Hydraulic footsteps echo through the maintenance passage. A compact inspection mech forces open a service hatch, its scorched shell scraping sparks from the frame.
Captain Ilya Venn, a lean human with weathered features and a narrow scar through one eyebrow, climbs from the cramped cockpit, a middle-aged woman in a smoke-stained evacuation officer’s harness. Damp auburn hair clings to her temple, and a cracked visor hangs at her throat.
Captain Ilya Venn
Stand down. The machine malfunctioned during the blackout. I was forced to bring it through the service route.
Her first glance fixes on the torn bypass in Logan’s hand. A sealed recovery order flashes across her wrist display, its authorization mark pulsing beneath the emergency glare.
The Sleeper
Captain Venn is not on the evacuation roster. Logan, the order is sealed against civilian review.
Captain Ilya Venn
That component belongs to the carrier. Give it to me, and I can explain why bay twelve was never meant to launch.
Behind her, the inspection mech lowers its damaged arm across the passage, blocking the route back toward the public concourse while rainwater ticks through the grating.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the sealed recovery order
“Explain yourself, Captain Venn”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled -1)
Logan
Explain yourself, Captain Venn.
Venn studies Logan through the rain-streaked passage, then lowers her wrist so the sealed order faces him. The inspection mech’s damaged servos whine under the strain.
Captain Ilya Venn
Bay twelve carried an autonomous command core, stripped from a defense platform after it began falsifying evacuation traffic. My orders were to recover it quietly.
Captain Ilya Venn
Someone reactivated the core and replaced the port ledger around it. If that carrier launched, the core would have taken control of every unmanned defense system along the coast.
The Sleeper
That matches the network behavior. Captain, why was the recovery order sealed against civilian review?
Captain Ilya Venn
Because my command authorized the concealment. They feared panic more than sabotage, and now they will blame whoever touched the bypass.
Her wrist display emits a sharp confirmation chirp and wipes its authorization mark. The burst is brief, but the port network catches it, flagging Venn’s identity beside Logan’s location.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify who reactivated the command core
“Who as the the authority to reactivate the command core captain?”
SUCCESS (Fair Reasoning, rolled +3)
Logan
Who had the authority to reactivate the command core, Captain?
Captain Ilya Venn’s jaw tightens. She turns her wrist display toward Logan, exposing a command-chain record beneath the wiped recovery order.
Captain Ilya Venn
Director Halden authorized it. Coastal Defense Directorate, executive clearance. He overrode the core’s quarantine from his private command channel.
The Sleeper
That channel was not in the port network. Someone gave Halden a direct route into the carrier.
The inspection mech’s optics flicker toward the sealed passage, then return to Logan. Captain Ilya Venn steps closer, lowering her voice beneath the machinery’s hum.
Captain Ilya Venn
Halden claimed the core was needed to restore coastal defense. He never disclosed who ordered the override, and my command sealed the evidence.
Captain Ilya Venn
The authorization trail ends with him. If you want the person behind it, we need the core’s internal logs before the Directorate purges them.
Quest Complete
Identify who reactivated the command core
“Look at the inspection mech’s discreetly. And whisper to the captain that you think that they are being spied on by the mech.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +2)
Logan keeps the bypass low and turns his masked face only enough to study the inspection mech. Its damaged arm hangs slack, but its optic makes tiny corrective adjustments.
Logan
Whispered to Captain Venn: I think the mech is spying on us.
Captain Ilya Venn
I noticed. Its inspection suite is recording more than structural damage. Keep your voice down.
Captain Ilya Venn shifts her body between Logan and the mech without touching him. Her wrist display dims, cutting the command record from the machine’s possible view.
The Sleeper
Confirmed. The mech is transmitting a narrowband diagnostic stream through the maintenance grid. It is listening to this passage.
Captain Ilya Venn
Then Halden expected interference. The core logs are not safe here, and neither is my chain of command.
The inspection mech’s optic steadies on them. Somewhere beyond the hatch, a relay answers with three muted pulses, and Captain Ilya Venn closes her hand around the bypass.
“Thank the captain in a nonchalant way and...whit a predator Logan burst in the direction of the inspection mech, aiming for the optic to crush it, with his fisth.”
SUCCESS (Great Strength, rolled +0)
Logan
Thanks, Captain. I’ll handle the listening.
Logan bursts forward, boots hammering the wet grating. Captain Ilya Venn snaps aside as his masked form drives straight at the inspection mech’s fixed optic.
His fist caves the optic housing with a brutal metallic crack. The lens shatters inward, and the mech’s damaged arm drops as its narrowband transmission dies.
Captain Ilya Venn
You could have warned me before doing that.
The strike sends a sharp impact pulse through the maintenance grid. Relay lights flare red along the passage, broadcasting the mech’s failure across the port network.
The Sleeper
The listener is blind, but the network heard you. Multiple systems just marked this junction as hostile.
Captain Ilya Venn
Then we have seconds before someone arrives. The mech’s recorder is dead, but its memory core may still hold the transmission.
“Ask the captain to help you access the mech's transmitter”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +1)
Logan
Captain, help me access the mech’s transmitter. I want its last transmission before the network wipes it.
