The shuttle slams into the docking bay of an asteroid outpost, magnetic clamps screaming as they bite into the rusted plating. Sparks shower the cockpit floor as the atmospheric pressure equalizes with a violent hiss.
Nahuli
My hands are shaking, but the drive core is still intact. I have to get this far away from that ruin before the pursuit catches our thermal wake.
Zoya
Nahuli:0, keep your head down and the engines cold. This station is abandoned, but the sensors are still active. We are not safe yet.
Nahuli disconnects the diagnostic scanner, his fur matted with coolant and sweat. He scans the surroundings. The hangar is a graveyard of derelict freighters and leaking fuel lines. A figure steps out from the shadows of a stack of shipping containers, silhouetted by the flickering emergency lights.
Serafina
You brought a lot of trouble to my doorstep, little bird. I suggest you drop the core before the security teams track your signal here.
+ Scene Quest Added
Secure the drive core from pursuit
“Is there Any method to shield the core from detection?”
YES (Likely, rolled 40)
Nahuli notices a series of lead-lined coolant conduits running along the ceiling, their structural integrity compromised but their internal shielding still intact. If he can reroute the core's power signature through those specific pipes, the lead lining will dampen the thermal wake enough to fool the pursuit sensors.
Nahuli
The coolant lines are still active; if I bridge the core to the station's internal grid, the lead shielding should mask the radiation spike.
“Bridge power”
SUCCESS (Superb Engineering, rolled -3)
Nahuli’s multi-tool hums with high-frequency resonance as he interfaces with the terminal. He bypasses the primary locks, forcing the station's grid to accept the drive core’s output. Above him, the coolant conduits begin to glow with a faint, pulsing blue light as energy surges into the lead-lined channels.
Serafina
You are drawing way too much attention. If those sensors pick up the load shift, we are both as good as dead.
Nahuli
Quiet. If the masking holds, the pursuit will fly right past this rock.
The hangar vibrates as the ship outside flares, its scanners sweeping the sector. Suddenly, the console emits a sharp, warning chirp. The interface shows the coolant pipes are struggling to contain the heat output, and a hairline fracture in the conduit is venting pressurized steam into the bay, potentially revealing their heat signature.
Nahuli
The pressure is spiking, and that vent will give me away in seconds. Do I risk a manual patch while the core is live, or do I dump the load and run?
+ Scene Quest Added
Repair the conduit leak
“Risk the patch”
SUCCESS (Superb Engineering, rolled +2)
Nahuli leans into the fracture, his multi-tool extending a localized containment field. He pulses the emitter, forcing the fractured metal to fuse and solidify under the intense pressure of the coolant surge. The venting steam dissipates into a thin, harmless mist as the containment integrity hits one hundred percent.
Serafina
That was insane. I have never seen anyone weld a live pressurized line without shutting the feed first.
Nahuli
Precision is just another form of speed. The signature is flattened. If we stay low, they will scan right past this sector.
The hangar falls deathly silent, save for the hum of the stabilized conduits. Outside, the heavy thrum of a drive engine sweeps past the asteroid, the sound growing muffled as the ship cruises into the dark. Through the viewport, the corporate hunter’s vessel begins to drift away, its sensor arrays pointed toward empty space.
Quest Complete
Repair the conduit leak
Skill Upgrade: Engineering Superb→Legendary
“Ensure the lines remain stable”
SUCCESS (Legendary Engineering, rolled +2)
Nahuli taps his diagnostic scanner, the holographic interface flickering with a cascade of green diagnostic text as the thermal readout drops to ambient levels.
Serafina
You actually did it. They bought the deception, but that core is screaming for a more permanent cooling solution. If we touch it again, we might not get so lucky with the pressure seals.
Nahuli
The patch is solid, but the power draw is still erratic. If the core surges again, the vibrations alone could compromise the structural weld I just finished. I need to bypass the secondary regulators before they circle back for a second sweep.
Nahuli
Enough chatter. You promised me an extraction, Nahuli. The hunter ship is moving, but the pilot isn't stupid. They will realize the power fluctuation was too localized to be a mere environmental anomaly.
Nahuli walks toward the core assembly, his fingers hovering over the glowing drive casing. He weighs the risk of refining the connection against the ticking clock of the hunter’s inevitable return.
“With all the ships here we should be able to build a better case”
SUCCESS (Legendary Engineering, rolled -1)
Nahuli ignores the tension, his focus entirely on the scrap-heap of the hangar. He begins cannibalizing scavenged hull plates and copper wiring from a nearby derelict scout ship, his movements efficient and precise as he welds a modular heat sink directly into the core's chassis. The result is a crude but elegant radiator array that bleeds the excess thermal energy into the station's massive structural spine rather than the conduits.
Nahuli
That should dump the heat load effectively. It is not pretty, but it turns the entire station into a giant cooling fin.
Serafina
You just turned a dead asteroid into a giant heat lamp. If they have thermal sensors, we are now the brightest star in this sector.
Nahuli
Or the most easily ignored, if he has hidden the core's signature well enough.
Nahuli secures the final bolt with a hiss of pressurized air. The core hums, a low and steady vibration, as the power levels normalize. Suddenly, a proximity alarm chirps from the main console. The hunter ship has halted its drift. It is turning back.
“Mask the thermal signature with everything else”
SUCCESS (Legendary Engineering, rolled +1)
Nahuli pivots to the terminal, his fingers dancing across the interface. He bypasses the safety protocols, rerouting the station's atmospheric cycling system to vent cold, concentrated liquid nitrogen through the hull’s exterior plating.
Nahuli
If the hunters are hunting heat, I will give them a vacuum-cold ghost. I am masking the core's output with the station's own cryogenic dump.
Nahuli
He is masking us with a thermal void. That is dangerous, the hull plates could shatter under the thermal shock.
Serafina
If that ship detects the cooling spike, they will know exactly where we are. You are gambling the entire integrity of this station on a single vent.
Nahuli hits the execution command. A massive, icy plume erupts from the exterior vents, obscuring the hangar's heat signature behind a wall of expanding frozen gas. The proximity alarm in the hangar dies, replaced by a tense, heavy silence. Outside the viewport, the hunter ship slows, its sensor arrays sweeping the freezing cloud of debris. It stops, hovering just meters away, and a single, blinding scan beam begins to sweep across the hangar's hull.
“Spoof the stations status as dead”
SUCCESS (Legendary Engineering, rolled +0)
The station’s terminal chimes with a hollow, digital hum as the spoofing sequence locks. By feeding the sensors a looped data packet of long-dead life support readings and cold-soaked sensor noise, Nahuli successfully paints the entire facility as a frozen, lifeless tomb.
Nahuli
They want a graveyard. I will give them one.
The hunter ship’s blue scan beam washes over the hangar, illuminating the frosted metal walls, but the data returns only the signature of a frozen, decaying wreck. On the bridge of the hunter vessel, the navigation systems interpret the freezing environment as a dormant, derelict asteroid. The beam flickers, turns, and the massive ship begins to pull away into the void.
Serafina
It is working. They are turning. Keep your head down until they jump to warp.
Nahuli
He is good. Too good to be a mere scavenger.
Nahuli watches the hunter ship retreat, his pulse slowing as he monitors the sensor ghosting holding steady.
Quest Complete
Secure the drive core from pursuit
Skill Upgrade: Computers Fair→Good