diff --git a/docs/review-policy.md b/docs/review-policy.md
index 365c7c55e..046220eb6 100644
--- a/docs/review-policy.md
+++ b/docs/review-policy.md
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ whatever class it resembles.
 | **own-artifact hardening** | A check missing between two things the repository's own tooling writes: a screen verdict not compared with the receipt it belongs to; a receipt schema that does not declare a key the writer records; a policy loader that defaults when the base branch's own file is invalid; a size read that follows a symlink inside the repository. | The only writer is the repository's maintainers through its tools; no caller inside the intended case reaches the gap, and no test fails. A writer outside that trust boundary makes it a bypass, and CRITICAL. |
 | **unwired or unread** | A helper with no caller, a field written and never read, a duplicated helper, a header comment naming a step that does not run it, a key-version constant that moved before any release carried the old value. | Nothing takes the path, so nothing breaks; it is dead code to delete or wire in its own change. |
 | **bounded repeat work** | A re-dispatch on every call, a redundant screen after main moves, an orphaned scratch branch, a refusal that could come one step earlier in the sequence, a settle that could wait one more check. | The operation completes, nothing is lost, and the cost is one more bounded run; uncapped spend is the sideways sweep's CRITICAL, not this class. |
-| **conservative refusal** | Stale state scoped wider than its cause: a RED verdict that keeps refusing a head after main moved, a pending result seated as a result and never re-read before the merge. | A refusal costs a rerun and never passes something wrong; a wrong pass would be the floor. |
+| **conservative refusal** | Stale state scoped wider than its cause: a RED verdict that keeps refusing a head after main moved, a pending result that keeps refusing after it settled. | A refusal costs a rerun and never passes something wrong; a wrong pass would be the floor. |
 | **artifact presentation** | A string from an artifact printed verbatim into a parsed line (whitespace, control characters); a classifier that reads a non-zero exit code beside a non-RED verdict as RED. | Display and classification of the repository's own output; it forges no parsed field. |
 | **test gap** | A state-matrix cell without a test, a coverage percentage, a weak or flaky test, a fixture that shares the coordinator's environment. | Category `testing`, below the floor by definition above; a gap is work for the test audit, not a defect in the diff. |
 
diff --git a/lib/redact-patterns.ts b/lib/redact-patterns.ts
index 2cdb02037..2c368f9c1 100644
--- a/lib/redact-patterns.ts
+++ b/lib/redact-patterns.ts
@@ -333,7 +333,10 @@ export function isNumericMetadataValue(span: string, match: RegExpExecArray): bo
  * receipt, a READY block or an approval record names one (`screen 40477638211
  * GREEN`, `gate=40323989742`, `rerun passed 40287239206`, `run #19368712345`);
  * generic words (id, job, attempt, workflow) exempt nothing, since `customer id
- * 14155551234` is a number. The same digits anywhere else still report.
+ * 14155551234` is a number, and a span with a leading 1 exempts nothing either:
+ * `failed 14155551234` is a US or Chinese national number with its trunk
+ * prefix, and Actions run ids passed 20 billion in 2025. The same digits
+ * anywhere else still report.
  */
 const CI_ID_POSITION_BEFORE =
   /(?:--(?:run|job)(?:-id)?(?:[ \t]+|[ \t]*=[ \t]*)|\bgh[ \t]+run[ \t]+(?:view|watch|rerun|download|cancel)[ \t]+|\/actions\/runs\/|\/jobs?\/|(?:run|job)_id["']?[ \t]*[:=][ \t]*["']?)$/i;
@@ -345,7 +348,7 @@ export function isCiRunIdentifier(span: string, match: RegExpExecArray): boolean
   const { start } = spanBounds(match);
   const lineStart = input.lastIndexOf("\n", start - 1) + 1;
   const before = input.slice(Math.max(lineStart, start - 80), start);
-  return CI_ID_POSITION_BEFORE.test(before) || (span.length === 11 && CI_RUN_WORD_BEFORE.test(before));
+  return CI_ID_POSITION_BEFORE.test(before) || (span.length === 11 && span[0] !== "1" && CI_RUN_WORD_BEFORE.test(before));
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/scripts/test-pr-profile.ts b/scripts/test-pr-profile.ts
index d6b428d46..188710401 100644
--- a/scripts/test-pr-profile.ts
+++ b/scripts/test-pr-profile.ts
@@ -235,6 +235,7 @@ export const FREE_ONLY_PR_FILES = [
   'scripts/paid-test-durations.json',
   'scripts/ubicloud/**',
   'capy/skill/**', // The vendored Capy skill (Drive bootstrapper): run by Capy agents, read by no paid case; test/capy-skill-wrapper.test.ts covers it.
