The hatch parts with a soft pneumatic hiss. A weary maintenance runner slips in, grease on their sleeves, hydraulic stains on one hip, datapad clutched tight. Their eyes flick to the dead comms panel, then back to the corridor behind them.
The Maintenance Runner
Keep your voices down. I waited for the channel to go quiet.
They angle the datapad toward Nahuli, the flicker on its screen throwing pale light over their tired face. Lahani stays tense near the console, ears pinned, watching the hatch.
The Maintenance Runner
Someone on station is piggybacking local telemetry. I traced the relay noise to the dock service spine. You were not the only target.
The Maintenance Runner
If you want the clean thread, I can hand over the access map. But we need to move before whoever is listening notices I left my bay.
The runner taps a corner of the datapad, bringing up a narrow corridor map and a blinking service tag. Outside, the corridor remains empty, but the silence now feels borrowed.
✓ Quest Accepted
Get the access map
“Is this how the conclave repays my service to them?”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +0)
Nahuli
Is this how the conclave repays my service to them?
The Maintenance Runner
Service is a strong word. I got told to bring this to the people on the dead channel, and keep my head down while doing it.
The Maintenance Runner
The conclave did not sign the request. One of their dock liaisons did, then routed it through station maintenance like a bad joke.
They thumb the datapad and turn it just enough for Nahuli to catch a seal stamp, half-scraped and reissued over an older office mark.
The Maintenance Runner
That seal means somebody wanted this quiet. Quiet costs extra, so they used me.
The Maintenance Runner
If you take the map, you keep my name out of it. If you want the cleaner route, there is a service cut behind Dock Spine Three.
The runner eases the datapad forward, close enough to grab, while Lahani watches the hatch without blinking.
“I ask who signed the request”
SUCCESS (Fair Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Nahuli
Who signed the request?
The Maintenance Runner
Dock Liaison Venn Saro. That is the name on the routed copy.
The runner lets out a thin breath, as if naming it costs less than carrying it. Lahani’s ears angle toward the hatch, then back to the pad.
The Maintenance Runner
They used maintenance channels because the dock office did not want a clean record. A clean record means questions.
Lahani
Venn Saro works the dock side relay schedule. That would put the paper trail right where it hurts.
The datapad stays extended between them, seal-scuffed and ready. The station’s relay hum flickers once through the dead-channel feed, like a tired throat clearing itself.
The Maintenance Runner
Take the map, or do not. But if Saro sees you before you move, I was never here.
“The dockmaster being involved in shady dealings is something between him and the conclave forces, not me personally.”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +0)
Nahuli
That is between him and the conclave people, not me.
The runner stills. The offer hangs there a beat longer, then the strain in their shoulders eases by a fraction.
The Maintenance Runner
Good. I would prefer fewer names attached to my disappearance.
Lahani
You are saying this because you want us moving, not because you want credit.
The Maintenance Runner
I want the dock office looking the wrong way for five minutes. The map gives you that.
Their fingers loosen on the datapad. The scraped seal catches the module light, then the pad tilts into Nahuli’s reach.
The Maintenance Runner
Take it. If anyone asks, you never saw me, and I never saw you.
Quest Complete
Get the access map
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Great→Superb
+ New Item Acquired
Datapad