Jax stumbles hard in the cargo hold, his breathing turning into that wet, metallic rattle. He clutches his chest and folds forward, like the floor pulls him down by force.
His shirt tears as he hits one knee. Under the skin, an amber lattice glows, threaded in the same clean pattern as the ship’s interface. It is not a wound. It is a build.
The Courier
No... that is the same strain. The same kind of conversion.
2-6’s arm answers with a soft pulse, and the routing lines in the deck flicker in sympathy. The hold suddenly feels smaller, like the whole ship is listening to what Jax has become.
Jax
I know what this looks like. I was trying to hold it back.
The Courier
You were a test case. They did this to you on purpose.
✓ Quest Accepted
Expose who is harvesting them as test subjects
✓ Quest Accepted
Stabilize Jax
✓ Quest Accepted
Get Jax to explain what the lattice is doing
“Is Jax's condition going to kill him?”
YES, AND MORE (Likely, rolled 5)
Jax
It is not just a test, kid. It is a countdown. The lattice is already rewriting my heart to match the ship's rhythm, and it is not going to stop until I am just another piece of the hull.
The Courier
My name is Elias. And if he is right, we are not just looking at a corporate secret, we are looking at a graveyard.
2-6
The amber light in his chest is pulsing in perfect sync with the ship's engine, and it is getting faster.
“2-6 rushes to Jax's side. And tries to hack into the hive of nanobots working through Jax. "Keep talking, I'm gonna try and at least slow this down"”
SUCCESS (Superb Hacking, rolled +1)
2-6 is at Jax’s side in a blink, one hand braced on the crate, the other opening his rig into the amber glow. The lattice answers his signal, and Jax’s chest flickers with a steadier, slower pulse.
2-6
Keep talking, I’m trying to slow this down.
Jax
Good. Then listen. It is not just growing, it is syncing me to the ship’s core, turning my nerves into routing.
Lines of amber run across the deck like a mapped vein, then dim under 2-6’s intrusion. Jax’s breathing evens out by a fraction, enough to matter.
The Courier
So that is what they did to you. Not a prison, a prototype.
Jax
Worse. A field test. Same architecture, different body.
The red pulse in 2-6’s wrist rig softens as his hack partitions the lattice traffic. The registry tone stays obedient, but the hold on Jax’s chest loses speed.
Quest Complete
Get Jax to explain what the lattice is doing
Quest Complete
Stabilize Jax
“"if I could partition myself maybe I can do it for you, can you help build it?" 2-6 continues to run diagnostics and assess Jax's condition”
SUCCESS (Superb Hacking, rolled +2)
2-6 lets the rig settle, then pushes deeper into Jax’s lattice. Lines bloom across his display, not just reading the pulse, but mapping the pattern that carries it.
2-6
If I can partition myself, I can do it for you. Help me build it.
The diagnostic sweep completes. Jax’s chest light resolves into two clean channels, one feeding his nerves, one feeding the ship. The second path is the one 2-6 starts to cage.
Jax
Yeah. There. You found the seam. I can feel the difference already, like my thoughts stop echoing in the hull.
The Courier
So they did not just use you to move cargo. They built a man into a socket.
The red pulse in 2-6’s wrist rig flickers, then steadies into a smaller, cleaner beat. The registry tone holds obedient, but Jax’s chest light no longer drinks from the whole system.
Jax
If they can route me, they can route you. That is the part I was scared to say out loud.
“"As long as they route us together, I don't care" 2-6 looks up to meet Jax's eyes. Their systems integrated with eachother. 2-6 holds Jax's hand tightly.”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +2)
2-6 lets the rig go still, then reaches across the gap between them. His hand closes around Jax’s, firm and deliberate, while he lifts his eyes to meet Jax’s face.
2-6
As long as they route us together, I do not care.
Jax’s shoulders loosen on the crate. The two channels in his chest settle into a steadier split, and the one feeding the ship stops tugging so hard at his breath.
Jax
Then keep holding on. That is how we keep the line ours.
The Courier
I have seen rigs, tags, and chains. I have not seen anyone answer them by making a partnership out of the trap.
The registry tone stays obedient, but the amber trace in the deck thins under their joined hands, like the hold is learning a new shape from their contact.
Jax
They turned me into a socket, yes. But sockets can be redirected. If you are building something inside that system, I want in on the wiring.
“Does the link that Jax and 2-6 formed allow them to communicate without speaking aloud?”
YES (Likely, rolled 31)
A sudden, sharp static flickers behind 2-6's eyes, not from the ship's core, but from the connection to Jax. A stream of raw, unvoiced data flows between them, bypassing the ship's registry entirely.
2-6
The link is not just a bridge for the ship. It is a private channel.
Jax
You feel that, right. We are not just sharing the load anymore, we are sharing the signal.
“In the flowing data between Jax and 2-6; "If we share processing power then we can probably rewrite a lot of shit, we go to the drop point and get more information then decide our next moves"”
SUCCESS (Superb Hacking, rolled -1)
2-6 threads the raw channel open and presses deeper, not at the ship, but at the pattern hidden inside it. The amber shimmer tightens, then unfolds into a route map stamped with a logistics office seal.
2-6
The drop point is not random. It is a handoff site.
The map blooms across the link in layered fragments, cargo lane, intake bay, sealed clinic wing. One node flashes twice, then locks onto a personnel tag tied to test intake.
Jax
There it is. They are not moving freight, they are moving bodies through a schedule.
2-6’s rewrite strips the noise away. Beneath the routing code sits a drop-point note, not for delivery, but for collection. The same office marks it as a recovery window.
The Courier
So the clinic was not an accident. It was a supply line.
The amber line steadies between their hands, cleaner now, and the hold seems to listen. Jax’s grin fades into a hard, focused stare at the map still burning in the link.
Jax
Take that to the drop point. If the schedule is real, the people who wrote it will still be there.
“"Then let's go."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +3)