Luca found Zoe awake in the infirmary, pale but alert. An IV line snaked from her arm to a bag of clear fluid hanging from a pole beside the bed. She looked small under the white sheets, her dark dreadlocks spread across the pillow.

  "Hey," she said softly when he entered. "You look worried."

  "Should I be?"

  Joey looked up from checking her vitals. "She's dehydrated. Electrolyte imbalance. Nothing a bag of saline won't fix."

  Luca studied Joey's face. The words were confident, but something in his eyes wasn't. "That's it? Just dehydration?"

  "That's it." Joey replied. "She'll be back on her feet by tomorrow."

  Zoe managed a weak smile. "See? I'm fine. Just need to remember to drink more water."

  But Luca had seen dehydration before. This felt different. The sudden onset, the violent nausea, the way she'd collapsed. Dehydration didn't hit like that.

  "Get some rest," he told Zoe, then, quieter, he addressed Joey: "Keep an eye on her."

  "Of course."

  As Luca left the infirmary, he caught Joey's reflection in the doorway's metal frame. He was frowning, staring at Zoe's readouts with the expression of someone trying to solve a puzzle with missing pieces.

  Back in his cabin, Luca found a quiet corner and pulled up his character interface. He needed to focus. The recent battle kept replaying in his mind, that Shade Hunter slipping into active camouflage, the Vexillari coordinating their attacks with military precision. He'd been a step behind, reacting instead of anticipating.

  It was time to change that.

  First, the attribute points. Emily's theory about Willpower helping with XP integration made sense. He allocated four points to Willpower, bringing it to 47, then six points to Perception, pushing it to 90.

  The change was immediate and overwhelming. His awareness expanded like someone had turned up the gain on his senses. He could hear the ship's systems humming in perfect clarity, its life support cycling, the gravity generators maintaining their steady field, even the faint vibration of the crew moving through the corridors.

  Jesus. No wonder I heard Ryan coughing through the soundproof walls.

  Next, the XP. He'd unlocked enough Infiltrator abilities to make a real difference. The rush of knowledge integration was smoother this time, Emily's Willpower theory proving correct. New tactical awareness, enhanced stealth protocols, advanced infiltration techniques, all of it flowing into his consciousness without the usual disorientation.

  [Skill level up! Silent Takedowns Proficiency Level 8 --> Level 10]

  [Ability Unlocked - Phantom Strike: Perform a silent takedown even while within a target’s line of sight by triggering a micro-disruption field that masks kinetic noise and neural signature for 8 seconds. Increases duration by 1 second per level after 10. Cooldown 5 minutes, reduced by 10% per level after level 10.]

  Phantom Strike? Could've used this in the warren instead of holding my breath. The knowledge of how to activate a micro-disruption field settled into his mind like he'd always known it. Eight seconds of invisible takedowns. That could have been useful against those Vexillari scouts.

  [Skill level up! Hacking Efficiency Proficiency Level 5 --> Level 10]

  [Ability Unlocked - Neural Sync Uplink: Instantly completes one digital intrusion by activating an overclocked neural interface module. Cannot be used on military-class systems. Cooldown 5 minutes, reduced by 10% per level after level 10.]

  Would've been nice to turn one of those fortress turrets on its friends. Luca frowned. That sounded like something was physically interfacing with his brain. He'd have to ask Joey what the hell that was about. Danny would know, the guy was a walking encyclopedia of System tech, but Danny was shit out of luck for the next few months.

  [Skill level up! System Override Proficiency Level 8 --> Level 10]

  [Ability Unlocked - Protocol Hijack: Forces a single automated system (drone, turret, or surveillance node) within 20 meters to recognize the user as a valid control source for 10 seconds. Cooldown 6 minutes, duration increases by 2 seconds and cooldown decreases by 10% per level after level 10.]

  Wonder how that works. The ability felt like reaching out with invisible fingers, convincing machines he was their rightful operator. Could be useful if they ran into more automated defenses.

  [Skill level up! Data Breach Proficiency Level 8 --> Level 10]

  [Ability Unlocked - Deep Crack Injection: Instantly reveals and bypasses encrypted commercial- or enterprise-grade data structures in any connected system. Cannot breach black-site or hardened military encryption. Cooldown 5 minutes, adds access to higher encryption tiers per level after level 10]

  Now that was cool. Though he wondered if it would even work on Vexillari systems. Did insectoid tech use the same digital architecture as human systems? Something told him alien bugs might have different ideas about data encryption.

