Holsten wakes to a dim, overtaxed Gilgamesh and joins a Command muster. Vitas, seemingly ageless, confirms Lem Karst as acting commander and explains that the ship is failing, suspension is collapsing, and interstellar travel is over. Per Guyen’s long plan, they must take the green planet, which means defeating Kern’s satellite. Karst outlines an offensive: shielded drones to burn the satellite, then arming teams for brutal surface clearing.

Karst assigns Holsten to decode persistent transmissions. Alpash, a ship-born engineer, helps and reveals the signals are bouncing via the planet. Confronted with being the last classicist, Holsten painstakingly teases patterns from two types of messages, suspecting degraded Imperial speech. Fragments cohere into warnings: stay away, leave, peace, death.

Holsten reports his tentative translation. Karst, committed to the plan and enforcing radio silence, launches the drones, recalling Kern’s past system takeovers and fearing any hint might expose their approach. The ship’s condition and humanity’s last chance weigh visibly on him, yet he holds to the offensive.

Drone feeds arrive as they near target. Instead of merely Kern’s satellite, they reveal a vast, active web spanning the planet’s equator: nodes, conduits, sun-facing petals, and traffic—an orbital lattice with Kern’s home as one point among many. Holsten recalls the planet’s lethal arachnids as the scope becomes clear.

Karst rejects retreat. He declares they will fight Kern and the web, even mass-driving the world if necessary, because it is the only remaining home. He calls for more minds and orders Alpash to begin: wake Lain.