Darrow, marooned with Martian survivors on trash moon Marcher-1632, works as a welder repairing the crippled corvette Archimedes hidden in a former Sons of Ares base. Cut off from news of the war, he fumes at Cassius au Bellona for leaving with the only flyable craft and Pink accomplice Aurae.

Cassius departed six weeks earlier for Starhold to procure helium for the Archimedes, leaving Darrow’s crew to rebuild the hull by hand while Harnassus attempts to fix the reactor. Darrow battles nausea, radiation, and the monotony of labor, channeling his frustration into work as time threatens to run out.

Haunted by his defeat on Mercury and the abandonment of the Free Legions, Darrow recognizes that rage will not restore what he lost. Aurae’s cryptic book nudges him toward seeing this exile as a stepping stone, and he resolves to endure and keep moving toward his family.

Thraxa, unable to spacewalk, manages shifts from inside and orders the welders in early as the moon’s rotation accelerates and radiation rises. Darrow pauses to gaze toward the dim light of Mars, allowing a moment of hope before the sun’s glare forces him back into shelter.