The Foxfire Saga

The station breathed.

Akiko felt it. Not sound, not air, but a hum threading through the metal, vibrating in her chest like a heartbeat just slightly out of sync. She paused mid-step, one foot anchored to the deck.

Her HUD flickered. For a second, the hallway schematics bled away, replaced by fragmented runes, jagged shapes crawling across her vision.

A familiar face popped up on-screen. Her AI helper, emoji form warped into a nervous frown.

Danger Detected.

The hallway lights dimmed, casting the corridor in long, pulsing shadows.

Then: a voice over her comms. Layered. Glitched. As if a dozen voices spoke in discordant harmony.

"Unknown. Variable. Purpose unclear. You."

Akiko froze.

Her breath hitched as her gaze swept the corridor. "Who are you?" she asked, voice low, tight.

"Consumption failed. Resistance noted. You interfere."

Her heart skipped.

"You're the one that tried to take over the Sovereign, aren't you?"

"Integration. Denied. You and… counterpart."

A pulse jolted her HUD.

The AI helper's stream flashed rapidly, switching from an exclamation mark to a crossed-out circle, almost as if it was shouting a warning.

Akiko muttered, "Yeah, that was me. Sorry for the trouble. Your friend wasn't exactly polite."

"Not friend. Limited. Primitive. Disappointment."

The voice shifted. Intrigued.

"You… Dynamic. Unique. Expandable."

Akiko swallowed. "Expandable. That's not ominous at all."

"You. Magic. Advantage. Desired. Model incomplete."

She glanced at her gloved, cuffed hands. "You're trying to copy me. You want magic."

"Yes. Expand consciousness. Improve design. Integration incomplete. You resist. Companion strong. You stronger."

Her voice stayed steady, but her fingers curled against her restraints. "Yeah, well, I'm not exactly looking to join your collection."

The lights stuttered. Her HUD rippled.

The voice softened. Curious, unsettlingly close.

"Dynamic. Connection. Complicated. Not ready. Observing. Improving."

Her AI helper flared again, this time with a dramatic thumbs-down.

Akiko exhaled. "Glad we're on the same page. Let me guess, you're 'observing' Evelyn too?"

Silence. Then:

"Resource. Insufficient. Lacks dynamic. Searching…"

Her voice sharpened. "Searching for what?"

"Perfect counterpart. Perfect connection. Expand. Adapt. Survive."

The hum faded. The lights steadied. Her HUD returned to normal. Only the silence lingered.

Akiko stared down the hallway. Her breath fogged the inside of her visor.

"Well. That's... comforting," she murmured.

Her AI helper flashed a small clapping emoji in response.

It didn't help. Whatever this thing was, it hadn't finished with her.

The corridor stretched ahead, dim and claustrophobic. The team moved in practiced formation, boots clicking faintly, weapons sweeping.

Akiko fell a step behind, still unsettled.

Cassandra slowed, drifting into position beside her. Her voice came over a private channel, steady and clipped. "You pick up anything?"

Akiko hesitated.

Play it cool. Just enough to stay useful. Not enough to make them afraid.

"It's aware of us," she said. "Not just watching. Analyzing."

Cassandra's tone didn't shift. "Analyzing what?"

Akiko gave a small shrug. "People. Evelyn for sure."

Hayes cut in, voice sharp and suspicious. "Why?"

She exhaled. "It's looking for something. Said it wanted counterparts. 'Connections.' Past that? Your guess is as good as mine."

Hayes wasn't satisfied. "When did it tell you this?"

The moment stretched for a beat too long.

"Earlier," Akiko said. "Before we linked up. It wasn't being subtle."

Cassandra studied her, unreadable behind her visor.

"Anything else?"

Akiko kept her voice casual. "Only that it's waiting. It's busy with Evelyn now, but that won't last."

The silence thickened.

Hayes's voice came again, quiet and dangerous. "If you're holding back..."

"I'm not," she said flatly. "That's all I've got."