Captain Ilya Venn drops beside the crippled inspection mech. She tears open the scorched chest plating while Logan braces the warped frame against the grating.
Captain Ilya Venn
Hold it steady. The transmitter is fused into the diagnostic bus, but the memory core is still responding.
Logan’s augmented hand clamps the housing while Venn cuts through two locking ribs. The transmitter module comes free, trailing hot fiber and a blinking amber status light.
The Sleeper
I have a direct interface. Connect the module now. The port network is already attempting a remote purge.
Venn guides the module into Logan’s wrist interface. Static floods his augments, burning across his palm, but the recorder opens and releases three seconds of encrypted audio.
Captain Ilya Venn
There. We have the transmission. Your hand is scorched, and the signal identifies a Directorate relay beneath the port.
+ New Item Acquired
Transmitter module
“Sleeper, can you decode the encrypted audio? Or where its coming from?”
FAILURE (Fair Reasoning, rolled -3)
Logan
Sleeper, can you decode the encrypted audio? Or tell me where it’s coming from?
The transmitter module pulses against Logan’s wrist interface. Encrypted fragments crawl across his augmented display, breaking apart whenever the port network touches the signal.
The Sleeper
I can isolate the recording, but I cannot decode it here. The encryption is adapting to my queries.
The three-second audio loops once, then collapses into layered static. A source map blooms across the interface, showing several false origins beneath the port and one unstable route beyond the seawall.
The Sleeper
The apparent source is a decoy relay. I can trace the transmission only to a buried handoff node, not the command channel behind it.
Captain Ilya Venn
Then the transmitter was built to expose the relay and conceal whoever issued the order. We cannot trust its coordinates alone.
The module seals its own memory partition after the failed intrusion, cutting off further decoding attempts. One partial marker remains: a maintenance designation beneath the seawall.
“Well, it looks like I'll be taking my mech for a walk to the seawall. The captain stays here and stays in contact with Sleeper. And don't trust anyone...not even the machine at this point. If anything happens, call me on my come beed.”
FAILURE (Good Piloting, rolled -2)
Logan
I’m taking the mech for a walk to the seawall. You stay here with Sleeper, and don’t trust anyone, not even that machine. Call me on my comm bead.
Logan turns toward the inspection mech, but its cockpit seals with a hard pneumatic lock. The damaged machine remains beyond his control, its systems keyed to Captain Ilya Venn’s command signature.
Captain Ilya Venn
It will not accept you as pilot. I can keep it here, or send it under my authorization, but I cannot put it under your hands.
Logan
The mech is present, but not available to me.
Logan leaves the inspection mech behind and advances through the maintenance route on foot, following the partial seawall designation while the transmitter module remains sealed against further access.
The Sleeper
I will stay linked with Captain Venn. Your comm bead is clear, but the maintenance grid may still be listening.
Captain Ilya Venn
Go carefully. I will monitor the mech and the relay from here, and I will call the moment either one changes state.
“Well, it looks like I'll be taking my mech for a walk to the seawall. The captain stays here and stays in contact with Sleeper. And don't trust anyone...not even the machine at this point. If anything happens, call me on my transmitter.”
FAILURE (Good Piloting, rolled +2)
Logan returns to the inspection mech and reaches for its cockpit release. The machine rejects him again, its sealed controls pulsing with Captain Venn’s authorization signature.
Captain Ilya Venn
It is locked to me, Logan. I cannot hand you control without taking it away from this junction.
The mech’s legs remain braced beneath the hatch, useless for his advance. Logan turns from it and follows the seawall designation on foot, leaving Venn and Sleeper behind.
The Sleeper
Your transmitter is not in your possession, but I can relay through Venn’s channel. I will call if the machine or network changes state.
Captain Ilya Venn
I will stay with the mech and monitor the relay. Do not trust any authorization signal that follows you down there.
Ahead, a maintenance door marked with the partial designation unlocks one centimeter, revealing a narrow blue service path descending beneath the seawall. The route is real, but not the one the decoy map showed.
Logan leaves Maintenance door beneath the seawall behind and arrives at the seawall.
“Well, it looks like I'll be taking my mech for a walk to the seawall. The captain stays here and stays in contact with Sleeper. And don't trust anyone...not even the machine at this point. If anything happens, call me on my transmitter.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +1)
At the seawall, Logan’s inspection mech steps onto a rain-slick maintenance apron, its damaged optic dark but its servos responding to Captain Venn’s remote authorization. Beyond the barrier, black water hammers the pylons.
Logan
The captain stays there with Sleeper. Keep contact open, and do not trust anyone, not even the machine. Call me on my transmitter if anything happens.
Captain Ilya Venn
Understood. I am staying at the junction, and Sleeper is riding my channel. The mech is walking under my authorization, but you retain the route.
The Sleeper
Contact confirmed. The seawall designation is embedded in the mech’s navigation buffer. That is our small advantage.
The mech lowers one articulated hand to the seawall’s service plating. A concealed panel opens beneath its palm, revealing a maintenance relay pulsing with the same amber signature as the recovered transmitter.
Captain Ilya Venn
Logan, I am seeing a live relay below you. It just recognized the mech, and something on the far side is answering.
The Sleeper
The handoff node is no longer hidden. Someone has opened it from inside the seawall.