The workshop was quiet, save for the steady hum of the Driftknight and the occasional chirp from the fabrication units.

Akiko floated in front of the main console, tail flicking as Takuto projected a schematic into her HUD. The design pulsed with complexity. Mechanical structure overlaid with elegant magical circuit patterns.

Skill Layer Update:

New Category Detected: Magitech Integration

Status: Novice (0.0% milestone achieved)

"Alright," she muttered, narrowing her eyes. "Let's try routing the mana through this section."

She highlighted a junction. Takuto simulated the change.

Red warnings bloomed across the projection. A sharp tone followed.

"Energy loss at junction three. Suggested revision: reinforce with tertiary buffer."

Akiko groaned, resting her forehead on her palm. "That buffer's going to bottleneck the output. I need smoother flow, not more armor."

From behind, Tanya's voice cut in, dry and skeptical. "Smooth and magical aren't exactly in the same vocabulary, are they?"

Akiko glanced back, one brow raised. "Didn't realize you were an expert in spell-weaving."

"Not magic," Tanya said, drifting closer, arms crossed. "But I'm very familiar with things that explode. So, humor me, how do you stop that bottleneck from frying the entire drive?"

Akiko hesitated. Then, with a sigh, she flicked a section of the schematic toward her. "If I redirect the flow here, it should stabilize. In theory."

Tanya peered at the display. "You're really leaning on that phrase."

Akiko smirked. "Welcome to magic. You'll get used to it."

They worked in silence for a while. Well, mostly. Tanya asked pointed questions that made Akiko rethink half her layout. Takuto adapted in real-time, modeling her hunches and corrections.

Somewhere in the middle of their third rework, Akiko realized they'd found a rhythm.

Subskill Acquisition (Magitech Integration): Schematic Reconciliation – 0.7% milestone achieved.

Hours passed. When the final version of the schematic lit up green on her HUD, she leaned back and stretched, a grin tugging at her mouth.

"Alright," she said. "This one should actually hold together."

Tanya floated beside her, skeptical as ever. "Guess there's only one way to find out."

The fabricator chirped and came to life. Mechanical arms moved with careful precision, assembling the test panel piece by piece. When it finished, the panel floated free, sleek and symmetrical, glowing faintly with rune-etched lines.

Akiko caught it, turning it over in her hands. "Not bad."

Tanya plucked it from her fingers, inspecting it with a critical eye. "Looks pretty," she admitted. "Still not something I'd hang on a wall."

They secured it into the test rig, a crude assembly of bolted scrap and retrofit stabilizers. It looked nothing like the elegant panel now gleaming at its core.

Akiko stepped back, foxfire flickering faintly across her fingertips.

"Any last words?" Tanya asked, half a smile tugging at her mouth as she floated to a safe distance.

Akiko grinned. "You're welcome in advance."

She extended her hand. Mana flowed into the circuit.

The runes lit up, blue, steady, and clean. For a moment, the rig hummed like a living thing. No sparks. No flicker.

Then a sharp crack split the air.

Akiko's ears twitched.

Subskill Acquisition (Magitech Integration): Failure Pattern Recognition – 1.2% milestone achieved.

Note: Flow instability threshold mapped.

Sparks burst from the far junction. The light guttered, then died. One of the runic inlays split clean through.

"Not exactly a glowing review," Tanya said, drifting in to inspect the damage.

Akiko frowned, arms crossed. "The concept held longer than expected. It's just the flow rate. I can tune that."

Tanya held up the cracked panel. "Let's just hope you tune it before it blows up the drive core."

Akiko smirked. "You're starting to sound like Kara."

Akiko floated near the console, her HUD filled with shifting projections. Lines of mana pathways glowed softly, each recalculation threading tighter than the last. Her jaw was clenched, one fang pressing into her lip as she nudged a connection point half a micron left.

This time, she told herself, it'll hold.

Tanya's voice sliced through the silence. "You're overcomplicating it."

Akiko turned, sharp. Tanya hovered at the edge of the console, one hand braced against the frame. Her expression was calm, but her eyes were already dissecting the schematic.

"That line's redundant," Tanya said, gesturing. "All it's going to do is heat up and crack again. Same spot as last time."

Akiko's tail lashed once. "It's not redundant. It's a failsafe to keep it from cracking."

Tanya raised an eyebrow. "Failsafe or not, it's going to bottleneck the flow and overload. But hey, your design."

Akiko glared, but Tanya didn't press. She just drifted back toward the fabricator, silent again.

Somehow, that irritated Akiko more.

