Luca stared at the three upgrade options on the display. Twenty-four hours awake. Twenty-four hours of clearing portals, exploring the facility, watching their ship crumple under its own weight, and now choosing what to rebuild her into.
The Research Frigate glowed on the left screen, the Exploration Frigate in the center, and the Combat Frigate on the right.
His crew stood around him, exhausted and filthy and waiting for him to make the call.
And it all comes down to this.
"Exploration Frigate," Luca said.
Around him, his crew waited. He could see the question in their eyes after twenty-four hours without sleep.
"The Research Frigate is built to hold position," he continued, pulling up the specifications. "Orbit a planet, deploy research teams, run studies, move on. A floating lab. Great for what we've been doing, but it's meant to be stationary. The Combat Frigate?" He nodded at the display. "Everything we'd need to fight. Maneuverability, armor, offensive weaponry. Built to hold space and defend it."
He tapped the Exploration Frigate option, watching the details expand across the screen. "But this one? This is a scout. Point defense weapons, good shielding, extended range, better sensors. More modular. It's not meant to hold a position or slug it out in a fight. It's meant to slip past trouble and keep moving."
The words settled over the room, and Luca felt the weight of the decision even as certainty filled his chest. "We didn't come all this way just to sit still. Alpha Centauri was our first stop, not our last. Sirius, Epsilon Eridani, Barnard's Star... the whole damn galaxy is out there. We're explorers, not researchers or soldiers."
Danny shifted in his wheelchair, Pixel curled in his lap with her markings pulsing a tired blue. "You sure? The Research Frigate has better lab capacity. More research teams, better equipment to study anomalies. We could push the frontier faster, understand what's out there better."
"I'm sure." Luca met Danny's eyes. "We're almost done with the Alpha Centauri charter anyway. Just need to finish scanning the asteroid belt. After that?" He gestured at the display. "We're going to need range and versatility more than lab space."
"Hell yes," Zoe said, grinning.
Chris leaned against the console, arms folded. "Fourteen days. That's two weeks stuck here while she's being built."
"Two weeks to finish the survey work and take those shuttles for a ride," Zoe added.
Joey nodded slowly, studying the defensive specifications. "The Combat Frigate would be tougher in a fight, but this still has shield generator housing and weapon hardpoints. We're not defenseless."
"And the Pulse Engine prototype," Ryan added, his engineer's brain already running the numbers. "Combined with the Reactionless Drive, we're looking at real speed. The kind of range that lets us go anywhere."
Luca looked around at his crew, at the hope burning in their eyes despite everything they'd been through.
"Everyone agreed?" he asked.
"Do it," Danny said.
"Absolutely," Emily said.
Luca selected the Exploration Frigate.
[UPGRADE PATHWAY SELECTED: EXPLORATION FRIGATE]
[ANALYZING VESSEL CONFIGURATION...]
[INTERIOR AVAILABLE FOR CUSTOMIZATION]
The display shifted. New menus appeared, cascading across the screens in holographic layers. Interior layouts. Crew quarters. Lab configurations. Engineering stations. Weapon placements. Navigation systems.
Then came the schematics: disks and disks of them collected over three and a half months, all ready to be integrated into the ship's rebuild.
"I want a say in this," Emily said immediately. "If we're rebuilding the Triumph from the ground up, I want input on the layout."
"Same," Chris said. "The engineering section needs to be optimized. No more jury-rigged power conduits."
Ryan nodded. "Two decks for engineering, minimum. We need the space."
Luca looked at the displays. At the schematics. At the sheer amount of work that lay ahead of them.
But this was it. This was their dream. A chance to rebuild the Triumph into its next evolution, into something better, something faster, something that could take them anywhere they wanted to go.
"Alright," Luca said. "Chris, Ryan, go grab chairs from the Centurion. Joey, make some coffee."
---
The design process was hell, compounded by their disagreements and overwhelming exhaustion.
