The relay panel finishes its boot log with a tired chirp. Nahuli has the clean parts spread on cloth, and the diagnostic puck flashes a fresh warning. The station’s power grid hums steady for now, but the ship-side line is still bleeding efficiency.
Ranuko
That cradle seal is holding. The relay side is the problem now.
He taps the door frame, listening to the hull like it might confess. Serafina pushes off the bulkhead and sets a small case on the crate beside the panel.
Serafina
I pulled this from my bay inventory. Not pretty, but the regulator matches your board.
Inside, a patched relay regulator rests on foam, scuffed and older than the casing it sits in. The label is half burned away, but the connector pattern is right. Enough to keep a generation ship’s failing systems talking to each other one more cycle.
Nahuli
The pin spacing matches. It buys them time, not a cure.
Ranuko’s ears angle toward the panel, then toward the ship’s dark corridor. Every second of silence feels borrowed from something larger and meaner than the bay.
Ranuko
If Nahuli can seat that part cleanly, we can route power around the worst of the drag. That might keep the whole ship up until the next salvage run.
✓ Quest Accepted
Seat the relay regulator
“Standard work. Ranuko can handle the antenna repair while I work on power.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Engineering, rolled +1)
Nahuli seats the relay regulator into the open board with a firm press. The connector teeth catch cleanly, and the diagnostic puck drops from warning to a steady, working readout.
The cracked regulator sleeve gives a soft flex, then settles under the brace. Power routing shifts off the drag line, and the ship’s hum evens out by a degree that everyone in the bay feels in their bones.
Ranuko
That’s the lock. Seals are still good, and now the board’s talking straight.
Serafina
Good. Keep that pace, and my nav stack stops pretending it’s allergic to arithmetic.
A fresh status line scrolls across the relay panel, cleaner than before. Beneath the repaired routing, a buried checksum flickers once, then waits.
Ranuko leans closer to inspect the panel edge, while Serafina watches the checksum like it might bite. The bay holds steady, but the hidden line is now visible enough to touch.
The system invites the next move, a firmware read or a deeper pull into the corruption.
Quest Complete
Seat the relay regulator
“Link the computer systems to the new relay and restart the systems.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Engineering, rolled +0)
Nahuli routes the newly seated relay into the nav link and throws the restart. The board answers at once, lights stepping through their sequence with a clean, hungry confidence.
The checksum line unrolls into a full firmware path, and the nav stack stops stuttering. The cracked regulator sleeve gives a faint, ugly tremor, then stays put.
Ranuko
That held. No bleed, no scramble.
Serafina
There, that is the sound I wanted. Keep it talking.
A second status block blooms on the display, but it is not an error. It is a hidden maintenance route, sealed behind a clean handshake and waiting for the next authorization.
Ranuko
Nahuli, I can see the access branch now. Do you want the maintenance log, or the locked kernel line?
Serafina shifts her weight and studies the new branch over his shoulder, while the bay’s power hum stays steady and expectant.
✓ Quest Accepted
Inspect the hidden maintenance branch
“Ask where did this part come from”
SUCCESS (Mediocre Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Nahuli
Where did this part come from?
Serafina
Pulled it from a corporate dead dock, stripped off a brokered tug that never made it out clean. It still had the lot tag on the casing.
She taps the relay regulator with two fingers, careful around the cracked sleeve. The hidden branch on the display keeps scrolling its quiet permissions, and the bay lights hold steady.
Ranuko
That explains the polish. Not the age. This hardware has been through at least one recert cycle.
Serafina
You want the honest version, or the version I told the dock clerk so he would stop asking questions?
The answer lands with a thin scrape of cost, because the regulator now sits fully identified on the open branch, and the maintenance log waits for a choice. Serafina's smile is small, but not defensive.
Serafina
Ask straight, Nahuli. I can give you the source chain, if you are willing to hear where it points.
Quest Complete
Inspect the hidden maintenance branch