Dr. Cassian Vale’s clinic hums under the Velvet Mile, all white panels, antiseptic light, and stacked parts in sealed trays. Jade leads Dax past a curtain of sterilizer mist. Vale looks up from a disassembled cybernetic limb, eyes narrowing.

Dax stays near the doorway, one hand low, watching the hall instead of the room. Vale sets the limb aside and studies Jade’s jacket, then the tension in her shoulders.

Vale taps a finger against the workbench, then slides a thin service key across the light. Dax glances at it once, sharp and suspicious, while the clinic’s machines keep whispering behind the glass.

Jade lifts the service key off the workbench in one smooth motion, then angles her chin toward the doorway. Dax catches the signal and shifts his weight, ready to move.

Vale lets the empty air where the key was linger a beat, then looks from Jade to Dax with a thin, measuring calm. The clinic’s monitors keep their soft green pulse behind him.

Jade gives the smallest nod, already moving. Dax falls in beside her, still tense, but his eyes flick once to the key in her hand as if confirming the route is real.

The curtain sways behind them as they head for the lift. On the workbench, Vale’s fingers tap once beside the disassembled limb, his gaze fixed on Jade’s back until the door starts to close.

Jade takes the corridor at a fast, silent stride, key clenched low, blaster kept close. The clinic door seals behind her with a muted hiss.

Dax shadows her half a step back, scanning the hall, while the white panels give way to service gray and cable runs.

The freight lift waits at the end of the passage, its call light already cycling amber.

Jade slots it in and the panel wakes. The lift doors part with a dry metal scrape, exposing a cramped car and a floor marked for two levels down.

A status strip flashes green, and the lift stands open, waiting for Jade to choose the descent.