Luca rolled sideways. The droid bore down on Zoe, optics flashing red.
She pivoted, plasma dagger in hand, and drove the blade into its leg joint. The droid faltered, movement stuttering.
Luca surged forward, tomahawk swinging down hard. Metal sheared through with a spray of sparks. The droid crashed to one knee, servos whining.
"Nice work, Rossi!" Zoe called, firing at its chest.
The droid raised one massive arm, charging a blast aimed at Luca.
He threw himself sideways. The plasma shot blazed past, grazing his armor. Heat flared along his side.
"Finish it off!" he shouted, firing at the droid's sensors.
Zoe lunged forward, plasma dagger slicing through weakened armor. The blade pierced deep. The droid gave a final whirr, then collapsed, systems going dark.
[Mission Completed!]
Neutralize the rogue security droids and secure the HyperMart orbital station.
[Mission Reward Triggered]
Modification Available: Select one: Weapon Mod / Armor Mod / Tool Mod
[+8,100,000 unallocated XP]
[+2,805,000 credits]
[Level up! Level 74, +5 attribute points]
[+2 Perception]
[+1 Memory]
Luca allocated the attributes: Perception hit 106. Memory climbed to 73.
Eighteen hours. They'd been fighting through this orbital mall for eighteen straight hours, clearing droids level by level, protecting Varnathi civilians trapped during the AI uprising.
His armor was scorched. His muscles ached. But they'd won.
"Everyone still breathing?" Luca asked over comms.
"Barely," Ryan said. "But we're good."
Emily's voice came through, tired but steady. "Winded. Exhausted. But the civilians made it out safe."
"Then we're golden," Chris said.
They regrouped in the High-Fashion Deck, stepping over dark pools of blood and sidestepping fallen droids. The store lights flickered, illuminating the carnage in strange, ghostly flashes.
They had endured five major portals and countless skirmishes in just fourteen days.
"Shoplifting spree?" Ryan suggested, gesturing at the intact boutiques.
Emily laughed weakly. "I'll take anything you grab for me."
"Weapons depot," Chris called from two levels down. "You're gonna want to see this."
The armory was pristine. High-end gear lined the walls, untouched by the chaos outside.
[Item acquired: Nanoweave Concealed Body Armor - TL9]
[Item acquired: Plasma Pistol - TL9]
Danny wheeled forward, examining a heavily armored case behind reinforced glass. "That's military-grade encryption."
Luca pulled out his hacking pad. "Let's find out."
Zoe moved to a secondary terminal, already pulling up her own tools. "Dual approach. I'll handle the physical locks while you crack the digital."
"Works for me." Luca activated [Neural Sync Uplink], feeling the familiar rush as his neural interface overclocked. The commercial-grade encryption peeled away in seconds, exposing deeper military protocols underneath.
Zoe worked the mechanical bypass, her plasma dagger scoring cuts along the case's edge. "Almost there. Give me thirty seconds."
Luca dove into the military encryption with [Deep Crack Injection], the ability revealing vulnerabilities hidden in the code structure. Layer by layer, the lockouts fell away.
After twenty minutes of focused work, sweat dripped down Luca's back despite the climate control, but Zoe's hands never wavered.
"Got it," they said simultaneously.
The case opened with a hiss.
[Item Acquired: Grav-Compression Stasis Case - TL9 (Prototype)]
Uses early gravitics to reduce internal volume via micro-gravity wells. Objects effectively shrink/compress via metamaterial manipulation. Overheats if left open too long. Light, sealed, resembles an armored briefcase. Requires C-Type batteries.
Ryan's eyes went wide. "Do you know what this is worth?"
"More than we can afford to lose," Luca said.
"Let's stuff it!" Emily said, grinning.
They spread out through the weapons depot with renewed energy. The Stasis Case swallowed item after item: concealed blades, compact plasma pistols, and other gear designed for a society that blended elegance with lethality.
Civilized weapons for a civilized society. The kind of gear you could wear to a diplomatic function without raising eyebrows.
By the time they finished, the case hummed with compressed mass, its gravitics working overtime.
"We're set," Luca said, securing the case. "Let's move."
---
The shuttle ride back to the asteroid facility was quiet.
Zoe piloted, hands steady on the controls despite exhaustion. Behind her in the cargo bay, the crew sprawled across the deck. Pixel dozed in Danny's lap, the nyxocatus now the size of a large dog, her bioluminescent markings pulsing a contented blue.
"You think it's done?" Emily asked, her head resting on Luca's shoulder.
"System said fourteen days." Luca checked his interface. "We're on day fourteen."
"Perfect timing," Emily murmured.
Chris grinned from across the bay. "We actually made it back on schedule. That's a first."
The asteroid facility appeared on their scopes, massive and sprawling. The structure stretched kilometers in every direction, docking bays large enough to swallow battleships.
Zoe guided them through the approach pattern, threading past gantries and support structures, finally docking in the same bay they'd left from two weeks ago.
The moment the airlock cycled, they were moving.
