Akiko moved through the Driftknight's corridors with purpose, gloved fingers brushing handrails, boots tapping faintly against the rungs whenever she steadied herself on the footholds. The quiet hum of the ship followed her like a pulse.

She rounded the corner and found it. Her mining laser, tethered in its cradle like a dormant beast.

She paused. Just for a second. Then she stepped forward, slipped her arm into the familiar slot.

The rig came alive. With a low mechanical whirr, the exomuscular supports unfolded, clamping over her shoulders, locking snug across her back. The weight settled into place. Heavier than she remembered. Or maybe it just felt that way now.

She flexed experimentally. The frame responded, stabilizers adjusting to her balance. Movement synced with thought. Clumsy elegance wrapped in salvaged death.

"You really think you'll need that thing?"

Tanya's voice broke the stillness. She leaned in the doorway, arms crossed, one brow lifted.

"I mean, sure," she added, "it'd do some damage to a Haven ship. Better them than us. But that thing isn't subtle. You sure it won't cause more problems than it solves?"

Akiko didn't quip. Not this time.

"If I need it," she said quietly, "you'll be glad I have it."

Her voice was steady. Too steady.

Inside, her thoughts churned.

This wasn't any different than slipping out ahead of the party to bloody the town guard's noses. Break a shield, spill a little blood. Just enough to distract them while everyone else slipped away.

No deaths. Nothing permanent. They'd grumble about it, watch the roads for a few weeks, then forget. That was how it worked.

Wasn't it?

Tanya watched her for a moment longer, then exhaled. "Just don't blow up the Driftknight, yeah? Kara'll make me clean it up."

Akiko offered a ghost of a smile. "I'll bring it back in one piece."

"The ship or the cannon?"

"Both."

She stepped past Tanya, heading into the corridor. Each step felt heavier. Not just from the rig, but from everything it meant. The laser was more than a weapon now. It was a decision. A line drawn.

She passed familiar bulkheads, worn handholds, patches in the floor plating she remembered helping seal.

Each one a breadcrumb, a reminder.

Of every sidestep. Every escalation. Every warning ignored. Every burned bridge.

She was the one who walked away. And now, she was the one coming back. Armed. Armored.

No pressure.

The corridor narrowed near the junction. The hum of the Driftknight's systems deepened, vibrating up through her boots as the airlock loomed ahead.

She stepped into the airlock, the Driftknight's systems humming faintly through her boots.

The sapphire gem in her suit pulsed in time with her heartbeat, each flash a countdown.

The airlock opened. Silence swallowed her.

She launched into the void with a flick of foxfire, ethereal flame propelling her between the stars.

The Driftknight fell away behind her, just another shadow in the belt. Ahead, the Haven gunship waited. Hulking, angular, weapon ports glowing faint red.

Her HUD lit up as its targeting systems locked on.

"Hostile systems tracking your approach," Takuto whispered in her ear. "Probability of evasion: 64 percent."

"I'll take it," she muttered.

A railgun fired. The shot split the dark. White-hot, whisper-quick.

Akiko twisted, tail flaring for balance. The round missed, vanishing into the void. Another followed, closer. It struck a nearby asteroid, vaporizing it into a glittering spray of rock and dust.

She rode the chaos.

Foxfire bursts flared from her heels as she darted between drifting fragments, breath shallow, hands steady. The HUD flickered red as the gunship adjusted. Turrets recalibrated. Lock tightening.

"Recommend immediate course correction."

She didn't answer. Already moving.

A railgun round grazed an asteroid beside her. It shattered, molten debris spinning past her. Her ears rang in the silence.

The missile lock came next. Red icon. Hard tone.

Akiko didn't hesitate. She kicked off a jagged boulder and dove toward denser cover, flame arcing behind her. The missile followed, a cold eye on her back.

She led it into the wreckage. Sharp turns. Narrow gaps. Her suit screamed warnings as she threaded the needle again and again. The missile chased, then clipped a rock and detonated in a pulse of light and heat.

The shockwave hit her like a slap. She curled midair, shielding her face as debris clattered harmlessly off her armor.

Too close.

Her HUD pinged again. Another gunship, sleek and fast, slipping into the field to flank her.

"You are being boxed in," Takuto said.

"Thanks," Akiko hissed. "I noticed."

She tucked behind a spinning asteroid, pulse thudding in her ears. Her eyes flicked to the mining laser. Charge: 87%. Almost there.

Not ready yet.

She pushed off the rock, slipping into the open again, tail flicking to counterbalance the weight of her rig. Her path bent toward the second gunship. It hadn't fired yet.

Then the first did.

A railgun round slammed into her side before she saw it coming. Everything spun.

She tumbled through space, the force of impact rolling her end over end. The dragonscale armor held, absorbing the blow, dispersing the kinetic punch, but her body reeled.

Her HUD went blurry with alerts.

"Integrity stable. Velocity increasing. Orient manually."

She growled under her breath, fighting the momentum. Tail wide. Arms out. Foxfire sputtering against her spin.

