No Substitute Mark

Job: protective escort for Peli Quiet-Seal, house-mark bond courier, from Khesret to Bond-Lock Re-Registry Gallery in Bond-Lock. Route is Khesret → Thul'vaneh Core → Whisper Berth → Bond-Lock. Keep the named specialist safe, present, and able to complete the posted work. The fee is ₡13,500 gross; 12% board cut leaves ₡11,880 before expenses.

Briefing: Tavi presents the contract as straightforward courier protection. Peli and the tablet must arrive together, answer a witness chord, and register an ore-development bond before the market closes. Bond-Lock's gallery accepts the first courier who reaches the witness rail under the sealed transit number. The crew must keep Peli present, challenge the duplicate without letting either person be silenced, and force a public comparative hearing. This is escort work, not passenger delivery. The person under contract must remain able to inspect, consent, testify, stamp, claim, or count. A warm body dragged across the finish line after somebody else made the decision does not satisfy terms.

Completion: Peli must voice his name, open the tablet, and consent to the bond before the closing chord. Catching the substitute matters less than preventing a false first registration. Opposition is expected to use delay, substitution, bad paper, infrastructure, or local law before it uses weapons. Preserve the protectee's tools and judgment. Payment releases on authenticated completion from the destination site, with reductions for broken custody, coerced substitution, containment failure, or a clock missed because the crew decided every closed door was a shooting problem.