+  'captain/templates/**', // The /captain crew templates (CREW.md, merge-ask.md, slot-call.md, …): copied into a Captain's drive by people and Captains, read by no paid case; free test/captain-skill.test.ts covers them (#3499).
   'tsconfig.test.json', // Read only by `tsc -p tsconfig.test.json` (typecheck:test); Bun's runtime reads tsconfig.json.
   '.gitignore', // Changes which untracked files git reports, never tracked content a case reads.
   '.gstack/generated.json', // gstack's own regen registry: gstack-regen/gstack-pregate read it from origin/<base> of the repo they run in; paid cases run in fixture repos.
diff --git a/scripts/ubicloud/ubi-runner.sh b/scripts/ubicloud/ubi-runner.sh
index d5853668a..0a493d74c 100755
--- a/scripts/ubicloud/ubi-runner.sh
+++ b/scripts/ubicloud/ubi-runner.sh
@@ -597,7 +597,9 @@ cmd_down() {
 # origin/<base> still resolves, and the index is copied (git writes it
 # atomically through a rename). A linked worktree's .git is a one-line
 # pointer into the main repository, useless on the VM; the same snapshot
-# replaces it, on the worktree's own branch and index.
+# replaces it, on the worktree's own branch and index. Not carried: submodule
+# repositories (.git/modules) and a partial clone's promisor (the fetch pulls
+# every missing blob first); gstack has neither.
 cmd_pack() {
   local src tmp gitdir branch head entry
   src=$(cd "${1:-.}" && pwd)
@@ -605,6 +607,7 @@ cmd_pack() {
     head=$(git -C "$src" rev-parse --verify -q HEAD) || die "pack: $src has no commits; the VM needs a HEAD to fingerprint"
     branch=$(git -C "$src" symbolic-ref -q --short HEAD || true)
     tmp=$(mktemp -d)
+    trap 'rm -rf "$tmp"' EXIT
     git init -q --bare "$tmp/.git"
     git -C "$tmp/.git" fetch -q --no-tags --update-shallow "$src" '+refs/*:refs/*' \
       || die "pack: could not snapshot the refs of $src"
@@ -617,7 +620,7 @@ cmd_pack() {
     gitdir=$(cd "$src" && cd "$(git rev-parse --git-common-dir)" && pwd)
     while IFS= read -r -d '' entry; do
       git -C "$tmp/.git" config --add "${entry%%$'\n'*}" "${entry#*$'\n'}"
-    done < <(git -C "$gitdir" config --local --null --get-regexp '^remote\.' 2>/dev/null || true)
+    done < <(git -C "$gitdir" config --local --null --get-regexp '^(remote|branch)\.' 2>/dev/null || true)
     # The checkout's index rides along so the VM's status matches, except a
     # split index, whose shared half lives only in the original git dir.
     [ "$(git -C "$src" config --bool core.splitIndex 2>/dev/null)" = true ] \
@@ -630,7 +633,7 @@ cmd_pack() {
           done \
         | tar --null -T - -c -C "$tmp" .git -zf -
     )
-    rm -rf "$tmp"
+    rm -rf "$tmp"; trap - EXIT
   else
     tar -C "$src" -czf - .
   fi
diff --git a/test/helpers/touchfiles-data.ts b/test/helpers/touchfiles-data.ts
index 378c9ff50..01cde91db 100644
--- a/test/helpers/touchfiles-data.ts
+++ b/test/helpers/touchfiles-data.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,10 @@
 /**
  * E2E test touchfiles — keyed by testName (the string passed to runSkillTest).
  * Each test lists the file patterns that, if changed, require the test to run.
