The hum of the Driftknight's engines was a low, soothing backdrop as Akiko lay curled in one of the crew's sleeping alcoves. The lighting was dim, her shield deactivated. For once, the absence of its faint, ever-present buzz was comforting.

Her body felt heavy. Not wounded, just used up. Every limb ached with the hollow throb that came from burning too much mana, too fast. Her thoughts drifted, sluggish and half-formed.

Raya had insisted she rest after dragging her back from the airlock.

And for once, Akiko hadn't argued.

She couldn't have, even if she wanted to. Her usual bravado had fizzled out somewhere between the explosion and the tether line. Now, she just lay there, staring at the alcove ceiling as muffled clangs echoed faintly through the ship's hull.

Salvage sounds. Distant voices. The others were already hard at work.

I should be out there, she thought. Her tail twitched once, curling faintly under the blanket.

But the thought lacked conviction. Even if she tried to stand, she knew her legs wouldn't carry her far.

The door to the alcove bay hissed open.

Akiko turned her head slowly to see Tanya floating through, toolbox in one hand, energy bar in the other. Her motion was smooth, practiced, like she belonged to the air itself. She drifted to Akiko's side and nudged the bar toward her with a flick of her wrist.

"Figured you might need this," Tanya said. "You look like hell."

Akiko reached for it, fingers slow to respond. "Feel like it too."

She peeled the wrapper open. The crinkle of plastic sounded absurdly loud in the quiet space.

"What's the situation?"

Tanya anchored herself on a handhold and shrugged. "Joran and Quinn are tearing the gunships down to the screws. Kara's in a good mood, which is always terrifying. Pirates are a profitable kind of headache."

Akiko took a bite. It tasted like dry protein and recycled air.

"You've got time to float here and sleep off that reckless nonsense you pulled," Tanya added, voice dry.

Akiko managed a half-laugh. "Was it that obvious?"

"It's always obvious with you," Tanya said, smirking. "Raya's about ready to tether you to the wall."

"She's not wrong," Akiko admitted. "But it's not like I had a choice out there."

"No one's saying you didn't save our asses," Tanya replied, softer now. "You did. Just… maybe don't kill yourself doing it next time, yeah?"

Akiko nodded slightly, chewing slowly. But her thoughts were already reaching ahead.

She'd won. Barely. If she was going to keep surviving, to keep them all alive, she needed more than grit and instinct.

Tanya gave her a light clap on the shoulder and pushed off, drifting toward the door. "Rest up. We'll call you when it's your turn to dig through the wreckage."

Akiko watched her go, the gentle rhythm of Tanya's movements oddly hypnotic. Fluid, sure, like she belonged in vacuum. Akiko looked away, lips quirking faintly.

Not the time, little fox.

She took another bite. Let the silence settle back in. For now, she'd rest.

Akiko closed her eyes, letting the hum of the Driftknight's systems recede into background noise. She drew inward until the familiar warmth of her mana core reached her, pulsing steady like a heartbeat in the dark.

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Her inner space formed around her.

A nebulous void, quiet and vast, lit only by the blue-white glow at its center.

Then, a soft rustle. A shimmer of light.

The fox appeared. White-furred. Eyes sharp with intelligence that belied its elegant form.

"Problem?" it asked, voice as clipped and efficient as ever.

Akiko crossed her arms, tail flicking. She stared at the core. "Yeah, I've got a problem. That fight? I got lucky. My foxfire's great up close, but in space? I've got nothing for mid-range. If I keep charging in like that... I'm not going to walk away next time."

The fox tilted its head. "Acknowledged. Combat limitations noted. Potential solutions exist within accessible parameters. Query: would you like to simulate options?"

Akiko raised a brow. "Perfect, that sounds great."

"Clarification: Mana core linkage enables conceptual prototyping. Physical implementation remains external."

She straightened, curiosity sparked. "Alright. Let's start simple. Remember that mining laser from the entity's station? It was a beast with stolen mana, but now? Paperweight. Any way to bring it back?"

The fox sat back. The void around them rippled.

A schematic materialized. It was bulky, crude, but powerful. Runes flickered along its casing. A half-forgotten weapon, resurrected as blueprint.

