diff --git a/frontend/app/api/scan/terminal/route.ts b/frontend/app/api/scan/terminal/route.ts
index 34e17ae8..2a0947ab 100644
--- a/frontend/app/api/scan/terminal/route.ts
+++ b/frontend/app/api/scan/terminal/route.ts
@@ -72,8 +72,7 @@ export async function GET(req: NextRequest) {
           data,
           cachePolicy.responseCacheControl,
         ),
-      fetchCache:
-        cachePolicy.fetchMode === "no-store" ? "no-store" : undefined,
+      fetchCache: "no-store",
       publicMessage: "Failed to fetch scan terminal data",
       revalidateSeconds: cachePolicy.revalidateSeconds,
       signal: controller.signal,
diff --git a/frontend/components/dashboard/scan-terminal/__tests__/proxyCachePolicy.test.ts b/frontend/components/dashboard/scan-terminal/__tests__/proxyCachePolicy.test.ts
index 3f888e90..b72d2885 100644
--- a/frontend/components/dashboard/scan-terminal/__tests__/proxyCachePolicy.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/components/dashboard/scan-terminal/__tests__/proxyCachePolicy.test.ts
@@ -77,6 +77,11 @@ export function runTests() {
     /cacheControlForData:\s*\(data\)\s*=>\s*buildScanTerminalResponseCacheControl/,
     "scan terminal proxy must not CDN-cache failed, stale, or partial business payloads",
   );
+  assert.match(
+    scanTerminalProxySource,
+    /fetchCache:\s*"no-store"/,
+    "scan terminal proxy must not put failed or initializing payloads into the Next data cache",
+  );
 
   const scanTerminalClientSource = fs.readFileSync(
     path.join(