Holden pilots the Knight to dock with the massive, intimidating MCRN battleship Donnager. Captain Theresa Yao receives the crew under heavy guard, warns of six silent ships shadowing them, and sets a firm deadline before launching torpedoes. The crew is confined to quarters under Marine supervision while the ship goes to thrust.

Holden is escorted to an interview with Naval Intelligence officer Lieutenant Lopez. Lopez, amped on focus drugs, probes Holden’s UNN past, motives for leaving, and reasons for implicating Mars in the Canterbury’s destruction. When the Donnager launches torpedoes against the pursuers, general quarters interrupts the session and Holden is hurried back to his compartment.

Reunited with his team, Holden, Naomi, Alex, Amos, and Shed wait tensely as the point defense cannons fire against incoming threats. Alex explains the grim sounds and risks; Naomi challenges Holden’s faith in the Donnager’s invulnerability. Despite the ship’s defenses, a torpedo hits, gravity cuts out, and the battle closes to ranges where the Donnager brings gauss cannons to bear—an unprecedented close-quarters engagement for a capital ship.

Amid the ringing impacts of return fire, a gauss round punches through the compartment, silently drilling two holes and instantly killing Shed by decapitation. Air vents through the new breaches as the crew confronts the sudden loss, the Donnager’s damage, and the startling effectiveness of the unidentified attackers.