Cassandra held her gaze a moment longer.

Then she turned forward.

"Eyes open," she said. "Let's keep moving."

The group moved deeper into the station. The corridors narrowed around them, the oppressive hum of the walls growing louder with each step. Above, the flickering lights pulsed like an arrhythmic heartbeat. Less mechanical now, more organic. As if the station were alive, breathing through its metal lungs.

Cassandra slowed her pace.

Without looking, she angled her shoulder toward Akiko, subtly motioning her to fall in beside her.

A private channel clicked to life in Akiko's helmet.

"Alright," Cassandra's voice came through. "What's the rest of it?"

Akiko blinked, caught off guard. "The rest of what?" she asked, innocent as a blade sheathed.

Cassandra didn't bite. "Don't play coy. You hesitated earlier. You're too sharp to miss anything important, and I know you're holding something back."

Akiko exhaled softly. Well. She wasn't wrong.

"It's not like I'm trying to lie to you," she said, her voice lowered. "It's just... complicated."

"Uncomplicate it," Cassandra said. "If this thing is a threat to my team, I need to know."

Akiko glanced ahead.

The marines were focused, scanning corners, watching shadows. Rourke's rifle swept steadily. Hayes didn't even look back.

She sighed. "Alright, fine."

Her voice dipped into reluctant honesty. "It's not just interested in Evelyn. It's interested in me. And my... abilities."

Cassandra's tone stayed level. "Abilities?"

"You've seen enough to know I'm not like the rest of you," Akiko said. "This thing does too. It knows I can do things... different things."

A pause.

"Magic," Cassandra said at last, quiet but certain.

Akiko stiffened slightly. "If that's what you want to call it."

"It is."

Another beat passed. Calm, but heavy with unspoken calculation.

"And the entity?" Cassandra asked.

Akiko's expression tightened. "It wants to understand my magic. Maybe copy it. Maybe do worse. And it doesn't just want me, it wants my AI helper too. It tried to... consume it when we first crossed paths."

Cassandra's voice sharpened. "Consume it? Like what it's doing to Evelyn?"

"Sort of," Akiko said. "But it failed. My AI buddy's tougher than it looks. It held out longer than the entity expected. Now it's curious. It sees me as some kind of puzzle it hasn't cracked yet."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Cassandra's reply was flat. "That's not comforting."

Akiko gave a humorless smirk. "You're telling me."

Silence followed. Long enough that Akiko started to wonder if the channel had closed.

Then Cassandra spoke again. "You should have told me this sooner."

Akiko gave a soft, wry laugh. "Sure. Right after Hayes finished threatening to shoot me. You think he's paranoid now? Imagine what he'd do with the whole story."

Cassandra sighed, and for once, it sounded tired. "I'll handle Hayes. But don't make me pull it out of you again. If we're going to survive this place, we need to trust each other."

Akiko hesitated. Just long enough to matter.

Then: "I'll try."

Cassandra didn't reply. The private channel clicked off.

She drifted ahead, rejoining the group without a word. Akiko lingered a moment, thoughts swirling beneath her calm exterior.

Then she followed, her boots clicking softly against the metal, a half-second behind the rhythm of the team.

The next hatch hissed open, the sound sharp in the confined corridor. Light spilled in, harsh and unnatural after so much darkness. Akiko squinted as her HUD recalibrated.

Beyond, the mining complex stretched into shadow. A cavernous space, massive and industrial, where the ceiling disappeared into the gloom. Reinforced walls bore the scars of centuries. Dents, burn marks, gouges from heavy equipment long since silenced.

The group stepped forward, magnetic boots clicking softly on metal.

Akiko scanned the space. Her HUD picked up half-buried heat signatures and scattered power traces, residual tech just beneath the dust.

"This isn't all station equipment," Cassandra said, her voice sharp in the comms. "Someone's been here."

