The panels split open, and 2-6 steps out into a vast cargo hold, all steel ribs, hanging cables, and deck lights smeared by engine haze. The floor shudders under the transport's rising rumble.
A white service cradle sits beside the hatch, its straps still warm, while red warning strips pulse along the gantry rails overhead. Kest watches from above, calm and certain.
Kest
There he is. Easy now, 2-6, stay where I can see you.
2-6
The hold is open, too open.
Behind 2-6, the recovery room seals begin sliding shut. Ahead, the cargo hold stretches into shadows between stacked containers and drifting vapor.
The Courier
If we move, do it now. He wants you boxed in.
Jax
Upper gantry is watched, lower lanes are clear for a few seconds. Pick a line and run.
✓ Quest Accepted
Read the new directive from logistics
“Do I have a mission in my inbox?”
YES, AND MORE (VeryLikely, rolled 4)
2-6
The terminal in my arm is pinging again. It is not just a location lock, there is a data packet waiting.
A stream of encrypted text scrolls across 2-6's vision, bypassing the external dampening field. It is a direct order from the logistics office, marked with the same corporate seal that erased his memories.
Kest
Stop stalling, 2-6. You have a new directive in your inbox, and I suggest you read it before I decide to override your motor functions myself.
“Read the directive”
SUCCESS (Superb Hacking, rolled -1)
2-6 drags the packet open with a twitch of his wrist. The hologram blooms wider, turning the cargo hold into a field of blue static and corporate type.
2-6
It is addressed to me.
The directive scrolls cleanly through the interference, tagged for retrieval and transfer. The word bait appears once, clinical and cold.
Kest
Read it out loud if you need me to translate. Otherwise move.
Below the warning lights, The Courier braces against a cargo rail, watching 2-6 with that same old hesitation. Jax shifts beside them, breathing hard through the hum.
The last line resolves, destination code included. 2-6 is already in transit.
The Courier
That is not a route sheet. That is a handoff order.
Quest Complete
Read the new directive from logistics