Rim commandos storm the ship, blinding and subduing Lysander, Cassius, and their companions with stun grenades and restraints. Kuon hounds enforce terror; when a rescued Blue tries to flee, her ankle cuff detonates and the hounds kill her. Lysander, racked with guilt over his missteps, steadies himself as Cassius signals patience.

An aged Gold, Venator Pandora of the krypteia, oversees the raid. When Lysander invokes the Compact’s sanctuary clause, Pandora responds with calculated brutality, then shifts focus as her men report a wounded Gold aboard. She orders a message to subQuaestor Marius about a small, flat stone and demands to know if the woman carries a storage device.

Storm Knight Diomedes au Raa arrives with his men and tenderly reunites with the wounded Seraphina, his sister. Pandora presses to interrogate Seraphina about her forbidden mission into the Gulf, but Seraphina claims she found nothing and panics at Pandora’s presence. Diomedes has Seraphina sedated and declares her under his protection.

Diomedes extends his shield to the prisoners, overruling Pandora’s push for harsh interrogation and ordering they return home for the Sovereign’s judgment. Pandora yields and consigns the captives to cells rather than the white tanks. Lysander recognizes Pandora as the Ghost of Ilium and realizes he and Cassius now lie under the power of Romulus au Raa.