After a few minutes of watching, Akiko eased away from the hub.

The air felt warmer out here, thick with the scent of old coolant and metal fatigue. Kara was already moving again, slipping through the next corridor without looking back.

Akiko followed.

The pathways twisted tighter the farther they went. Bulkheads narrowing, lighting rougher, noise beginning to leak in from ahead.

The marketplace stank of grease and spice.

Grilled food sizzled next to solvent-tainted scrap heaps, and voices clashed in a chaotic chorus. Traders shouting, deals haggled midair, laughter breaking into curses. Akiko's ears twitched at the noise, tail swaying as she weaved between stalls bristling with salvaged parts and wilted produce.

But it wasn't the smell or sound that caught her attention. It was the eyes.

First subtle. Then direct. A dozen glances grazing her ears and tail, followed by whispers just quiet enough to avoid being pinned down. Curiosity, suspicion. A hint of fear.

She straightened, resisting the urge to let her ears droop or shift into a human guise.

A fresh face can be a clean slate, Kaede had once said.

But this wasn't a place for clean slates.

The Iron Reclaimers understood survival. Masking herself would only raise more questions when the truth came out. She kept her chin high and quickened her pace to stay behind Kara.

At the base of a central tower, two guards stood like carved metal, silent and alert. Their suits hummed faintly, bulkier than ceremonial gear. Not for show.

Kara flashed her ID. "Captain Kara Ellan. Here to see Tarek."

The guards exchanged a look, then one stepped aside, magboots clicking. The elevator doors hissed open.

Kara drifted inside and looked back. Her gaze softened a shade, though her voice stayed crisp. "Come on. Don't keep him waiting."

Akiko hesitated, hand brushing the doorway, steadying herself.

The interior of the lift was boxy, industrial. Clearly refitted, not designed for passengers. She stepped in anyway. The doors sealed shut behind her.

The lift hummed to life. A flicker of pressure slid down her spine. The illusion of weight, just inertia catching up with motion. On a station where gravity didn't exist, it was a jarring sensation. Not real, but close enough to make her muscles tense.

This wasn't designed for people. The interior was too industrial, the grips too sparse. Probably a freight elevator, once, repurposed now for symbolism as much as function.

In a place built for weightlessness, an elevator felt... performative.

Even the ride upward felt deliberate. You didn't just float into Tarek Solan's domain. You rose into it, on rails he controlled.

The weight faded as the elevator slowed. Another hiss, doors parting to reveal a short corridor and a second set of reinforced doors.

Kara led the way.

Akiko matched her pace, trailing through the silence to a control panel embedded in the wall. Kara keyed in a sequence. No hesitation, no pause. A soft chime. The doors slid open.

And there he was.

Tarek Solan stood at the far end of the room, back to them, watching a wall display flicker with Yard telemetry. The office had once been a Haven command deck. That was obvious in its bones. Reinforced windows, angular layout. But it had been claimed. Stripped. Repurposed.

Schematics lined the walls. Datapads and tools covered a wide central table. Scattered mugs hinted at long nights. Outside, the Yard sprawled beneath the windows like a metal anthill. Organized chaos.

Kara floated in and anchored herself with a handhold. "Tarek."

He turned.

Tall. Broad-shouldered. Calm posture, but sharp green eyes that assessed rather than stared. His gaze landed on Akiko, and lingered. Then a faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"So," he said. "You're the new addition."

He moved with deliberate precision, scooping a datapad from the table and flicking a feed to the main display. Akiko's ears twitched as the image flickered into motion.

Grainy, distorted suit cam footage. The entity's station. Dark paneling, glowing runes. And in the center: her. Foxfire flashing. Tomas twisting space around him. Chaos.

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She knew this feed. Had lived it. Only one place it could've come from.

Weston, she thought, her jaw tightening slightly. It made sense, given his evasiveness and his offer to help with her cover story.

"Quite the spectacle," Tarek said, still watching the screen. "I imagine there's a story."

Akiko crossed her arms, tail flicking. "I've got plenty. You'll have to be more specific."

He smiled again. It was dry, measured. "Fair enough."

The battle continued in silence. Tarek's gaze flicked between the screen and her, then he shut the feed off.

"Impressive," he said. "You held your own. That's not common when facing... whatever that was."

"You survive long enough," Akiko said, her voice light but wary, "you learn a few tricks."

"Survival's useful," Tarek said, leaning back slightly. "But not enough by itself. I like to know who I'm working with. And you? You're not ordinary."

Akiko held his gaze. She didn't need to confirm the feed's source. If Weston had passed it along, she'd deal with that later.

"Glad I made an impression," she said coolly. "Now tell me what you actually want."

Tarek chuckled. "Straight to the point. I respect that." He folded his arms. "But let's start with you. What do you want?"

Akiko hesitated, just for a moment.

"Supplies," she said. "Specialized equipment. Weapons. Anything that'll help when the next thing like that shows up."

Tarek tilted his head. "And what makes you think conventional gear will help against something like that?"

Akiko didn't blink. "That's my concern. What matters is being prepared."

He tapped the datapad lightly. "Preparation requires trust. And I don't hand that out on faith."

