The western approach opens into a maintenance junction beneath roaring heat exchangers. Vibration shudders through the deck, and steam blurs the narrow route toward Orison Vault’s communications spine.
tactical AI
Narrow passage identified. Communications spine access lies thirty meters ahead. Security shutters are closing across the junction.
Red barriers descend from the ceiling, sealing the forward corridor section by section. Across the junction, armored boots strike metal in disciplined formation.
Commander Ilyan Voss enters with an armed response team, his neural command rig glowing along one temple. Rifles rise as the team spreads beneath the exchanger pipes.
Commander Ilyan Voss
Marlowe, this is Commander Voss. You are inside a restricted military facility. Surrender now, and the archive purge may still be interrupted.
Commander Ilyan Voss
Resist, and I will classify you as an armed infiltrator. Your Republic authorization will not survive that designation.
tactical AI
Archive purge sequence detected. Estimated completion: ninety seconds. Voss controls the response team and the junction shutters.
“Pretend to surrender.”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +1)
Kaden lowers his weapon, lets it hang from its sling, and raises both empty hands beneath the descending shutters. Steam beads across his damaged shoulder seal.
Commander Ilyan Voss
Good. Kneel slowly, Marlowe. Keep your hands visible, and my team will restrain you without adding charges.
The response team advances. Their rifles remain trained on Kaden, but Voss signals the shutters to halt, leaving the communications access exposed behind his formation.
tactical AI
Surrender posture accepted. Archive purge access remains observable. Cost: Voss has tagged Kaden's authorization for behavioral scrutiny.
A restraint drone detaches from the ceiling and projects a blue targeting lattice over Kaden’s wrists. Voss steps closer, trusting the apparent compliance enough to enter the junction.
Commander Ilyan Voss
You chose correctly. Republic paperwork will not protect you here, but cooperation may preserve your life and your contract status.
✓ Quest Accepted
Copy the buyer records
“Have your AI infiltrate the systems and copy the data while you comply with Voss.”
FAILURE (Good Security, rolled -1)
Kaden sinks to one knee as the restraint lattice tightens around his wrists. His lowered head gives the tactical AI a clean angle through the drone’s maintenance handshake.
tactical AI
Infiltration initiated through restraint telemetry. Copying archive index and purge controls while behavioral scrutiny remains focused on Kaden’s posture.
The AI slips past the first security layer and begins copying compressed archive sectors. Voss’s command rig suddenly flags the handshake, forcing an automated quarantine across the communications spine.
tactical AI
Near miss. Archive transfer blocked at twelve percent. The quarantine severed my route, but exposed a maintenance credential embedded in the purge controller.
The copied fragment freezes inside Kaden’s augmented memory: buyer routing codes, partial transfer timestamps, and a live credential tied to a service junction beneath the western exchangers.
Commander Ilyan Voss
Keep your head down, Marlowe. The system just detected an access anomaly, and I am deciding whether your surrender remains credible.
tactical AI
Repeated infiltration through this channel will trigger a hard lock. The recovered credential may open the purge controller locally, if Kaden reaches the service junction.
Access the purge controller
“Have your AI infiltrate the systems and copy the data while you comply with Voss.”
SUCCESS (Good Security, rolled +0)
Kaden remains kneeling beneath the restraint lattice, wrists held open while the tactical AI reroutes through the exposed purge credential. His posture does not change.
tactical AI
Local credential accepted. Archive sectors are copying through the purge controller. Voss’s quarantine cannot block the transfer.
Compressed files stream into Kaden’s augmented memory: buyer identities, routing codes, payment ledgers, and the complete transfer schedule. The archive purge freezes at thirty-one percent.
Commander Ilyan Voss
Do not move. My system reports a secondary credential active beneath this junction, and your authorization is now under direct suspicion.
The AI severs its route before the credential burns out, leaving a forensic trace in the purge controller. Kaden gains the archive, but Voss’s command rig records the intrusion.
tactical AI
Archive acquisition complete. Cost: covert channel expended and behavioral scrutiny elevated. Buyer records are intact and secured.
Voss steps within arm’s reach as the restraint drone tightens its lattice by one increment. Behind him, the communications spine still exposes the stalled purge display.
Quest Complete
Copy the buyer records
Skill Upgrade: Security Good→Great