  [Skill level up! Adaptive Exploits Proficiency Level 8 --> Level 10]

  [Ability Unlocked - Microframe Scanburst: Instantly identifies physical or digital vulnerabilities in the immediate area, such as structural weak points, sensor blind spots, or flawed algorithms, within a 15-meter radius. Radius increases by 2 meters and cooldown decreases by 10% per level after level 10. Cooldown 5 minutes.]

  That was an improvement over Pattern Recognition, except for machines and buildings. Perfect for an infiltrator.

  [Skill level up! Execution Protocol Proficiency Level 8 --> Level 10]

  [Ability Unlocked - Terminate Directive: Increase the chances of executing a precision strike. If the target is below 30% health, damage is increased by 50% and ignores armor mitigation. Damage increases by 5% and cooldown decreases by 10% per level after level 10. Cooldown 6 minutes.]

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  For things like that Cytosaur. Hit them where it hurts. Not sure how that worked either, but he'd be willing to try it. The System had a way of making impossible things feel natural.

  With almost four million XP remaining, he decided to pump up his Light Armor and Tomahawk skills.

  [Skill level up! Light Armor Mastery Level 12 --> Level 14]

  Eleven minutes of active camouflage now. Forty-three-minute cooldown. Not bad.

  [Skill level up! Tomahawk Throwing Mastery Level 12 --> Level 14]

  Increased accuracy and range for four tomahawk throws, and now that his tomahawk was upgraded to plasma... Two-minute cooldown. He could throw four plasma tomahawks every two minutes, if he could snatch them back fast enough. Ryan would probably make some smartass comment about him being a one-man artillery unit.

  He stood up, flexing his hands. Time to put these new abilities to work doing something useful. Something normal.

  In the hangar bay, they suited up for contamination protocol. Gloves, masks, sealed work suits. Standard procedure for handling potentially hazardous materials.

  "Feels like we're suiting up for another mission," Chris said, adjusting his mask. He looked tired, more tired than Chris ever looked.

  "Hopefully this one doesn't involve getting shot at," Emily replied, her voice muffled by the respirator.

  They opened the Percival's cargo bay. Their upgraded Centurion sat inside

  "Danny's going to want to run a full diagnostic the moment he wakes up," Ryan observed, then paused to cough. The same wet, rattling sound from the night before. "Sorry. Can't shake this thing."

  They began unloading. Sample containers first, sealed cases holding specimens from Midnight Veil. Then the bigger prizes: the SpectraForge Analyzer and SynthCrafter, each the size of a small refrigerator.

  "We really should have invested in a clean room," Luca said, gesturing at the equipment. "All this stuff might be contaminated."

  "Probably should have thought of that before we started breathing it in," Emily replied dryly.

  Ryan looked at the SpectraForge Analyzer with a dreamy expression as it was rolled out. "Danny's going to lose his mind over this. We pulled it from that research lab, remember? The one with the cute Varnathi biologist who kept batting her whiskers at me."

  "He was talking about them non-stop," Chris added, then yawned mid-sentence. "Sorry. Still catching up on sleep."

  Chris never yawned during work. Chris was the guy who could pull all-nighters and still hit the gym at 0600.

  "Headache's mostly gone," Emily announced, stretching her neck. "Whatever Joey gave me worked."

  Exhaustion, he told himself. Just exhaustion.

  Ryan and Luca stood with their hands on their hips, studying the heavy machines.

  "These are going to need serious power," Ryan said, examining the connection ports on the back of the Analyzer. "TL9 equipment like this... we'd have to run a special line from the main generator. Extra wattage, dedicated circuits."

  Luca nodded, looking at the thick power requirements on the SynthCrafter's housing. "That's a lot of work just to figure out how to turn them on."

  "Danny would know exactly what we need," Ryan said with a sigh. "Probably have them both running in an hour."

  "Yeah." Luca stepped back from the machines. "Too much work to guess at it. Let's wait for Danny to wake up and we'll figure these out properly."

  They looked like alien appliances sitting there, full of potential but frustratingly inaccessible. Just like everything else lately, powerful tools they couldn't quite use yet.

  The bridge felt right with Emily in the captain's chair, a natural fit. Luca took the pilot's station, feeling the ship's systems respond to his enhanced awareness.

  "Zoe's plots are perfect," Emily reported. "At this rate, we'll be in the asteroid belt in ten days. We could be done with the survey and heading home by Christmas."

  Christmas. Luca realized they'd forgotten Thanksgiving.

