The Amber Wing settles into a gentle machine rhythm. The booth is dimmer now, the tabletop cleaned to a thin, practical line, and the data wafer waits between them like a promise of work later.
Nahuli stays near the table while the others unpack and resettle. Around him, the habitat module feels less like a waiting room and more like a crew space that has started to accept its new occupants.
Serafina
This is better than a cantina deal. Less noise, fewer lies dressed up as charm.
Zoya
And more room to judge people by their tools.
Lahani
That seems fair. The best crews usually start with shared habits, not speeches.
Serafina rolls one shoulder, then sets her pack down with care. Zoya checks the edge of a field patch, then slides it away once she is satisfied. Both women look settled, not relaxed exactly, but no longer braced for a bargain to turn ugly.
Serafina
You picked a clean ship for a dirty region. I can respect that.
Zoya
And you kept your end of the conversation. That matters out here.
Lahani glances toward Nahuli, then toward the wafer, leaving the moment open. The reactor hum fills the pause, steady as a hand on the shoulder.
✓ Quest Accepted
Fix a minor technical malfunction with Serafina's help
“I will hand the data wafer to Lahani to begin vetting our new contacts.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Engineering, rolled +1)
Nahuli slides the wafer across the cleaned table toward Lahani, and she takes it without breaking eye contact with the others. The small chip leaves his hand and the room’s focus narrows to work.
Lahani
I’ll check the contacts first. If anyone is masking their trail, I want to know before we let them near the ship.
Zoya shifts closer, watching the transfer like it might reveal a tell. Serafina leans in, one hand already reaching for a cable from her kit.
Serafina
Before that, the module’s running a soft misread on the port monitor. Tiny thing, but it will keep biting us until someone trims it.
Nahuli catches the flicker on the panel. A harmless fault, but it is exactly the sort of annoyance that becomes a drag on a fresh crew.
Zoya
Show her the symptom. If it’s simple, we clear it now.
Lahani slots the wafer into her reader and opens a side pane while Serafina starts tracing the bad line. Their hands move in a practiced relay, and the monitor steadies as the fault drops away.
Quest Complete
Fix a minor technical malfunction with Serafina's help
“Where are the other four crew members?”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +1)
Nahuli
Where are the others?
Lahani glances up from the reader, then tilts the wafer aside as if making room for the answer. The cabin’s quiet hum feels smaller now that the monitor is stable.
Lahani
Two are dockside. One is sleeping off a shift, and one went to check a relay route near the outer access.
Serafina
If you mean the rest of the crew, I can point you to them. If you mean who is actually useful in a room, that depends on the room.
Zoya
Names first. Habits second. That keeps surprises manageable.
Serafina taps the reader, and a thin status strip blooms beside Lahani’s pane. A live transponder tag blinks there, not from the module, but from somewhere moving on station. It matches no face in the room.
Lahani
There. That tag is still active. If it’s one of ours, I want a name on it before it gets close.
Zoya straightens, already watching the doorway, while Serafina keeps one hand on the cable run and the other on the reader. The crew has the answer Nahuli asked for, but the new signal makes the room feel occupied by someone absent.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the active transponder tag
“We are not in a rush to leave. "The two of you are new. How would you know the others that work on this ship?"”
SUCCESS (Great Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Nahuli
The two of you are new. How do you know the others who work on this ship?
Serafina
From jobs that went sideways and repairs that had to hold. You learn people fast when the hull is cold and the clock is mean.
Zoya
I learn names by who keeps their word. Habits by who breaks it.
Lahani
That is usually enough to sort a crew. The station gives everyone a trail, if you know where to look.
Serafina
And if you know which trail is a lie. This ship has a few regulars, dock runners, patch techs, and people who only appear when something is already failing.
Lahani
That tag is still on the side display, moving somewhere beyond the module.
Zoya
Names first, like I said. The live tag on your reader, I have seen that kind before. It usually belongs to someone trying not to be seen.
Serafina
If you want the name attached to it, point me at the port log. I can tell you whether it is ours, borrowed, or spoofed.
“I ask Serafina to check the port log”
SUCCESS (Legendary Engineering, rolled -1)
Nahuli
Serafina, check the port log for that tag.
Serafina shifts in at once, one hand leaving the cable lead as she leans toward the restored monitor.
Serafina
Good. That is the cleanest way to pin it down.
Her fingers fly over the port access, skimming the log entries with practiced speed while the side display keeps flashing the live tag.
Serafina
There, a routed handshake and a masked origin. Not random.
Serafina
It is not ours. The tag is spoofed through station maintenance channels, and the source is inside the dock stack.
Zoya
Then somebody wants us looking at the wrong face. Keep the log open.
The flashing indicator holds steady, no longer a vague nuisance but a concrete trail, and the crew turns with a shared, hard focus toward the hidden source.
Quest Complete
Identify the active transponder tag
Skill Upgrade: Diplomacy Great→Superb