Red alarms flood the corridor. Sion stands amid broken deck plating, Melissa Hartwell cuffed behind the back at his feet, her dark glasses catching the strobe as the floor shudders under them.
Melissa Hartwell
If you want the truth, Overseer, stop staring at me and look at the wall.
A seam in the bulkhead sparks open. Behind it, a maintenance display flickers to life, showing the command center access route and a live purge map, several sectors already sealed red.
Sion
The purge is moving through command routes.
Hartwell twists against the cuffs, chin lifted toward the display. Her smile thins when the map marks one surviving corridor, the only path left to the central control spine.
Melissa Hartwell
That route is still open because someone is still inside. If you reach command, you reach the source.
The corridor groans again. Dust rains from the ceiling as Sion has only seconds to choose, the surviving route pointing straight into the heart of the station-wide purge.
Add Melissa Hartwell to this scene.
“(Add Melissa Hartwell to this scene.)”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled -2)
Sion studies the flickering route, tracing the only unsealed line through the purge net. The path runs under the command spine, then up through a maintenance throat that bypasses the sealed decks.
A crack in the display sheds static across his gloves as the corridor lurches. The map holds, but the nearest access panel is already smoking from overloaded wiring.
Melissa Hartwell
There. You have your way in. Now decide how much of the station you leave behind.
Hartwell shifts on the deck, cuffs biting her wrists, and tilts her chin toward the route. Her warning is tight, but her eyes stay on the map.
Sion
The route is under the spine. Maintenance access, then up to command.
The display jitters, then locks the line in a harsher red, confirming the route before the bulkhead can fail. Dust pours harder from the ceiling, and the corridor answers with another deep metallic groan.
“The station explodes as Sion escapes with Melissa Hartwell in his custody. It is unknown who else survived or what the casualties were as Sion’s GPO Ship 115 is seen flying away in space. (End this chapter)”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -2)