Stars and rock blurred. Her breath rasped in her ears.

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Then... stability. She corrected her rotation, limbs stiff but responsive, the mining laser still intact. Her systems recalibrated. HUD cleared.

Still alive. But the gunships were circling, and the Driftknight was running out of time.

She turned toward them, the laser's energy building behind her shoulder. Not yet. But soon.

Akiko hovered behind a slivered chunk of rock, her breath coming fast. The gunships still stalked the field like wolves circling firelight, each burst of railgun fire herding her deeper into the wreckage.

Pain laced through her side where the earlier hit had cracked something. Bone or not, she couldn't tell. She grinned anyway, sharp-edged and breathless.

"Nice shot," she muttered. "But it's my turn."

The mining laser vibrated against her arm, hum climbing toward a shrill peak. The exomuscular rig locked into position, bracing her for recoil. She squinted at the second gunship's silhouette, HUD parsing heat trails and structural vents.

There. A faint bloom of thermal energy where the propulsion systems dumped excess heat. If she hit it just right…

She pushed off the rock, a flicker of foxfire propelling her forward. The gunship adjusted immediately, missile pods unfurling like teeth. Dozens of red icons swarmed her HUD as tracking systems locked on.

Missiles launched. Fast, brutal, burning bright.

Akiko dove into the debris field, weaving between broken hulls and spinning rock. The missiles followed, relentless. She led them into a cluster of shattered frigate plating.

The explosions came in waves, white blossoms in the dark. Flames and shrapnel washed over her path, scattering the gunship's sensors. It twitched, repositioning. She took the gap, dipping beneath its hull. Her aim steadied. Her breath held.

The laser fired. A beam of searing heat carved through the gunship's underbelly, striking the heat vent dead-on.

Metal screamed as it buckled. An internal explosion rippled outward. Muted, but precise. The vessel lurched sideways, propulsion flickering.

"Secondary thrusters disabled," Takuto confirmed. "Target is mobile but no longer maneuverable."

Akiko let out a breath, half-laugh, half-growl. The first gunship was already reacting, its turrets angling to cover its crippled partner. Railguns snapped off warning shots, forcing her to retreat behind another asteroid.

But the space around her was getting smaller.

"Multiple new contacts," Takuto said. "Frigates entering range."

Akiko's eyes darted to her HUD as two new silhouettes cut through the clutter. Haven frigates—sleek, brutal, and already warming weapons. Their salvos hadn't reached her yet, but it was only a matter of time.

Kara's voice broke through the comms, taut with urgency.

"Akiko, the frigates are on us. We can't risk staying here. If you're going to finish this, do it fast."

She gritted her teeth, eyes flicking from the active gunship to the frigates. The Driftknight was barely a glimmer on the edge of the field now—slipping into cover. She could picture Kara watching the tactical display, waiting for the perfect moment to trigger the fusion drive's mana burst.

But the window was closing.

Akiko's grip tightened around the mining laser's housing, her smile returning, sharper this time. "Fast is what I do best."

She darted forward, threading the wreckage, her silhouette weaving through bursts of fire. The second gunship realigned, trying to block her line to the frigates. It was slow. Wounded. But not out.

Her mana necklace pulsed low against her chest, sapphire glow flickering.

"Mana reserves at 42%," Takuto warned. "Recommended action: disengage."

She didn't respond. Every foxfire pulse she spent now had to matter.

The gunship's turrets spun, predicting her vector through a narrow corridor. Railguns fired, hot slashes of death through vacuum.

She twisted sideways, skimming the edge of a broken solar array.

Warning tones shrieked in her ear.

Missile lock.

She banked hard.

The missile closed in fast. Too fast.

She flared upward and fired. The mining laser tore through the missile midair. The resulting detonation lit the void, a shockwave slamming into her. Akiko spun out, caught herself on a tumbling rock, the armor singing with heat as she stabilized.

"Structural integrity stable," Takuto said. "Energy drain increasing."

The second gunship slid into her view again.

She could see the intent in its movement. Blocking her, cutting off her return to the Driftknight.

The frigates opened fire. Railgun rounds screamed past her, tearing the debris field apart.

No more time.

She stared down the gunship's throat, then charged her weapon again.

The mining laser's hum climbed, devouring mana like fire eats air.

A sudden volley of missiles erupted from the gunship. Dozens of gleaming trails, weaving through the dark in a tightening grid. Akiko's tail lashed behind her as she surged forward, foxfire bursting in rapid pulses. Every dodge narrowed her path, every breath sharper than the last.

She spotted it. A tight cluster of wreckage spinning just ahead.

One shot.

With a flick of her limbs, she twisted toward the opening. The missiles chased her like gnashing teeth. Just before the gap, she unleashed a wide foxfire burst, hurling herself through the cluster.

The explosion came a second later. It shattered the debris behind her, fragments raining down on the gunship.

Akiko didn't hesitate. While the ship's targeting recalibrated, she lined up the mining laser and fired. The beam cut through the void and lanced the starboard thruster. Heat vent ruptured. Sparks cascaded across the hull. The gunship lurched.

