The Red Armada advances on Luna, slipping past the Rubicon Beacons two months after the Sword Armada’s fall. Mixed rebel and defected Core fleets form behind Morning Star. Civilians clog the orbital thoroughfares as the Ash Lord arrays the Scepter Armada in tight defense around Luna. Though outnumbered, Darrow presses the initiative.

Darrow orders a long-range missile at the Citadel to rattle defenses; platforms shoot it down. A Praetorian link opens: ArchLegate Lucius au Sejanus requests envoy access, but Darrow rejects him, demanding the Sovereign speak directly and making clear he has come for war, not negotiations.

On Morning Star’s bridge, Orion reports readiness and notices a cleared shuttle. Darrow admits to her privately that he intends to release Cassius to prevent a retaliatory killing aboard during the coming battle. Orion reluctantly promises to let the shuttle depart and to keep quiet about the plan.

On the prison deck, Mustang diverts patrols and joins Darrow and Sevro at Cassius’s cell. They reveal the target is Luna, not Mars. Cassius claims he is finished with the war; Mustang apologizes for past wrongs and asks him to live elsewhere. On oath to his father and Julian, Cassius promises to leave and never return. Despite Antonia’s taunts, Sevro unlocks the cell, and they prepare to smuggle Cassius out in a cargo crate.

As farewells are exchanged, Cassius grips Sevro’s hand, pivots, strips Sevro’s pistol, and holds him at gunpoint. He forces Darrow and Mustang to their knees. When Sevro refuses to kneel and reaches for his razor, Cassius shoots him in the shoulder, then fires six more rounds into Sevro’s chest, whispering, “For Gold,” shattering the fragile trust and endangering the rebellion’s leaders at the brink of battle.