The skimmer bucks low over the desert, alarm shrieking as a sleek Imperial interceptor drops into view above the dust haze. Mara Vey wrestles the controls, fighting the crosswind. Joren hunched over the glowing list, snaps his head up. The broadcast code on the interceptor matches one line on the purge sheet.
Joren
That is not a patrol call, it is a cull marker. They are already keyed to erase us.
The skimmer steadies for one breath. Blue terminal light washes Shifter, Mara, and Joren while the interceptor slides closer, lining up a firing run.
Shifter
The code is on the list.
Mara Vey
Then we stop running blind. This ID links to the purge chain, and the chain leads up.
She shoves the skimmer into a hard bank, just enough to spoil the interceptor's aim. Joren jabs at the list, highlighting a fresh relay tag hidden beneath the broadcast ID.
Joren
There. A relay hub. If we reach it, we can pull the architects into the open.
The interceptor falls in behind them again, patient and lethal. The chase is no longer escape, it is a route straight toward the heart of the imperial purge.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the relay hub
✓ Quest Accepted
Expose the architects of the purge
“Does the skimmer have any weapons or electronic warfare gear?”
YES, BUT (Unlikely, rolled 34)
The skimmer possesses a localized jamming suite and a single forward-facing pulse cannon, but both systems are currently offline due to the severe damage sustained during the initial escape.
“"Joren can you hotwire the weapon systems back there" I say with a sense of urgency”
NO (Likely, rolled 88)
Shifter
Joren, can you hotwire the weapon systems back there?
Joren
The circuitry is fused solid, Shifter. There is nothing left to bridge.
Joren pulls his hands back from the scorched access panel, his fingers stained with soot as he shakes his head in defeat.
“"Joren can you hotwire the weapon systems back there" I say with a sense of urgency”
SUCCESS (Good Persuasion, rolled +0)
The skimmer bucks through a hard turn, smoke slashing back from the open panel while the interceptor’s fire rattles the hull behind them.
Shifter
Joren, can you hotwire the weapon systems back there?
Joren
The circuitry is fused solid, Shifter. There is nothing left to bridge.
Joren pulls away from the scorched access panel, then hesitates as Mara angles the skimmer between two cliffs and the hostile ship overshoots above them.
Mara Vey
Not useless, then. Just dead in the obvious places. Show me the relay tag again.
She flicks the cracked display toward them, and the chain of names on the list lines up with a relay hub stamp buried in the purge route.
Joren
That stamp is real. If the chain runs anywhere, it runs through that hub.
The interceptor drops out of sight for a moment in the canyon twist, and Mara keeps both hands on the controls, jaw set toward the next bend.
Shifter leaves Moving cargo skimmer behind and arrives at relay hub.
“" head for the relay, we'll make the list public"I tell Mara”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +3)
The skimmer bursts out of the canyon into the relay hub, a bowl of fractured towers, dish spines, and blinking signal masts half-buried in dust. Mara cuts power low and threads them beneath a rusted gantry as the interceptor’s howl snaps overhead.
Shifter
Head for the relay. We make the list public.
Mara answers by yanking the skimmer into the hub’s service lane. The damage-rimed craft skids hard, but it holds, and the nearest relay stack lights up with the same purge-route stamp from Joren’s display.
Mara Vey
Then we are here. I can jam the local grid long enough to broadcast one packet.
Joren
If that code reaches the network, the chain stops being a secret.
Above them, the interceptor banks for a second pass, but its target shifts. The hub is live, and every antenna on the ridge is now listening.
Joren
Shifter, if you have the evidence, give Mara the relay tag now. One clean broadcast, and the purge architects are exposed.
Quest Complete
Reach the relay hub
Skill Upgrade: Persuasion Good→Great