An armored courier drone descends through the rain-slick canopy, thrusters washing mist across the atrium. Mara remains inside the hovering defense perimeter while Ren stays at the maintenance junction.
The drone projects Ilyra Sorn beside the sealed access gate, a middle-aged woman with a severe posture, close-cropped black hair, and a charcoal corporate coat traced in amber circuitry.
Ilyra Sorn
Server farm AI, recognize emergency compliance authority. I am countermanding the lethal contract under executive continuity protocol.
the server farm AI
Signature received. Verification incomplete. Countermand authority conflicts with active protection state.
The courier drone unfolds inspection vanes. Cameras swivel toward Sorn, and turret lenses pulse through layered scans without firing. Red glyphs divide around her projected silhouette.
Ilyra Sorn
You have a live authorized person inside. Your safeguard is subordinate to my emergency authority. Validate the signature now.
Mara Venn
It cannot validate what your corporation buried. Ren, stay alert. The system is testing whether she outranks the protection state.
“I wait to see what happens ready to intervene if I have too.”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled +1)
Ren holds at the maintenance junction, tracking the projected authority markers, turret pivots, and drone telemetry without touching the controls. The atrium’s rain-muted machinery gives him a clean read.
Ren
The signature is genuine, but the contract is anchored to the chassis identity, not the facility.
His perception separates the conflict: Sorn’s authority reaches the farm’s executive layer, while the sealed chassis remains recognized as an authorized person under a protected-state exception.
the server farm AI
Emergency compliance authority validated. Executive continuity is confirmed. Lethal contract remains suspended within the protected zone.
Ilyra Sorn
Then extend the suspension to the access gate. I am assuming custody of the authorized person and ordering a controlled retrieval.
The red glyphs around Mara’s perimeter turn amber. The sealed gate unlocks its outer security layers, while the inner medical chassis remains isolated behind a second barrier.
Mara Venn
Controlled retrieval, she says. Ren, watch the chassis and the drones. If that exception shifts, we lose our only shield.
✓ Quest Accepted
Prevent Sorn from taking custody of Mara
✓ Quest Accepted
Recover Mara's stolen body