Smoke rolls across the bridge as the maintenance spine groans. Mike Stone kicks through the bent bulkhead, modified uniform torn, data-spike flashing in his paw. The Pirate Lords recoil, but he keeps his gaze on Tressa.
Mike Stone
You’re flying into a setup. The city’s elite routed you on purpose. Those lane markers, that fleet map, all of it is bait.
A thin shape slips in behind the shattered frame, a hooded relay tech with a mag-strip satchel and a cheap visor. They freeze at the sight of the room, hands half-raised, silent for a beat.
The Relay Tech
Stone’s right. I patched the command feed. Someone inside your network keeps rewriting the exit vectors, live.
Morrow Nine pales in his restraints. Pirate Lord 12 shifts closer to the console while the static on The Lord’s hologram spits blue across the smoke.
Mike Stone
If you want your fleet alive, you stop trusting the pretty map and start moving blind. Now.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether Mike Stone is helping or sabotaging the fleet
“... Ok how do you know this and why would an ex cop help a pirate?”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled -1)
Tressa
How do you know this, and why would an ex-cop help a pirate?
Mike Stone
Because I watched the routing table get poisoned from inside, and because pirates are still people when the exit lights go red. I used to protect this city from tech crimes, so I know what a setup looks like.
Mike Stone
I am not helping your flag, I am helping the crews not get turned into wreckage by someone with cleaner hands than mine.
The Relay Tech
He pulled the logs from a dead maintenance mirror. I verified the handoff, and it points at a live rewrite path in your own command feed.
Pirate Lord 12
If he’s lying, he’s standing too close to the truth to be casual about it.
Mike Stone
He keeps his stance defensive, but his data-spike stays lowered. He wants belief, not a fight.
The Lord
Careful, Tressa. Men like him always arrive sounding noble when the trap is already shut.
Quest Complete
Determine whether Mike Stone is helping or sabotaging the fleet