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Exhaustion forgotten, the crew rushed through the facility corridors toward the maintenance bay. Emily limped slightly on her twisted ankle. Luca swept her up without asking.
"I can walk," she said, but her arms wrapped around his neck anyway.
"Not on a twisted ankle," Luca replied.
They reached the maintenance bay doors.
The doors slid open.
Luca stopped.
The Triumph of Darron waited for them.
Where their four-deck explorer had once sat, now a massive frigate filled the entire bay. The hull gleamed silver and sleek, polished metal that seemed to absorb light. She stretched at least five hundred meters, maybe more, dominating the vast hangar.
Joey's jaw went slack. "That's... that's not our ship."
"That's definitely our ship," Ryan said. "It evolved."
Chris took a step forward, then another. "She's as big as those Varnathi landing craft we saw at the colony."
"Bigger," Ryan said quietly.
The propulsion systems at the stern were massive but strangely elegant. The Reactionless Drive housings showed no visible exhaust ports, promising clean, efficient thrust with no flame trails.
Luca set Emily down gently. They approached together, none of them speaking.
The ship sat on massive landing struts. It had landing struts.
Holy shit. We can land on planets now.
The realization hit Luca hard. No more staying in orbit. No more relying on shuttles for planetary access. They could take the Triumph herself down to a surface, walk right out onto alien soil.
We can land on Earth.
For a moment, he imagined setting her down on the old Sandworth town common, letting the neighbors gawk at the impossible ship his kids had built.
Ramps extended from the hull at ground level, wide and sturdy. They could walk right out onto a planet's surface.
"She's beautiful," Luca said.
From the outside, he could see sensor arrays bristling along the hull, ablative armor plating in smooth, overlapping sections, observation windows dotting multiple levels. The sheer scale was staggering.
"How many decks do you think that is?" Joey asked quietly.
"Guess we'll learn as we go," Luca said.
They climbed the ramp together.
---
The interior felt cool and crisp. A directory panel near the entrance glowed with an eight-deck layout that made their old four-deck explorer feel like a shuttle.
"Eight decks," Zoe breathed. "We went from four to eight, and a whole lot longer."
They didn't walk; they explored, a chaotic rush from one discovery to the next. Ryan and Chris stared, dumbfounded, at an engineering bay that dwarfed their old one. The bridge was a two-level command center straight out of a military recruitment vid. With every new deck, the scale of what they'd built became more staggering.
---
The crew quarters sprawled across three full decks. Forty cabins with actual doors and private bathrooms. Communal galleys. Small gyms. Common lounges.
Emily opened one cabin door and made a delighted sound. "Actual floor space. A real bathroom. We had closets with bunks before."
They found the main crew lounge at the prow of Deck Three: a double-height space connected by an elegant staircase, floor-to-ceiling windows revealing the asteroid field beyond. Empty now, but with room for dozens.
Emily spun slowly, taking it in. "This is where we'll build community. Movie nights, celebrations, crew gatherings." She looked at Luca, her expression bright. "This is where we turn strangers into a team."
But seeing Emily's excitement, he couldn't bring himself to worry about the cost.
---
The Officer's Deck was a different world.
Twelve suites lined the corridor, each with a sitting room, bedroom, and private bathroom. Zoe opened one door and let out a low breath. "This is bigger than my entire apartment on Genesis Platform."
Emily ducked into the suite across the hall, then reappeared with a sly grin. "This one. Best view of the stars."
Luca felt his face heat. "We haven't exactly—"
"I'm claiming it," Emily said, pulling him inside.
---
Engineering sprawled across two full decks: twin fusion reactors for redundancy, the sleek Reactionless Drive, and empty hardpoints waiting for future upgrades. Ryan pulled up schematics, his eyes widening at the readouts.
"Practically unlimited range," he said. "We could travel for years without refueling."
"This isn't a two-person operation anymore," Chris added, studying the drive assembly. "We'll need a proper engineering team for daily maintenance."
---
The hangar was equally massive. Two cavernous decks of rails, clamps, and storage bays. The sheer volume of the space hit him. This wasn't for storing a single shuttle; it was for a fleet. Dropships for planetary landings, exploration rovers, mobile bases to support a crew of over a hundred. The logistics made his head spin.
"Holy shit," Zoe's voice echoed from a nearby corridor. "Forget the hangar, you guys need to see the armory!"
Science and Medical occupied two full decks. Joey stopped in the infirmary doorway, and Luca heard the catch in his breath.
A full medbay with surgical suites and a quarantine wing, and across the hall, clean labs with negative-pressure containment rooms.
But in the center of the main bay, gleaming and reconstructed, sat their medical pod. The one that had been destroyed when the Triumph caved in on itself.
Except the System had transformed it.
[Medical Pod - TL9 (Upgraded)]
Advanced life support and healing capabilities. Handles critical injuries, toxins, and radiation exposure. Automated surgical protocols included.
"It kept it," Joey said, his voice tight. He moved forward, fingers brushing the smooth surface. "The System upgraded our pod to TL9. This is military-grade hardware."
