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This RP is backdated to 2/2/2016

The Code had been perfectly clear about what Babylon needed to do, but there was no doubt in the knight's mind that he couldn't do it alone. A solo effort against Caedus was destined to fail - he needed allies, and he needed to find them quickly. Caedus would call them back any day now, and he needed to have made as much progress as he could by then.

Time was scarce, and that meant reaching out to allies in the most unlikely places.

He hadn't made contact with Sessrumnir in a long time, but if he'd ever needed the strength and experience of one of the Jovian knights, now was the time, and with Valhalla out of commission, Sessrumnir was the natural choice. He knew that Ganymede would have been quick to help him, given her distrust of Caedus, but involving a princess seemed like the nuclear option - and the Code had told him to trust knights, first and foremost. Babylon knew he would eventually need the help of senshi - but he was trying to exercise prudence.

He'd never been very skilled at that before.

They'd agreed to meet in a small park in the south of the city, far from where Caedus had staked his claim - it seemed safest. If you were going to plot against someone, you didn't do it right under their nose.

"Sessrumnir," Babylon called, approaching the other knight. "Thank you for coming."

"It's so obviously a pseudonym, though," replied Babylon, rolling his eyes. True, they'd never had any choice over their own monikers, but Caedus had truly gone for low-hanging fruit. "Or else aliens kept on speaking Latin long after the rest of Europe gave it up. Sword. Are we all going to rename ourselves after inanimate objects now?"

Oh.

Wait.

So far, so good, though. Sessrumnir seemed like a sympathetic pair of ears attached to a capable brain, and that made him as good a first Ally as Babylon could have hoped for.

"Anyway, down to business. I spoke with the Code yesterday," he said. "About Caedus, and while it was not familiar with Caedus by name, it was familiar with his world, and worlds like it. It said that many civilizations have attempted to create artificial worlds, and they've all failed. If Caedus's homeworld is out there, it will not be thriving - and if we help him return to it, he will return to drain the Earth of resources. We are nothing but tools to him. A means to an end."

He decided he'd hold off on the Code's exact orders until he was certain Sessrumnir was following him this far - he'd be dead in the water if he went preaching sedition to someone who'd sell him out.

Babylon frowned - this had been going so well, and suddenly he wasn't sure where the other knight stood. Sessrumnir didn't seem to think Caedus was trustworthy, but he also didn't seem to think he was a threat, and Babylon had already lead with his highest card.

Thinking quickly, he pulled out the crystal, cloudy with energy, and held it out to Sessrumnir. "We know that Caedus's civilization has the technology to drain energy. These crystals have some kind of limiter on them, but who's to say he wouldn't have access to ones that don't? To weapons of mass destruction? They're obviously advanced, if Beryl saw them as being worth negotiating with."

Even if she'd double-crossed him. It was more than she'd done for the White Moon and all those even tangentially connected to Serenity.

"The Code was unambiguous in what our course of action needs to be," he said, tucking the crystal back into his coat pocket. "We can use Caedus to strike the rift, but he must not be allowed to leave the planet. He must be destroyed."

Babylon ground his teeth. "Only the Code's word for it," he admitted, "and our own observations. A man, a former ally of Beryl, someone she saw as enough of a threat to imprison in the Rift for a thousand years. A man who is deliberately vague about his identity and origins, who won't even show us his face. He's already told us that his people needed to secure resources from the Earth - what's to stop them from taking them by force?"

Hearing himself say it now, it wasn't hugely persuasive - not the way the Code had been. He wasn't an ancient formless being with presumed omniscience, and he couldn't throw his weight around like that.

"The Code called artificial worlds unsustainable. Parasites in search of hosts. And isn't that what Caedus is? He has no power of his own."

Babylon's expression brightened - he thought he'd found a proper talking point in that. "Whenever Order has needed to accomplish something too big for a single person, we've combined own own power, willingly given. Each one of us is tapped into a deep, deep well of magic that we can call upon - but Caedus can't do that. He has no power. His world has no power. He's relying on us to gather it for him. He's not Chaos, but he's more like them than he is like us."

"He's not an ally, he's an opportunist. And we're playing right into his hand."

And with that, he had truly exhausted his sales pitch.

Fortunately, his sales pitch's last legs were enough to persuade Sessrumnir. "Yes," he confirmed. "That exactly - and if there are others you think could help, I would appreciate if you could reach out to them. Caedus may call us back any day now, and the two of us won't be able to do this alone."

Of course he knew it was one thing to convince Sessrumnir of what he personally needed to do, and another thing entirely to convince him of the importance of going out and recruiting for the cause. But it was worth a shot.

"Thanks for hearing me out," Babylon added. "I know that everyone who's helping him has good intentions... but I think our hospitality is being abused."

Babylon nodded grimly. "Oh," he said, "I do suspect there's something wrong with the Code, as well, but I don't think it's completely untrustworthy." Not to brag, but he'd had some very good results simply by listening, and he thought he could understand the Code's frustration with the knights. Many of its attempts to reach out to them had been met with scorn and dismissal - enough to make anyone try to determine who was truly loyal. That said, the Code had originally presented itself as being emotionless, so it was certainly weird that it had suddenly developed feelings.

Perhaps the dawn of Skynet was approaching.

"One thing at a time, though," Babylon added. Caedus first, then the Code.

He nodded. "I'll see you then."