Kaelen
No, no, not my voice, cut it out... I need the relay open.
He lunges for the console, trying to rip the broadcast line free. The rack bucks under him, then answers with a harsh amber strobe that floods the core.
Zoey Terraj
The relay is feeding off his neural loop.
Kaelen slams against the relay spine instead of reaching it. His own voice spills over the station comms, clipped and distorted, while the freight shaft below answers with heavy footsteps.
Mara
Zoey, tell me you can shut that thing down before they get here.
Mara swings up her weapon, covering the stairwell. Above them, the ceiling lights tick from amber to tactical red as the defenses recalculate toward their position.
Kaelen
If I lose this trace, Kestrel Vane keeps the whole grid.
✓ Quest Accepted
Shut down the broadcast before the defenses arrive
“"Yup, pure pazaak. Move, creepy old man," Zoey says as she shoves Kaelen aside and slams her deck into the relay to force a hard reset.”
SUCCESS (Great Hacking, rolled -1)
Zoey jams her shoulder into Kaelen and shoves him off the console edge. Her deck slaps into the relay port, hard enough to make the rack howl and spit a white-hot error cascade across the core.
Zoey Terraj
Yup, pure pazaak. Move, creepy old man.
The hard reset takes. The broadcast stutters, then collapses into a tight burst of static that cuts the station-wide echo for a breath.
A sharp arc bites Zoey's wrist from the deck casing, and the console vents a burst of scorched ozone. The burning handler link flickers, not gone, just wounded.
Kaelen
That should not have worked.
Mara snaps her aim toward the stairwell as the heavy footsteps below sharpen into a mechanical rush. Red warning strips ignite along the catwalk seam, and the automated defenses commit to the core.
Mara
Zoey, we have company. Tell me that bought us something.
Quest Complete
Shut down the broadcast before the defenses arrive