Danny fell asleep twice on his wheelchair, head pillowed on his arms while Pixel purred in his lap. Chris had to shake him awake the second time, and Danny jerked upright with a startled "I'm awake!"
Chris and Ryan argued about power distribution for twenty minutes, their voices rising as tempers frayed.
Zoe pulled up the bridge schematics, her eyes going wide. "Holy shit. Look at the size of this bridge."
Luca leaned over her shoulder. The bridge on the Exploration Frigate was massive compared to their current setup. Navigation, tactical, communications, defense stations. Room for a dozen officers.
"We're going to need more crew eventually," Zoe said quietly.
The words hung in the air, heavy with implication. Bringing in strangers meant trusting them with their ship, their home, everything they'd built together.
Danny nodded from his wheelchair. "Karen can help with that. She's got connections with the UER."
"Later," Luca said. "First we get home. Then we recruit."
The coffee ran out around hour three.
Luca leaned back in the commander's seat, Emily curled against his side. The displays glowed in front of them.
"Forty crew cabins," Emily said, scrolling through the deck plans. "Plus the officer deck." She grinned, pulling up the amenities menu. "Can we get a pool?"
"A pool?" Ryan's head snapped up. "On a starship?"
"Small one. For exercise," Emily said, still grinning.
Chris leaned over to look. "If we're dreaming, I want a better gym. And a proper armory instead of just a closet with weapon racks."
"Science labs," Danny countered. "We need proper lab space."
Joey looked up from his medical bay layouts. "Basketball hoop in the hangar?"
Everyone turned to stare at him.
"What? We had one at Sandworth."
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"When we get to Earth," Luca promised, "I'll buy you the damned hoop myself."
The schematics loaded into the system one by one. Advanced Deflector Shield Schematic. Reactionless Drive Prototype. Anti-Collision AI. Advanced Fusion Reactor. Modular Fusion Reactor Core. Ablative Armor. Pulse Engine Prototype. Beam Weapons Prototype.
All the technology they'd scraped together over months of portal runs, feeding into the upgrade system like puzzle pieces fitting together.
"The inertial dampening built into the shield schematic," Danny said, reading the specifications with tired wonder. "If we can get this installed, we could pull high-G maneuvers without stressing the hull. No more redlining the compensators."
Zoe leaned forward, her exhaustion momentarily forgotten. "Wait. The Pulse Engine prototype combined with the Reactionless Drive." She looked up at Ryan. "Can we actually hit FTL speeds inside a star system? Safely?"
Ryan was already running the numbers, his eyes scanning the technical specifications. "The new shields combined with the pulse drive? In-system FTL becomes a standard, safe procedure. We can cross a system in hours instead of days."
The implications settled over the room. No more crawling through star systems at sublight speeds, trying to slingshot through planets for speed.
"Submit it," Luca said.
Ryan's hand hovered over the interface. "You sure? Once we do this, there's no going back."
"I'm sure."
Ryan pressed the button.
[CUSTOM CONFIGURATIONS SUBMITTED]
[ANALYZING SCHEMATICS...]
[INTEGRATING ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY...]
[ADJUSTING DESIGN...]
[ADJUSTING DESIGN...]
[ESTIMATED COMPLETION: 14 DAYS]
[BEGINNING CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCE]
They'd spent hours designing every detail. Now the System would take their input and work its quantum magic, integrating technologies in ways they couldn't fully predict. The final design would be theirs in spirit, refined by forces beyond their understanding.
The displays shifted. Construction protocols activated. Through the viewport, Luca watched the four upgrade mod pieces activate.
Lines of brilliant blue energy shot from one corner piece to the next, connecting like threads of light. The lines rose from the deck, climbing higher, forming walls of shimmering energy. The curtains enclosed all four sides, then curved inward to meet at the top.
Within seconds, the Triumph was sealed behind a massive cube of blue energy, shimmering and opaque.
"It's starting," Emily said, her voice low.
