The sleeve sat in the vise, jaw marks biting just enough to hold. Ash steadied the Chain E-Saw, checked the guide spurs against his scribed lines, and brought the tool down. Teeth met metal and threw a fan of bright flecks against the bench shield. Nono chirped once and extended the vacuum wand; the flecks vanished in the suction hiss.
Clamp. Check. Cut.
He eased the throttle and let the saw settle into the groove. The blade tried to walk; he rode the kick, corrected with a small turn of wrist. The bench hummed through his ribs. Oil smoked, soft and bitter, under the floodlight.
[SYSTEM PROMPT] Fabrication task begun: dummy core sleeve (difficulty: mid).You gained 30Mechanic XP and 50Basic Mechanical Repair XP.
Mechanic lv1:133/1000.
He killed the saw, dressed the edges with a file, turned the sleeve in his hands, and checked tolerances against the sketch. Good enough to fail with; that was the point.
Nono rolled over a tray: coil seats, two ceramic rings from a dead meter, the old jig with his grafted leads. Ash set the sleeve, began winding a sacrificial coil—count the loops, keep tension, tap each turn into line with a thumbnail. He crimped the ends, set the rings, slid the assembly until contacts kissed the jig's leads.
The panel pinged like a nod.
[SYSTEM PROMPT] Planning recognized (fabrication). +8 Mechanic XP.
141/1000.
He set the interface plate, locked it with temporary pins, and flicked the switch. Current moved. The coil hummed, a faint vibration you felt in fingernails. He thumbed the selector through its first arc; the hum shifted into a narrow band.
[SYSTEM PROMPT] Prototype activation (dummy). Difficulty: simple. +10 Mechanic XP / +15 Basic Mechanical Repair XP.
151/1000.
He advanced to the second detent. It stuck. Heat, patience, and a solder wand turned glue and time tractable; the selector moved, the hum climbed, the voltage stayed in the pencil fence he'd drawn years ago when he didn't trust meters. He cut power, let heat drift off the metal.
[SYSTEM PROMPT] Prototype validation (dummy): functional. Difficulty: simple (higher-tier item). +10 Mechanic XP / +15 Basic Mechanical Repair XP.
He slotted the dummy core into the Silver Stag's receiver. The fit resisted, honest. He felt for sticky places with a feeler gauge, marked two, filed until the core slid with clean resistance. The selector indexed without sulking.
[SYSTEM PROMPT] Restoration step: legacy weapon integration (dummy core). Difficulty: mid. +50 Mechanic XP / +100 Basic Mechanical Repair XP.
Mechanic lv1:201/1000.
"Dry cycle," he said.
The Stag went into the bench clamp. He set the pressure jig, checked the return spring, added a cable so Nono could dump the relay if he missed timing.
"On my mark."
Nono's eyes blinked to steady white.
"Three, two—mark."
The jig shoved the carrier; the action ran; the dummy core flexed under selector load; the carrier snapped home with a sound that made his spine admit why people loved machines that did what they were told.
[SYSTEM PROMPT] Functional cycle (bench): success. Difficulty: mid. +50 Mechanic XP / +100 Basic Mechanical Repair XP.
251/1000.
He stepped around the bench and snagged the e-saw's cord with his boot. The housing lurched; a spark kissed the spare sleeve.
Nono slammed the kill relay. The floodlight flickered. Ash froze, palms up.
"Okay," he said. "We don't make it exciting with our feet."
[SYSTEM PROMPT] Hazard avoided. No penalty.
Back to the numbers. The duty band was narrow; the tolerance stack too tall; heat soak would eat the core after a handful of cycles.
"Second dummy," he said. "Learn properly."
The second iteration went quicker. He cut the sleeve without wander; milled the coil seat with the hand cutter he still trusted; adjusted detent angles until they clicked with that quiet inevitability machines have when you stop arguing with them.
[SYSTEM PROMPT] Fabrication: dummy core sleeve (rev2). Difficulty: mid. +30 Mechanic XP / +50 Basic Mechanical Repair XP.
281/1000.
Tighter coil lay. Better ring. The hum lived where he wanted it—no wobble. Bench cycle: stable.
