Emergency lights strobe red across the cargo hold. The artifact hangs in its straps, dim now, but still humming with a cold blue pulse. Outside, the blizzard claws at the hull.
Alias
Kaiju, listen. A Galactic Marines ship just entered atmosphere. It is locking onto the artifact’s signature.
Garth swallows hard, eyes wide on Kaiju. A hatch at the rear hiss-clicks open, and a bundled figure in an insulated field coat steps in from the storm-shielded corridor, snow melting off their sleeves.
The Stranger
Easy. I am not with the Marines. I followed the same signal, for my own reasons.
The Engineer
Great. More people near the thing that nearly froze us solid. That helps nobody.
The Stranger lifts both hands, showing a compact scanner and a worn access slate. They keep their distance, watching the artifact with careful, measuring interest.
The Stranger
I can help hide that signature, if you want to live long enough to argue about payment.
✓ Quest Accepted
Hide the artifact’s signal
“Can the stranger actually mask the signal before the Marines arrive?”
YES (Likely, rolled 42)
Kaiju D Phoenix
The stranger's scanner is calibrated to the same frequency as the artifact's pulse, and the encryption keys on their slate look like standard military-grade masking protocols.
The Stranger
My device can loop the signal back into the local interference, making this shuttle look like nothing more than a frozen rock to their sensors.
“I take the slate and mask the signal”
SUCCESS (Fair Engineering, rolled +0)
Kaiju D Phoenix snatches the slate from the stranger and braces it against the artifact’s glow. The screen wakes brighter, then settles as his fingers trace the masking pattern into place.
The waveform folds over itself. Outside, the blizzard still hammers the open hatch, but the artifact’s pulse stops flaring against the hold walls.
The Stranger
Good. Keep that loop steady.
A thin blue shimmer runs across the slate, then vanishes into the storm noise.
Garth
That better fool them, because I am not serving Marines on this ship.
The distant scan beam passes over Oru again, but this time the hold answers like dead ice and broken metal.
The Stranger
If they ping twice, they will know something is wrong. Do you want the loop widened, or should I kill the light entirely?
Quest Complete
Hide the artifact’s signal
+ New Item Acquired
Access slate