The logistics executive separates the group, directing Jostan, Rodney, and the courier into a quiet records annex. Orin remains outside at the glass desk, monitoring the office systems through a stolen administrative feed.
Len Varro
No weapons on the table. No edits to the ledger. Give me one reason to treat this as evidence instead of an intrusion.
Rodney leans over the handwritten pages without touching them. Her sunglasses reflect columns of names, shipment weights, and corrections written in several inks.
Kellan Rusk
My name is Kellan Rusk. The entries stayed handwritten because the archive system rejected every digital copy as contaminated.
Kellan Rusk
The paper was kept by a records supervisor who believed the network was rewriting transfers after they happened. She gave it to me before her access disappeared.
Orin
I am seeing three overlapping authorization chains. One ends here, one points toward Dock Nine, and the third is trying to erase its own origin.
Rodney
Then trust starts with the paper. Jostan brought the contradiction into the room instead of selling it to the highest bidder.
✓ Quest Accepted
Establish a reliable account of the ledger's origin
“Does the executive know of the ledgers orgins?”
NO (Even, rolled 81)
Len Varro
I do not know where this ledger came from. It never passed through my office, and no supervisor reported handing it over.
The executive keeps her hands beside the untouched pages. Her denial is measured, but the color drains from her face when the handwritten corrections come into view.
Kellan Rusk
The records supervisor never trusted the executive chain. She said the ledger had been kept outside the archive before my access disappeared.
Rodney
So she knows what the ledger says, but not who preserved it or how it reached Dock Nine. That makes the origin a missing link, not her alibi.
Len Varro
Correct. I recognize the seal and the liabilities, not the chain that carried this paper here. Someone used my office as a destination after the records were altered.
Orin’s stolen feed flickers across the annex glass, confirming no matching intake record for the ledger. The executive’s ignorance is genuine, but her office remains embedded in the altered trail.
“Lost in thought and getting flashbacks of europa I snap back, I scan the walls looking for wiring or anybody listening or cameras, I then ask the executive To let us see any footage that cameras caught”
SUCCESS (Fair Surveillance, rolled +2)
Europa flashes across Jostan’s mind: towering trees, wet ground, and distant calls. He snaps back, breathing shallowly, and sweeps the annex walls with the Eye of Anylasis.
The scan finds two pinhole cameras recessed in the ceiling trim, a passive microphone inside the light panel, and a hardwired feed running directly to the executive’s security system.
Jostan Ordomo
Let us see any footage those cameras caught.
Len Varro
You found the surveillance before I offered it. Fine. I will show you everything recorded since the ledger entered this building.
The logistics executive touches the glass and opens the security feed. Multiple angles appear: the freight stall, Dock Nine, Rodney’s approach, and the courier emerging from the container.
Rodney
Pause Dock Nine. If the camera saw who opened that container, we may have the missing link.
The footage freezes on Dock Nine. A maintenance credential opens the container remotely, then vanishes from the access log before any person reaches the controls.
“I scan the maintenance credential, I say "zoom in on the person opening the container" I call orin over and say even though they erased something is there no way to trail them? no markings left behind? I whisper to rodney that im getting impaitent with the executive”
SUCCESS (Legendary Hacking, rolled +2)
Jostan Ordomo
Zoom in on the person opening the container. Orin, even though they erased something, can you trail them? No markings left behind?
Jostan scans the maintenance credential through the security feed. The Eye of Anylasis reconstructs deleted access fragments, sharpening the frozen figure’s posture, clothing, and route through Dock Nine.
The image resolves into a compact adult woman in a dark maintenance coat, her face hidden by a reflective visor. A credential residue identifies her as the visor-faced maintenance contractor, maintenance contractor, and maps her exit to a service lift.
Orin
There are markings. The deletion missed the hardware handshake. I can trail Sela Marr through the lift network and recover the credential’s next destination.
