Under guard, Holsten and Lain wait as distant firefights ebb and surge. When Scoles’s group dons masks, Lain deduces Security has seized the air systems. Scoles orders both hostages taken; Holsten argues to keep Lain alive for shuttle survival, and Scoles grudgingly agrees. The mutineers push through the ship, with Lain coaching Holsten onto a private mask channel.

Security intercepts them in armored suits, demanding surrender. A brief, chaotic exchange leaves mutineers dead and Security slowed but unbroken. Using Lain as a shield and jamming doors behind them, Scoles drives the group to the shuttle bay and launches, betting the Gilgamesh’s forward-only asteroid guns cannot hit them.

Aboard the shuttle, Lain and Holsten keep their masks for a secure channel. Lain persuades Scoles to free her to isolate comms from flight systems, warning that the orbiting sentinel can seize control. As a Gilgamesh shuttle launches in pursuit, Lain severs external access to all but the comms panel. Holsten prepares to talk to the satellite.

The sentinel identifies itself and forbids approach. Holsten alternates between appealing to Eliza’s procedural logic and Kern’s ego, while Nessel threatens him against betrayal. Kern reveals she is aware of the pursuit and labels them criminals, rejecting landing permission and threatening lethal force.

Running out of time and leverage, Holsten asks Lain for Karst’s drone footage from the planet. They build a quarantined drop to transmit it without exposing the shuttle’s systems. After receiving the data, the satellite emits a burst of static, then acknowledges and abruptly falls silent, Kern’s last words demanding to know what has happened to her “monkeys.” The shuttle crew are left hanging, unsure whether they have gained a reprieve or provoked destruction.