EliteCommander

The Cradle

Taking 595’s knife, Vreta activated a magnetic holster on his thigh to secure it, since he did not have a scabbard meant for it. He reasoned that his plasma blade would be better served in 595’s hand for the moment, since it could cut through most materials with little effort. Since he had greater strength than her, he was more likely to be able to successfully make use of the knife. His past experiences with the Cradle’s creatures taught him that they tended to ensnare their foes, so he wanted as many of them as possible to be able to cut themselves free of whatever might grab them.

Following the Agent’s lead, Vreta ran when she gave the order, though he did not run at a pace any faster than Freyr could keep. They would only be as fast as their slowest member, after all. As soon as the vines started to move, Rhia started marking the most threatening ones in their path, as well as taking the liberty of swapping Vreta’s rifle to its plasma thrower firing mode. As Vreta took aim, Rhia engaged the choke to keep the plasma stream narrower and more concentrated so Vreta could focus on burning away only specific vines. Starting too many fires would likely just end up being a hindrance, so Vreta tried to be precise. The three were still moving close together, so Vreta focused on burning vines in their direct path.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Given that they were still fighting back the Daedra, not all of the pack had been watching what happened, but when the order was given, they followed it without question. Even Ri’vashi followed through without hesitation. She tightened up her warriors’ formation and fell back closer to the lift to ensure it was protected. She was at the front, her Akaviri katana in constant motion towards each threat that approached. A Dremora lord and a Skaafin officer both tried to surround her, but every swing they made was met with the perfect response. She would parry one, and with one deft, fluid motion, switch targets to the other to place her blade between the gaps in their armor. Ri’vashi had been leading their war effort for so long, it was easy to forget how deadly she was on the field of battle. However, even she still had her limits, and the Daedric army converging on their position was nothing short of overwhelming.

Meesei’s pack moved quickly to get themselves into the lift. While there was enough space for them, it was still a tight fit, and there was a certain amount of chaos involved with squeezing everyone in quickly. In that chaos, there was a certain detail that was easy to miss until it was too late. The jagged metal bars of the lift’s gate slammed shut as soon as Fendros pulled the lever, though Lorag let out a growl in protest. “What are we doing? Ri’vashi will never hold long enough for us to get to the top!”

“I know.” Meesei could be heard replying, but not from within the lift. Her words turned the collective gaze through the bars…to where she stood outside the lift. Without a word, she had stepped out as Fendros pulled the lever, and now, the world around them slowed to a halt as Meesei brought them out of time to draw out this one moment into minutes. It was a tiring spell, but she did not seem to care anymore about over-exerting herself. She took the Rueful Axe and tossed it through the bars onto the floor of the lift, then gripped the Staff of Magnus tightly to hide her shaking hands.

The Cradle

Vreta focused wholly on his surroundings, keeping himself ready in the moment to react to anything. Based on how 595 was acting, he had questions in the back of his mind about how Rhia had been behaving in his absence, but now was not the time for that. Something was in the area, and he tried his best to get a lock on its position, though that was before the environment…shifted. This, unfortunately, was not new to him. The Cradle was taking control of this area, which did not bode well for the headquarters’ defenses. In the event that their actions here did not solve their problems entirely, Vreta hoped the events here would be the wake up call needed to get Outremer to accept help more willingly. They were very clearly not in control of the situation.

“Keep moving forward.” Vreta said, calmly and firmly. If the Humans were no longer in control of their own headquarters, then the defenses they had against these sorts of intrusions were certainly failing as well. Threats could appear from anywhere, at this point. “Cradle beings can behave in ways that would be irrational in the real world. There is no sense in trying to track them in the ways we normally would. Be ready for sudden attacks. Agent, you can keep my plasma blade for now. You may need it more than I. Just give me your knife.”

Halo: Aegis Team

Ethat' Lacalu and Vael Virisusai

---

Ethat let out a quick huff as he turned his head towards Tar. ”Once the assault begins, there is likely no escape without either destroying most of the keep, or deposing Uztel. The Covenant’s operations on Brissekh will be stopped, one way or another. The plan we have devised is our best way of doing so with the least damage to your homeworld. Do remember that.”

