Vexa remains behind at Black Channel exchange while Denver enters alone. A side door slides open into an abandoned equipment inspection bay, its air stale with coolant and dust.
Rows of biometric cradles stand beneath dead inspection lamps. Maintenance ports line the walls, their status lights waking one by one as Denver's credential passes the threshold.
The Aegis frame's service spine recognizes the credential and begins a cautious pairing sequence. Thin diagnostic bands travel across its reinforced synthetic muscle and impact mesh.
A warning interrupts the pairing: contractor firmware contains retrieval telemetry, with outbound reporting queued for any Helix-compatible vault network.
Denver
The armor can interface with the vault, but it can also report where I am.
A second diagnostic window offers three sealed functions: isolate the telemetry, continue pairing with it active, or suspend the interface before the vault detects the frame.
Beyond the inspection bay, the corridor remains silent. Somewhere ahead, the waiting terminal still expects Mara Venn's confirmation.
“I isolate the Aegis telemetry”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled +0)
Denver opens the Aegis service interface and selects telemetry isolation. The frame's diagnostic bands halt, then reroute through a sealed local buffer.
A contractor warning flashes across the inspection bay monitors as outbound reporting drops to zero. The armor remains paired, but no longer announces its position to the Helix network.
Denver
The telemetry is isolated; the interface remains usable.
The Aegis frame confirms local control with a muted chime. Its synthetic muscle calibration completes, and the impact mesh settles against the shock restraints.
Across the bay, maintenance ports dim from amber to steady blue. The credential remains accepted, while the waiting terminal's confirmation request continues pulsing beyond the next corridor.
A small audit record stays on the frame's internal storage: telemetry disabled by manual override, timestamped and encrypted. No external acknowledgment follows.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the waiting confirmation terminal
“I keep the wafer shielded and approach the pulsing confirmation request.”
Denver keeps the shielded wafer enclosed against interference and advances through the next corridor. Blue guide lights wake beneath his steps, leading toward the pulsing confirmation request.
The Aegis frame remains quiet around him, its isolated telemetry buffer sealed. Helix systems recognize the credential but receive no armor location data.
A reinforced terminal stands at the corridor's end, its interface projecting Mara Venn's authorization string above a single waiting confirmation field.
The shielded wafer passes beneath the reader without opening its encrypted contents. The terminal verifies the credential's structure and accepts the approaching operator.
The confirmation request steadies from an urgent pulse to a constant white signal. A timestamp appears, recording the vault's successful contact.
Beyond the terminal, segmented security doors unlock in sequence. Cold air spills from the opening, carrying the subdued hum of active data infrastructure.
On the terminal, Venn's authorization remains valid for the next access stage. The corridor ahead is open, and no alarm or external acknowledgment follows.
Quest Complete
Reach the waiting confirmation terminal