The Vulture shudders under the Industrial District, low over rusted pipes and vent stacks. A drone spotlight stabs through the smog, then snaps back, hunting for the broken silhouette.
Ocram
I cannot hold this altitude much longer. If that light catches us, we are done.
Yma
Then give me five seconds, and stop shaking the hatch power line like a drunk wire.
Sparks spit from the jammed side hatch. The stabilizers whine, thin and angry, while the transport loses another meter and drifts toward a catwalk maze below.
Kay
The hatch is bleeding power into the frame. If it shorts, we drop.
Yma rips a cable free, jams a bypass chip into the panel, and the drone spotlight widens. Far ahead, a corporate interceptor cuts through the haze, angling straight for the Vulture's wounded flank.
Ocram
That is not a patrol. That is a recovery team. Kay, Taled, get ready, we may have to jump or fight our way through.
The answer to their escape is suddenly clear. NeuroSync has found them again, and the Vulture is running out of sky over Los Muertos.
✓ Quest Accepted
Survive the NeuroSync recovery team
“Yma hacks the drone. Kay carries out makeshift repairs on the Vulture. Taled fires at the interceptor. Ocram performs a loop-the-loop in the air with the Vulture.”
FAILURE (Mediocre Engineering, rolled +1)
Kay drops to one knee by the sparking hatch seam, tool in hand. He strips a panel, finds the cable nest, and bites down on the repair with fast, ugly precision.
The fix does not take. A burst of heat snaps through the frame, and one patched line blows clean out, kicking the hatch wider instead of sealing it.
Kay
Wrong feed. The damage is routing through the left brace, not the latch.
The fail-forward opening shows itself in the flare, the left brace is still live. If Kay can bridge that side, he can force power into the stabilizers long enough to choose a landing, or at least stop the drop.
Ocram
I felt that. Kay, tell me you made it better, because I can hear the hull screaming.
Yma
Hold that thought. I have the interceptor on the screen, and it is not alone for long.
Taled
Then we hit first, or we burn.
✓ Quest Accepted
Force the Vulture into a safe landing
− Scene Quest Removed
Survive the NeuroSync recovery team
“Yma takes Kay's place to carry out the repairs.”
SUCCESS (Mediocre Electronics, rolled +3)
Kay shoves the exposed wiring aside and steps back, letting Yma take the torn open seam. She drops into the hatch space with a hard look, fingers already moving.
Yma
Move. I can bridge the left brace if I get clean access.
She snaps a connector onto the live line, reroutes the feed, and the stabilizers answer with a steadier hum. The Vulture stops shuddering so violently.
A fresh diagnostic blooms on her wrist display, and it is better than anyone asked for. The brace is not just live, it is a usable bypass into the ship's damaged flight grid.
Ocram
There, yes, keep that shape. I can work with that.
Taled
Good. Now put us down somewhere mean and quiet.
Outside the hatch, the neon smear of Los Muertos tilts less sharply as Ocram catches the drift. The interceptor remains on the threat display, but the Vulture finally holds its line.
“Kay and Taled fire at the interceptor while Ocram prepares for a forced landing.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Firearms, rolled -1)
Kay squares up at the hatch edge and cuts loose with the Mac. Tracers stitch the fog beyond the Vulture, forcing the interceptor off its line.
Taled
There it is. Keep it chasing us into the dirt.
Taled leans into the opening, firing short and brutal bursts as the Vulture dips. The enemy craft shudders, then peels away from the nose.
Ocram
I have it. Brace yourselves, I am putting us down now.
Below, a dark service roof flashes into view between industrial towers. Ocram yanks the Vulture into a hard descent, lining up the landing by instinct and damage control.
Yma
Flight-grid bypass is holding. If it drops, this is the only shot.
The ship shudders, stabilizers whining, but it stays pointed at the roof. The interceptor falls back into neon haze as the Vulture commits to the landing.
“The Vulture barely manages to land on the roof of the apartment building in the middle of the ghetto.”
FAILURE (Fair Piloting, rolled -1)
The roof rushes up wrong, all vent pipes and wet gravel, and the Vulture drops faster than it can bleed off speed.
Kay braces at the hatch as the deck lurches, the nose clipping low over a rusted service frame.
Metal screams somewhere under the belly. The whole transport bucks sideways instead of settling clean.
Ocram
No. Holding. Holding... damn it.
The rear skid scrapes hard, sparks flash into the rain-dark air, and the Vulture slams down in a crooked skid.
Yma
The bypass is still live, but the frame is stressing the line.
When the motion finally dies, they are on the roof, but not secure. The transport sits tilted against a vent stack, one side still whining under strain.
Quest Complete
Force the Vulture into a safe landing
Skill Upgrade: Electronics Mediocre→Fair