Gateway Tourism Center churns with travelers, luggage drones, and departure announcements. Gremlin arrives carrying the sealed data wafer, while Legion remains at the junkyard perimeter and Alexei monitors remotely.
At a secured public terminal, his isolated channel displays one authenticated handshake request and its originating civic credential. The maintenance window counts down in red.
The Security Supervisor
Sir, that terminal is restricted during the current security cycle. Your timing triggered an anomaly, and I need to verify what you are accessing.
A security supervisor, a middle-aged woman with a sturdy build, close-cropped black hair, and a navy security jacket, approaches with two younger officers. Their scanners focus on the wafer.
Alexei
I am receiving the terminal alert. Do not surrender the wafer or alter the session. I am verifying the officers’ credentials through the public security system.
Legion
The request is authentic, but its recipient remains concealed. The window closes soon, and observation alone will not preserve the revelation.
The terminal flashes a second prompt: AUTHORIZE RECIPIENT DISCLOSURE. Beneath it, the civic credential begins negotiating with an unseen municipal endpoint as the countdown reaches its final minute.
✓ Quest Accepted
Verify the handshake’s municipal recipient
“I ask Alexei to verify the officers while I preserve the terminal's final negotiation.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Technology, rolled -3)
“I ask Alexei to verify the officers while I preserve the terminal's final negotiation.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Technology, rolled -3)
Gremlin
Alexei, verify the officers through the public security system while I preserve the terminal’s final negotiation.
Gremlin locks the wafer behind the isolated channel and crafts a transparent relay around the terminal prompt. The negotiation continues without granting the officers access, while his relay preserves every credential exchange and timestamp.
Alexei
Their credentials are valid for this security cycle, and neither officer is authorized to inspect your wafer. I am logging them as witnesses, not custodians.
The terminal completes its final negotiation. The retired civic credential discloses its recipient: a legal-review server outside Bulwark Penitentiary, authenticated through an active municipal continuity account.
Legion
The recipient is confirmed. The handshake, route, and continuity account are preserved in the authenticated projection.
The improvised relay holds long enough to seal the complete transcript and route a verified copy to Alexei and Legion. Its micro-capacitor then burns out, permanently consuming the crafted bridge.
The Security Supervisor
Chief Alexei’s verification is recorded. We will stand by while the restricted terminal session is preserved, and we will not touch your evidence.
Quest Complete
Verify the handshake’s municipal recipient
“I ask Alexei to secure the legal-review server”
SUCCESS (Fair Persuasion, rolled +1)
Gremlin
Alexei, secure the legal-review server outside Bulwark. Preserve its access logs, isolate the continuity account, and keep the original session untouched.
Alexei answers through the hardened channel while the terminal preserves its sealed transcript. The security supervisor and officers remain beside Gremlin, witnessing without touching the wafer or controls.
Alexei
Understood. I am issuing an emergency preservation order to Bulwark and placing the legal-review server under police control.
Alexei’s authorization propagates through the municipal security system. Bulwark’s server is isolated from outside administration, its continuity account is frozen, and every active session becomes read-only.
Alexei
The server is secured. Its access logs, credential history, and current session are preserved under dual custody, with no alteration to the source records.
Legion
The recipient is contained and the route remains observable. I have anchored the handshake projection to the preserved server status.
The terminal displays a verified custody confirmation from Bulwark. The legal-review server, active municipal continuity account, and complete handshake transcript now sit inside Alexei’s secured evidence chain.
“I show the supervisor Alexei’s custody confirmation”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +0)
Gremlin angles the public terminal toward the security supervisor, displaying Alexei’s verified custody confirmation: Bulwark’s server is isolated, read-only, and under dual custody.
The Security Supervisor
I can verify the municipal seal and Chief Alexei’s authorization. The legal-review server is officially preserved, and your session is recognized as evidence.
The two younger officers, two young adult human women in matching charcoal security uniforms with bright identification bands, cropped brown hair, and compact scanners lean close without touching the controls. The confirmation lists the continuity account, credential history, and sealed handshake transcript in matching custody records.
The Security Supervisor
Your wafer stays with you. I am adding this terminal display and our observation to the public-center incident log, exactly as witnessed.
Alexei
That is correct. The supervisor and officers are witnesses only, and the confirmation remains anchored to the Bulwark evidence chain.
Legion
The disclosure is now visible to independent observers. The recipient cannot deny the route, and the original session remains untouched.
A fresh alert appears beneath the custody notice: Bulwark’s isolated server has detected an incoming legal-review query, preserved automatically before access can occur.
✓ Quest Accepted
Preserve the incoming legal-review query
“I preserve Bulwark's incoming query and mirror it to Alexei.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Technology, rolled -1)
Gremlin’s isolated relay captures the incoming legal-review query before it reaches Bulwark’s read-only server. He preserves the request, credential, route, and timestamp on the sealed data wafer.
The wafer creates a verified mirror and sends it through Legion’s independent projection channel to Alexei, leaving the original query untouched inside the preserved session.
Alexei
Mirror received and hash-matched. The query came from a municipal legal-review credential and requested continuity-account access, but the server disclosed nothing.
Legion
The projection confirms identical contents across the wafer, my channel, and Chief Alexei’s console. The source remains sealed, and the query is preserved as evidence.
The public terminal adds the mirrored query to its incident log. The security supervisor and officers witness the custody transfer while Bulwark’s isolated server retains its untouched original.
The Security Supervisor
The mirror and the original session now agree. I am attaching our observation to the incident record and confirming that no public-center system was altered.
Alexei
Good. The query identifies the next review point, not a breach. I am preserving its originating account and preparing a lawful trace from the secured server.
Quest Complete
Preserve the incoming legal-review query