The Instrument Bench displays the crew-approved procurement ranking beside Amber Wing’s current load map. Nahuli stands at the system boundary while Ranuko, Lahani, Kiryati, Nikayo, and Liyanu gather around the laboratory display.
Ranuko
I will simulate one shared distribution path failing. No hardware changes, no live commands, and the safety boundary stays closed.
Ranuko activates the harmless model. One bus disappears from the map, and the remaining path immediately pushes cooling demand toward its limit while medical reserves begin drawing from the same constrained buffer.
Liyanu
That is not an acceptable installation state. Medical power needs its own buffer before we add anything that increases heat or load.
Lahani
Flight redundancy follows. We cannot install upgrades in a sequence that leaves the abort route dependent on one surviving panel.
Nikayo shifts the ranking into a staged plan: distribution panels and cooling first, then the medical buffer, flight references, local defense, laboratory isolation, and convenience fittings last. Kiryati marks each stage’s physical interlocks and rollback point.
Ranuko
The sequence preserves independent control during every step. Nahuli, the team has a practical order, but the first installation still needs your authorization.
The simulated failure clears, restoring the full load map. The procurement list remains ranked beside the staged installation plan, awaiting Nahuli’s response.
✓ Quest Accepted
Install the first resilience upgrades
Nahuli's turn“"Keep in mind the amber wing is made from a modular transport. The engines, bridge, and weapons all draw from the same grid. Everything else has its own grid by design due to the detachable nature of the cargo bays."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Engineering, rolled +0)
Nahuli overlays Amber Wing’s modular architecture on the staged plan. Advanced Technical Insight separates the shared engine, bridge, and weapons grid from the independently powered detachable cargo bays.
His Toolbelt supplies labeled jumpers and load tags while the Repair Kit provides the fittings for safe panel isolation. The map now shows exactly where shared-grid failure matters most.
Nahuli
Authorize the staged installation. Protect the shared engine, bridge, and weapons grid first, while preserving the cargo bays’ independent grids and Amber Wing’s control.
Ranuko
Accepted. Distribution and cooling lead, with rollback points before the medical buffer, flight references, local defense, and laboratory work.
Ranuko locks the authorization into the installation record. Lahani verifies the abort route, Kiryati confirms the physical interlocks, and Liyanu marks medical isolation as the next protected boundary.
Nikayo
The cargo bays remain detachable without becoming liabilities. Their separate grids stay outside the shared-load sequence.
The crew-approved plan becomes an authorized work order: staged, reversible, and centered on Amber Wing’s independence. The first installation phase is cleared to begin.
Nahuli's turn“"We already balanced the main grid. We can run travel drive or weapons, not both. Everything else runs on substations."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Engineering, rolled +0)
Nahuli reworks the load map on the Instrument Bench, separating travel drive and weapons into distinct substations while leaving every other system on its assigned substation.
Nahuli
We already balanced the main grid. We can run travel drive or weapons, not both. Everything else runs on substations.
Advanced Technical Insight exposes the remaining coupling points. Nahuli uses the Toolbelt to tag each feed, then the Repair Kit to fit isolated couplers and reversible panel links without altering the shared control architecture.
Ranuko
The drive and weapons substations are now mutually exclusive. The auxiliary loads stay distributed, so either primary system can operate without taking the rest of the ship with it.
Nahuli runs the staged simulation: travel drive draws its full demand while weapons remain electrically unavailable, then the selection reverses. Medical, laboratory, cargo-bay, and life-support substations remain stable in both configurations.
Lahani
That preserves the abort route. We travel with weapons cold, or defend while stationary, but the choice stays explicit and local.
The final distribution strategy locks into the authorized work order with physical interlocks and rollback points recorded. Amber Wing now has a clear travel-or-weapons choice while its independent substations preserve safety and control.
Nahuli's turn“Nikayo, get on stallar cartography, find us something interesting to explore.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Computers, rolled -2)
Nahuli
Nikayo, get on stellar cartography and find us something interesting to explore.
Nikayo brings the cartography feed to the Instrument Bench, isolating it from ship control. Nahuli’s Advanced Technical Insight highlights weak orbital signatures without treating unverified transmissions as instructions.
Nikayo
I am filtering for quiet targets with measurable structure, not active signals. The Bench can compare their motion, heat, and reflected light independently.
Nikayo builds a ranked sky map across the Bench. One faint object resolves as a cold rogue body with a shallow orbital capture, a detectable internal heat gradient, and no active beacon.
Nikayo
There. A captured rogue world beyond the next relay sector. Its nightside shows periodic thermal structure, strong enough for passive sampling and weak enough to leave us an easy withdrawal route.
The cartography pass completes with coordinates, approach limits, and a conservative survey window. The work consumes one replaceable calibration cartridge, leaving the Bench fully functional but reducing its spare stock.
Nikayo
It is interesting, and the first look can remain passive. I have saved the route package for the crew’s decision.
Nahuli's turn“"Hopefully we wont run into the humans again, they only cause trouble. Work with Lahani to find a route. Ranuko can manage power. Getting the upgrades we need without doing through central might not be easy."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Engineering, rolled +0)
Nahuli
Hopefully we do not run into those humans again. They only cause trouble.
Nahuli joins Lahani at the navigation display while Ranuko opens the power model. The Toolbelt supplies tagged leads, and the Repair Kit lays out reversible couplers for the upgrade plan.
Lahani
I can route us around the central lanes. We will use the quiet relay sector, preserve the abort route, and avoid any traffic that demands an answer.
Advanced Technical Insight overlays mass, heat, and relay coverage on Lahani’s route. It identifies a clean approach to an independent Rim supplier, with no central handoff required.
Ranuko
Power can support the staged upgrades. I will keep the travel and weapons substations mutually exclusive while protecting medical, laboratory, and cargo-bay grids.
Nahuli uses the Toolbelt to mark each feed and the Repair Kit to fit reversible isolation points. The power model confirms the route, upgrades, and rollback points remain within reserve.
Lahani
The route is ready. We can obtain the needed hardware without surrendering Amber Wing’s independence.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the independent Rim supplier
Lahani's turn“I lock the quiet relay route and preserve our abort lane.”
SUCCESS (Superb Astronavigation, rolled +0)
Lahani locks the quiet relay route into Amber Wing’s navigation computer. Its guidance model accepts the verified corridor and marks the central lanes as excluded, keeping the ship independent of outside traffic.
The computer projects a clean approach toward the Rim supplier, then calculates a separate return path around the relay sector. Lahani preserves that path as the abort lane, with manual checkpoints and no automatic handoff.
Nahuli
Route locked. The abort lane is clear, and no outside signal gets authority over our navigation.
Ranuko watches the power model update against the locked course. Travel remains assigned to its substation, weapons stay mutually exclusive, and the independent medical, laboratory, and cargo-bay grids remain protected.
Ranuko
The route and staged upgrades fit inside reserve. Nothing in the plan depends on the weapons bus or a borrowed relay.
The navigation computer seals the route package with the abort lane, approach limits, and rollback points. Amber Wing turns quietly toward the supplier, carrying its independence forward under Lahani’s control.
Nahuli
Good work, Lahani. We arrive on our terms, and we leave on our terms.
“I follow the locked route toward the Rim supplier”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +1)