Sion brings Nara Vell into the briefing room and seats her in the heavy chair beside the holotable. The cuffs click shut behind her back, locking her chassis into place.
Melissa Hartwell stands at the far side of the table, glasses reflecting the frozen logs. Amelia Potter watches in silence, rigid and attentive.
The wall display keeps the arrest notice live, and the security shutters cycle overhead with a low metallic thrum.
Melissa Hartwell
Begin with the breach point. I want the first hand that touched our command net.
Nara’s head tilts a fraction in the chair, her robotic frame giving a faint clank as she faces the holotable.
Amelia Potter
If she names the link, we can trace it to the rest of the chain. If she does not, we keep digging.
Sion
The frozen logs are still open, waiting for a confession or a lie.
Hartwell’s gloved hand hovers over the display, ready to pull up the next record as the room settles into a hard, expectant silence.
“Sion: “This is your only chance, Nara. Speak the truth.””
SUCCESS (Great Intimidation, rolled -1)
Nara’s stare drops from Hartwell to the holotable, then stops. Her jaw loosens. The room hears the change before she speaks.
Sion
This is your only chance, Nara. Speak the truth.
Nara Vell
I touched the breach through the records annex routing node. Not the core itself. Someone above me routed the handoff.
Melissa Hartwell
Name the route. Now.
Nara Vell
A sealed maintenance credential, old command clearance. It came through a dead admin channel tied to Marr’s oversight tree.
Amelia Potter
So the chain reaches higher than a clerk, exactly as feared.
Hartwell’s fingers move across the frozen logs, pulling up a new access branch. The arrest notice still glows on the wall, but now it feels like evidence, not warning.
✓ Quest Accepted
Confirm who routed the sealed maintenance credential
“Sion: “Marr..? So, you’re implicating Captain Veylan Marr?””
FAILURE (Legendary Reasoning, rolled -4)
Sion
Marr. So you are implicating Captain Veylan Marr?
Nara Vell
I am implicating the route that used his clearance. That is not the same as seeing him at the annex.
Melissa Hartwell
Careful. Precision matters here.
Nara Vell
It came in clean, masked as maintenance. I entered the node, copied the handoff, and the credential vanished before I could trace the origin.
Amelia Potter
So your link is technical, not visual. You can place the credential, but not the man.
Nara Vell
Her voice stays even. Calm is easier when the truth is narrower than the accusation.
Hartwell freezes the branch on the holotable, then narrows it to a single dead admin channel. The room settles on a sharper fact, and a harder gap where proof should be.
“Sion searches Nara while she’s handcuffed behind her back.”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled -1)
Sion steps in beside the chair and runs a quick, practiced search over Nara’s cuffs, sleeves, and vest seams. She stays still, breathing measured, while the holotable throws cold light over the inspection.
A thin data sliver is tucked into the seam at her left wrist, hidden where the cuff plate had covered it.
Sion lifts the sliver free. It carries a sealed maintenance route stamp and a compressed access trace, the kind built to vanish after one use.
Melissa Hartwell
That is the credential path.
Hartwell leans over the holotable, and the dead admin channel brightens into a matched branch on her display.
Amelia Potter
Then the route is real, and it is tied to the breached tree.
Nara’s expression does not change. Even bound, she watches the room with that same calm, as if the evidence has simply arrived late.
Quest Complete
Confirm who routed the sealed maintenance credential
New Gift: Digital Forensics Expert
+ New Item Acquired
Data sliver
“Sion hands the item over to Melissa.”
Sion passes the sliver across the table. Melissa takes it with two fingers and slots it into her reader, while the holotable tags the maintenance stamp in amber.
Melissa Hartwell
This confirms the handoff path. We can trace the masked credential through command archives now.
Above them, the branching route contracts to a single bright line, then steadies as the room falls into a hard, focused quiet.
“Sion: “Excellent. Is this enough proof against Veylan or are we lacking?””
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +0)
Sion
Excellent. Is this enough proof against Veylan, or are we lacking?
Melissa Hartwell
Enough for action, yes. The archive chain ties the masked credential to Marr’s oversight tree. It is not courtroom clean, but it is command clean.
Amelia Potter
So the breach is no longer a rumor, it is a route, a name, and a pattern.
Nara Vell
You have the path. I told you where it entered. That is all I had.
Melissa Hartwell
And that is sufficient to move the investigation up the ladder. What remains is confirming who had the credential in hand when it was used.
Amelia Potter
Then we stop treating this as a breach in the abstract. We start treating it as a command decision.
Nara Vell
Her voice stays even, but her cuffed shoulders settle a fraction. "If you want the rest, you will need the people who signed above me."
“Sion: “Say the word, High Commander Hartwell, and I will go arrest Captain Marr.””
SUCCESS (Fair Willpower, rolled +1)
Sion’s offer lands cleanly in the room. Melissa turns from the holotable toward him, one hand still near the confirmed archive chain, weighing the request against the evidence.
Melissa Hartwell
Then you do not wait on my comfort. You go on my authority. Marr is now the subject of active arrest.
Amelia straightens at that, tension shifting from analysis to procedure. Nara stays seated, cuffed and composed, her eyes tracking the command turn without surprise.
Amelia Potter
If Marr is moving inside the command structure, this needs containment immediately.
Melissa Hartwell
Agreed. Sion, you have the warrant, the chain, and my explicit order.
She taps the holotable once, and the bright route line locks into a dispatch stamp, converting the proof into action.
Nara Vell
Her fingers flex once against the cuffs, but her voice stays level. "If you reach him, ask who told him to burn the trail."
The briefing room holds on that question, with Marr now named for arrest and the next move waiting at the door.
“Sion: “Understood. Is Marr away on a mission or here on the station?””
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled -1)
Sion
Understood. Is Marr away on a mission, or is he here on the station?
Melissa Hartwell
He is on station. Restricted to administrative clearance corridors until I know otherwise.
Amelia Potter
On station means containment is still possible.
Melissa flicks the holotable, and the dispatch stamp splits into a station map overlay, a highlighted access band pulsing around Command Station Alpha's inner spine.
Melissa Hartwell
His office, records access, and transit passes are being monitored now. If he moves, security will know.
Amelia Potter
Then we are not chasing a ghost route. We are narrowing the room.
Nara Vell
You will find him closer than you expect. People like Marr do not leave the building when they still control the doors.
“Sion leaves the room and goes to Marr's last known location.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +3)