# Derelict — Candlemas Station — room key

Candlemas Station is still warm aft. The reactor tripped, the coolant loop failed a day later, and the engineer sealed the drive section with herself inside it. The rest of the crew waited at the mid-frame door for word. The word never came, and neither did the rescue.

Last log entry: Cpt. Reyes. Their trail runs through three rooms.

Hook: A salvage tug is inbound; its transponder says it has been inbound for three months.

## Hub deck

**1. Central hub**

Traffic control dark. The customs desk still has a queue rope up.
Trail 2/3: Reyes got this far. One set of boot prints in the dust, heading for the lift lobby (1, ring deck), and a door code scratched into the frame.

**2. Bridge**

Consoles dark. One chair is turned to face the door.
Log fragment (Cpt.): "Ordered the aft sections sealed. Lindqvist stayed behind the door. That was her call. I am writing it down so nobody says otherwise."
Trail 1/3: Cpt. Reyes's slate, screen cracked. The last entry: "Going to the central hub (1, hub deck). Back in ten." Nothing after it.

**3. Cargo hold**

Something moved in here — recently. Manifest on the wall, half the lines crossed out in marker.
Salvage: sealed reactor fuel canisters, intact, worth more than the hull. Warm to the touch.

**4. Engineering**

Reactor cold. Tools laid out for a repair nobody finished.
Hazard: coolant fog. Corrosive, heavier than air, pooled knee-deep. Suits last minutes, skin does not.
Salvage: the spare coolant loop, still crated. Never fitted. Somebody will want to know why.

**5. Medbay**

Autodoc stopped mid-cycle. The patient is not in it.
Log fragment (Dr.): "Dosages are past what the manual covers. Giving what I have to whoever asks. Nobody is asking anymore."

Connections:
- Lift at column 18, row 17 → Ring deck
- Stairs at column 19, row 17 → Ring deck
- Ladder at column 17, row 4 → Ring deck

## Ring deck

**1. Lift lobby**

Lift and stairs up to the hub.
Hazard: deck plating hot enough to blister through boots. Something below is still cooking.
Trail 3/3: The code from the last room opens the locker here. Inside, Reyes's own recording of the last day. It is the first account aboard from someone who was there.

**2. Crew quarters**

Dark. Emergency lighting only. Bunks stripped. One is made, tight, the way the service teaches it.

**3. Crew quarters**

Cold. Frost on every surface. Lockers open. Whatever was worth taking has been taken.

**4. Galley**

Table set for 22. Frost on the plates.
Hazard: the bulkhead door is welded shut from the far side. Cutting through takes time and light.
Log fragment (Cook): "Fed everyone at the mid-frame door. Eng. did not come forward for hers. Left it by the seal."

**5. Life support**

New filters stacked by the door, still in their wrap.
Hazard: scrubbers running backwards. The air here is thick, sweet and wrong.

Connections:
- Lift at column 15, row 14 → Hub deck
- Stairs at column 16, row 14 → Hub deck
- Ladder at column 14, row 1 → Hub deck