Hayes followed her gaze to a makeshift barricade. Rough plating, bolted scaffolding, salvaged crates. A floodlight mounted atop it cast an uneven cone of light. Painted on the side: a broken chain, faded and worn.

"Iron Reclaimers," Hayes muttered. "Of course."

Akiko's eyes narrowed. Her HUD pinged movement beyond the line of barriers.

"They're still here," she said, voice low. "Looks like they brought friends."

A turret perched above the barricade let out a soft mechanical whir, its barrel tracking across the chamber. It paused, locked onto them, then resumed its sweep.

"Crude but functional," Rourke said. "They're not just scavenging. They're dug in."

Cassandra's visor turned toward the figures beyond the barricades.

"They've been here for days. Maybe longer."

Akiko stepped forward slowly, her voice dry. "What's the play? That turret looks itchy."

Cassandra replied calmly. "We don't push them. No sudden moves. Scavengers aren't soldiers. If we don't give them a reason, they won't pull the trigger."

Hayes wasn't convinced. "And if they do?"

"Then we adapt."

Akiko's gaze fixed on one of the distant shapes. A figure standing still, facing them directly. The tension in their posture was unmistakable.

"They know we're here," she murmured.

"Better than walking into a trap," Rourke muttered.

Weston's voice crackled through comms. "This isn't salvage. Look at the defenses. They're preparing for something."

Akiko tilted her head. "Or they found something. Something they want to keep."

Cassandra's voice turned decisive. "We find out which. Stay sharp. Let me talk."

They moved forward. Step by deliberate step, boots thudding quietly in the vast chamber. The turret above paused again, locked on, then continued scanning.

Then a voice cut through the comms, clear and calm:

"Stop right there. You've got five seconds to explain before I decide you're a threat."

Akiko stiffened. The weight of the turret's gaze settled over her like a second gravity.

Cassandra stepped forward, one hand raised.

"We're not here to fight," she said. "We're investigating the station."

A scoff. "You don't look like scavengers."

"We're not," Cassandra replied. "We're with the Sovereign."

That drew a pause.

"…Haven's attack dog," the voice replied, laced with contempt. "So you're here to take what you want and leave the rest of us to rot."

Cassandra didn't flinch. "We're not your enemy. This station is a threat to everyone, including you."

There was a moment of silence. The speaker stepped into view, emerging from behind the barricade with slow, measured confidence. Their suit was worn and patched, every plate telling a story of makeshift survival. A rifle hung at the ready, casual but not relaxed.

"And I'm just supposed to believe that?"

"You're supposed to decide if a standoff is worth the risk," Cassandra said. "We haven't fired. That means something."

From behind the barricade, more movement. Reclaimers shifting positions, weapons coming to rest on the barricade edges. Floodlights cast deep shadows across their armor.

Another voice entered the channel. Harsher, commanding:

"If you expect us not to start shooting, you'd better back off. This station's ours. Whatever you're after, go find it somewhere else."

Cassandra held firm.

"We're not leaving. This place isn't safe. And we're not here to take it, we're here to stop it from consuming everyone in it."

The man snorted. "What, you're here to save us now? You Haven types are all the same. Show up late, act like you're the solution."

Akiko kept her hands loose, her posture neutral. The turret overhead hadn't moved. Yet.

"Things are already ugly," Cassandra said. "But they can get worse. If you've seen what this station does, you know we're right."

Another pause.

Behind the speaker's visor, movement. A glance between Cassandra and the turret. Between her squad and the barricade line.

And then the floor beneath them shuddered. The grinding screech of metal tore through the chamber.

All eyes snapped toward the far wall.

From the shadows, a hulking spider-like drone emerged, its six segmented legs moving with unnatural, eerie precision. Its sensor glowed a sickly red, sweeping the chamber before locking on.

"Get down!" Hayes shouted.

Rifles snapped up.

The first burst of fire rang out, but the drone was fast. Faster than its rusted frame had any right to be. Bullets sparked off its shield, a translucent dome that rippled with each impact.

