The predawn light filtered weakly through the forest canopy as Valeria completed her watch shift. The rest of the team remained asleep, their breathing forming a gentle rhythm against the background sounds of Floor 3's awakening wildlife.

  Her eyes fixed on Lyra's workstation at the edge of camp. The Unaligned girl had organized her tools and equipment with meticulous precision—each component categorized, each tool positioned for optimal access. The order spoke of a discipline that contradicted her supposed haphazard education.

  Valeria gnced around to confirm she was unobserved before silently crossing the campsite. Her training as a scout made her movements virtually soundless as she approached Lyra's area.

  The scanning device Lyra had been modifying yesterday y prominently on the workstation. It was an elegant piece of equipment—one of their most valuable tools for detecting resources and potential threats. Lyra had spent hours enhancing its detection range and sensitivity.

  Valeria hesitated only briefly before picking it up. Her fingers, trained in both combat and sabotage during her pre-Game preparation, found the delicate internal connection points with practiced ease. With subtle pressure, she detached two critical components, then reseated them at a slight angle. To the casual observer, everything would appear normal. But when activated, the misalignment would cause a cascade failure that would look like a simple malfunction.

  She then accessed the power cell, carefully reducing its charge level so it would fail after brief use. A common equipment issue in the Game, nothing that would raise suspicion.

  "Just a normal equipment failure," she whispered to herself as she returned the scanner to its exact position. "Nothing unusual in this environment."

  Valeria slipped back to her post, satisfied that the sabotage would appear to be exactly what the team would expect—standard equipment degradation in the harsh Game environment. It would undermine Lyra's growing reputation as a technical genius and, more importantly, make Alexander question the wisdom of relying on an Unaligned outsider with mysterious skills.

  She had her orders. VitaCore security had been explicit about monitoring the Voss twins and eliminating potentially disruptive influences. An Unaligned girl with unexpined technical abilities definitely qualified as disruptive.

  "Equipment check before we move out," Alexander announced after the team had finished their morning meal.

  Lyra reached for her scanning device, the modifications she'd made yesterday promising significantly improved functionality. As the team gathered their gear, she ran through the standard activation sequence.

  The device powered up normally, its dispy flickering to life with the expected diagnostic patterns. She adjusted several settings, noting with satisfaction that her calibrations had held perfectly overnight.

  Then, just as she began the first environmental scan, the dispy flickered. A momentary glitch, perhaps—except the power indicator suddenly dropped from full to critical.

  "Something's wrong," she muttered, quickly shutting down the device before a complete failure could damage its core systems.

  Alexander looked over. "Problem with the scanner?"

  "Unexpected power drain," Lyra answered, already opening the device's access panel. "Give me a minute."

  Her fingers moved methodically over the components, checking connections and power flow pathways. It took her less than thirty seconds to identify the first issue—the misaligned connectors that would cause system feedback and eventual failure. Another fifteen seconds revealed the partially drained power cell.

  This wasn't wear and tear or environmental damage. The specific pattern of the alterations—the particur components affected, the precise nature of the misalignment—spoke of deliberate human intervention. Someone with training had done this.

  Lyra kept her expression neutral as she considered the implications. Only the team had access to their camp overnight. Only someone with technical knowledge would know exactly where to create such subtle damage.

  She gnced up, catching Valeria watching her with carefully manufactured disinterest. The scout quickly looked away, checking her own equipment with exaggerated attention.

  Lyra returned to her repairs, mind racing. She could confront Valeria now, but that would force Alexander to take sides before she had concrete proof. The scout would simply deny everything, and it would be her word against a trusted team member from Alexander's social circle.

  Instead, she quickly realigned the connectors and repced the power cell with one of her spares.

  "Fixed," she announced, standing and dusting off her hands. "Just a loose connection and a drained cell. Common issues with these models."

  Valeria's expression flickered briefly with what might have been disappointment before smoothing into professional indifference. "Lucky you caught it before we needed it."

  "Yes," Lyra agreed, meeting Valeria's gaze directly. "Very lucky."

  Alexander, focused on pnning their route, missed the tension in the exchange. "Good. We're heading toward the northern quadrant today. There have been reports of unusual resource deposits that might help with our equipment upgrades."

  As the team set out, Lyra deliberately positioned herself near the middle of their formation, allowing her to keep Valeria in sight. The scout moved with practiced efficiency through the forest, occasionally gncing back—not just the standard safety checks, but specific looks toward Lyra and her equipment.

  This wasn't a one-time impulse, Lyra realized. Valeria had a specific agenda. And given her corporate background, that agenda likely came from someone outside the Game.

  While they traversed a particurly dense section of forest, Lyra used the cover of vegetation to make a subtle modification to her toolkit. She removed a nearly microscopic component from one of her spare devices and carefully embedded it in the main scanner's casing. The tiny transmitter wouldn't affect the scanner's function, but it would signal any unauthorized access with a specific electromagnetic pulse that only her modified neural interface could detect.

