The Ignition Chamber booth shudders inside The Dead Engine, all iron skin and recycled vapor, while violet spill-light leaks through curtained seams. Nova Vance hunches low beside the booth’s flickering console, the deck humming hot in their hands. Wire Jax is already fighting the terminal.
Wire Jax
Tell me you can see this. Someone just punched a hole through the tavern net, and I am not loving the shape of that breach.
Echo
I see it. Three signatures outside, maybe more on the airlock. One of them is running a debt-fleet spoof. Bad news, that means coordination.
A metallic thud rolls through the booth wall. Then another. The main airlock groans under a forced override, and the stained booth lamps flicker in sympathy.
Wire Jax
If they get into the booth first, they’ll take the drive, the deck, maybe me. Need a better angle, fast.
Echo stutters harder, its violet projection breaking into jagged frames above the console. Heat blooms from Nova’s hacking deck, and a thin puff of steam vents into the cramped air.
Echo
Nova, the door lock is already failing. If you have a plan, it needs to happen now.
Outside, boots stop right at the booth door. A hand slams the iron panel once, hard enough to rattle the vapor tubes. The voice on the other side is muffled, sharp, and impatient.
The Hooded Bounty Hunter
Nova Vance, open up. We only want the deck and the datachip. Make this easy, and nobody gets dragged to Labor Block 09.
✓ Quest Accepted
Finish decrypting the data
“Nova slams their hand onto the override switch, wiring their smoking hacking deck directly into the booth's main console. They command Echo to flood the door lock with a corrupted data loop to scramble the hunter's bypass tools, while shouting to Jax, "Keep working the master file, I'm locking them out!"”
SUCCESS (Superb Hacking, rolled -1)
Nova jams the smoking deck into the console port. Sparks snap, the booth lights dip, and Echo’s fractured glow plunges straight into the lock controls.
Echo
Loop engaged. Scrambling their bypass handshake now.
Wire Jax shoves deeper into the master file, fingers flying. The console spits back a clean cascade of decrypted lines, and a fresh security bar seals the breach behind them.
Wire Jax
There, I’ve got the file open. Keep that door blind for ten more seconds.
Outside, the iron panel judders under a hard test tap, then the hunter’s tool squeals against the corrupted lock and dies.
The Hooded Bounty Hunter
What did you just do in there?
Echo steadies for a heartbeat, its projection sharpening over the console as the last of the data resolves into readable blocks.
Quest Complete
Finish decrypting the data