The crew is docked on Warren, behind on upkeep. Ashek finds them at the Mirror Maze — quiet corner booth, a drink placed in front of each of them before he sits.
Cutter rolls sway to read Ashek. 4/5: he's telling the truth about not knowing the contents. He's not telling them everything about who hired him. The GM doesn't volunteer more. The clock doesn't tick. It's a detail that sits there.
Syndicate Betrayal hidden clock: █░░░ (1/4). Maron begins building a file.
Plan: Transport. Detail: Standard Keyan approach route through the Rin-Holt gate, forged manifest listing the crate as "medical equipment."
Engagement modifiers:
The crate is in the smuggling compartments, not the cargo hold — so a routine scan won't find it. But the officer wants to board.
Juno steps forward in medic garb. She invokes I'm a Doctor, Not A... (push herself to roll doctor on a different action) and Welcome Anywhere (+1d on consort when offering to tend to someone in need). She tells the officer her patient is immunocompromised and can't be exposed to outside personnel.
The crate hums. Barely. Sable, meditating near the compartment, hears it first.
Sable tells the crew. Juno invokes Dr. Strange to think through what she knows about Ur AI cores without scanning. 4/5. She asks one question: what could this do and why is it dangerous?
Nobody opens the crate.
Rack's nav system throws a false reading — a ghost ship on scanner, gone when he looks. Study: 1-3. The reading was real. Something pinged the sensors from inside the compartment.
Juno rigs a partial signal dampener using the compartment's hull shielding. Rig: 6. Clean. Clock stays at 2.
The Mem contact — a Memish labor boss named Esur — takes the crate without ceremony, loads it onto a submersible. As it descends, Sable attuning one last time feels the signal shift: not fading, orienting. Like a compass finding north.
AI Awakening ticks: █████░ (5/6). Not because of the crew. Because the crate is where it was supposed to be.
Payoff: 8 cred. After upkeep (4 cred): net 4 cred.
Heat: Transport plan, quiet. 1 heat in Rin. Tracker: █░░░░░░░
Entanglement roll (Wanted 0): 1d → result 4/5 → Cooperation — faction at +2 or better. Nobody qualifies yet. Reroll → Unquiet Black — a Way creature finds its way aboard.
Downtime activities:
AI Awakening: TRIGGERED (██████ 6/6). The crate on Mem opens. The AI is awake. In the deep ocean, something ancient orients itself.