+ *
+ * ETHOS.md is registered under the /office-hours and /plan-ceo-review cases,
+ * whose prompts quote it; the tier>=3 preamble (Search Before Building) only
+ * names it as a read-on-demand pointer that no paid case asserts on (#3499).
  */
 export const E2E_TOUCHFILES: Record<string, string[]> = {
   'ship-skipped-queued-finding': [ 'lib/outside-review-result.ts', 'lib/gate-outcomes.ts', 'bin/gstack-codex-probe','bin/gstack-state-root.sh', 'lib/state-root.ts', 'package.json', 'bun.lock', '.github/docker/Dockerfile.ci',
diff --git a/test/paid-free-boundary.test.ts b/test/paid-free-boundary.test.ts
index dbe3cc47b..08e3bc41e 100644
--- a/test/paid-free-boundary.test.ts
+++ b/test/paid-free-boundary.test.ts
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ describe('paid/free dependency boundary', () => {
       expect(result.selection).toEqual({ e2e: [], judges: [] });
     }
     // Release metadata no paid case reads keeps the PR profile, alone and beside a mapped prompt (#3499).
-    for (const file of ['NOTICE.md', 'LICENSE', 'licenses/MIT-pstack.txt']) {
+    for (const file of ['NOTICE.md', 'LICENSE', 'licenses/MIT-pstack.txt', 'captain/templates/merge-ask.md']) {
       expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(ROOT, file)), file).toBe(true);
       const result = computePaidCaseSelection({ profile: 'pr', env: {}, changedFiles: [file, 'CHANGELOG.md'] });
       expect(result.coverage?.mode, file).toBe('pr');
diff --git a/test/redact-context-exemptions.test.ts b/test/redact-context-exemptions.test.ts
index 6b579d917..ff664802f 100644
--- a/test/redact-context-exemptions.test.ts
+++ b/test/redact-context-exemptions.test.ts
@@ -239,8 +239,12 @@ describe("pii.phone.e164: GitHub Actions run and job ids in their id positions",
       "https://example.com/contact/37235771700",
       '{"phone_id": 37235771700}',
       "run 4155550123 laps",
-      // A run word before a 10-digit national number, a bare 11-digit number and a generic word exempt nothing.
+      // A run word before a 10-digit national number, an 11-digit number with a leading 1 (a US or Chinese
+      // national number with its trunk prefix), a bare 11-digit number and a generic word exempt nothing.
       "gate 4155550123",
+      "call failed 14155551234",
+      "screen 13812345678 GREEN",
+      "run 19368712345",
       "the id is 40477638211",
       "job 40477638211",
       "workflow 40477638211",
diff --git a/test/ubicloud-runner.test.ts b/test/ubicloud-runner.test.ts
index 7802dec7d..58cfc6b4c 100644
--- a/test/ubicloud-runner.test.ts
+++ b/test/ubicloud-runner.test.ts
@@ -333,6 +333,13 @@ test('pack ships a linked worktree with a self-contained .git on the checked-out
       expect(wtree(vm)).toBe(wtree(src));
       // The snapshot carries no hook path or other local config from the source checkout.
       expect(sh('git config --local --list', vm)).not.toContain('hooksPath');
+      // A failed pack leaves no object copy behind in TMPDIR, and a branch's upstream rides along with its remote.
+      sh('mkdir tmpd && git checkout -q -b topic && git branch -q --set-upstream-to=origin/main topic', src);
+      const broken = Bun.spawnSync(['bash', '-c', `rm -f .git/index && TMPDIR=../tmpd ${pack} > ../pack-broken.tgz; echo rc=$?; ls ../tmpd`], { cwd: src, timeout: 60_000 });
+      expect(broken.stdout.toString().trim()).toBe('rc=1');
+      sh('git reset -q', src);
+      sh('mkdir vm2 && ' + pack.replace('pack .', 'pack src') + ' | tar -xzf - -C vm2', d);
+      expect(sh('git rev-parse --abbrev-ref @{u}', join(d, 'vm2')).trim()).toBe('origin/main');
     } finally { rmSync(d, { recursive: true, force: true }); }
   }, 90_000);