The Amber Wing slips into cleaner dark, the debris corridor thinning behind them. On the bridge, the salvage haul is finally still, but the comm panel spits static like it is unhappy about the peace.
Ranuko
Nahuli, you read me? I have a problem, and it is not a small one.
A cracked image resolves on the main display, showing Ranuko in a cramped scout frigate cockpit, panels dim and one side of his frame lit by emergency red. His ship drifts dead in the water, barely holding orientation.
Ranuko
My drive control is locked out, maybe from a bad relay surge. I need an engineer who can think faster than a fault tree.
Lahani leans toward the screen, feathers tense, while Kiryati stays near the hatch, watching the readouts and the new contact with soldierly suspicion. The bridge fills with the soft rattle of cooling metal.
The signal is patchy, but the handshake is clean. That means the call is real, not spoofed.
Ranuko
If you can get me powered back up, I will owe you. If not, I am floating here like expensive junk.
✓ Quest Accepted
Help Ranuko power his scout frigate back up
“I see what I can do from my console remotely while Lahani closes the distance.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Engineering, rolled -1)
Nahuli’s console spits out Ranuko’s drive map, not as a full system failure, but as a relay latch hung in the wrong state. He reroutes the fault through a bypass and clears the lockout from here.
Ranuko
There, I have power. Not full output, but enough to hold orientation and cycle the drives.
On the display, the scout frigate’s dim panels wake in sequence. Emergency red gives way to steadier diagnostics, and the dead drift becomes controlled idle.
Lahani
Good. I am already coming up to your side of the comm stack.
Kiryati glances from the console to the stored salvage, then back to the feed. The bridge quiets, waiting for the crew to choose what they can spare.
Ranuko
If you can help, I can keep him alive out here. If not, tell me now and I start stripping load to survive on my own.
The Amber Wing’s own repair readouts keep scrolling beside the call, patient and uncompromising.
Quest Complete
Help Ranuko power his scout frigate back up