His implants had already taken care of the necessary damage control to prevent his injuries from worsening, as well as beginning the process of recovery. The holes the pistols had burned in his scales were already noticeably smaller than they had been after the attack. He did not require any complex surgery for his recovery. Instead, he received a supplementary nanite injections, along with injections to provide them with ample organic materials to quickly repair the damage that remained.

Vreta was released with his injuries bandaged, and the expectation that they would be fully healed by morning. He was given a rather luxurious room in the embassy, as would usually be given to important visiting diplomats. He would have a great deal to worry about in the coming days, but at the very least, he could not complain about his quarters. They were nicer than his hotel room. Although, he did little more than get straight to sleep as soon as he was able, with some help from his neural implant and some additional medicine to counter the stimulate he had taken earlier in the day.

The Cradle

There was more that Vreta did want to say to Freyr, but he questioned whether or not it would be worthwhile with the “lawyer” as a disrupting presence. Still, it was not a complete loss. He might not have been able to have the full conversation he wanted, but he could set the stage for the next. Vreta doubted that they would be able to keep the two of them from speaking again, given how these events involved both of them, and he felt he had done enough to give all the right impressions. “I think there is more we will want to discuss about what happened this evening, and in the Cradle. But…I think that your police will want to take our statements before we get to that. I just wanted to ensure you were safe tonight.”

Vreta stood up from his seat and took a few steps towards the door. “I should probably get to the embassy and stop putting off the medical attention I keep getting alerts about. We’ll talk tomorrow, alright?”

The Cradle

“I do still want to get the chance to talk about it, I agree. This whole affair did quite thoroughly interrupt our conversation.” Vreta remarked. Though, his expression did become noticeably concerned as his gaze went over to the covered windows.

After a few seconds, Vreta turned his head straight towards Mr. Xandrus. “Although, now that I think about it, if the Outremer Security Council gave you emergency authority, then surely you could approve a more…tempered offer of assistance? Those panels you put over the windows could be pierced by a strong enough rifle, but a Rothian shield generator would stand up even to heavy artillery.”

The Rothian commander nodded in agreement. “Our policy would require that at least one peacekeeper be permitted to remain in the vicinity for Human usage of our technology, but yes, we could have a shield generator installed in under half an hour. I could also permit you to use a personal shield unit, like the belt Vreta is wearing. A self-contained unit is rated to be effective against military-grade Human small arms, and limited explosive force.”

Vreta continued to look at Masgard, speaking in a friendly tone. “I think that is a reasonable measure, wouldn’t you say? Just a single peacekeeper to assist your officers, and Freyr would be able to sleep more soundly knowing it would require anti-tank weaponry to harm her. I was shot three times in that ambush, so our attackers are armed with more than just knives.”