A sealed maintenance conduit splits open beneath the command hub. Behind its armored iris, an emergency broadcast node pulses with copied biometric data and Euran’s voiceprint.
Euran Cross
That is my voice. It is telling the clinic to evacuate, and the safehouse to move the witnesses into the open.
Three protected channels light red across the fractured console. The false orders carry valid priority codes, while a physical relay signal tracks deeper into the conduit.
Euran Cross
Mara and the courier are still at the shop with the evidence. I can warn them, but this thing is already talking to the convoy.
The node projects Euran’s face beside evacuation instructions, convincing enough to fool exhausted medics and frightened witnesses. Somewhere beyond the walls, locks begin releasing.
Euran Cross
If they follow that order, they walk straight into whoever planted the relay. We need the hardware, not another override from here.
The conduit lights flicker toward a narrow service route beneath the hub. Its far end shows a countdown, and the first protected channel has begun moving.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the emergency broadcast node
✓ Quest Accepted
Restore the witnesses' real signals
“I hack into the system that is giving the false instructions and force it to tell it that everything it was saying is a lie and to tell the truth of the situation. Then send a feed back loop surge to explode the equipment in control on the other end.*”
SUCCESS (Legendary Hacking, rolled +1)
Selene slots the signal ghost into the emergency node. Her commands split the false voiceprint from its relay, tracing the feed through the armored conduit to its remote control rig.
She seizes the broadcast authority and rewrites every evacuation order in real time. Euran’s copied voice now states that the instructions are fraudulent, identifies the relay as hostile, and tells the clinic, safehouse, and convoy the truth.
Euran Cross
They are hearing it. The clinic stopped moving, and the convoy just turned back. You got through to all of them.
Selene folds the remote command channel into a closed feedback loop, then drives the surge through the authenticated route. Far beneath the conduit, the control equipment erupts in sparks and collapses into darkness.
Euran Cross
Remote rig is dead. No more false orders, no more tracking signal. That was one hell of a truth broadcast.
The red channels clear one by one. Protected locks reseal, the countdown vanishes, and the emergency node displays a verified status: witnesses stationary, routes secure, hostile relay destroyed.
Euran Cross
She just saved every witness from inside the trap. I knew she could do it, and I still cannot believe what she is capable of.
Quest Complete
Restore the witnesses' real signals
“*I let out a breath. This love of mine will kill me. He’s still worth all of it. Even if it’s just for a moment.*”
Selene Nyx
This love of mine will kill me. He is still worth all of it, even if it is only for a moment.
Selene lets out a slow breath beneath the emergency node’s fading blue light. The danger has passed, leaving only conduit hum and Euran’s steady presence beside her.
Euran Cross
You look like you just made another decision without telling me.
Euran turns toward her, grey eyes searching beneath his heavy brow. His upgraded prosthetic hand flexes once, servos quiet now, then reaches for hers.
Euran Cross
Whatever it is, you do not have to carry it alone anymore. I meant that.
His fingers close around hers with careful certainty. Across the fractured console, every protected channel remains green, while the two of them stand together in the hush.
“It’s going to take a while for my head to wrap around it. I never.. thought about.. life outside of my job.. before you.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Selene Nyx
It’s going to take a while for my head to wrap around this. I never thought about life outside my job before you.
The confession settles into the conduit’s blue hush. Selene keeps her hand in Euran’s, with the fractured command hub and its green channels silent around them.
Euran Cross
Before me, there was only the job? The cover, the missions, keeping everyone else alive?
Euran’s crooked smile fades into something gentler. His thumb moves across her knuckles, careful and unhurried, while his grey eyes remain fixed on hers.
Euran Cross
Then we do not have to solve your whole life tonight. We can start with tomorrow, and make room for something that belongs to you.
Euran Cross
She is choosing a life she never let herself imagine. I want to be worthy of standing inside it.
Euran Cross
I am not asking you to put the job down. Just let me help you discover what comes after it.