  By midday, the team had reached a small clearing where Alexander called for a rest break. As they shared a simple meal of gathered fruits and preserved rations, Lyra carefully observed the group dynamics. Valeria was sitting close to Alexander, occasionally making suggestions about their route that would separate the team into smaller groups.

  "The resource deposits might be scattered," Valeria was saying. "We could cover more ground if we split into pairs."

  Lyra recognized the strategy—divide the team to isote her, creating opportunities for more "equipment malfunctions" that would gradually erode trust in her abilities.

  "I think we should stay together," Lyra interjected, keeping her tone casual. "Some of these pnt specimens have unusual properties that might be valuable for all our equipment. Better if we all see what's avaible."

  Elijah nodded in agreement. "The healing herbs in this region often grow alongside other useful resources. It would be more efficient to evaluate them together."

  Alexander considered both suggestions before making his decision. "We'll stay as a unit for now. This area hasn't been fully scouted by other teams, and unknown territories are always safer with full numbers."

  Valeria accepted the decision with a tight nod, but Lyra caught the brief fsh of frustration in her eyes.

  As they continued their expedition, Lyra began ying the groundwork for a more sophisticated countermeasure. While collecting pnt specimens, she gathered specific materials with conductive and adhesive properties. During water breaks, she discreetly modified several of her tools, creating a linked monitoring system that would record any tampering attempts.

  The real innovation, however, was in how she arranged her equipment at their evening campsite. Each component was positioned in what appeared to be her usual organized manner, but she had created a subtle pattern—a detection grid that would be disturbed by any interference, leaving evidence that even Alexander and the others would recognize as deliberate tampering.

  She installed a secondary power backup in her primary devices, disguised as routine maintenance, ensuring that any future sabotage attempts would be documented rather than simply causing failure.

  "Your equipment seems to require a lot of maintenance," Valeria observed as Lyra completed her preparations. The scout's tone was casual, but her eyes were sharp.

  "Preventative care," Lyra replied evenly. "Better to anticipate problems than react to them."

  "A wise approach," Elijah commented from where he was organizing his medical supplies. "Especially given how dependent we are on functioning equipment out here."

  Lyra nodded, carefully closing her toolkit. "Exactly. You never know when something might unexpectedly fail." She met Valeria's gaze directly. "Or be made to fail."

  A flicker of unease crossed Valeria's face, quickly suppressed. The scout turned away, busying herself with checking her own gear.

  As darkness fell and the team settled around the campfire, Lyra positioned her sleeping area to give her a clear view of her workstation. She had no intention of actually sleeping—not until she better understood the extent of the threat Valeria presented.

  Alexander assigned the night's watch rotation, pcing Lyra on the final shift before dawn. Perfect. It would give her time to implement the final element of her trap before the team awakened.

  "Everything all right?" Elijah asked quietly as he passed her a portion of the evening meal. "You seem preoccupied."

  "Just thinking about tomorrow's modifications," Lyra answered, not quite lying. She was indeed pnning modifications—just not the kind Elijah was assuming.

  Later, as the camp grew quiet and most of the team drifted to sleep, Lyra remained awake, her breathing carefully reguted to mimic sleep patterns while her eyes remained slightly open, watching her workstation.

  She didn't have to wait long. During Marcus Tullian's watch, when he was patrolling the perimeter of their camp, Valeria silently rose from her sleeping position. The scout moved with impressive stealth, carefully navigating between the sleeping team members.

  Lyra watched through barely-open eyes as Valeria approached her workstation and selected a different device this time—the atmospheric analyzer Lyra had recently enhanced to detect subtle environmental toxins. The scout's movements were efficient and practiced as she opened the device and began maniputing its internal components.

  Instead of confronting her immediately, Lyra memorized exactly which parts Valeria was tampering with and how. This wasn't impulsive sabotage—this was systematic undermining with specific technical knowledge. Corporate training.

  When Valeria finished and returned to her sleeping area, Lyra continued to wait, ensuring the scout had truly settled before making her own move. Then, with the same silent skill that had kept her alive in Sector 17, she slipped over to her workstation and quickly reversed the sabotage, leaving no evidence that she had detected or corrected it.

  Tomorrow, when the device worked perfectly despite Valeria's tampering, the scout would face a different kind of uncertainty. And the trap Lyra was setting would reveal not just the sabotage attempts, but potentially the motivation behind them.

  As she returned to her sleeping area, Lyra reflected on her approach. She could have exposed Valeria immediately, but instinct told her there was more to discover first. In Sector 17, survival often depended on understanding the full scope of a threat before confronting it.

  The Game operated by different rules than the outside world, but some principles remained constant. Information was power. Patience was strategy. And sometimes, the most effective defense was allowing your opponent to believe they were succeeding—right until the moment their own actions exposed them.

  Lying back down, Lyra allowed herself a small smile in the darkness. Valeria might have corporate training and resources, but Lyra had survived her entire life by outthinking those with more power and privilege. This saboteur would soon discover that Unaligned didn't mean unprepared.