  "Bringing engines online," he announced, triggering his [Vector Control] ability. The ship's maneuvering systems aligned perfectly, every thruster calibrated for maximum efficiency.

  Emily leaned back, watching him work. "You know, I like watching you pilot. You make it look effortless."

  "Years of practice. Plus some recent upgrades." He engaged the main drives, feeling their power flow through the ship's frame. "Perception's at 90 now."

  "What's it like?"

  "Overwhelming at first. But useful." He could feel Emily's heartbeat from here, steady and strong. Could sense her complete relaxation in the chair beside him.

  The Triumph accelerated smoothly away from Midnight Veil's orbit, that toxic green marble falling behind them. On the main screen, the asteroid belt appeared as scattered points of light.

  "It's nice, isn't it?" Emily said softly. "Just... flying. Normal."

  "Boring is underrated."

  "I keep thinking about completing the charter," Luca said, adjusting their course. "Getting everyone healed up, restocking our supplies. Then we can go out again. Another adventure." He glanced at her with a grin. "And we won't get sabotaged again, I promise you that."

  Emily was quiet for a moment, watching the starfield. "What about the Varnathi vault? What are we going to do about that, Luca?"

  The vault. Dozens of Varnathi in stasis pods, waiting in their hidden facility. An entire civilization's worth of sleeping people they'd discovered and then... left behind.

  "I don't know," he admitted. "There's nothing we can really do, is there? It's just us, our small ship. Even if we could go back and take them out of stasis, then what? We can't bring a larger team with us. How are we supposed to navigate defrosting aliens?"

  "We can't," Emily said simply. "That's the thing that keeps me awake at night. We found them, we know they're there, but we're not equipped to help them. Seven people and a survey ship against... what? An entire species that's been asleep for who knows how long?"

  "The System probably expects us to report it when we get back," Luca said.

  "And then what? Some corporate expedition swoops in and claims them as assets?" Emily's voice carried a bitter edge. "We saved their lives by leaving them alone."

  They flew in silence after that, the weight of what they'd discovered settling between them. After everything they'd been through, hope felt more complicated than it used to.

  "Come here," Luca said softly, patting his lap.

  Emily raised an eyebrow. "On the bridge? Captain, that's highly unprofessional."

  "Good thing I'm the captain then." He grinned. "Come on. Want to steer?"

  She moved from her chair to settle onto his lap, her back against his chest. Luca wrapped his arms around her, guiding her hands to the pilot controls.

  "Feel that?" he murmured against her ear. "The way the ship responds to minute adjustments?"

  Emily made a small correction to their heading, then leaned back into him. "This is nice, but you realize I'm supposed to be steering the ship, right? Not making out with the pilot?"

  "Multi-tasking," he said, his hands covering hers on the controls.

  "Luca, you know the autopilot is engaged."

  "Hmm."

  "There's nothing to steer?"

  "Are you sure, Em?"

  "Ugh, Luca," she turned her head to look at him, their faces inches apart, a smile playing at her lips. "You're terrible."

  "But charming."

  "Barely," she replied.

  After she returned to her room for the evening, Luca remained on the bridge, humming softly to himself. Maybe adventuring in outer space wasn't so bad after all. Maybe they could make this work, the exploring, the crew, the quiet moments between the chaos. Maybe tonight he'd see if Emily wanted company.

  The thought put a spring in his step as he headed to the gym for his evening workout.

  He found Ryan already there, working through pull-ups with mechanical precision. Sweat glistened on his forehead, and his breathing was slightly labored.

  "Hey," Luca called, heading for the free weights. "Couldn't sleep either?"

  "Something like that." Ryan dropped from the bar, wiping his face with a towel. "Figured I'd burn off some energy before—"

  The coughing fit hit him mid-sentence. Ryan doubled over, one hand braced against the wall, the other pressed to his mouth. The sound was wet, harsh, rattling in his chest.

  "You okay?" Luca asked, concerned.

  Ryan turned away, coughing into the towel. When he straightened and faced Luca again, he was forcing a grin, but Luca caught something else, the briefest glimpse of Ryan wiping a smear of red from his hand onto his pants.

  "Just a tickle in my throat," Ryan said, his voice slightly rough.

  Luca felt a cold knot form in his stomach, but he didn't challenge him. "Maybe you should get some rest."

  "Yeah, maybe." Ryan grabbed his water bottle. "See you in the morning, Cap."

  As Ryan left the gym, Luca stood alone among the equipment, that cold knot in his stomach growing heavier.

  Blood.

  Ryan had coughed up blood.