What did she know about spell circuitry anyway?

Akiko gritted her teeth and forced herself to focus. The schematic adjusted under her hands. Takuto pinged a warning, too much flow at node six, but she dismissed it.

Subskill Progress (Magitech Integration): Flow Regulation – 1.9% milestone achieved.

Note: Oversaturation threshold exceeded.

The fabricator spun up. Pieces slotted together with practiced precision. The new panel floated free, rune-etched and gleaming.

"It'll work this time," Akiko muttered, mostly to herself.

Tanya's voice came from behind her, dry. "If you say so."

They installed the panel. Akiko moved with care, settling her hands on the interface. She took a breath, then channeled mana. Slowly, steady. Deliberately.

The runes lit.

Blue light pulsed evenly across the surface. The hum of the rig deepened. Akiko's heart skipped once, then surged with triumph.

It's working.

Then the whine started. Faint at first. High-pitched. Wrong.

Akiko's ears twitched. She reached to pull back—

Too late. The panel sparked, a burst of flame ripping down one pathway. She severed the flow instantly, but the damage was done.

Subskill Progress (Magitech Integration): Reactive Mana Severance – 2.4% milestone achieved.

Reflexive response logged. Response time: 0.41s

Smoke curled from the cracked junction. The rig guttered and went dark.

Tanya drifted closer, arms folded. "What was that about failsafes?"

Akiko let out a low growl, inspecting the damage. "It wasn't supposed to do that."

"Clearly," Tanya said, eyeing the scorched panel. "I'll give you this, you're good at making the room exciting."

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Akiko shot her a glare.

Tanya held up her hands in mock surrender, then let them drop. "You weren't wrong about magic being messy," she said, her tone softening. "But complexity doesn't make it stronger. Just makes it more fragile."

Akiko sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Yeah. I get it."

Tanya nodded, her smirk fading into something closer to approval. "Good. Let's get it right this time."

The workshop had become their second home.

It no longer felt cramped, despite the clutter of tools, floating consoles, and the debris of half-failed prototypes suspended in microgravity.

Weeks of trial and error had blurred together. The Driftknight's low hum and the rhythmic clatter of the fabricators was now just background noise.

Akiko opened her eyes, breath slow.

Another simulated training session complete. The warmth of the augment at her neck pulsed gently, a quiet reminder of how far she'd pushed herself. Her temples throbbed with that now-familiar ache. She pinched the bridge of her nose and drifted toward the console.

Tanya glanced up from her corner, where she was elbow-deep in the guts of an old test rig. She took one look at Akiko's pale face and arched an eyebrow.

"You know," she said, tone dry but lighter than usual, "most people take breaks before they look like ghosts."

Akiko smirked faintly, eyes half-lidded. "Breaks don't build panels."

"Neither do migraines," Tanya shot back, but there was more concern than bite in her voice.

Akiko waved her off and pulled up the schematic. "I've got a new routing idea," she said, gesturing. "If we anchor the runes here and here, it should reduce strain on the primary channel."

Tanya floated closer, peering over her shoulder. Her fingers tapped the display. "That's solid. But this junction?" She circled a segment. "Too much heat buildup. You'll warp the casing in under a minute."

Akiko frowned, then nodded. "Fine. We reinforce it."

She shifted another line of runes into a tighter formation. "This flow better?"

Subskill Acquisition (Magitech Integration): Constructive Flow Synthesis – 5.2% milestone achieved.

Tanya tilted her head. "Better. You're finally learning to compromise."

Akiko shot her a look. "And you're finally learning magic isn't just science with glitter."

Tanya huffed a laugh and shook her head. "Fair point."

They fell into rhythm again. Tweaking, adjusting, occasionally muttering frustrations. Hours passed, the lines between magic and engineering blurring as they worked side by side. The room dimmed as the Driftknight cycled into night mode, but neither of them slowed.

Eventually, the schematic stabilized.

Akiko leaned back, tail flicking lazily behind her as she scanned the final design. Her eyes were bloodshot but bright.

Tanya hovered nearby, giving the display a last pass. She nodded slowly. "This might actually work."

Akiko grinned, tired but proud. "High praise coming from you."

"Don't get used to it," Tanya said, voice soft. No sarcasm this time. Just worn edges and a glint of shared effort.

She pushed off the console, heading for the fabricator. "Come on. Let's get this thing built before I change my mind."

Akiko followed, her shoulders looser than they'd been in days. Her tail swayed with quiet satisfaction.

Akiko floated near the fabricator, arms folded, watching with a mix of anticipation and caution as the final sequences completed.

