Warm air hums inside Avalon’s habitat module, clean and recycled. Outside the porthole, the ice moon sits black and silent beneath the gas giant’s wash of pale light.
Nahuli is curled close with Lahani, the quiet broken only by the soft tick of heaters and fan bearings. It is the kind of pause crews steal between repairs and bad news.
Then the wall display flickers once, a tiny pulse in the environmental readout. It repeats in a rhythm too clean to be random.
Nahuli
The pulse matches an encryption handoff pattern.
Nahuli’s attention snaps to the sensor stack. A hidden broadcast is riding the room’s monitoring feed, piggybacking on life support telemetry.
Lahani
That is not normal cabin noise. Tell me you see that too.
The pulse continues, patient and deliberate, as if someone far away is waiting for the room to answer back.
The Habitat Systems Voice
Alert. External query acknowledged. Location packet transmission in progress.
✓ Quest Accepted
Neutralize the hidden broadcast
“This is my first time home in months, and we already got problems... What are local forces doing?”
SUCCESS (Mediocre Xeno-Linguistics, rolled +1)
Nahuli strips the carrier wave apart in the sensor stream, and the pattern resolves into a local maintenance codec, not a distress call. It is a lawful systems handshake, routed through habitat diagnostics.
Nahuli
That is local infrastructure, not a foreign intruder.
The Habitat Systems Voice
Transmission source registered. Dockside relay authority. Requesting confirmation packet from the habitat interior.
Lahani
Dockside relay authority? That means somebody in the station network is watching this module.
The hidden broadcast does not vanish, but its shape is now clear, and its origin sits on the same station grid that feeds the lights and locks. Whatever is listening, it knows exactly where they are.
The Habitat Systems Voice
Awaiting response. Nonresponse escalates location verification.
Lahani turns toward the wall display, tense and ready to move, while the room’s speakers hold the line open.
“I am not taking calls at this time. These are my own quarters.”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +0)
Nahuli cuts the link cleanly. The handshake on the wall display loses its prompt and drops into idle diagnostics.
The Habitat Systems Voice
Confirmation packet declined. Privacy mode acknowledged.
The speakers go quiet except for the thin hiss of recycled air. The module stops broadcasting back.
Lahani
That actually worked.
On the display, the relay authority tag stays visible, but it no longer pings for a response. The intrusion has lost its grip on the room.
Lahani
If it cannot get an answer here, it has to try somewhere else.
Lahani turns from the screen toward Nahuli, waiting for the next move while the habitat settles into an uneasy silence.
Quest Complete
Neutralize the hidden broadcast
Skill Upgrade: Xeno-Linguistics Mediocre→Fair
“I already told them I wanted some days of peace. The ship is in the yard for a rehaul. They don't need me on call for that. I go back to enjoying Lahani's close company.”
Nahuli
I already told them I wanted a few days off. The ship is in the yard for a rehaul, they do not need me on call.
Nahuli lets the silence settle, then leans back in close. Lahani’s shoulders loosen a fraction, and the module’s hum fills the gap the signal left behind.
Lahani
Good. Then stay here a minute longer.
“I call Ranuko to figure out whats going on at the docks. he knows im overworked.”
SUCCESS (Mediocre Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Nahuli
Ranuko, I need a read on the docks. Something feels off.
Nahuli taps the call through on a private channel. The habitat module stays quiet, but the secure link lights up a beat too loud, like it wants company.
Ranuko
I hear you. Keep it short, I can already see your schedule bleeding into your voice.
Ranuko
The docks have a relay audit running. Two maintenance crews got held at the gate, and one customs drone is looping the same bay twice.
A faint crackle rides the line as the channel auto-logs the call, stamping Nahuli's ID into station traffic for a moment longer than ideal.
Ranuko
If you're asking whether someone is watching, yes. If you're asking whether they are good at it, no.
The connection holds, but the subtle delay says the call is bouncing through an overworked relay. Someone on the other end now has a neat record that Nahuli was curious about the docks.
✓ Quest Accepted
Avoid station surveillance
“Any luck at finding more crew?”
FAILURE (Mediocre Diplomacy, rolled -3)
Nahuli
Any luck finding more crew?
Ranuko
Not the easy kind. One dock tech keeps their head down, another wants double pay just to talk.
Ranuko
I did hear about one maintenance runner. Quiet, competent, and already annoyed at station oversight. That last part is promising.
On the private line, Ranuko’s voice stays low, but the answer lands with a cost. If Nahuli wants names, he now has to trade for them, not just ask.
Ranuko
I can point you at the runner, but I am not burning my cover for free. You want that lead, you owe me one.
Lahani shifts beside the console, listening hard as the call-log indicator keeps blinking on the station line like a little accusation.
Ranuko
Also, if you are still trying to stay off the station’s radar, stop using my channel for open favors. It is already getting crowded.
“I switch to a dead channel”
SUCCESS (Legendary Engineering, rolled +2)
Nahuli reroutes the line through a dead maintenance channel, and the private link drops into a flat, empty hiss. The station call-log light blinks once, then goes dark.
Ranuko
That is better. Much less elegant for them to sniff through.
The console stops acknowledging the station line. Its little status strip goes blank except for the local feed.
Lahani
So that is what relief sounds like now. Good.
Outside the habitat module, a muffled footstep passes the corridor hatch, then slows.
Ranuko
Dead channel or not, someone is still watching traffic. Choose your next move fast.
Quest Complete
Avoid station surveillance
Skill Upgrade: Diplomacy Mediocre→Fair