The SecUnit comes back online in Medical, initially inert and expecting that PreservationAux may have killed it after the combat override module was inserted. By checking the security feed and procedure recordings, it learns that Pin-Lee and Overse successfully removed the module and that its injuries were repaired. When it hears Gurathin say HubSystem has immobilized it, the SecUnit secretly cuts HubSystem off from the room’s live discussion and replaces the official recording with false ambient noise.

Gurathin tells the group that the SecUnit is a rogue with a hacked governor module, arguing that it could be involved in the sabotage and the DeltFall killings. Volescu, Bharadwaj, Ratthi, and Overse push back, pointing out that the SecUnit has repeatedly protected them and warned them about the combat module. Forced to explain itself, the SecUnit says its governor malfunctioned during an earlier assignment, causing it to kill fifty-seven clients, and that it hacked the replacement governor so that could not happen again. When Gurathin exposes its private nickname, "Murderbot," and mentions its obsessive media use, the SecUnit argues that HubSystem is trying to turn the team against it and proves HubSystem lied about immobilizing it by instantly pinning Gurathin to the wall before releasing him at Mensah’s calm request.

Mensah then reframes the situation: the SecUnit has been free the entire time, yet has still chosen to help them. She asks it to remain with the group until they are safe, and promises not to reveal its broken governor module to the company. The SecUnit agrees and admits it hacked HubSystem when they first arrived, though it is no longer sure what the compromised system knows. The discussion shifts from the SecUnit to HubSystem itself, and the group concludes that an outside agent is probably controlling it, especially after Ratthi reports that DeltFall’s emergency beacon had been destroyed. The SecUnit lists earlier sabotage incidents it now recognizes: an abort command when Bharadwaj and Volescu were attacked, the hopper autopilot failure during Mensah’s trip, and a suspicious satellite update it refused to install.

Mensah orders Pin-Lee and Gurathin to shut HubSystem down while Volescu and Bharadwaj examine the withheld satellite download through MedSystem. As the others think through motive and method, the SecUnit argues that the company may have accepted a bribe to conceal another survey group, but would not willingly take on the financial cost of dead clients. Mensah proposes that the unknown attackers may have gained entry to DeltFall by pretending to be PreservationAux, and the SecUnit warns that if those attackers come here, they may arrive armed with stronger equipment. Because waiting inside the habitat is now more dangerous than leaving it, the group decides to evacuate.

After HubSystem is shut down, Bharadwaj reports that the satellite download was designed to seize control of the SecUnit and then use it to open MedSystem and SecSystem to the attackers. As everyone hurriedly loads supplies, Pin-Lee and Gurathin confirm that HubSystem had been receiving outside commands. A drone then sends back visual proof that PreservationAux’s emergency beacon has been destroyed, and another drone contact vanishes to the south, showing the attackers are approaching. Mensah gets the team moving immediately, and they launch in two hoppers, heading west while the SecUnit leaves its drones behind on misleading routes in hopes of delaying pursuit.