[SYSTEM PROMPT] Prototype validation (dummy rev2): functional. Difficulty: mid. +50 Mechanic XP / +100 Basic Mechanical Repair XP.
331/1000.
Heat soak was the truth-teller. He let the dummy rev2 run long inside the jig's envelope. The ceramic kissed the line and held. He cut power, tested heat by nearness, not touch. Hot. Not lying.
"Real heart," he said. The words cost a swallow; he didn't have replacements for replacements.
He went to the better cabinet. The tins with tape said NOT UNTIL YOU'RE SURE. He cracked one and lifted out a coil that had survived by hiding inside a redundant array controller. The matching rings had the right grain under light. He cleaned the bench, lined tools like a ritual, wound the coil counting not just loops but breath. Thirty-six in, twenty-four back, cross-over, tap set. Rings seated. Contacts proud but not proud enough to arc. Assembly into the trusted sleeve.
[SYSTEM PROMPT] Fabrication: core assembly (production). Difficulty: mid. +50 Mechanic XP / +100 Basic Mechanical Repair XP.
381/1000.
He slotted the core into the Stag. Honest fit. Selector through arcs, smooth. Gun locked into the jig; cables and clamps checked like a man who liked his eyes.
"Three, two—mark."
The jig cycled. The Stag obeyed. The hum had weight now, the kind that made nerves believe in purchase. He ran five cycles and stopped before greed could suggest six.
Silence held, then the panel added a line like a hand between his shoulders.
[SYSTEM PROMPT] Restoration: Silver Stagfunctional with new core. Difficulty: mid. +80 Mechanic XP / +150 Basic Mechanical Repair XP.
461/1000.
He let his palms rest on the bench and looked at the number until it was square in his head. Almost halfway to level two and he hadn't stepped outside. Not healed—sharper. That would do.
He pulled the Stag from the jig, selector safe, action open. Machines that sleep look peaceful right up until you ask them for obedience under stress. There was only one place to ask that question.
"Next is the range," he said. Nono made a dissenting beep that meant the bot preferred bolts cycling in clamps to blood on floors.
The panel, polite as ever: [SYSTEM PROMPT] Bench tests complete. Live validation yields higher XP. Exercise caution.
"Noted."
He zipped the Stag into a soft case. Superstition made the zipper say shhh. He cleaned what needed cleaning, locked what needed locking, glanced at the back-room mirror and refused it the sermon of a rolled sleeve.
He shouldered the case and reached for the door latch.
Cold from the corridor breathed under the sill. Something leaned on the other side; weight shifted against the hinge. Nono went very still.
Ash slid his foot back, rebalanced, lifted his chin.
The catch released. The door came open two fingers' width. A shadow on the hinge side. Boots scuffed.
"Shop's closed," he said, steady.
The panel stayed legible because panic is wasted motion.
[SYSTEM PROMPT] Reminder: Live validation yields increased XP. External variables detected.
He set the case down slowly and touched the bench with his left hand, the way a person touches the hood before trusting a vehicle on a dark road.
"If you're here for repairs, make an appointment," he said to the crack of corridor. "If it's anything else, we do this civil."
The shadow shifted, and the voice that answered carried gravel and a smile. "You always open with customer service, Vale?"
Hale.
Relief was a word this planet didn't claim, but Ash's breath loosened anyway. "Only when I don't have a bell."
Hale pushed the door with the back of his hand and ducked inside. He took the shop's measure the way combat men do—one sweep that noticed everything and judged none of it aloud. His eyes paused on the case, the jig, the coil scraps. He didn't ask questions the room couldn't answer.
"If you're headed to the range," he said, "don't go alone." He didn't add why. He didn't need to. Nightshade had been "checking permits" in corridors that never had them.
Ash looked at the case, then at the man who brought him crates that remembered empires. Nono blinked once like a vote.
"Good," Ash said. "I was about to invite you."
The panel did not laugh, but it did stay useful.
[SYSTEM PROMPT] Bench validation complete. Proceed to live validation at range. Companion: Hale (optional). Caution advised.