The bridge hums with alarms and display glow. Silver Fox stands at the viewport, while the Sera siblings sit under med-tech blankets beside the holo-table. The signed release lies open, and the encrypted drives wait in a sealed case.
Silver Fox
Report. Their condition, and what is on those drives, before Federation command decides for us.
Ilyana brings up layered scans over the tactical map. One line blinks over Toma and Rina, another over the drive cache, both tagged with the same relay signature.
Ilyana Reese
They are stable, but they are still linked. The drives confirm a conditioning network, with family-node tagging and route data tied to Queens. This is not isolated damage, it is an active system.
Devin Halbolt
The network used them as transmitters. If we hand them over blind, we hand over the proof too.
Rina grips the blanket tighter, staring at the drive case. Toma turns toward Devin, then the viewport, as the bridge feed flashes a Federation priority ping. Silver Fox's jaw tightens, and the choice lands hard, protect the siblings and expose the network, or let command seize both.
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect Toma and Rina Sera from Federation seizure
“Devin asks Reese why the Federation is doing this if the twins are already granted Protected-Witness status?”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled -2)
Devin Halbolt
Why is Federation command moving against them now, if they already have protected-witness status?
Ilyana Reese
Because the stamp does not protect people, Devin. It protects procedure. If the custody note makes them evidence, command can still claim them, move them, and bury the chain of custody.
Her glove taps the holo-table, and the relay lines split into two clean forks, one for the drives, one for the siblings.
Silver Fox
So the priority ping is a seizure order dressed up as admin.
Ilyana Reese
Not dressed up. Optimized. They want the network, the witnesses, and the paper trail under their control before anyone else can read it.
Toma Sera
Then the label means less than I thought...
Rina Sera
If they take us, they take the proof too.
The bridge goes very still. The sealed drive case sits between them like a verdict, and the Federation ping keeps pulsing on the main display.
“I ask Reese who issued the priority ping”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled -1)
Devin Halbolt
Reese, who issued that priority ping?
Ilyana’s eyes snap to the main display. Her glove hovers over the pulsing line, then taps a buried header in the data stream.
Ilyana Reese
Port authority relay. Federation command relay. Same signature path that routed the protected-witness stamp.
The holo-table flickers, and the ping blooms into a routed command tag, tied to the custody branch instead of the evidence branch.
Silver Fox
So they are not asking for the siblings. They are calling them in.
Toma Sera
...That means they can move us without calling it a seizure.
Rina Sera
Then the ping is the order. The paperwork is just the cover.
The bridge stays tight and silent for a beat, except for the steady pulse on the display and the sealed drive case between them.
“Devin asks quietly what would happen if the authorities got here and the twins were already gone?”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +3)
Devin Halbolt
What happens if the authorities get here and the twins are already gone?
Silver Fox
Then the relay loses its clean grab. They can still accuse us, but not seize them under that paperwork.
Ilyana Reese
And we gain time, maybe a lot of it. The command tag is tied to their custody stamp, not a live tracker.
Rina Sera
Then they are not hunting just data. They are hunting us through the forms.
Toma Sera
Gone means gone... if we can reach it before they do.
Ilyana flicks the holo-table again, and a side branch opens from the custody line, marked with a maintenance gap and a port window. Silver Fox goes very still, reading it like an escape lane.
Silver Fox
That window is real. If we move them under ship protection before the ping is answered, command has to fight the fact on record.
“Devin shakes his head. "That doesn't work. It only delays the inevitable. If they want them this badly they will go on record...." He swallows hard. "What if I took them and went A.W.O.L.? Or better yet, M.I.A.?"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -2)
Devin Halbolt
That does not work. It only delays the inevitable. If they want them this badly, they go on record... What if I take them and go A.W.O.L.? Or M.I.A.?
The bridge goes still. Devin's words hang over the holo-table, and the maintenance-gap branch keeps pulsing beside the custody line like an open door nobody has named yet.
Silver Fox
If you walk them off this ship, you keep them out of a clean seizure. But you also make every officer on that chain choose a side.
Ilyana Reese
And the cost is real. Fuel, access, paperwork, all of it gets uglier. Still, ugly is not the same as impossible.
Toma Sera
A.W.O.L. means you are wanted too... right?
Rina Sera
If you do that for us, they will come for your record instead of ours.
Silver Fox slides the sealed drive case a fraction closer to the center of the table, not surrendering it, just marking it as the thing everybody is talking around. Ilyana keeps one hand on the opening in the hologram, while Toma and Rina watch Devin with raw, exhausted attention.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape with Toma and Rina Sera
“Devin looks first at Toma, then Rina. "If I go A.W.O.L. it means all three of us are wanted. And if they capture me, I'll face court marshal and probably execution." He turns to Silver Fox. "I won't make you choose a side. I'll steal a mobile suit and run. You can try to shoot us down so you have the deniability. And I'll try to get them to Karaba in Europe. They still technically exist outside the chain of command. And they are good people. They'll help."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +3)