Villa Sol remains clipped to the exterior access rail beside the rectangular service panel. Her diagnostic tools float in their magnetic rests while the neighboring conduit pulses again beneath its insulation.
She opens the panel and seats a manual inspection link against the dark relay. The relay accepts the connection without resistance, exposing routine maintenance data and a sealed encrypted partition.
Villa Sol
The relay is offline to the station, but it is still listening.
Diagnostic layers unfold across Villa Sol’s visor. Beneath power logs and automated service checks, the encrypted packet carries coordinates beyond the station and a transmission schedule keyed to the probe’s altered routing.
The schedule shows repeated windows at precise intervals, each one aligned with a narrow-band handshake. A route marker identifies a relay point near the station’s outer communications spine.
Inside the station, Iven Rusk has stayed behind at the access frame to preserve the intrusion record and await Kinetica’s security response. No one accompanies Villa Sol on the hull.
The encrypted partition offers no obvious command prompt, only a verification field and the next transmission window counting down in the corner of her visor.
✓ Quest Accepted
Prevent the relay from transmitting the station's coordinates
✓ Quest Accepted
Report the relay findings to Iven Rusk
“I try the simple solution, restarting it in offline mode”
SUCCESS (Legendary Mechanics, rolled +1)
Villa Sol isolates the relay from every external line, then routes her manual inspection link through its local service interface. The encrypted partition remains untouched.
She issues a controlled restart in offline mode. The relay drops its listening state, clears the active handshake, and cycles its internal systems without reconnecting to the station network.
Villa Sol
Offline mode is holding.
A steady local indicator replaces the dark status light. The relay accepts maintenance commands, reports clean internal checks, and keeps the sealed partition available through the inspection link.
Villa Sol captures the relay’s state before touching the encrypted verification field. The transmission schedule and its precise windows remain readable, preserved in the offline diagnostic record.
Beyond the panel, the neighboring conduit continues its faint pulse, but no command crosses into the station network. The relay now waits safely for authorized inspection or shutdown.
Quest Complete
Prevent the relay from transmitting the station's coordinates