The service lift opens behind the bridge stations with a hydraulic groan. Ilex-9, a battered maintenance mech, an old, genderless robot with a compact, boxy frame with scorched yellow-gray armor, a dented torso, and one flickering optic, steps onto the deck carrying a sealed black data shard.
Vehicon commander
Stop there. Our scan found no intruder aboard this vessel. Identify yourself and explain how you bypassed a full-vessel sweep.
The Vehicons pivot as one, blue optics fixing on Ilex-9. Weapons remain lowered, but targeting glyphs bloom across their forearms while the commander advances from the restored navigation core.
Ilex-9
Maintenance unit Ilex-9. I was sealed below the sensor lattice before transition. The shard activated the moment your route fractured.
The black shard emits a thin pulse. Across the command glass, the same waveform reappears, matching the tracking filament still wrapped around the warship’s dimensional wake.
Vehicon commander
You carried the lock inside our hull. Set the shard down and state who placed it there.
Ilex-9 stops several paces from the command dais, damaged servos whining. The bridge falls quiet except for the shard’s synchronized pulses and the distant engines.
✓ Quest Accepted
Establish how the tracking shard entered the warship
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify who placed the tracking shard
“*Nemesis Prime stands over Ilex-9 intimately and commands as how the tracking shard entered his vessel and who helped both him and the shard get on board*”
SUCCESS (Superb Command, rolled +1)
Nemesis Prime
Explain how the tracking shard entered my vessel, and who helped you and the shard get aboard.
Nemesis Prime stands over Ilex-9 at close range, red energy washing across the maintenance mech’s scorched armor. The Vehicons hold their aim as the shard pulses between them.
Ilex-9
The shard was installed before departure, inside my sealed service compartment. I did not know it was there until the transition fractured.
Ilex-9 lowers the black shard onto the deck. Its pulse projects a thin route diagram, tracing backward through the warship’s cargo architecture to a dormant command channel.
Ilex-9
Your logistics intelligence, Kestrel, opened the compartment and falsified the maintenance manifest. Kestrel brought me aboard with the shard already hidden in my chassis.
The Vehicon commander turns sharply toward the navigation core as the revealed designation appears in red across every restored console. A sealed command channel answers with one silent activation tone.
Quest Complete
Establish how the tracking shard entered the warship
Quest Complete
Identify who placed the tracking shard
“Nemesis Prime commands Ilex-9 be thrown into the brig and the shard studied, then he tells the commander to tell him what the navigation core is saying”
SUCCESS (Superb Command, rolled -2)
Nemesis Prime
Throw Ilex-9 into the brig. Have the shard studied. Commander, tell me what the navigation core is saying.
The Vehicons seize Ilex-9 and escort him toward the service lift. Two others seal the black shard inside a shielded analysis cradle beside the navigation core.
Ilex-9
I understand. Kestrel used my maintenance clearance, but I never authorized the compartment access.
Vehicon commander
Confirmed. Ilex-9 is confined to the brig, and the shard is under active study.
The analysis cradle draws a hard pulse from the shard. Three diagnostic panels flare white, and one sensor drone drops inert as its circuits overload.
Vehicon commander
The navigation core reports the wake filament is still attached, but no longer corrupting our controls. It is transmitting a destination handshake.
Vehicon commander
The handshake originates beyond the next transition point. Kestrel did not merely track us, Commander. Kestrel is directing us somewhere.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn the destination of Kestrel's handshake
“Nemesis Prime commands all weapons be put online and the defense online as well and to play along with Kestrel game… for now.”
SUCCESS (Superb Command, rolled -1)
Nemesis Prime
Put all weapons online. Bring the defenses online as well. We will play along with Kestrel, for now.
The bridge answers immediately. Armored shutters retract across the weapons bays, defense grids ignite around the hull, and targeting constellations spread over the command glass.
Vehicon commander
Weapons and defensive systems are fully online. The wake filament still believes we are following its assigned route.
The commander redirects the navigation core through a sealed tactical trunk. Hidden batteries rotate into firing position while point-defense drones wake in the warship’s outer launch racks.
Vehicon commander
I can preserve the appearance of compliance and mask our readiness. Kestrel’s handshake is opening a corridor now.
Beyond the command glass, the starfield folds into a narrow geometric aperture. The black shard answers from its shielded cradle, projecting a destination code over the armed bridge.
Vehicon commander
Destination lock acquired. The corridor leads directly into an unidentified fortified zone. Its outer defenses are broadcasting an invitation.
Quest Complete
Learn the destination of Kestrel's handshake