Orin joins the annex and overlays the recovered path on the glass. Sela’s credential traveled from Dock Nine to a municipal relay, then into a private logistics node beneath the executive’s office.
Jostan Ordomo
I am getting impatient with the executive.
Rodney
Keep it contained. Let her finish denying what the trail already proves, then we use Sela’s route to find who ordered the rewrite.
“I ask the executive to authorize Sela's relay trail”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled -1)
Jostan Ordomo
Authorize Sela's relay trail. Let Orin follow it through your private logistics node and identify who ordered the rewrite.
The logistics executive studies Jostan across the glass, then glances at the recovered route. His demand leaves her office implicated, but refusing would make the concealment look deliberate.
Len Varro
Authorized. Orin gets temporary access to the private node, the municipal relay, and every linked credential record. I want the origin identified, not buried.
The logistics executive presses her palm to the annex console. Corporate permissions unfold across the glass, overriding the node's privacy barrier and exposing Sela's complete relay trail.
Orin
I have the trail. Sela's credential passed through the municipal relay, then reached a dormant account inside your office before the rewrite began.
A dormant account resolves into an internal authorization shell with no living owner attached. The evidence now belongs to the room, and the logistics executive can no longer dismiss the alteration as an outside intrusion.
“Did someone inside this office create the dormant shell?”
YES, AND MORE (Likely, rolled 7)
The dormant shell opens another layer. Its creation timestamp predates Sela Marr’s relay pass, and the originating workstation belongs to the logistics executive’s private office, not an external intruder.
Orin
Confirmed. Someone inside this office built the shell, then used it to receive Sela’s credential before the rewrite began.
The logistics executive’s face tightens as the workstation signature expands across the glass. The shell carries her office’s authority, but its final command was issued from a concealed emergency console beneath the records annex.
Len Varro
That console is not on any public floor plan. I authorized its installation for crisis routing, but I never approved a shadow account.
Orin
There is more. The shell preserved a live emergency token. I can use it to read the originating command logs before whoever built this realizes the account is exposed.
A concealed access path illuminates beneath the annex, leading toward the hidden console. The token remains valid, giving Orin a narrow advantage and the group a traceable route to the person who issued the rewrite.
Rodney
Then the office did not merely inherit the corruption. It gave the corruption somewhere to live.
“hahaha I chuckle smiling ear to ear I throw a mind talk chip to orin, once he puts it in we can use our cybernetics to talk to each other in our minds, I tell orin to use the acess he has to see any records of all members of the outsiders and tell him to find out about the command logs, outloud i say to rodney, "Do you think this executive is just?" I pull out the jimmy and point it to the executive asking "do you have any children?"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +1)
Jostan chuckles, smiling wide, then spots a spare neural relay chip seated in the exposed emergency console. He pulls it free and tosses it to Orin.
Orin
The chip seats cleanly. I hear you. I am opening every Outsiders record available through this access, then pulling the command logs.
Jostan Ordomo
Use the access you have. Find every record on the Outsiders, and trace the command logs to whoever issued the rewrite.
Jostan Ordomo
Rodney, do you think this executive is just?
Jostan draws the Jimmy revolver and points it at Len Varro. His bruised ribs tighten as he steadies his breathing, but his aim remains fixed.
Jostan Ordomo
Do you have any children?
Rodney
Just? No. But she is not pretending the system is clean. That makes her useful, not innocent.
Len Varro
Yes. Two. And if you are asking whether that makes me trustworthy, it does not. It only makes your question personal.
Orin
The Outsiders’ records are open. The command logs identify a live authorization beneath this annex, issued through a family-protected account.
“I authorize orin to trace the family account, gun still at the executive i ask her if she has any pain reliever for my ribs, with no bullets inside the jimmy I pull the trigger”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +2)
Jostan Ordomo
Orin, trace the family-protected account. Len, do you have any pain reliever for my ribs?
Jostan keeps the empty Jimmy trained on Len and pulls the trigger. The revolver answers with a dry click, making the threat unmistakable without firing a round.
