6.1 LIGHT

Juna awakens aboard the Garveneer after aggressive medical restoration and is tasked to deliver a clean, linear report of everything on Shroud. Writing proves cathartic, and her detailed account affirms the Shrouded’s capabilities and Bartokh’s death. Seeking confirmation from Ste Etienne, Juna learns Ste minimized alien details due to shaken certainty.

Both are escorted to a physical debrief. In the room sit Chief Director Sharles Advent, Technical Oversight Terwhin Umbar, a taciturn Asset Acquisition Director, and Mikhail “Big Mike” Jerennian, newly awakened for testimony. Advent acknowledges their reports seem unbelievable but confirms key claims via recovered pod data.

Ste proposes continuing research with a reformed Special Projects team. Advent and Umbar reject this, calling Special Projects a resource-wasting failure unrelated to the fatal accident yet yielding no return. They announce asset harvesting is underway with rebuilt orbital infrastructure, declare Special Projects discontinued, and decide no wage penalties will accrue to the survivors.

As they are dismissed, the Acquisition Director briefly raises concern about lost remotes and damage, but Advent deems it not worth pursuing in session. The corporate priority remains extraction over investigation, despite hazards on Shroud.

Juna, Ste, and Jerennian are sent to the Long Dorms for hibernation, effectively shelved “until further notice.” Juna and Ste share a final, wordless acknowledgment of their bond and uncertainty, then submit to shutdown, their experience validated yet rendered irrelevant by corporate calculus.