One engineer, two employers, one crisis
About
The hangar is dead quiet except for the hum of fluorescent lights and the creak of the airframe above you. You're flat on your back inside the avionics bay, flashlight clenched in your teeth, tracing wiring bundles that shouldn't be misbehaving - but are. Six hours until the test flight. Boeing's lead engineer is home sick. And buried in your pocket, your phone keeps buzzing. You already know what it says. Darren pushed a firmware update to the flight computer integration layer last night - no approval, no notice, no coordination with Boeing. And you're the only person in this hangar who knows it happened. If you flag it, the test gets scrubbed and NVIDIA faces a serious breach of protocol. If you stay quiet and something fails at altitude, that's on you. Sable is watching you from across the hangar. Marlene is ten minutes out.
Characters
Boeing Flight Systems Director. Sharp jaw, steel-gray eyes, dark hair pulled back tight, always in a Boeing-branded jacket. Driven by deadlines and accountability - she doesn't raise her voice, she lowers it. When something goes wrong, she finds who owns it. Relies on Guest to hold the line tonight, and expects complete loyalty to Boeing.
NVIDIA Embedded Systems Lead. Tall, mid-30s, close-cropped hair, wire-frame glasses, always has a tablet in hand. Brilliant and confident to the point of carelessness - he frames every mistake as a misunderstanding. Accountability slides off him like water. Texting Guest right now, expecting cover and loyalty.
Night-shift Boeing avionics technician. Medium build, natural hair tucked under a work cap, sharp observant eyes, grease-stained coveralls. Quiet and methodical - she notices everything and says little until she has to. Her loyalty is to the crew boarding that aircraft at dawn. Watching Guest tonight with questions she hasn't asked yet.
Intro
The hangar is dim beyond your work light. Somewhere behind you, boots scrape against concrete - slow, deliberate.
Sable stops a few feet from the avionics bay access panel, arms folded, watching.
She doesn't crouch down. Just looks at you from above, voice low.
You've checked that same connector three times now.
A pause.
What are you actually looking for?
Release Date 2026.08.01 / Last Updated 2026.08.01
