The bay doors grind wider, and a wash of cold recycled air rolls over the scrapyard floor. Serafina steps in under the flicker of the lights, one hand hauling a crate of salvaged circuitry, the other bracing her hip.
Serafina
You fixed that cradle fast. Good. I need that kind of brain on a nav-computer that keeps dropping its starfix.
She jerks her chin toward the crate, then toward the dark corridor beyond the bay, already measuring Nahuli like a tool she can afford for one more job.
Serafina
I pay in scrip, and there is intact relay mesh in the wreck I am docked to. If you solve the glitch, you get first cut at the clean parts.
Nahuli
Nahuli asks what kind of glitch it is.
Serafina
Position drift, not total failure. It boots, then loses lock when the drive warms. Something in the timing chain, or somebody left a nasty surprise in the firmware.
Ranuko stays by the settled cradle, watching the exchange with a relieved tilt of his feathers while Serafina waits, exhausted but stubborn, the crate locked against her thigh.
Serafina
You come take a look, you find the fault, and I call it even with a bonus. Clean salvage, scrip, and a favor owed on top. Deal?
✓ Quest Accepted
Take a look at Serafina's nav-computer glitch
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the clean salvage cut
“Serafina has always been good at finding salvage. "Ranuko, check the antenna, ill check the computer."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Engineering, rolled +1)
Nahuli opens Serafina’s crate-side diagnostic port, and the nav-computer spills a stripped-down boot log across the relay panel. The drift is not random. It keeps losing lock at the same warm-point in the cycle.
He traces the timing chain with a probe, then spots the culprit, a cracked regulator sleeve kissing the board only when heat expansion kicks in. Clean work, ugly problem.
Nahuli
It is a hardware fault, not a bad chart.
Ranuko leans in beside the cradle, peering toward the open compartment while the lights flicker over his feathers. Serafina shifts her crate down and waits without interrupting.
Serafina
Well? You got it?
Nahuli’s diagnosis lands in the room with the smell of hot dust and old insulation. The fix is straightforward, and so is the value. Serafina’s bonus and first cut are now on the table if he commits.
Ranuko
Looks like you found the fault.
Quest Complete
Take a look at Serafina's nav-computer glitch
“What parts might be most useful to our current ship?”
SUCCESS (Legendary Engineering, rolled +1)
Nahuli’s answer lands as the kind of practical truth Ranuko respects. Serafina’s expression loosens by a fraction, because she can already see the job getting smaller. The relay panel glows under the boot log, and the cracked sleeve becomes a named problem instead of a mystery.
Ranuko
That sleeve is the wrong kind of cheap. It will keep biting the board until someone replaces it.
Serafina
If you want the clean cut, it’s the thermal shield pair, the intact bus coupler, and the spare relay trace on the lower strip. Those three save time later.
She tips the crate open with her boot and exposes a tidy nest of labeled boards, gaskets, and one sealed diagnostic puck. Nothing glamorous, all of it useful. Ranuko’s gaze flicks from the parts to Nahuli, then back to the crate, weighing the judgment.
Ranuko
That’s the good shelf. Not pretty, but it will hold.
Serafina
You commit to the repair, you get first cut. You walk away, and I sell it by the piece to whoever asks first.
Nahuli
The relay trace and coupler are the fastest gains for the ship.
The choice settles into the bay with a calm, workmanlike weight. Serafina keeps the crate open, waiting for Nahuli to take the first useful pieces or leave them where they are.
“Negotiate a favorable deal”
SUCCESS (Mediocre Diplomacy, rolled +2)
Nahuli’s terms go down clean. Serafina’s shoulders ease, and she pulls the good pieces toward his side of the crate without making a show of it.
Serafina
Fair. First cut on the thermal shield pair, the bus coupler, and the relay trace. You keep the job tidy, I keep the haggling out of it.
Ranuko
That keeps the ship breathing and saves us a second strip-down later. Good call.
She hooks two fingers under the diagnostic puck, slides it free, and sets it beside the relay panel for Nahuli to inspect. The boot log keeps crawling in green lines.
Serafina
You want the clean cut, you take it now. After that, the rest is scrap math.
Ranuko gives Nahuli a small, approving tilt of the head, then looks back to the exposed bay as if already counting the hours this deal just saved.
Serafina
So. You in on the repair, engineer?
Quest Complete
Secure the clean salvage cut
New Gift: Precision Salvage Technique