Ultimately, Vael saw little reason to argue against the plan at the moment. Strategically, it was sound. If the plan proceeded successfully, then Brissekh would have new leadership loyal to the Arbiter. There would certainly be resistance from Covenant loyalists after the coup, but they would not be conquering Brissekh. Tar had the legal claim to become Scion, so if Uztel was removed in battle, honor would demand most of the citizens’ loyalty. It would be unconventional, with Tar being female, but the position of Scions had changed under the Arbiter’s rule. If they were correct about the level of support for the Arbiter on the world, then Vael did not expect that the resistance would be insurmountable.

Ryker joined Tar as the meeting was dismissed, though Vael did not. He doubted the Human would understand half of what a situation like this would mean for someone in Tar’s position, but if he made the mistake of offending her, then the Spartan could deal with the consequences himself. As long as his team could perform their duties to his standards, they were free to deal with personal issues between them however they saw fit. Should they ever fail in their duties because of such issues, then they would have Vael to deal with. Vael himself wasted no time in making his way to the pelican outside. They would be using a Sangheili Blockade Runner for this mission, so it would be the Humans who were out-of-place this time.

The Cradle

Though it did not appear so from the outside, Vreta had a great deal to focus on in the moment. Rhia was quickly catching him up on everything he missed, while he still had to pay attention to what was happening around him. Rhia helped with that as well by highlighting and recording points of interest, particularly outside the windows of the train. She recommended responses to 595, but Vreta still heard her well enough to have his own answer.

“I think you know Rothians well enough by now to know that we never plan on dying. Or plan on never dying, rather.” Vreta replied.

The train was quick, so as Freyr had said, it did not take long for it to arrive at their destination. They were not quite in the GCHQ yet, but rather a nearby station. Even still, Vreta was already feeling chills when he stepped out onto the platform. The place was a mess, with debris, refuse, and personal items scattered all around the station. No bodies, so it could have been a sign of a hasty evacuation…hopefully. In any case, Vreta checked his weapon’s charge and kept his head on a swivel, while Rhia kept up scanning everything he could not see.

The Cradle

“Agreed.” Rhia replied. “We should make sure we have our fallback plans in place before we arrive. Do you have the schematics for the headquarters? Or at least the surrounding area. We should make sure we have the nearest transit stations marked and know how to reach them in case we need to retreat quickly.”

Ultimately, Rhia would not have a better opportunity to make the transition than in the train. Once there was a long enough lull in conversation, Rhia tightly held on to the handhold above her and began to shift her consciousness back into its proper place while doing the same for Vreta’s.

To Vreta, the time that Rhia had been in control was like sleep without dreams. After he had given her authority to take control, there had been a brief moment of…confusion where his senses became blurred, but he only remembered that lasting an instant. The very next moment, to him, was standing in this train with Rhia flashing alerts on his HUD to stay calm and not react. She kept control of his motor functions for the first few seconds to give him time to come to his senses, but slowly started to return those to him as he regained consciousness.

”We’re on a train heading to the GCHQ. I’ve prepped a package to help catch you up on everything you missed. If others ask you questions before then, just repeat everything I say.” Rhia instructed, though Vreta was more concerned about the fact that he had been unconscious at all.

There was a tinge of confusion and anger in Vreta’s thoughts, which Rhia would feel quite clearly. ”What is…what did you do? I gave you permission to take control for the fight, not to knock me out! Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

”I did not have time in the middle of the firefight. I had to act, not debate, and I completed every objective successfully. Our team faced no casualties since you lost consciousness. Dr. Girard returned to the vault, and Osman is coordinating her soldiers. We are going to the headquarters to complete our mission.” She explained. Vreta could not help but to be angry, even still, but he had to avoid showing signs that anything was out of the ordinary to the others.

