Alice leads Ben through the silent, clinical halls of the Ark. They reach the command deck, where a lone figure stands silhouetted against the dark void of space.
Captain Stone
Identify yourself. You are far from your assigned station.
Ben
The plating on this drone is reinforced with heavy alloy. He outranks me.
Captain Stone
I saw the telemetric feed from the surface. A worker drone surviving the collapse of Earth to drift into orbit? An unlikely outcome, but acceptable data.
Captain Stone
You are a BASTION unit. Your survival is a failure of your primary directive to stay grounded, but your tenacity is a tactical asset. I am Captain Stone. We have work to do.
Captain Stone
The cryo bays require manual oversight that these mindless maintenance bots cannot provide. You will assist me in purging the system of unauthorized signatures, starting with the sector 4 ventilation ducts.
+ Scene Quest Added
Purge unauthorized signatures from the sector 4 ventilation ducts
“Follow him and head to the direction”
FAILURE (Good Agility, rolled -3)
Ben pivots to follow the Captain, but a heavy steel locking mechanism slides across the deck floor with a metallic shriek.
Ben
The corridor access plate is jammed tight.
Captain Stone
Efficiency is the only currency here, drone. My clearance is limited by the system lockdown, not my own stride.
Captain Stone keeps walking, his back turned as the ventilation duct entrance remains sealed shut before Ben.
Alice
The lockdown protocol is active. You need to bypass the local circuit if you want to reach the ducts.
Ben
My diagnostic tools indicate a fried data link.
Ben stares at the blinking red terminal on the wall, the sound of venting gas hissing from the seals.
+ Scene Quest Added
Bypass the local circuit
− Scene Quest Removed
Purge unauthorized signatures from the sector 4 ventilation ducts
“Hacking to bypass the door”
SUCCESS (Fair Hacking, rolled +3)
Ben plugs into the fried link. The red light on the terminal flickers, stutters, then steadies into a clean amber blink.
Ben
The circuit is readable now.
A thin lock icon vanishes from the deck display, and the sealed vent entrance clicks loose with a heavy metallic thunk.
Alice
There you go, sugar. Local lock is out of the way.
Cold air slips out from the vent seam as the panel shifts inward, revealing a dark service shaft beyond.
Captain Stone
Good. Move fast, drone. Unauthorized signatures do not wait for permission.
Inside the shaft, a faint status strip glows along the wall, and one of the nearest nodes on the diagnostic map stops blinking red.
Quest Complete
Bypass the local circuit
Skill Upgrade: Hacking Mediocre
