Nyx reaches a concealed relay access point beneath the eastern bus infrastructure, the recovered archive route glowing across her wrist interface. Mina remains behind in the secured apartment; no one accompanies Nyx physically.
The relay is hidden behind a maintenance grille beneath bundled fiber conduits. Corporate signal traffic vibrates through the deck, while red monitor pings converge along the infrastructure above.
Eidolon-7
There is a narrow intrusion window into Transfer Hold East. It will expose whoever currently holds Mara, but only if you enter before the monitors finish triangulating this relay.
A second encrypted channel joins the relay. Soren Quill arrives remotely, stabilizing the decoded fragments as corrupted archive blocks assemble beside the route map.
Soren Quill
I have the fragments pinned. The holder's identity is buried under three custody layers, but the route is coherent enough to open one read window.
The relay display resolves a live transfer signature beneath the archive route. A corporate monitor sweeps closer, its scan cadence tightening around the concealed access point.
Eidolon-7
The window is opening now. Once you touch the custody layer, the monitors will know this is an intrusion.
✓ Quest Accepted
Open a usable path toward Mara
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify whoever currently holds Mara
“I route the live transfer signature into Soren's stabilized archive view.”
FAILURE (Fair Hacking, rolled -3)
Nyx reaches to route the live transfer signature into Soren's stabilized archive view, but the wrist interface is not with her. The relay connection hangs beyond her reach.
She forces the route through the concealed relay instead, trimming the signature by hand. The transfer stream tears open and floods the archive view with corrupted custody data.
Soren Quill
Pull it back. You have crossed the archive boundary, and the view is ingesting live custody noise.
The stabilized fragments collapse into overlapping route blocks. A red monitor ping locks onto the relay, and Soren's archive channel becomes tagged as an active intrusion point.
Eidolon-7
The signature did not reach his view cleanly. It has bound the monitor trail to Soren's channel.
The relay begins broadcasting Soren's corrupted archive handshake upstream. The live transfer signature disappears beneath the noise, while the triangulation sweep tightens around both remote connections.
“I sever the relay and spoof a maintenance shutdown”
FAILURE (Fair Hacking, rolled +1)
Nyx cuts the upstream route and injects a maintenance-shutdown order into the relay traffic. The concealed relay itself is beyond the grille, not in her possession, so the physical link stays live.
The spoof reaches the monitor layer, but its authorization fails against the custody network's stronger controls. Instead of shutting down, the relay splits the broadcast and drops Soren's archive channel to a narrow diagnostic state.
Soren Quill
You did not sever it, but you broke the trail into two branches. I can hold one before the monitor sweep closes.
A maintenance status packet survives the failed shutdown spoof. It exposes a local control path beneath the relay, separate from the custody broadcast and marked for manual isolation.
Eidolon-7
That path is usable. It will not cut the relay remotely, but it can isolate the monitor feed without touching Soren's archive again.
The failed shutdown leaves Soren's channel partially shielded, while the newly exposed manual-isolation path pulses beneath the grille. The triangulation sweep continues, but its lock is no longer unified.
“I isolate the monitor feed manually”
SUCCESS (Fair Hacking, rolled +0)
Nyx opens the manual-isolation path beneath the grille and rebuilds its control sequence from the surviving maintenance packet. The relay answers with a hard mechanical click.
She diverts the monitor feed into the isolated maintenance loop, separating its triangulation traffic from Soren's archive channel. Red pings vanish from the decoder's route.
Soren Quill
The trail is off me. I still have the archive fragments, and the custody route is no longer broadcasting through my channel.
The isolation succeeds, but the manual sequence consumes the relay's last maintenance patch. Its control bus remains functional, though every further command will require fresh code.
Eidolon-7
Clean separation. The monitor feed is isolated, Soren's channel is safe, and the custody layer is exposed again.
The concealed relay settles into two distinct streams. One carries quarantined monitor noise; the other restores a readable custody route toward Transfer Hold East.
A fresh route marker appears beneath the archive blocks, identifying the active holder's channel without the monitor sweep attached. The window is open, but Nyx's maintenance patch is gone.
Quest Complete
Open a usable path toward Mara
Skill Upgrade: Hacking Fair→Good
“I ask Soren to decode the holder marker”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +0)
Nyx crash
Soren, decode the holder marker. I need the identity behind Transfer Hold East.
Soren's remote channel tightens around the fresh marker. Archive fragments rotate through his stabilized view as the concealed relay holds its two separated streams.
Soren Quill
Give me the marker. I can read the custody signature without reopening the monitor feed.
The holder marker unfolds under Soren's decryption. Three custody layers peel apart, exposing a corporate transfer credential, a live containment tag, and the name attached to the current channel.
Soren Quill
The holder is Rhea Kade. She is operating through a Helix Meridian custody credential, and the channel is live at Transfer Hold East.
Rhea Kade's identity locks beside Mara's active transfer record. The marker also confirms a human operator, not an automated vault, controls the hold channel.
Eidolon-7
Rhea Kade. I know that credential architecture. If she holds Mara, the transfer channel has a physical command endpoint nearby.
Quest Complete
Identify whoever currently holds Mara
Skill Upgrade: Hacking Good→Great