Alarms send Darrow and Thraxa racing to defend the Marcher base. Thraxa proposes an ambush-and-commandeer plan, but Darrow fears heavy losses. He dispatches Thraxa to the railguns while he heads to the hangar, where Harnassus forms a firing line and braces for Obsidian boarders. Before they fire, Screw reports the approaching torchShip is friendly.

The Wayward Chin docks and Colloway Char disembarks with Blues and Grays, transforming from wary pilot to hardened leader. To Darrow’s urgent questions, Char confirms Virginia is alive and ruling from Agea, with Victra, Kavax, Niobe, and Darrow’s brother Kieran—now ArchGovernor after Rollo’s assassination—at her side. Char describes a war-torn system plagued by sensor interference and false signatures, the Rim pressing with Helios and Dido, rumors that Quicksilver has quit, and Sefi’s death as Ragnar’s father seizes the Obsidians.

Tension flares as Char, believing Darrow dead, challenges his absence and small numbers. He reports Rhonna was lost when her shuttle failed to reach the Morning Star before the EMP. Char recounts his group’s escape, theft of the Votum-marked Wayward Chin, and their 2,011 survivors packed tight and hungry, asking for food.

Pressed about the stranded legions, Char describes butchery: starvation in the Morning Star, victims fed to hounds, mass impalements by Atlas from Heliopolis to Tyche, and others sent to Votum iron mines. The news deepens Darrow’s guilt and fury.

Cassius arrives with Aurae, hauling canisters of warship-grade helium-3 stolen via his mother’s Starhold network, offering the fuel needed for a return. Amid relief and renewed purpose, Cassius delivers a final shock: Sevro is not dead; he has been sold at a high-society Syndicate auction, with the buyer yet to be named.