The maintenance chamber opens like a throat. The exterior hatch looms ahead, rimmed in red warning paint, while a dead terminal flickers beside it. Dallas Fontaine slides in with Clara and Murderbone, and the air tastes of dust, oil, and hot metal.
Behind them, Jackson Temple braces at the corridor mouth as the final security wave pounds closer. A flashlight beam knifes through the dark, then vanishes under the hammering of boots and shouted orders.
Dallas Fontaine
The hatch is lock-sequenced, not sealed.
Dallas moves to the terminal. Clara plants herself by the rear passage, tense and pale, while Murderbone stands between her and the corridor, ears forward, teeth bared at the darkness.
Jackson Temple
You’ve got a narrow window, Dallas. I’ll keep them busy.
The terminal wakes on Dallas's touch, spitting up a lock cycle prompt and a bypass code slot. One clean entry could cycle the hatch. One mistake could pin them here with the door still shut.
Clara
Hurry. They’re right behind us.
✓ Quest Accepted
Cycle the exterior hatch
“Input the bypass code from the routing log into the terminal.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +0)
Dallas keys the bypass code into the terminal. The screen blinks once, then swaps to a hard green cycle readout.
The hatch bolts answer with a heavy internal clunk. Dust shivers from the frame as the lock sequence starts to turn.
Jackson Temple
That’s it. Keep it moving.
Clara
It’s cycling, Dallas. Don’t stop now.
Behind them, gunfire cracks closer in the corridor. Jackson leans harder into the choke point, buying seconds with each shot.
The hatch seals release with a metallic snap. Red light spills across the floor as the outer leaf begins to separate.
Cold night air pushes through the widening gap, carrying salt, rain, and the scrape of boots still somewhere behind them.
Quest Complete
Cycle the exterior hatch