"Target propulsion compromised. Maneuverability reduced."

Takuto's voice was calm. Too calm.

Akiko's own breath caught. But the moment didn't last.

Her HUD lit red.

The frigates had arrived.

Massive. Imposing. Their range filled the screen like a curtain of knives.

"Frigates in firing range," Takuto warned. "Recommend immediate retreat."

Akiko's eyes darted toward the Driftknight, now threading into the safety of the far field. Kara's voice crackled over comms, steady but clipped.

"We're through. Activating drive enhancements in five minutes. You need to get out of there. Now."

Akiko swallowed hard.

Her mana was running low. Her body ached. Her vision danced at the edges.

The frigates had speed. Firepower. Overlapping zones of death.

She had… foxfire. And something dangerously close to an idea.

She closed her eyes.

Let the battlefield fall away. In her inner space, time slipped loose from its leash. The chaos dulled into a low static. Her thoughts slowed, circling like a slow tide. At the center of the void, her mana core pulsed with fading light. Dim but alive. Spiraling threads flickered around it, moving in worn patterns, exhausted echoes.

And at the edge of it all, Takuto manifested. A small white fox, seated neatly, its eyes reflecting an icy light.

"You are out of time," he said. The voice was clinical.

Akiko crouched beside him, brushing her fingers across his head. The fur felt real. Warm. Comforting, even now.

She nodded faintly. "I know."

Takuto tilted his head. "There is an asset you have not yet fully leveraged."

Akiko's gaze shifted toward the outer edge of her inner space. Toward the containment ring. Her sandbox. The instincts writhed there, held behind dense interlocks of her and Takuto's design. The echo of the dragonling. Its hunger for mass, its strange understanding of force. She'd studied it. Used it. Kept it quarantined, like a venom too useful to destroy.

Now… she'd have to let it bleed through.

She reached toward the containment node. Already she could feel the pressure building behind the gates. Not the instincts themselves, but the shape of them. Their weight. The way her mind started to stretch around the idea of more. More density. More pull. More her.

"They didn't hesitate," she whispered. "They didn't second-guess. They just moved."

She shivered. She'd come too far to stop.

"Sometimes," she said, voice quiet but firm, "you don't need to win the fight."

She stood, brushing the ghost-ash from her palms.

"Sometimes you just need to outrun the war."

The fox didn't move. His voice came one last time, softer than before.

"…Acknowledged."

Kaede's voice surfaced in her mind, distant and sharp. "You're reckless, Akiko. One day, it's going to catch up with you."

A thin, crooked smile touched Akiko's lips. "Reckless," she murmured. "Just like always."

The System pulsed around her like a lung holding its breath. With a thought, the familiar outlines of her diagnostic interfaces came into being before her, drifting to attention at her silent command.

This was where she was safest. And where she would come undone.

Her eyes flicked through the first panel, her neural pattern mapped in soft filaments of light, the digital fingerprint of who she was. Familiar. Cohesive. But so very fragile.

The next overlay shimmered into being beside it: the dragonling's instincts, black-boxed and seething. A shape of mind that didn't belong to anything human.

She had kept it locked down for days. Sensory augments only. Threads of gravitational perception accessed at arm's length, sanitized through Takuto's filters. Even that was a strain, as it pressed against the boundary of her control. But that wouldn't be enough now.

She breathed out.

"No turning back," she murmured.

Takuto didn't respond. He never did when she needed to talk herself through something.

She reached out. A new panel unfolded. A lattice of encoded instructions, memories tagged as critical: Kaede's voice. Tanya's sarcasm. Anna's laughter. Raya's warmth. Her own reflection, fractured, fighting, refusing to disappear. These weren't just protections.

They were definitions. Guardrails.

She began weaving. Her fingers flicked through light-scripts, laying down conditional triggers, system overrides, fallback routines keyed to identity anchors. She nested her sense of self into neural gates. Each one wrapped in emotion, in memory, in meaning.

The first bleed-through hit like vertigo.

Her balance swayed. The dragonling's neural strata pushed against her thoughts, slithering through the cracks in her cognitive space. It was weight. Direction. Purpose. A predator's clarity. It didn't want thought. It wanted mass.

"Redirect it," she whispered. "Bend it. Don't break."

She felt the cold fire rising. Up her spine, through her skull. Her hands trembled. The interfaces blurred. The safeguards she was writing slowed. She couldn't focus. Couldn't remember why some of the conditions mattered.

Takuto stepped forward. "You are losing coherence."

She knew.

"I need you to finish it."

"Parameters incomplete."

"I know."

The fox hesitated. Then, gently, "Specify your intent."

Her breath hitched. "Keep me me."

The core pulsed once, and warped. Blue-white foxfire collapsed inward, pulled by something denser than magic. Her mana core reshaped itself. Folding. Condensing. Light vanished into it. The diagnostic panels began to fail. Error codes flickered and faded, until there was just silence. A void that consumed definition.

"I—" she tried.

And then she was falling.

The light snapped. Her inner space fractured into a singularity.

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