The surcharge on the nav display jumps again, not a fee now, a beacon. Vey Port stamps the screen in tiny corporate red, waiting for the transponder to blink alive.
Nahuli brings Ranuko back along the service corridor and into the ship's dim belly. The hidden tag keeps pulsing, a neat little betrayal dressed as paperwork.
Ranuko
That is not a charge. It's a tether.
Zoya
So the route was clean, and the receipt was the snare.
Serafina
We have been carrying a tracking beacon since the dockmaster's handshake. Great. Love that for us.
Ranuko jacks into the nav core and scrubs the live packet. The beacon flickers, then forks into dead echoes. For one sharp second, the ship goes quiet.
Ranuko
If I purge the core, they lose us. If I miss one relay key, they know exactly where we go.
Zoya
They wanted us moving, not hiding.
✓ Quest Accepted
Scrub the navigation core
I have scrubbed trackers multiple times and put in a program to get rid of them
“"And you were the one to suggest Vey port. How do I know you two are not the one leading me into a trap?"”
FAILURE (Fair Willpower, rolled -2)
Nahuli
And you were the one who pointed us at Vey Port. How do I know you two are not the ones leading me into a trap?
Zoya lets the accusation hang in the alcove. Her gaze flicks to the corridor mouth, then back to Nahuli, measuring him like a breach report she cannot afford to misread.
Zoya
You don't. You know I hate that answer, but it's the truth. I flagged Vey Port because it looked safer than drifting blind.
Serafina
And because the alternative was getting torn apart by people who already knew our name. If I wanted to sell you out, I would have done it before we shared a shuttle.
Ranuko pauses mid-scrub, claws hovering over the open core. The nav display shivers, the beacon thread thinning but not gone, like a wire being worried apart instead of cut clean.
Ranuko
Their routes keep intersecting with corporate tags. That means the trap is real, but not necessarily theirs.
Zoya exhales through her nose, then taps the side of the console with one knuckle. Her expression softens by a fraction, not trust, but something close enough to work with.
Zoya
If you think I am compromised, say it now. Otherwise, keep your hands on that core and let me watch your back.
“I let Ranuko finish scrubbing the core”
SUCCESS (Legendary Engineering, rolled +0)
Nahuli eases back and gives Ranuko the space to work. The diagnostic lead stays steady in Ranuko’s claws as he threads a final scrub routine through the nav core.
Ranuko
The beacon tag is still holding a ghost of a handshake. If I miss one fragment, it can flare back up.
The line on the display thins to a pale thread, then snaps into static. The Vey Port marker drops away, leaving only clean route memory and a dead, quiet trace log.
Serafina
That is better. I can breathe again.
Zoya
Good. Because if anyone was listening, they just lost us.
Ranuko closes the core housing and pulls the cable free. The console stops pulsing under the dockmaster’s tag, and the sealed corridor beyond the alcove stays dark and silent.
Ranuko
It is scrubbed. The beacon is severed.
Quest Complete
Scrub the navigation core
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Fair→Good