Len Varro
There is a medical cabinet behind the left privacy panel. Take the analgesic patches, and leave the cabinet inventory intact.
Orin
The family account resolves to Waldin Donos. His authorization was used to shelter the rewrite, but the command itself came through a proxy beneath this office.
A privacy panel slides aside. Jostan retrieves two analgesic patches and presses them beneath his shirt along the bruised ribs, while Orin copies the account trail into the Outsiders’ archive.
Rodney
Your father’s authorization gives us a name, not an explanation. The proxy is still the part that can tell us who wanted you attached to this mess.
Orin
I have the proxy’s command path. It terminates at a private relay in the habitation sector, with Waldin’s account serving as the legal cover.
+ New Item Acquired
Analgesic Patches
“I pull bullets from inside my jacket and load up the jimmy put the gun back in my chest and i thank len, one more question beautiful I say to len, whats this waldin guy hiding?”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled -1)
Jostan finds two loose cartridges tucked into the inner lining of his jacket, seats them in the Jimmy, and checks the cylinder with careful hands.
He lowers the revolver, slides it back into his chest rig, and presses the analgesic patches flat beneath his shirt. The movement stays controlled around his ribs.
Jostan Ordomo
Thank you, Len. One more question, beautiful. What is this Waldin guy hiding?
Len Varro
Waldin is hiding debt, mostly. Corporate debt tied to old Helix contracts, private medical work, and obligations he never finished paying. But the account was not built to protect him. It was built to make his name useful.
Len opens a restricted personnel layer. Waldin’s authorization appears beside a string of dormant transfers, each routed through proxies that conceal their final recipient.
Len Varro
He is hiding who bought those obligations from him. The private relay beneath this office is not collecting his debt. It is using his identity to reach you.
+ New Item Acquired
Jimmy Cartridges
“seems like everyone wants a piece of me but im saving myself for that special someone-winking at len-Orin my health cant be relied but that ki-nen can if it works, I want you to work on it, this time making a condeser for the nen and a emulator for the Ki, use eolite in the handle and dont be afraind to make the gun bulky, I look to rodney and say outloud, lets take a visit to Mr Donos, grab the rest of the team and kiss len by the hand”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +3)
Jostan Ordomo
Seems like everyone wants a piece of me, but I’m saving myself for that special someone. Orin, work on the Ki-Nen gun: a Nen condenser, a Ki emulator, eolite in the handle, and make it bulky if needed. Rodney, let’s visit Mr. Donos and grab the rest of the team.
Jostan retrieves the broken Ki-Nen gun from Orin’s workbench and places it in his hands. He leans toward Len, kisses her hand, then releases it with a courteous flourish.
Len Varro
Bold, reckless, and surprisingly effective. The private relay access is yours. My office will provide the route to Waldin’s registered address.
Orin
I can build the condenser and emulator around the existing core. The eolite handle will add mass, but it should stabilize the transfer instead of merely surviving it.
Rodney
Mr. Donos, then. I’ll bring Maya, Caelen, Daven, and whoever else is still breathing and useful. You are buying the first conversation.
Orin clears space on the bench and locks the gun into a diagnostic cradle. He begins separating the failed junction, while Len transmits the relay authorization and Rodney opens a team channel.
The private route resolves to Waldin’s registered address, and the assembled team receives the invitation. Orin’s first design pass shows a working Ki emulator path and room for the Nen condenser.
✓ Quest Accepted
Confront Waldin Donos about the proxy using his identity
+ New Item Acquired
Broken Ki-Nen Gun
− Scene Quest Removed
Establish a reliable account of the ledger's origin
“I bring the ledger and proxy trail to confront waldin face to face, look at orin and say do what you think is right in a sarcastic tone-as if hes not a genuis, with the The Outsiders we head to Mr Donos, asking rodney if she thinks waldin altered the corporate record or someone close to him”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +3)