Three weeks later, the Amber Wing rests in an improvised service cradle above Avalon’s methane clouds. Frost rims the cradle struts while repair drones hum below the hull.
On a padded inspection table, the salvaged point-defense emitters, feed assemblies, and targeting hardware sit separated into labeled groups. Every component bears a quarantine tag.
Ranuko
The emitters are usable, but integration is where useful hardware becomes an expensive hole in the ship.
Lahani
And I would prefer our autonomous systems remain loyal to Amber Wing, rather than accepting another warship’s definition of command.
A diagnostic projector shows three amber risks: power spikes, targeting feedback, and the dormant authentication pathway buried in the military hardware. Avalon’s cloudlight flickers across the display.
Ranuko
We can isolate the weapons behind local authorization, test them against a dummy load, and keep the targeting network physically disconnected until Nahuli approves each bridge.
Lahani
That is the safe plan. It is also slow, inconvenient, and probably the only reason we are still bringing this ship home.
“There is also the licensing to deal with. There is a big difference between taking a cruiser class grazer, and point defense railguns. What was with that ship VI though, no idea. That ship wasn't one of ours.”
Avalon’s cloudlight washes over the inspection table as Ranuko brings up a second projector: salvage classification, ownership records, and provisional weapons licensing.
Nahuli
There is licensing to handle. A cruiser-class grazer is a very different matter from point-defense railguns.
Ranuko
Exactly. The emitters are defensible as recovered security hardware. The targeting assemblies are where the paperwork becomes expensive.
Lahani
Then we register the weapons as defensive salvage, keep the firing controls local, and disclose the military origin without granting anyone remote access.
Nahuli
And that ship VI? It was not one of ours. I still have no idea what it was doing there.
Ranuko
The records are incomplete. Its authority key matched the Captain’s old architecture, but the command behavior was not Avalon-built. I found no active intelligence core, only a constrained ship-management system.
Ranuko tags the unknown system for later analysis and locks the classification file behind local authorization. The railguns remain quarantined, but their path to legal, autonomous operation is clear.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine what the unknown ship VI was doing there
“Most ships have a VI, but they are just assistants. They arn't supposed to have access to ship systems.”
FAILURE (Fair Xeno-Linguistics, rolled -3)
Nahuli
The ship VI should be an assistant only. It should not have access to Amber Wing's systems.
Nahuli routes the classification projector through the local authorization console, separating voice assistance, diagnostics, navigation data, and control privileges into distinct permission groups.
Ranuko
The ordinary assistant layer accepts that restriction. The recovered targeting assemblies do not. Their constrained management system is fused to the weapon handshake.
The isolation command takes effect across routine ship systems, but the weapons interface rejects a clean separation. Its local controller falls into a locked maintenance state, leaving the emitters unable to complete their diagnostic cycle.
Lahani
So the VI cannot control Amber Wing, but the weapons will not operate unless that narrow handshake remains connected.
Ranuko
The access path is not broad enough to steer the ship, but it is too embedded to remove without rebuilding the targeting interface.
Ranuko marks the bridge as quarantined and physically disconnects the firing bus. The assistant remains confined to advisory data, while the salvaged weapons become inert until their interface is redesigned.
“I redesign the weapons interface around local authorization”
SUCCESS (Legendary Engineering, rolled +0)
Nahuli replaces the fused weapon handshake with a separate local authorization board, routing trigger logic through a sealed maintenance console and hardwired physical interlocks.
He partitions targeting data from firing authority, strips the constrained management system of command privileges, and gives the Amber Wing no path back into the weapons controller.
Ranuko
The redesign holds. The VI can provide diagnostics and targeting recommendations, but a local operator must authorize every firing cycle.
Ranuko runs the interface through a dummy load. The emitters complete their diagnostic sequence without accepting remote control, and the feed assemblies cycle cleanly.
Lahani
That is the boundary I wanted. Amber Wing stays ours, even if the weapons network is compromised.
The quarantine tags are updated to show autonomous local operation. The targeting assemblies remain physically isolated from navigation, propulsion, and shipwide command systems.
Ranuko
They are defensive weapons now, not a second command architecture. We can finish calibration under local supervision.
“Our ships don't use VI, we don't need to with our control integration. Its exotic tech. Needless to say, Riyani is going to need to get some training on these new systems.”
SUCCESS (Superb Diplomacy, rolled +3)
Nahuli
Our ships do not use VI. Our control integration makes it unnecessary. This exotic hardware means Kiryati will need proper training.
Nahuli brings Kiryati to the isolated weapons console, where the unfamiliar systems are exposed without any connection to Amber Wing’s navigation or propulsion. He starts with the physical interlocks.
Kiryati
So the targeting layer can suggest a solution, but it cannot make the weapon fire. I want to see every point where that boundary is enforced.
Kiryati works through authorization, dummy-load cycling, emitter reset, and fault isolation under Nahuli’s supervision. By the final sequence, she completes the procedure cleanly and earns local-operator qualification.
Ranuko
She found the calibration profile buried in the diagnostic package. We can apply it to the other emitters instead of tuning each one from scratch.
The profile shortens the remaining calibration work and gives the crew a verified baseline. The weapons remain physically separated from shipwide control, with Kiryati trained to operate them locally.
Lahani
Good. Strange hardware, familiar discipline, and no foreign system gets a hand on our ship.
“I have Ranuko analyze the VI's command logs”
SUCCESS (Superb Computers, rolled +1)
Ranuko connects the isolated diagnostic console to a copied command-log archive. The weapons remain physically disconnected while timestamped entries unfold across the projector.
Ranuko
The VI never issued a direct firing command. It requested authorization, checked the interlocks, then recorded the operator’s decision.
He filters out routine calibration traffic and reconstructs the command sequence from the derelict’s authority handshake through the docking incident.
Ranuko
Here is the important part. The authority key was not controlling the system. It was being used as a verification token for an inherited command structure.
A compact map separates the VI’s functions: diagnostics, targeting recommendations, authentication checks, and prohibited control pathways. The last category contains no active route into Amber Wing.
Ranuko
Its behavior was defensive and procedural, not independent judgment. It recognized the old architecture, tried to restore command hierarchy, and accepted local overrides once they were enforced.
Ranuko saves the analysis under the quarantine record. The logs confirm the VI can advise the weapons, but cannot command Amber Wing or bypass the local firing interlocks.
Quest Complete
Determine what the unknown ship VI was doing there
Skill Upgrade: Diplomacy Superb→Legendary