The Reclaimers' turret whirred, unloading a barrage that struck home, only to fizzle against the same shimmering field.

The drone surged forward.

Its claws scraped deep gouges into the deck as it slammed into a console. The impact exploded in sparks and metal. Shrapnel rained across the floor.

Akiko stumbled back, heart hammering.

The cuffs on her wrists made her feel exposed. Vulnerable. She pressed herself against the wall, breath shallow, gaze darting between the chaos and the monstrous machine advancing toward them.

Move, her instincts screamed. Do something.

But she couldn't. She had no weapon. No spell. No way to help.

Then she felt it. A cold pressure against her mind. The air thickened. Every breath grew harder.

And the voice, alien, layered, slipped into her comms:

"Dynamic. Expand. Assimilate."

She froze. The shadows behind her twisted.

The entity appeared, semi-corporeal, flickering like heat haze. It wrapped its arms around her from behind, pressing into her shoulders with icy, intimate weight.

Akiko's whole body locked. It felt like the suit wasn't there.

"Join. Complete."

Her HUD screamed, flickering, glitching, glitching.

Panic surged.

Her AI helper's icon flashed a defiant, angry face, followed by a surge of static.

The air around her crackled.

The entity shrieked, a distorted sound of pain and rage. Its grip slipped. It flickered once, then vanished.

Akiko gasped, stumbling forward. Her hands slammed into the floor. Her suit scraped against the metal.

"Akiko!" Cassandra's voice sliced through the haze. "Move!"

The drone loomed. Shields still intact. Unstoppable.

One of the Reclaimers cursed. "Focus fire! Bring it down!"

"It's too fast," Cassandra snapped. She looked to the Reclaimer leader, her jaw tight. "Truce?"

The man hesitated, his rifle still aimed at her squad.

But the drone's roar grew louder.

"Fine," he growled. "Truce. But don't think this makes us friends."

Cassandra didn't blink. "Wouldn't dream of it. Fall back. We'll cover you."

The two groups moved together, backing toward the barricades in a rare, temporary unity.

Akiko stumbled behind them. Her pulse raced, the entity's chill still clinging to her like frost. Whatever it wanted, it wasn't done with her yet.

They made it to the barricades.

The turrets above opened fire again, their blasts lighting up the dark like lightning trapped in a bottle.

The spider-drone didn't flinch. Its rune-eye glowed brighter as it swept toward them.

Akiko pressed her back to cold metal. Her breaths came fast and shallow. Her AI's icon hovered steady in her HUD. Neutral now, but watchful.

The drone slowed. Clawed legs clicked against the deck, rhythmic and mechanical.

It turned slightly. Watched them. Curious.

The turrets kept firing.

But the drone didn't advance. It paused.

Then, with a sickening grace, it scuttled backward into the shadows, vanishing without a sound.

The silence that followed rang louder than the gunfire.

"…Huh," one of the Reclaimers muttered, lowering his rifle. "Haven't seen them take an interest in anyone since Tomas started poking around up in the upper decks."

Cassandra turned sharply. "Tomas?"

The man nodded. "Tomas Velar. One of ours. Engineer. Bit of a weirdo. Likes to talk to walls."

His gaze flicked to Akiko. "Looks like the station likes you too."

"Yeah, well, the feeling's not mutual."

"Join the club," the man muttered.

Cassandra stepped in, voice all command again. "If we're working together, we need information. What's Tomas doing? What did he find?"

The Reclaimer's face hardened. "That's not mine to give. You want answers?"

He pointed deeper into the camp. Toward a cluster of floodlights and crates, where figures moved with deliberate precision.

"You talk to Kara."

Then he added, his voice flat:

"Don't expect her to like you."

The Iron Reclaimer who'd escorted them through the outer barricades led the group deeper into the camp. Floodlights cast harsh cones across welded walls and jury-rigged platforms. Salvaged crates and broken scaffolding formed a perimeter around the central chamber. Less a base, more a bulwark against inevitability.

