The recovery cabin terminal clears Krieosk for supervised flight-deck access. His helmet, oxygen mask, rucksack, revolver, and healing injuries remain unchanged as the security officer escorts him through the ship.
The hangar opens around an old twin-engine fighter, its hull layered with mismatched armor plates and faded colony markings. Crew and passengers gather behind yellow safety lines.
The operations chief, a broad-shouldered middle-aged man with copper-brown skin, close-cropped gray hair, and an oil-stained blue coverall, unlocks the cockpit.
Operations Chief
She flies, but barely. Patched coolant lines, unreliable thrust balancing, and limited weapons. You inspect everything before touching the controls.
The security officer stays close at Krieosk’s shoulder, one hand near her sidearm. Behind the lines, fascination competes with unease as only his filtered breathing reaches them.
A red-haired girl of roughly sixteen to eighteen stands among the passengers, slight beneath a green jacket, watching the silent pilot without approaching or speaking.
Operations Chief
I authorize a controlled launch simulation or short internal test, under monitoring. Tell me which system you want opened first.
✓ Quest Accepted
Complete the fighter's flight evaluation
✓ Quest Accepted
Have the crew survive the ship’s destruction
“I do the short internal test”
SUCCESS (Legendary Piloting, rolled -1)
The operations chief hands Krieosk a temporary cockpit badge and steps aside. Krieosk retrieves the fighter’s access slate, climbs into the borrowed cockpit, and seals the canopy.
The hangar clamps engage around the old fighter. Diagnostic lights crawl across patched coolant lines and uneven thrust controls as Krieosk connects the ship to the internal test network.
Operations Chief
Keep it inside the marked envelope. No weapons, no hard acceleration, and cut power if the balancing warning turns red.
Krieosk brings both engines online. One responds late, then catches with a violent vibration. The fighter lifts against its magnetic cradle and completes the authorized internal flight circuit.
The test succeeds, but the port coolant line vents sharply, filling the cockpit with metallic vapor. Krieosk’s medical monitor records a brief spike from the vibration.
Operations Chief
That was a successful circuit. The port engine is worse than my records showed, and everyone in this hangar heard it.
Security Officer
He followed the limits. Log the strain and the coolant fault, then keep the fighter grounded until repairs are authorized.
Quest Complete
Complete the fighter's flight evaluation
+ New Item Acquired
Temporary cockpit badge
+ New Item Acquired
Fighter access slate