Halo: Aegis Team

Ethat 'Lacalu, Major Alice Robinson, and Vael 'Virisusai

---

Ethat took only a moment of thought to reply to Yalu. ”It’s best to deal with him quickly, but…it is more important to claim the keep and ensure the planet knows of Tar ‘Mdalak’s victory. To flee his keep instead of fighting to the death to defend it would mark Uztel as a coward. Only the most fanatical of Covenant supporters would be willing to overlook such dishonor. If you have to make that choice, focus on securing the keep.” He answered.

After a few moments of silence passed, Major Robinson deactivated the display and pulled Shih’s data chip from the holotank. ”If there are no more questions, then Commander Vael ‘Virisusai has operational authority for Aegis team on this mission. That means he will be your commanding officer. There is a pelican waiting outside to take the team to our Blockade Runner in orbit. All of your equipment is being brought to the ship as we speak, along with UNSC reinforcements and supplies that have been approved for the mission. Dismissed.”

Vael had an eye on Tar. After her initial outburst, she had kept quiet. However, he knew her well enough to know that this was not a mission she could just detach herself from. Much of her motivation for fighting was to restore her father’s honor; family did have clear meaning to her.

The Cradle

It was particularly easy for Rhia to avoid reacting to 595, given that she was wearing a full helmet. She did realize that she was not acting quite as Vreta would, but the mission came first. Currently, she had no intention of stopping the coupling between the Object and the Cradle, but gaining information and establishing contact with the Entity was a priority. In truth, she disagreed with keeping them apart for as long as they had, but at least once they were at the headquarters, they would be able to get started.

“If you can, try to help re-establish communications once you’re back at the Vault.” Rhia recommended, speaking to Girard. “If we can transit back, that must mean the other team has succeeded in re-capturing the Bridge. Perhaps try re-routing comms through there? Whatever is happening, it seems that we’re no longer in control of comms through GCHQ.”

In any case, Rhia boarded the train after Freyr. She supposed there might be a good chance soon for her to give control back to Vreta. It would be jarring for him to be brought back into consciousness, so she would have to make sure the others would not pick up on it.

The Cradle

It was difficult for Rhia to evaluate the situation, given how much information was obscured from her. Given the dangers that had presented themselves, standard procedure would be to evacuate and attempt to evaluate the situation from a safe distance. However, she was doubtful that her mission could be completed with that approach. Not to mention, there was something not adding up about what information they were receiving. Vreta would probably want to err on the side of caution…but Vreta was not here right now.

An attack on the headquarters back in the real world, while not impossible, would be difficult to pull off. If it had been entirely overrun, then their bodies would not be safe. There would be no reason to allow them to remain in the simulation when they could simply disconnect them physically. That would imply that their bodies were still being protected, but in that case, why had they suddenly stopped receiving communications? Even if she was in the middle of a firefight, Rareth’s implants should be able to handle simple communications. Evacuation orders had gotten through, but then apparently nothing else? It felt too convenient. If there was something controlling their communications, then they could not trust what they had been told.

“You said it yourself, something in the Cradle could be controlling our comms. We do not know if there has even been an attack. My task is to make contact with the entity, and there seems to be something trying to prevent that. It is too convenient that evacuation orders would reach us, but then literally nothing else.” Rhia responded.

The Cradle

Rhia could not help but to feel that something that was strange about the situation. There was supposedly an attack at the headquarters outside the simulation, at what was certainly the most secure facility on Outremer. There were many layers of security that would need to be breached, so the implications of pretty much any of the possibilities she was thinking of were unsettling.

“Rareth’Jharn is still out there. She would be able to defend us against anything short of full-scale military action. You have many layers of security, so it would take a truly overwhelming force to break through your security in such a short time, unless it was sent by your own government. I find it strange that we’re not getting more details on this apparent attack.” Rhia remarked. She could patch in to the comm channel as well, so she made her own attempt at contact with the outside. Specifically, Rareth. “Datius, do you read? What is the status of the headquarters?”

Additionally, Rhia also continued performing a threat analysis of the area. Now that they had escaped the battle above, she needed to determine when it would be safe to return control to Vreta.