"Primary issue: energy requirements exceed current mana capacity. Proposal: hybridize power source. Integrate conventional energy with mana amplification."

The schematic adjusted. New components locked into place. A compact energy cell anchored to the base, linked to a mana intake. A sleeker barrel. A more deliberate design.

Akiko leaned in. "So... energy cell for baseline, mana for burst output?"

"Correct. Limitations include energy capacity and thermal bleed. Sustained usage inadvisable."

She ran a hand through her bangs. "Okay, but what about size? It's still too bulky. I need something I can move with."

The fox circled the schematic.

It shrank. Slimmer housing. Rebalanced weight. A shoulder harness rotated into view, modular and clean.

"Portability optimized. Compatible with current physical and magical constraints. Final fabrication requires external assistance."

Akiko smirked. "Tanya's gonna love this."

The fox's eyes narrowed faintly. "Recommendation: delay implementation. Physical condition is suboptimal for fabrication."

"Yeah, yeah." She waved a hand, already grinning. "I'll rest. After. But when I'm up, we're building this."

The fox didn't reply. It shimmered, then faded, leaving the glowing schematic behind. A lone beacon of promise in the dark.

Akiko stared at it for a long moment.

Even now, barely able to move, the idea buzzed in her chest.

The soft light of her alcove replaced the void. The schematic vanished, but the feeling of it remained in her thoughts, bright and vital.

The dim lighting cradled her. The steady hum of the ship dulled her edge.

Some time later, she stirred, dreamless sleep giving way to wakeful bleariness. Her eyes blinked open to the dim light of the alcove. Every muscle protested, but in microgravity, the aches were distant. Dull reminders of yesterday's burn.

She exhaled, then pushed herself free, using handholds to guide her into the corridor. Her tail flicked lazily behind her as she drifted forward, the memory of the schematic bright in her mind.

The hum of voices pulled her toward the workshop.

As she floated in, she found Tanya and Lila clustered near a workbench, surrounded by salvaged wreckage. Tanya was inspecting a scorched control panel, its wires splayed like charred veins. Lila had a box of fractured circuitry, muttering under her breath.

"Too damaged... barely usable... oh, this one might—"

She broke off as Akiko entered. Both women looked up.

Tanya didn't miss a beat. "You're supposed to be resting," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Please don't tell me you're here to make my life harder."

Akiko waved off the concern, her excitement too sharp to mask. "Resting's overrated. And I've got something worth breaking the rules for."

She kicked off a nearby wall, gliding to anchor beside Tanya. "What if we could make the mining laser usable?"

Tanya blinked. "The one from the entity's station? That mana-guzzling nightmare? Usable how?"

Akiko grinned, aches forgotten. "Hybrid tech. We use a conventional power cell for base output, but route my mana through a focus array to amplify it, just for burst shots. A fusion of old-world industrial and my flavor of ridiculous."

Lila looked up, curiosity sparking. "That's ambitious. You'd need serious control. Not just to fire it, but to keep it from blowing your arm off. And do you even have the mana reserves for that?"

"Not yet," Akiko admitted, ears flicking. "But that's the point. This would push my range further than foxfire claws ever could. And if we can iterate on the design... this could be something real."

Tanya crossed her arms, still holding the singed panel. "I'm already duct-taping the Driftknight back together and neck-deep in trash from that wreck. Now you want to Frankenstein a mining tool into a magic cannon?"

Akiko's grin faded, just a notch.

"I know it's a big ask. But yesterday showed me how close it was. If I hadn't been able to hit that missile... if I'd run dry just a few seconds sooner..." She met Tanya's eyes. "I'm not asking for a vanity project. I'm asking because I don't want you or anyone else counting on me and getting nothing when it matters."

Tanya stared at her for a long moment. Then glanced at Lila.

Lila shrugged and turned back to her parts bin. "If nothing else, it'll be fun to watch explode."

Tanya sighed. She dropped the panel, leaving it to drift in mid-air, and jabbed a finger at Akiko. "Fine. But you're helping. And when it explodes, and it will explode, I'm blaming you."

Akiko's grin returned, bright and fierce. "Deal."

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