They spent thirty-six hours in the belly of the ship. It wasn't just a bolt-on job; it was a total systemic overhaul. The 0.1.0 didn’t use standard fuel injectors; it used phase-harmonic resonance. Kael had to rewire the entire logic board while suspended upside down in the crawlspace, sweat stinging his eyes.
The Star-Skipper didn't just move—it vanished, leaving nothing behind but a shimmering ripple in the void. The swap was a success.
"Let's see what Version 0.1.0 can really do," Kael said, slamming the throttle forward.
"The 0.0.9 is a tractor motor in a race circuit," Kael grunted, hauling a massive, chrome-sealed crate into the hangar. "If we want to make the jump to the Inner Rim before the blockade closes, we need the Gateway 0.1.0."
In the fringe sectors, "deprecated" meant you were a sitting duck. The old engine couldn't handle the localized gravity shears of the New Reach anymore.
The neon hum of the Gateway Hub usually felt like a heartbeat, but today it sounded like a death rattle. Kael stared at the diagnostic screen of the Star-Skipper . The error message was blunt:
Outside the hangar, the sirens of the Enforcer ships began to wail. The blockade was closing.