Interrogation Bay Exterior

The bay's outer threshold is cold, metallic, and angled sharply toward the interrogation room's sealed entrance. The walls of the corridor pinch inward where the bay's blast door meets the frame, creating a bottleneck that amplifies every locked breath and echoing footfall. Security panels glint under harsh fluorescent bands running the length of the ceiling, their light pooling unevenly on the gridded floor where Astra and Merak press against the wall, hidden from Astra’s advancing squad. The air carries the stale whiff of ozone from malfunctioning panels and the faint metallic tang of the bay’s reinforced doors, left ajar just enough for K9 to sense the approach before the hostiles can breach the threshold. The space feels provisional, a passageway caught between permission and prohibition, where concealment is temporary and every second ratchets the risk closer to detonation.