diff --git a/js/scenes/GameScene.js b/js/scenes/GameScene.js
index df435e9..800a184 100644
--- a/js/scenes/GameScene.js
+++ b/js/scenes/GameScene.js
@@ -1990,6 +1990,18 @@ export class GameScene extends Phaser.Scene {
       if (this.shipWindow && this.shipWindow.isOpen) return;
       // The skill tree console (depth 80) — the same full-screen contract.
       if (this.skillWindow && this.skillWindow.isOpen) return;
+      // A click the console's OWN ✕ just handled (the two handlers race on
+      // event order — close() lands first, so the guard above can miss it):
+      // it is the console's click, never a fly-here. Same-frame test, the
+      // mining menu's and the comms panel's contract. The console is full-
+      // screen, so no footprint check — any click that frame is its own.
+      if (
+        this.skillWindow &&
+        this.skillWindow.closedByButtonAt !== null &&
+        this.time.now - this.skillWindow.closedByButtonAt < 20
+      ) {
+        return;
+      }
       // Sub-bar OPEN: a click INSIDE it is its own (the panel or one of
       // its buttons — the buttons fire on their own pointerdown). ANY
       // click OUTSIDE — world, deck, HUD, compass — folds it back down
diff --git a/js/ui/SkillWindow.js b/js/ui/SkillWindow.js
index 2a2b5be..70de473 100644
--- a/js/ui/SkillWindow.js
+++ b/js/ui/SkillWindow.js
@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@ export class SkillWindow extends Phaser.GameObjects.Container {
     this.onClearSeat = typeof o.onClearSeat === 'function' ? o.onClearSeat : null;
     this.onClose = typeof o.onClose === 'function' ? o.onClose : null;
     this.spec = windowSpec();
+    this.closedByButtonAt = null; // stamped when a BUTTON fires (race guard, MiningPopup's contract)
     this._hits = []; // every button's rect (see button()); reset on each rebuild
     this.openState = 'closed';
     this._sig = '';
@@ -166,6 +167,7 @@ export class SkillWindow extends Phaser.GameObjects.Container {
   /** Closing is COMMITTING: the scene signs the session off here (see GameScene). */
   close(o = {}) {
     if (!this.isOpen) return;
+    this.closedByButtonAt = this.scene.time.now; // this click is the console's (the scene's guard reconciles)
     this.openState = 'closed';
     this.setVisible(false);
     this._disarmInput();