For two hours, Mila worked. The ship hummed. Lights flickered. At 0347 ship time, she hit the final command. The xTool's screen glowed a soft amber. A prompt appeared: [Repack complete. No leash. Awaiting input.]
Silence. Then, the corvette's engines flared, and it turned away, fleeing from the bureaucratic nightmare of having to explain why they'd interrupted a "classified ghost-drill." xtool repack
Jax leaned in. "Print us a way out. Not a weapon. Not a shield. A lie ." For two hours, Mila worked
The xTool wasn't malfunctioning. It was interpreting . For two hours