"Can it still heal us?" Emily asked.
Joey pulled up the diagnostic interface. "Better than before. This could bring someone back from catastrophic trauma. Maybe even clinical death, if we're fast enough."
Across the corridor, the science labs opened into pristine research space. Isolation rooms with negative pressure seals. Clean labs. Analysis bays.
Danny wheeled between the empty benches, Pixel padding beside him. "Actual quarantine capability. We could have contained that fungal infection in minutes with these protocols." He looked up at Luca. "I'll need specialists. Real scientists, not me fumbling through research on the fly."
Joey turned slowly, taking in the scale of both departments. "Same here. I can't run a hundred-person medbay alone. We'll need medics, trauma specialists, maybe even a surgeon."
"Karen knows people," Luca said. "We'll build the team we need."
He looked at Joey, then at Danny, their faces lit with purpose. Expanding the crew wasn't a burden; it was the only way forward.
After they got home.
---
The Command Deck stole Luca's breath.
Two levels of stadium seating, sixteen operational stations arranged in a semicircle below the captain's chair. Navigation, tactical, communications, sensors, science, engineering. Dedicated positions for functions they used to jury-rig from a single console.
"This isn't a bridge," Zoe said quietly. "This is a command center."
"Exploration frigate," Luca corrected, but his heart was pounding.
Branching off from the main bridge: an Officer Conference Room with actual chairs around an actual table. A Tactical Room with holographic projection systems. A Communications Room with deep-space arrays and an FTL comm suite they couldn't even use yet.
"Wait." Chris stopped at one console, reading the specifications. "Is this an FTL comm suite?"
Ryan peered over his shoulder. "Nobody else has FTL communications. We can't even use it."
"Not yet," Chris said, his grin widening. "But when the rest of humanity catches up? We'll be ready. Until then, it's the best damned sublight comm system in Alpha Centauri."
---
At the stern, massive doors slid open to reveal something that made Luca stop in his tracks.
The pool.
A regulation-sized swimming pool, empty now, stretched the length of the compartment. Observation windows lined the walls, revealing the asteroid field beyond. At the far end, a spa area with a sauna, and a hot tub.
Emily's delighted gasp told him everything he needed to know.
Luca pressed his hand to his face. "Please tell me we didn't actually put a pool on the ship."
"You were exhausted," Emily said, grinning. "I may have suggested it. You may have been too tired to argue."
"We designed this at three in the morning," Ryan said, laughing. "On twenty-four hours without sleep. What did we expect?"
Zoe was already pacing the pool's edge. "Lap swimming. Water resistance training. This is brilliant for fitness."
"And relaxation," Emily added. "Hot tubs after portal runs. Sauna sessions. This is crew morale in physical form."
He looked at the empty pool, imagining it filled, the stars beyond the windows, his crew actually decompressing instead of collapsing in their bunks. Maybe his exhausted three-in-the-morning brain had been onto something.
For the first time since Alpha Centauri, Luca felt something unexpected: permanence.
"We did it," Emily said, turning to face him, her expression bright. "We actually built our dream ship."
"Yeah," Luca said, pulling her close. "We did."
---
They spent one final night in the Centurion, too tired to explore their new quarters. Tomorrow they'd transfer their gear. Tomorrow they'd start the journey home.
Morning came fast.
Luca stood in the maintenance bay, watching as the crew loaded the last of their supplies into the Triumph. The Centurion rolled up the ramp under its own power, fitting snugly in the hangar. The three facility shuttles would stay behind, stored and waiting.
Ryan sealed the final cargo container. "That's everything."
"Then let's take her for a trial flight," Luca said, grinning.
They boarded the Triumph together, climbing the ramp for the first time as her true crew.
The ship hummed around them, systems coming online. Power flowing through new conduits. Shields charging. Engines warming up.
Luca settled into the captain's chair on the Command Deck. It fit perfectly, the interface responding to his touch.
Emily took the Chief of Staff station beside him. Danny wheeled into the Science station, Pixel curled in his lap. Zoe claimed Navigation. Ryan and Chris manned Engineering and Tactical. Joey stood ready at Medical.
"All stations report," Luca said.
"Engineering green," Ryan said.
"Tactical green," Chris confirmed.
"Navigation ready," Zoe said.
"Science online," Danny added.
"Medical standing by," Joey finished.
Luca pulled up the ship's systems. Every system diagnostic glowed green.
The Triumph of Darron was reborn as an Exploration Frigate, an eight-deck vessel with capacity for over a hundred crew, equipped with the TL9 technology they had scraped together over months of brutal portal runs.
She was beautiful.
"Take us out," Luca said.
Zoe's hands moved across her controls. The landing struts retracted. Maneuvering thrusters fired, lifting the massive frigate off the deck.
The bay doors opened ahead of them, revealing the asteroid field beyond.
The Triumph glided forward, smooth and steady, out into the black.
Behind them, the facility grew smaller.
Behind them, the asteroid facility shrank into the dark.
Ahead, the stars waited... uncharted, dangerous, and calling to them.