The machine chirped, releasing a thin, rune-etched panel into the air. She caught it with both hands, cradling it like something fragile.

The mana lines pulsed faintly beneath her fingertips. Clean. Precise. Alive.

For the first time in weeks, hope didn't feel foolish.

"Alright," she murmured, drifting toward the rig. "Let's see if you're more than pretty."

She slotted the panel into place and secured the clamps, fingers moving with care. Every motion echoed the hours she and Tanya had poured into getting here.

Tanya floated nearby, arms crossed, gaze steady. "Think this is the one?"

Akiko smirked, tail flicking behind her. "It's either the one that works, or the one that takes off my eyebrows."

"Comforting," Tanya said, but she didn't back away. Instead, she tapped commands into the rig's control module. "System's live. Light it up."

Akiko reached inward, drawing mana from her core. The familiar ache flared behind her ribs, residual from training, but she ignored it. A thin thread flowed through her palm into the panel.

The runes lit.

Blue light washed over the room as the panel came to life. Lines pulsed in perfect sync, feeding into the containment array. The energy didn't waver. It amplified, tightened, focused.

Subskill Acquisition (Magitech Integration): Schematic Execution – 13.5% milestone achieved.

Stabilized construct detected. Output variance within optimal range.

A thin beam of pure force shimmered through the rig and dispersed harmlessly into the reinforced wall plating.

Akiko held the flow steady.

"It's holding," she said quietly, breath easing out. "No feedback. No distortion."

Tanya drifted closer, eyes flicking across the output readings. Her usual frown softened. "Not bad," she said, voice low. "Output's stable. Efficiency's hovering around ninety percent."

Akiko nodded. The sapphire core embedded in the panel shimmered faintly. Her own design, crafted to resonate with her augment.

"This should sharpen the drive plume," she said. "Tighter vectoring. More thrust, less waste."

Tanya leaned toward the screen, fingers dancing over the surface. "That's the theory."

Akiko let the mana go. The glow faded.

She floated back from the rig. "We're past theory."

Silence settled for a beat.

Tanya finally let out a breath. "Yeah. You've got a prototype."

Her tone wasn't warm, but it wasn't cold either.

"It's going to take weeks to wire this into the ship without frying something," she added. "Magic and circuitry are still one bad handshake away from disaster."

Akiko gave a tired smile. "Then we better start soldering."

Tanya's smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Don't let this go to your head."

"Too late."

They both glanced at the rig. Still humming, still whole.

Tanya gestured toward it. "Let's scale this thing. If we're flying into Ashara's orbit, I want that panel working twice as hard."

Akiko's grin sharpened. Her fingers brushed the rim of the now-silent construct.

With the fabrication finally automated, the workshop quieted. For the first time in weeks, there were no schematics to revise, no circuits to calibrate.

The Driftknight drifted through the void on a long burn to Ashara, and the silence settled over the crew like a held breath.

Jace, ever opportunistic, wasted no time dragging both of them into the lounge. His grin was broad, and the promise of what he optimistically called "top-shelf swill" was hard to ignore.

Akiko eyed the mismatched bottles he pulled from storage with deep skepticism. But curiosity, and the rare novelty of downtime, nudged her forward.

They floated in lazy arcs around the table, sealed containers of dubious alcohol in hand. The first sip hit like a kick to the throat, and Akiko's ears twitched involuntarily.

"Gods," she muttered, tail flicking. "Is this brewed or weaponized?"

Jace just laughed. "It grows on you."

"Like a fungus," Akiko said.

To her surprise, Tanya actually laughed. Short, genuine, soft around the edges.

As the drinks flowed, the tension that had always lingered between them seemed to thin, like steam on a cooling plate. Conversation circled through jokes and old war stories, until somewhere in the blur, Jace's curiosity returned to familiar ground.

He raised his container, half-grinning. "Still haven't told us what really happened with Tomas."

Akiko leaned back, her gaze slipping to the viewport. Stars scattered across the void in long, cold streaks. Her drink floated in one hand. The buzz had crept into her chest, warm and disarming.

"Tomas wasn't going to make it," she said, voice quieter than usual. "The entity's mana was eating him alive. Mana poisoning doesn't just fade. It devours."

Tanya's eyes sharpened. "And you tried to save him."

Akiko hesitated. Her tail drifted behind her, slow and unbothered, but her fingers curled tight around the drink. "It wasn't just him," she said. "The whole thing... it was chaos. We were trying to save Evelyn too. The entity had already taken her and was parading her image as its own."

