CW: Brief descriptions of vacuum-related injury, corpse-like anatomy, and underwater vegetation.

"I'm not taking off my glove! We're in space! And we do not have time to argue about this," Adne shouts, pressing their visor against the escape pod's viewport. "The balefire will swing back this way in three and a half minutes! At most!"

"Well, I'm safe in here," the voice responds a little more softly, as if leading Adne through a thought exercise. "Far safer than I'd be out there if you did turn out to be one of them. And if you leave without me, I'm sure Ambly will send another in your place."

The executive inside the pod must realize they would die long before another rescue party could get here. Adne knows it's a bluff. But. They also know their stochastic projections did not account for an extended bargaining session.

Air hisses and internal suit alarms blare. Adne holds their rapidly reddening hand --- and the black iron cabling around their throbbing wrist --- centimeters away from the reinforced glass.

"I swear on my iron to help you finish your mission!"

Swear an Iron Vow: Miss with a Match!

Action Score 5 (rolled 2 + 3 Heart) versus Challenge Dice 5 and 5

"Listen. I signed on to pull a suit out of a shipwreck," Buzzard says, voice loud enough to be heard by their new guest in the common room. "I did not sign up to escort that suit to a different, much larger shipwreck where she will probably get shot."

"Brianna---" Adne begins, quieter, then notices Buzzard's face harden. "Buzzard, I know. It felt like I had no choice in the moment, but that doesn't mean you should be locked into this plan too." They let their shoulders droop, careful to keep their frost-nipped hand submerged in the warm water. Buzzard had grabbed a crystal carafe from the mess and filled it as soon as they got out of the launch bay.

"But if we turn around now, we'll more than double the voyage, and then I'd have to find a way to refuel and resupply without payment for either job..." they trail off for a moment, then straighten up in their seat. "Once we get to Wreck, I can pay your cut for the rescue job with the rest of my savings. That should be enough to get you wherever you need to go."

Buzzard's lips remain a thin line across her face but she lets a heavy sigh escape from her nose.

"Fine. Maybe. I guess Wreck should be safe enough for us if we keep our heads down," Buzzard says, then raises her voice even louder. "She's the one who should be worried!"

Undertake an Expedition: Weak Hit!

Action Score 3 (rolled 1 + 2 Wits) versus Challenge Dice 2 and 8

Adne had refused to yield the main cabin to their new executive passenger, but offered her a room in the crew bunks where Buzzard stayed. She decided to sleep in the (admittedly more lavishly appointed) common room instead.

It made things unnecessarily difficult when she was still asleep but anybody needed to do anything in there.

Undertake an Expedition: Weak Hit!

Action Score 6 (rolled 4 + 2 Wits) versus Challenge Dice 3 and 8

"Guiding Star. Welcome to Didit space, where Doers Work Overtime." The voice was a little staticky from atmospheric interference. "State your destination and the purpose of your voyage."

The Selfra executive notices Adne's hesitance and pipes up from the jump seat: "They must be a patrol detachment. Just tell them you have the Selfra representative they've been expecting."

According to the charts, their current location is still pretty far out from Wreck.... Are they really patrolling way out here? Adne delays for another moment, staring through the canopy at distant stars as light years' worth of baseline chaos displace and refract them.

Face Danger: Strong Hit!

No roll required! Giving truth to the prophecy, "REJECT TRUTH"

There was something weird about that escape pod, anyway. Adne expects the executive to throw a fit about losing company property, but the vibes on the Guiding Star improve once it's gone.

The Selfra executive decides to celebrate the last jump to Wreck by cooking everyone dinner. Buzzard is pretty sure it's just because she wants to drink the expensive wine that came with the Guiding Star. Yet Buzzard accepts the squid-ink pasta and glass of wine nonetheless.

Undertake an Expedition: Miss!

Action Score 4 (rolled 2 + 2 Shadow) versus Challenge Dice 8 and 10

Oof, can't buy my way out of this one with Momentum! "On a miss, you are waylaid by a crisis, or arrive at a waypoint to confront an immediate hardship or threat." I rolled a few times on Pay the Price for inspiration and got "Something of value is destroyed." Hm...

Adne relishes the mechanical act of twirling a forkful of spaghetti. They have not had squid-ink pasta in years, and the careful, fancy plating reminds them of dining out with colleagues at an easier time in their life.

They lift the fork up just as the ship bucks like a rodeo bull, sending their plate full of pasta up, down, and into their lap. The cabin lights turn red and a robotic voice begins repeating "eidolon drive failure."

"This is why spacers never make spaghetti outside of port!" Buzzard shouts. Instantly the two are fighting again.

Adne stares, with a profound sense of loss, at the noodles trailing off their stained pants and onto the floor. They put the surviving forkful in their mouth. It's pretty good.