"Check the nav-com," Jora said, her voice rising in excitement. "The jump calculations... they’re instantaneous. The 0.1.0 isn't just pushing us through space, Kael. It’s folding the Gateway around us."

The ship groaned. The new engine pulsed once—a deep, violet light that made the deckplates vibrate in a way Kael had never felt. The screens flickered, then stabilized.

"You’re really doing it?" Jora asked, wiping grease onto a rag. "The 0.1.0 Swap? It’s experimental, Kael. It’s barely out of the forge."

The Star-Skipper didn't just move—it vanished, leaving nothing behind but a shimmering ripple in the void. The swap was a success.

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:

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.