Naomi pushes out of the cramped relay shaft into the Main Engineering Hub. The chamber opens around her like a cathedral of steel, all ribbed catwalks, blazing conduits, and a core column pulsing with a sickly rhythm.
Ozone stings the air. Ionized dust glitters in the red strobe. Ahead, the diagnostic walls spill lines of critical errors so fast they blur into a single warning cascade.
The Ship AI
Naomi Katsuragi, core stability is degraded. Shield recalibration held, but contamination risk persists in the engineering spine.
The AI’s voice rolls through the hub, thinner than before, echoing off the gantries and dead equipment bays.
The Ship AI
I require a manual diagnostic at the primary junction. If the anomaly spreads, I will isolate half this deck.
Naomi Katsuragi
The primary junction is farther in, near the core access ring.
A figure steps out from behind a column of status pylons, wearing a scorch-marked maintenance coat and a mirrored visor. They raise one hand, not quite a threat, not quite a greeting.
Lead Engineer
Hey. Don’t go deeper yet. Something in there is waking up with the reactor pulse.
✓ Quest Accepted
Access the primary junction diagnostic
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the source of the conduit anomaly
“Keep my hand near my sidearm and ask the technician what they saw.”
SUCCESS (Fair Willpower, rolled +1)
Naomi keeps one hand near her sidearm as she steps clear of the shaft. The hooded technician does not flinch, just lowers their raised hand a fraction and angles their visor toward the core ring.
Naomi Katsuragi
What did you see in there?
Lead Engineer
A timing cascade. The junction is talking back to the reactor pulse, like something is riding the diagnostics instead of reading them.
The Ship AI
That description is consistent with unauthorized signal contamination.
Lead Engineer
Not unauthorized. Hidden. The anomaly keeps masking itself under routine thermal spikes, right where the conduit branches toward primary access.
The technician reaches into their coat and shows Naomi a thumb-sized data wafer, its edge scorched black. Red light skates over the metal as the core pulses once, harder than before.
Lead Engineer
Take it. It has a partial trace from the primary junction. If you trust your tools, you can prove what is carrying the corruption.
“I take the data wafer”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +0)
Naomi takes the wafer in one smooth motion, fingers closing around the scorched edge before the technician can pull back. The core pulse stains her knuckles red for a beat, then slides away.
Lead Engineer
Good. Now the trace is yours. Don’t let the hub lie to you.
The technician lowers their hand, empty now, and tilts their head toward the nearest diagnostic wall. Fresh error lines crawl across it, then freeze on a branching route into the primary junction.
The Ship AI
Primary access responds to the wafer signature. Proceed to the junction terminal for verification.
Naomi Katsuragi
The trace should match the conduit branch.
A narrow service panel on the wall unlocks with a sharp click, and a hidden terminal blooms to life in cold blue light. The adjacent conduit anomaly is now mapped beside the reactor pulse, its path marked in yellow warning bands.
Lead Engineer
If you want the source, that screen is your door. Move before the core shifts again.
Quest Complete
Access the primary junction diagnostic
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Fair→Good
+ New Item Acquired
Data wafer