The signal from the Ardent Dawn echoes in your memory as you pull yourself away from the viewport and back to the failing systems of the Starling. Survival first. Heroics later.

You slide into the engineering access chair and unlock the manual override panels. Sparks spit from a half-melted junction box above you. The ion storm did more than just scramble your sensors—it cooked your primary conduits. The air tastes scorched.

You pop the emergency repair kit from its stowage panel, your fingers working fast through muscle memory. Reroute comms through the secondary relay. Bypass the nav-core. Isolate the surge dampeners before—

A deep hum vibrates through the hull. For a moment, everything goes quiet.

Then you flip the final switch.