His gaze sharpened.

"Haven's crawling over Stygia like hornets. And that wasn't the only anomaly we've seen."

Akiko's ears twitched. The smile on Tarek's face didn't reach his eyes.

"We've had reports. Ships losing control of systems. Colonies with unexplained energy surges. People claiming to see... things. Lights. Apparitions. And it all started around the time you appeared."

Akiko's tail snapped once, tension tightening in her shoulders. Her mind spun.

The station hadn't been an isolated incident. This was spreading.

And somehow, it was all tracing back to her.

"I don't know what you're implying," Akiko said evenly.

"Oh, I'm not implying anything," Tarek replied, smile sharp now. "Just making observations. But it's a curious coincidence, don't you think?"

Akiko met his gaze. "Coincidences happen."

"Sure," he said, leaning back. "But coincidences like this? They draw attention. And if you're going to operate in my sphere, you'd better be ready for scrutiny. Haven's not the only one watching."

The warning was clear. Akiko had walked in hoping to keep her secrets intact, but Tarek Solan didn't miss much.

He tapped a finger against the table. "Now that we've discussed what you need, let's talk about how to get it."

Akiko tilted her head. "I'm listening."

"There's a research site on Ashara. One of several that were looking into... phenomena. Quiet work. Promising results. Then, suddenly, radio silence."

Akiko's tail twitched. "And?"

"My people went to investigate," Tarek said. "By the time they got there, Asharan officials had cleaned it out. Whatever they found, they didn't want anyone else seeing it."

Akiko raised a brow. "And by 'anyone else,' you mean you."

Tarek's smile twitched. "Among others. Point is, what they were working on might help us understand what we're dealing with. Or stop it."

He leaned forward, locking eyes with her.

"Here's the deal: there's a finders' fee for any data you recover. Even more if you bring back an active sample."

Akiko folded her arms. "And if I find something else while I'm there?"

"Yours to keep," Tarek said easily. "I'm not in the habit of micromanaging. Just bring back something we can use, and the Iron Reclaimers will make sure you're well equipped."

She considered that. The site was probably stripped clean, but if there was even a chance of finding something useful, anything connected to the entity, it was worth the risk.

"Sounds straightforward," she said. "But I'm guessing it won't be as easy as walking in and taking what I want."

"If it were," Tarek said, smiling wider, "I wouldn't need someone like you."

Akiko turned to Kara, arching a brow. "Well, Captain? It's your ship."

Kara met her look with a calm nod. "I've slipped past Asharan patrols before. We can do it. But I want our resupply covered before we leave."

Tarek didn't argue. "Of course. Consider it arranged."

"Whether we find anything or not," Kara added, "Ashara's a long burn. I'm not eating the cost on a maybe."

He gave a mild incline of his head. "A fair investment. And if things get messy?"

"We leave," Kara said flatly, pushing off her handhold. "I'm not sticking around to poke a hornet's nest. We'll need an exit plan."

"Understood." His gaze returned to Akiko. "And you?"

Her ears flicked, and a faint smirk curved her lips. "Sounds like a challenge," she said. "I can work with that."

"Good," Tarek said, clearly satisfied. "I'll transmit everything we have on the site. And Kara, keep me updated. Discretion is key."

Kara was already drifting toward the exit. "You'll hear from us when we're en route." She looked back over her shoulder. "Come on, Akiko. We've got work to do."

Akiko followed, her mind already racing. The site might be scrubbed clean, but the promise of answers was real.

And she wasn't about to walk away from that.

The doors sealed behind them with a hiss. Kara didn't break stride.

"I transferred your credits from ship work to a personal account," she said, tone as clipped as ever. "If you need help accessing it, talk to one of the Yard's net ops. They'll sort you out."

Akiko's HUD blinked, a currency tracker lighting up in the corner of her vision. Not much, but enough to be useful.

"Huh," she said. "Thanks."

Kara gave a brief nod. "It's only a few week's worth. Gear up. Food, supplies, whatever you need. Be back at the ship before we launch."

Without waiting for a reply, Kara pushed off into the crowd, vanishing into the Yard's bustling arteries.

Akiko lingered.

A proper meal sounded good. Maybe even a real bed. But her tail flicked, and her mind drifted somewhere else, somewhere more interesting.

The fabricator Raya had shown her still tugged at the edge of her thoughts. Its potential was obvious. Plastics. Soft metals. Scraps of composite. All bare-bones, half of them marked as "restricted use" by someone who'd clearly forgotten to update the permissions.

In her old life, she'd have broken into a guild facility. Slipped through a window. Picked a lock. Sliced a ward. Taken what she needed, vanished before anyone noticed.

But here? Here the locks weren't physical.

There were no tumblers to feel, no tension to tease. Just lines of code. System privileges. Obscured network architecture she didn't yet understand.

Her tail twitched, flicking behind her in short, annoyed bursts.

"I need to learn how to break in differently," she murmured. "No more tools. No more sleight of hand. Just the right signal at the right gate."

It sounded clinical. Foreign.

But if she wanted to survive in this world, to thrive, then she needed to stop being the girl who picked locks. And start being the one who owned the system.

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