Luca pulled her closer. The crew gathered at the viewport, watching their ship begin its transformation.
The Triumph of Darron sat wrapped in quantum energy, waiting to be reborn.
---
Luca woke to Emily already half on top of him, one smooth thigh wedged high between his, her breasts crushed soft and warm against his ribs. Every slow exhale she let out ghosted across his collarbone and sent a lazy spark straight down his spine.
She shifted in her sleep and the movement dragged her hips over his in a way that was definitely not accidental. A low sound rumbled in his chest before he could stop it.
Emily’s eyes stayed closed, but the corner of her mouth curved, as if she’d heard him anyway. Her fingers flexed against his side, nails scraping lightly, then settled possessively just above the waistband of his shorts.
“Don’t you dare move,” she mumbled, voice husky with sleep, and hooked her leg tighter, pinning him exactly where she wanted him.
Luca’s hands found her hips on pure reflex, thumbs tracing the edge of skin where her shirt had ridden up. “Pretty sure that’s physically impossible right now.”
“Good,” she murmured, and rolled her hips once, slow and deliberate enough that his breath caught hard against the bulkhead. “Stay impossible.”
He was already halfway gone when she finally opened her eyes, green and wicked and entirely aware of what she was doing to him.
The Centurion's coffee maker died halfway through brewing.
"I'm not facing today without caffeine," Emily said, already pulling on her red hoodie.
Luca grinned. "Let's go find some."
They left the others still sleeping in the Centurion, following corridor signs marked CREW AMENITIES. The facility was massive, sprawling in every direction with sections they hadn't even begun to explore.
Luca slid his arm around her waist, his hand settling on the small of her back. Emily pressed into him instantly, the slick fabric doing nothing to hide the heat of her body against his side.
"You know," he murmured against her ear, "this whole 'exploring the facility' thing... is this just an excuse to go make out somewhere?"
Emily tilted her head so her mouth brushed the corner of his jaw when she answered, her green eyes sparkling with mischief. "Maybe."
Her hand slipped around his waist, every step down the empty corridor molded them closer; her hip rolled against his and stayed there.
They passed through a residential area. Luca slowed, thumb stroking the warmth of skin he'd found just above her tailbone. "Two hundred empty rooms," he said. "Any door you want."
Emily's laugh was low and filthy. "Tempting." She rose on her toes, mouth hovering a breath from his, green eyes glittering. Her teeth caught his lower lip, then she pulled him along again, fingers laced tight through his.
They turned another corner, still wrapped around each other, and Luca stopped, reading the sign aloud. "Infirmary."
The doors were sealed, but the panel glowed softly. Emily's playful mood shifted instantly, replaced by professional curiosity. "Let's check it out—" She was already moving toward the door.
Inside, both of them froze.
It was a hospital. Dozens of medical pods lined the walls, all dormant. Surgical suites sat behind transparent walls, instruments gleaming under sterile lighting. And against the far wall stood automated medical supply fabricators and storage units, their displays showing green status indicators.
"Luca, look at this." She pulled up an inventory list. "Thousands of medical cartridges. Fully stocked."
A weight lifted from his shoulders. "So we're not empty anymore."
"Not even close."
"Good," Luca said, pulling her back against him. "Because we're about to spend two weeks delving portals."
"Still looking for coffee," Emily reminded him, but she was grinning.
Two more turns brought them to another lit doorway. "We're definitely in the wrong section for a galley."
Luca looked up at the sign: CARTOGRAPHY & SURVEY. The doors stood open.
They stepped inside.
The room was enormous. Holographic displays lined the walls, showing star charts and planetary data. In the center sat a control station with dozens of screens and interfaces.
And along the far wall, mounted in launch tubes, were rows and rows of probes.
Heavy footsteps echoed from the corridor. Ryan and Chris appeared in the doorway, both drenched in sweat and breathing hard, wearing gym shorts and t-shirts soaked through. They had apparently gone for a morning run.
"Holy shit," Ryan gasped, hands on his knees. "This place goes on forever."
