The transit container glides through the submerged transfer network, its pressure shell humming as black water presses against the reinforced windows. Leonidas’s lights vanish behind him.
Beyond the glass, autonomous cargo machinery stirs along the drowned rails. Manipulator arms unfold from maintenance gantries, guiding the container toward a dark coastal hub beyond the city.
Sela Marr
I’m through the protected route. No pursuit followed, and the upper platform stayed blind. Whatever this hub is, it has been waiting a long time.
A docking collar seals around the container. Sela steps onto the receiving platform as cargo units wake in sequence, their lenses sweeping the chamber without finding an active threat.
A central display separates two choices: authorize a single departure through the hub, or enroll permanently in its autonomous custody network. The launch controls remain locally isolated.
Sela Marr
The terms are clear. Departure preserves your independence. Enrollment gives the hub authority over every route it controls.
Cargo machinery arranges around the platform without touching the container. The dark hub waits beyond the opened collar, its authorization prompt holding for Jostan’s decision.
✓ Quest Accepted
Depart the hub with Jostan's freedom intact
“I inspect the departure route and cargo machinery before launching while authorizing a single departure and keeping the hubs custody network out”
SUCCESS (Legendary Perception, rolled +0)
Jostan sweeps the departure route with the Eye of Anylasis, tracing pressure seals, guidance beacons, emergency cutoffs, and every control link between the dock and the outer network. The route is clean, singular, and locally governed.
The cargo machinery exposes its operating layers under the scan. Four handling units follow fixed docking instructions, carry no weapons, and share no active connection with the hub’s custody network.
Jostan Ordomo
Authorize a single departure. Keep the custody network disconnected and leave the route under local control.
The central display accepts the instruction without resistance. Enrollment remains dark while a single-departure authorization replaces it, locking the launch path to Jostan’s isolated controls.
Sela Marr
Confirmed. The hub grants passage, not ownership. Nothing in its custody network has authority over you.
Cargo units clear the docking collar and align the container with the outbound rail. Their lenses sweep once, then return to standby as the departure route opens beyond the coastal hub.
The launch controls show one active departure and no enrollment record. The container begins moving under Jostan’s authorization, carrying him onward while the hub’s custody network stays outside the route.
“I monitor the outbound rail until the hub is behind us isolating every custody-network signal during departure while waving goodbye to sela”
SUCCESS (Fair Electronics, rolled -2)
Jostan monitors the outbound rail through the Eye of Anylasis, tracking every custody-network signal as the cargo container clears the hub. The route remains locally governed.
He isolates each signal at the departure controls, severing its return path without touching the launch authorization. Four cargo units continue their fixed guidance pattern beyond the docking collar.
The final isolation consumes the rail monitor's disposable calibration filament. Its diagnostic feed goes dark, but the custody network is fully excluded from the departing route.
Sela Marr
The hub is behind you. No custody signal followed, and your departure stayed under local control.
Through the rear port, Jostan raises a hand toward Sela and waves goodbye as the coastal hub recedes into darkness. She returns the gesture from the platform.
The outbound rail carries him beyond the hub, with the route authorization intact and the autonomous custody network left behind, blind to his passage.
Quest Complete
Depart the hub with Jostan's freedom intact
Skill Upgrade: Electronics Fair→Good