The Raptor settles into a rare, watchful quiet. Red emergency light washes the bridge, and the last of the command hub’s debris is only a memory on the sensor feed.
Shifter stands at the console, trench coat hanging loose, with the ship’s hum under his boots. The victory feels real only because the void keeps answering with silence.
Mara Vey
We actually made it out.
Mara Vey
Her shoulders ease by a fraction, but her eyes stay on the scrolling data, as if expecting the Empire to blink back.
She pulls her hands off the controls and leans back, civilian clothes settling where armor used to be. For once, she looks less like an officer and more like someone allowed to breathe.
Mara Vey
That hub was supposed to be untouchable. Now it is dust.
A soft ping rolls across long-range sensors, harmless, distant, almost polite. The bridge stays intact around them, warm with power and the afterglow of survival.
Mara Vey
So, what do we do with the next quiet hour?
✓ Quest Accepted
Find out whether the rebel cause was a fabrication
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn what the next quiet hour means for the partnership
Director's note
can Mara Vey start being rendered without armor and in civilian clothing
“" what are your plans now.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +1)
Shifter
What are your plans now?
Mara Vey
First, I check the ship for anything Joren left behind. Then I pull every route fragment we stole and compare them against the patrol traffic.
Mara Vey
If the rebel cause was a fabrication, I want the shape of it. Who built it, who sold it, and who profit from the lie.
She turns from the console and comes back to him in the red light, no armor now, just civilian layers and a tired, practical stare.
Mara Vey
I am not done with the Empire, but I am done guessing. If you are staying on this ship, I want our next move to be deliberate.
Her hand lifts, not to seal a pact, but to offer a choice. The relay channel tag still crawls through one side of the display, a faint stain in the traffic.
Mara Vey
So tell me, Shifter, do we hunt the lie together, or do you want the quiet hour for something else?
“" Well since the Raptor is my ship we stay on board. We do have this of his." I toss her Jorens writ band. " See if you can do anything with that, I need a moment. " I go to my quarters to meditate”
SUCCESS (Fair Willpower, rolled +0)
Shifter
Then we stay aboard. Use Joren's writ band if it helps. I need a moment.
Shifter places the band into Mara's hand, then turns from the console and heads for the corridor. The bridge light washes red over his coat as the ship hums around him.
He reaches his quarters without interruption, and the door seals behind him with a soft hiss. The quiet inside is thinner than comfort, but it holds.
Shifter
The writ band is in her hands now.
In the bridge behind him, Mara remains at the console, turning the band under the glow while the relay channel tag crawls across one side of the display like a stain that will not quite vanish.
Mara Vey
I can use this. Not as proof, yet, but as a pattern. Joren's access was wider than he admitted.
Shifter settles into stillness to meditate, and the cost of the choice lands with him, a faint pressure behind the eyes from pushing through the ship's tired rhythms. For a few breaths, the engine noise, Mara's voice, and the distant traffic all become part of the same low current.
Mara Vey
When you're ready, I want to compare this against the patrol fragments. Quiet hour or not, we're not guessing anymore.
Quest Complete
Learn what the next quiet hour means for the partnership
New Gift: Galactic Diplomatic Network
+ New Item Acquired
Joren's writ band