She paused. The silence pressed.

Jace sat straighter. "Go on."

Akiko took a breath. "I didn't start out trying to save him. Thought he was already too far gone to be saved. But then… when I fought the entity, the power that was eating him passed to me. That kind of power doesn't just… go away."

She made a vague motion, as if trying to catch the shape of it. Her free hand trembled slightly.

"It turned on me. The second I touched it. Like it was waiting."

Tanya's voice dropped, no longer clinical. "You took on the same poison that was killing him."

Akiko nodded. "I had to. And it almost ended me too. I burned through everything just to stay standing. Throwing spells, purging the overload, whatever I could. But even then... I was running out of time."

Her voice cracked. She coughed once, forced a smile. "And of course, the Sovereign team was there to pick up the pieces."

Jace's grin vanished.

"They took him?" he asked, voice low.

Akiko nodded again, slower this time. "Didn't have to fight me for it. I could barely stand. I had to make a choice, and I chose to survive."

The silence held longer this time.

Tanya's eyes narrowed. Not with suspicion, but something closer to understanding. "And Evelyn?"

"She made it out," Akiko said. A faint smile touched her lips. "She's tougher than she looks."

Jace was the one who finally broke the tension. He raised his drink, sloshing it lazily. "To surviving. Even if it's by the skin of your tail."

Akiko gave a soft huff of laughter. "I'll drink to that."

Tanya didn't speak, but her gaze lingered. Not cold. Just quiet.

Eventually, the weight of the story slipped back into silence. Jace drifted into sleep mid-joke, and Tanya, without a word, settled beside Akiko, head resting lightly against her shoulder.

Akiko stared out the viewport. The stars watched her in silence.

Outside, the void stretched on. Inside, she let the stillness settle. For once, not running from it.

She stirred to the soft hum of the Driftknight, her head resting against the back of the lounge seat. The ache from the night before lingered, a dull throb behind her eyes, more a nuisance than a true hangover. She blinked once, ears twitching, and shifted slightly.

A blanket slipped from her shoulder.

She looked down.

Tanya was still asleep beside her, arms crossed, head tilted forward in the posture of someone who'd tried, and failed, to stay upright. A second blanket had been wrapped around her as well, both of them cocooned in quiet care.

Akiko's tail curled, a faint smile touching her lips.

Someone had cleaned up. The half-played cards, the empty containers of Jace's rotgut gone. Everything neatly tucked away.

Probably Quinn. Or Raya.

The gesture was small, but it caught her off guard. It left a warm thrum in her chest. The Driftknight crew was rough around the edges, but maybe that was what made this work. There was care here. Quiet, practical care.

Something the Sovereign never quite managed.

Outside of Anna and Ethan, anyway.

Akiko let her head fall back against the seat, letting the hum of the ship wrap around her. The stars spilled across the viewport in cold blue light. Tanya shifted slightly, breath slow and steady, still drifting in sleep.

Akiko turned her gaze toward the stars, and caught her breath.

Ashara hung in the distance.

Even from here, the rust-colored world shimmered faintly in Eridani's reflected light. Its domed cities sparkled like scattered jewels along the surface, delicate and distant.

Today's the day.

Her smile faded. The weight settled into her shoulders.

They'd spent weeks building, refining, adjusting every mana circuit by hand. And now it all came down to one test.

One drift.

If the panels held, if the augment stabilized, if everything aligned perfectly... the Driftknight would carve through space with a precision no outer colonies ship had managed before.

And if it didn't?

Her tail flicked sharply.

Boom. The thought echoed, dry and unhelpful.

Beside her, Tanya stirred. She blinked once, then groaned softly, rubbing the back of her neck as she sat up.

"Morning," she muttered.

Akiko smiled faintly. "Looks like someone cleaned up after us."

Tanya scanned the lounge, taking in the blankets, the neatness. She smirked. "Guess someone isn't as useless as he looks."

The gratitude in her tone softened the jab.

Akiko chuckled, pulling her blanket tighter. "Today's the big day."

Tanya's smirk faded as she followed Akiko's gaze to the viewport. Her voice dropped.

"Yeah. Let's hope we don't end up famous for all the wrong reasons."

Akiko shot her a sideways glance. "We've got this. I don't plan on going out in a ball of flame."

Tanya huffed. "Let's hope the universe agrees."

They fell into a quiet stillness. The stars drifted. The hum of the ship held steady. No alarms yet. No orders.

Just a moment suspended. Between what had been, and what might come next.

Akiko let herself savor it.

Tomorrow would burn on its own time.

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