The transport shudders free of the hangar deck, metal teeth shrieking against the docking clamps. Zoey wrestles the controls while the forged flight plan flickers red across the console, refusing to stay believable for long.
Mara
We are not clearing that bay on charm alone, Zoey. Give me a second before the turrets turn us into scrap.
Mara jams herself near the hatch seam with the data-pad hugged tight to her chest. Behind them, the hangar yawns open, turrets pivoting up to follow the transport's climb.
Zoey Terraj
Zoey snaps at the controls, forcing the nose up harder, like the ship owes her money.
A status window blooms across the dash, warning of mismatched clearance, mass deviation, and a Dock Nine signature hidden inside the data-pad's routing key. The key is not just tracking them, it is a doorway into who owns the dock.
Mara
There it is. If that file is real, Dock Nine is either our exit or the net they use to catch everyone.
The transport bucks again, clipping a clamp arm on the way out. Zoey steadies the climb, and the planet starts to fall away below them, with the pad's contents now pointing straight at their next fight.
“Zoey swings them under the turret line and into the cover of traffic.”
FAILURE (Good Piloting, rolled -2)
Zoey yanks the transport hard to port, trying to tuck it beneath the turret line. The hull slides, but not cleanly enough.
A turret swivel catches the move and spits a warning burst across the ascent path. The shots miss the cockpit, but they shear the escape lane into chaos.
Zoey Terraj
They saw that.
Mara
Traffic cover is gone, Zoey. They are boxing us in from above.
Ahead, a ribbon of outbound cargo skimmers surges into the air corridor, too fast and too dense to slip through cleanly now. The transport shudders as Zoey fights for room that no longer exists.
Mara
The pad is still amber. Dock Nine is in that key, and every gun up there knows it.
The maintenance hatch alarm keeps chirping under the roar of lift engines, a thin, useless warning against the growing barrage. Zoey’s failed angle leaves the transport exposed, nose climbing into open fire.
“Zoey swings them under the turret line and into the cover of traffic.”
SUCCESS (Good Piloting, rolled +1)
Zoey snaps the transport beneath the turret line, and the canopy fills with the blunt mass of cargo skimmers sliding past overhead like a metal tide.
The nearest skimmer’s wake slaps the hull, but it gives her exactly what she needs, a moving wall of blind spots between the guns and her flight path.
Zoey Terraj
Traffic cover. Finally.
Mara braces by the hatch seam, data-pad still glowing amber in her grip, and the chirping maintenance alarm stutters under the engine roar.
Mara
The guns lose us if you keep us in the lane.
Zoey threads the transport into the skimmer flow, and the turret bursts chew empty air behind them instead of the cockpit.
Ahead, the tunnel mouth opens wider, the dock perimeter dropping away as the transport clears the last defensive arc.
Quest Complete
Escape the lower city tunnels
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Great→Superb