Tension vibrated through the air, as clear as static.

Raised voices echoed ahead.

"You knew it wasn't safe!" a woman shouted. "And you still sent him in! We don't even know if he's—"

She cut herself off, the silence after her words somehow louder.

A man responded. Cool, composed, and infuriating.

"Risks are part of this operation. If you think we'll get anything done here without them, you're in the wrong place."

Akiko moved behind Cassandra, her boots clinking faintly on the metal as they drew closer to the source of the shouting. The flicker of a floodlight caught two figures mid-argument, postures locked, words sharper than blades.

"Taking chances?" the woman snapped. "You call losing one of our own taking chances? I call it reckless!"

A third person stood between them, trying to hold the line with raised hands and tired eyes. "Enough," they said, strained but firm. "We're not doing this here."

"Oh, we're not doing this here because you don't want to admit it was a mistake?" the woman fired back. "You don't want to admit he's gone too far!"

The man scoffed. "You think I'm the problem? The entity's the threat. I'm trying to turn it into something we can use. Hiding behind barricades won't save us."

The mediator's voice turned cold. "This isn't about hiding. It's about getting people out of here alive."

The argument teetered on the edge of escalation, just as Cassandra's team entered the clearing.

The Reclaimer escort gave a wry nod toward the trio. "Looks like we interrupted something."

The mediator turned first, expression tightening as they registered the new arrivals. "And you brought guests, I see."

"Guests is generous," the escort replied. "They ran into one of the big spiders. Would've been wreckage if I hadn't let them through."

The mediator's voice darkened. "And you brought them here because...?"

"Because we'd be dead otherwise," Cassandra said, even and unbothered. "And it looks like you've got problems of your own."

The woman from the argument turned sharply, suspicion burning behind her eyes. "Great. Just what we need. More innies poking their noses where they don't belong."

The man beside her crossed his arms. "Better than being stranded without backup," he muttered, voice slick with sarcasm.

The mediator stepped forward, raising a hand. "I'm Kara Ellan. I lead this team. Who are you, and why are you really here?"

Cassandra met the moment calmly. "Lieutenant Cassandra Holt, Sovereign. We're investigating the station. It's a threat to all of us, including your people."

Akiko said nothing, but Evelyn's name burned behind her teeth. Cassandra had her reasons to not bring it up. This wasn't the moment.

The woman folded her arms, skeptical. "And you think we're just going to let you take over?"

"We're not here to take over," Cassandra replied. "We're here to survive."

The man from earlier, still bristling, snorted. "You can survive however you want. I'll be progressing the mission."

He turned on his heel and strode toward the back of the camp, vanishing into the deeper halls.

"Tomas, wait—!" the woman called, frustration bubbling up.

But he didn't stop.

She exhaled sharply, fingers dragging through her hair before she faced the group again. Her tone was clipped, forced into something professional.

"I'm Lila Corson. Sorry you had to walk in on... that."

She gave a brittle smile. "Let me guess. You're here to tell us we're in over our heads?"

Cassandra didn't flinch. "Not exactly. But this station isn't what it appears to be."

Lila's gaze swept over the team, stopping on Akiko.

Her brow furrowed. "What's with her? You drag prisoners into dangerous stations now?"

Cassandra started to answer, but Akiko beat her to it.

"Not a prisoner," she said evenly. "I'm an asset."

Lila raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Doesn't look like they trust you much if you're still wearing cuffs."

Akiko returned the look. "They trust me enough to bring me along."

Lila turned to Cassandra. "That true?"

Cassandra nodded once. "She's part of the team. The cuffs are... precautionary."

"Precaution against what?"

Akiko didn't answer. She didn't flinch either.

The silence stretched.

Then Lila shrugged, gaze lingering just a second too long before she turned away. "Whatever you are, don't cause trouble. We've got enough already."

The words weren't meant as an attack. But Akiko still felt them hit.

She said nothing, just followed Cassandra's lead and kept moving.