Chris wiped sweat from his face with his shirt. "We've been running for an hour. Found a large open space, likely an indoor park, a pool, and—" He stopped, finally noticing Luca and Emily standing very close together, Emily's hand still tucked in Luca's. "Oh. Were we interrupting something?"
"Coffee run," Luca said flatly.
"Sure," Chris said, grinning. "That's why you're in the cartography section."
"Shut up and look at these." Luca gestured at the probes.
Ryan followed his gesture, and his expression shifted instantly. He moved closer, exhaustion forgotten. "Are those what I think they are?"
Chris stepped forward, reading the labels. "Mineral scanning probes and automated survey equipment. Fifty of them."
"Fifty?" Ryan moved closer, examining the launch tubes. "We could survey the entire asteroid belt in a week."
Emily's hand found Luca's, squeezing once. "This finishes the charter. We deploy these, they do the work automatically while the Triumph's being rebuilt."
"And we spend the next two weeks delving portals," Luca said, grinning.
---
They gathered back at the Centurion an hour later, the entire crew assembled around the small common area. Danny had wheeled himself over, Pixel purring in his lap. Zoe sat cross-legged on the floor. Chris and Ryan were still cooling down from their run, towels draped over their shoulders.
Luca leaned against the galley counter, Emily beside him. Ryan had fixed the coffee machine and had brewed the tarry substance by the time they came back.
"Alright," Luca said. "The probes will finish the charter while the Triumph's being rebuilt. We've got two weeks, a facility full of resources, and enough medical supplies to last us months. We use the shuttles, hit the portals hard, level up, and prepare for the journey home."
Luca reached into his pocket, pulling out two small items wrapped in cloth. "Before we get started, I almost forgot. Picked these up from that weird portal a couple days ago."
He unwrapped the first piece, a delicate anklet with intricate metalwork. He handed it to Zoe. "Figured this one was yours.”
Zoe's eyes went wide. "Luca, this is gorgeous. Where did you—"
"High Society portal," Luca said, grinning. He stood and pulled out the second piece, the pendant on a sparkly, fine chain. "And this one's for you, Em."
Emily took it, turning it over in her hands. The craftsmanship was exquisite, the metal catching the light. "It's beautiful."
"Almost got seduced by an NPC in there," Luca said with a guilty face.
Emily's elbow hit his ribs hard enough to make him grunt. "Almost?"
"But I held strong," Luca said quickly, winking at her. "For you."
"What material is this?" Danny asked, leaning forward in his wheelchair to examine the pendant. "I've never seen metalwork like that."
"No idea," Luca admitted. "Does it matter?"
Emily lifted the pendant closer, and her expression changed. "Wait. There's a face engraved on it." She tilted it toward the light. "It's... incredibly detailed." She looked up at Luca.
Luca felt his stomach drop. She'd given him the jewelry in the vault, pressed the boxes into his hands as a memento. Oh shit. He hadn’t actually looked at the pendant. "Uh. Yeah. That's her."
Danny's eyes went wide. "The System never allows personalized items out of portals. Everything gets stripped down to generic patterns. How is her face still on there?"
"I don't know," Luca said. "I grabbed it and—"
"I love it," Emily said, fastening the chain around her neck. The pendant settled against her collarbone, Nisede's face catching the light. "It's unique. One of a kind."
"You're not weirded out?" Luca asked.
"Should I be?" Emily grinned at him. "You said you held strong for me, right?"
"Absolutely."
"Then it's a trophy." She touched the pendant, her smile widening. "A reminder that you came back to me."
Zoe laughed, admiring her own anklet. "I think we need to hear this NPC story."
"Later," Luca said, grateful for the save. "Right now, we've got work to do."
They'd broken their ship. Watched her crumple under gravity. Thought they were finished.
Yet, even crushed and folded in on herself, the System still recognized her. Still believed she could evolve.
"Let's make these two weeks count," he said.
