A message on the Vagrant Star's external comms panel:
Battro (Scarlet Wolves, patient, professional, has a drone orbiting the berth perimeter). 3 cred to buy off. The crew has 2.
"Can we get the third cred by 0600?" — Cutter's player, immediately.
A physical photograph at the docking clamp. A Syndicate shipping manifest with the Vagrant Star's fake transponder signature highlighted. Their first job. Below it, handwriting: "You've been finding them without knowing. There are five. You've touched three. When Maron asks you to go to Vos — don't."
Sable brings it to the crew. Cutter: "Someone's been watching us since job one. And they haven't tried to stop us. Which means either they want us to keep going, or they're waiting for something."
Ashek calls. Ghost ship, salvage beacon, the Thornwall. Three cred minimum, open ceiling. The crew has no money. They need this job to pay Battro.
Three simultaneous pressures: pay Battro 3 cred they don't have, respond to a warning away from Syndicate jobs, take a Syndicate job to get the cred to deal with Battro. This is the S&V loop working exactly as designed.
Crew meets Battro at 0600. He has the contract in hand and the drone overhead. Cutter leads negotiation. He has 2 cred. He needs to make 2 feel like 3.
Sway: 4/5. Gets Battro down to 2 cred. Consequence: the warrant stays open in Battro's records. If Vess surfaces publicly, the contract reactivates.
Warrant 7741-B resets to midpoint: ████░░░░ — neither Cold Case nor Active Pursuit. Unstable.
Cred: 0. Broke.
Juno marks XP quietly.
Rack's routine system check before departing for Iota. Study: 6. Finds a passive monitoring routine in the comms array — not a tracker, a listener. Recording outgoing transmissions. Syndicate-pattern code.
Maron has been listening to their comms since at least the Holt job.
Rack disables it silently. Doesn't tell Ashek. Tells the crew.
Syndicate Betrayal: ████ (4/4). FULL.
Unspoken agreement around the table: no more Syndicate jobs after Thornwall.
Vess stays at Juda's again. The crew departs for Iota.
Hegemony Closes In: TRIGGERED. Consequence: Ohe stops waiting. Data card sent to Warren berth, waiting on return.