The vault door shudders against Abby’s stance, hydraulics whining as the prototype carrier stays pinned under the threshold. Red warning lights bloom across the passage, and a hidden speaker clicks alive with a clipped security tone. Someone in the facility is broadcasting a shutdown key from inside the network.
Victoria
I have the relay path. There is a second credential buried in the vault handshake, not ours. Someone in your circle seeded it.
Arthur jerks a cable free from the terminal and winces as the display stutters. A paused audit window flashes once, just long enough to show a recent admin login tied to the access route they used earlier.
Arthur Blues
That login is copied from our prep network. They mirrored our timing and our tokens.
Victoria
The mirror uses internal lab formatting. This is not random sabotage, it is an inside hand guiding the theft.
The vault seal drops another few centimeters, metal grinding loud enough to drown the alarms. Abby’s wedge holds, but the carrier’s locking arm bends under the pressure. On the terminal, Victoria isolates the source node and tags a familiar maintenance relay.
Victoria
There. The mole routed the override through our support channel, then bounced it through facility maintenance. I can trace the relay if we keep this door from crushing the cart one more second.
A new integrity alert flashes over the terminal, naming the prototype’s case and the same internal relay in one line. The sabotage is no longer a mystery. It points straight back to someone with access to Abby’s own operation, and the team has the trail needed to expose them.
✓ Quest Accepted
Expose the mole in Abby’s operation
“Can Arthur identify which of our team members accessed that support channel?”
NO (Likely, rolled 78)
Arthur Blues
The logs are scrubbed clean, Abby. Whoever did this used a ghost protocol that wiped the user ID the moment the relay closed.
Arthur stares at the terminal, his fingers hovering over the keys as the screen displays only empty, encrypted fields where a name should be.
“I keep one hand firmly on the door to keep it open with the other cradling the cart to keep it safe”
SUCCESS (Legendary Strength, rolled -2)
Abby drives her palm harder into the vault seam, keeping the door pried open while her other arm cups the carrier against her ribs. The metal groans under the strain, but the prototype stays level.
A sharp crack jumps through the passage as the seal shudders. The carrier’s edge scrapes the frame, and a strip of protective casing shears away.
Arthur Blues
I have a name. It is buried in the support relay logs, not the vault.
Victoria
Confirmed. The ghost protocol piggybacked on maintenance credentials. Internal access only.
The terminal flares once, then settles into that blank blue error glow again. Somewhere deeper in the facility, another door seals shut with a dull, distant clang.
Abby Stone
The door holds. The cart holds. Something in the chain just gave way.
Arthur lifts his head toward Abby, alarm replacing frustration. Victoria’s gaze stays locked on the dead screen as new access traces begin to populate by the second.
“Who's our rat?”
SUCCESS (Superb Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Arthur Blues
It is not the vault. It is us. The support relay logs carry the name.
Victoria
I can isolate the credential chain. Give me a second.
Abby Stone
Who's our rat?
Arthur Blues
Mara Venn. Facilities scheduling. She had maintenance access, and the ghost protocol rode right through her account.
Victoria
Confirmed. Her badge opened the relay path, then vanished behind a scrub loop.
Arthur exhales like the name physically hurts. Victoria flicks the terminal awake long enough to pin the trace on Mara Venn, then looks up at Abby.
Victoria
We have her. Do you want the full path or the contact list next?
Quest Complete
Expose the mole in Abby’s operation