One year later, Nate and Yumi stand beneath their nearly completed survey ship in the academy construction bay. Reinforced hull panels, revised sensor masts, and hand-finished control surfaces show months of study and practical work.
Yumi, now an academy navigator, checks a diagnostic slate while Nate inspects the landing struts. Their training has sharpened both their specialties, and the ship reflects their shared decisions.
The Academy Instructor
You have built a credible survey platform, not merely an impressive student project. Show me how your design choices support one another in flight.
The academy instructor watches from the marked review zone as the ship’s systems awaken. Navigation projections align with propulsion controls, and the vessel’s authentication panel begins cycling through layered academy credentials.
Yumi
The guidance architecture is ready, but the authentication system is refreshing an unfamiliar legacy pattern. I am pausing the demonstration before it accepts anything unverified.
A soft chime repeats beneath the ship. The display shows a shifting sequence with no matching academy record, while every flight and life-support system remains safely offline.
The Academy Instructor
Good judgment. Do not force the handshake. Nate, Yumi, tell me what you observe before we decide whether this is a software fault or a documentation problem.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the unfamiliar authentication pattern
“I’ll record the shifting sequence and compare it with academy credentials.”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +1)
Nate raises his smart glasses toward the authentication panel and records the shifting sequence. Each symbol, timing interval, and credential layer is captured without activating the ship.
Nate
The sequence is structured, not random. Its timing repeats in grouped intervals unlike the academy credential format.
He overlays the recording against the academy credentials stored in his slate. The comparison resolves cleanly: none of the current academy signatures match, but the sequence follows an older authenticated architecture.
Yumi
There is no academy match, but it is definitely credential logic. The legacy pattern is layered beneath a newer encryption shell.
The academy instructor studies Nate’s captured comparison as the display freezes on the recurring pattern. The ship remains safely offline, its systems untouched by the investigation.
The Academy Instructor
Good. You have established that this is not a simple software fault. Record the discrepancy as an undocumented legacy credential and preserve the evidence.
Yumi
I will attach the timing map and credential comparison to the review file. Whatever this belongs to, we can identify its origin without accepting its handshake.
Quest Complete
Identify the unfamiliar authentication pattern
“We finish up the checks with the instructor and officially complete the ship”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled -1)
Nate completes the remaining checks beside Yumi, verifying the legacy credential is isolated, the flight systems respond correctly, and every safety interlock remains active.
The academy instructor compares their records against the ship’s construction log, then authorizes a controlled diagnostic handshake. The unfamiliar sequence stays quarantined.
The Academy Instructor
The discrepancy is documented, contained, and understood well enough for certification. Your ship passes final systems review.
Yumi applies the final navigator authorization while Nate confirms the control surfaces. The ship’s authentication panel accepts their current academy credentials and turns solid blue.
Yumi
Navigation, propulsion, sensors, and life support are all certified. We officially have a working survey ship, Nate.
The instructor signs the completion record, granting launch-bay access and provisional survey registration. The diagnostic cycle drains the ship’s auxiliary battery, leaving it scheduled for replacement before flight.
The Academy Instructor
It is complete. Replace that auxiliary battery, then bring me your first flight plan. You built this vessel carefully, and now it is ready to prove itself.
Bring the instructor a first flight plan
Quest Complete
Build a survey ship with Yumi
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Good→Great