Red light stutters across GPO Ship 115 as Sion leans into the pilot's chair and brings the thrusters up. The hull groans, and the nav console answers with a ragged chirp, then another, dragging the nose toward a chartless sector.
Jorvik
That pull is not random. Something is still riding the guidance stream.
Inside the metallic box, Jorvik twists to stare through the glass. In the holding cell, Abby Stone hangs rigid, arms locked overhead, gagged and blindfolded, listening to every sound the ship makes.
Abby Stone
If the core stays unstable, he loses control before I ever get a chance to bargain.
The nav core display blooms with a layered error mesh. Sion can kill the drift with a hard manual override, or trace the false signal deeper and cut whatever is still whispering through his systems.
Sion
The core is still being pushed.
A fresh warning tone rises from the console, sharp and insistent, while the ship steadies for one heartbeat only. The next command decides whether GPO Ship 115 climbs cleanly into open space, or follows the phantom route.
Override the ghost-signal and regain manual control of GPO Ship 115