Strapped into the Guy Molinari among Belter irregulars, Miller steels himself for the boarding despite lingering injuries. He chats with a young fighter, Diogo, as Fred Johnson announces the breach. The assault cuts into a service corridor and immediately encounters an automated laser; anti-laser smoke saves the next wave, and the OPA pushes into Thoth’s plush but defensible halls.

Past riot barriers and grenades, Protogen begins banking low-shrapnel rounds off curved walls, but Fred’s calm commands keep the OPA low and methodical. The force advances through smoke-filled plazas while security tries to channel them; locked side doors are forced, and unarmored workers who attack are cut down, a moral line Miller swallows as he remembers Julie and accepts that “no one here is innocent.”

Holding a flank near ops, Miller and Diogo are ambushed from behind; Diogo is hit with nonlethal foam and bounces back, revealing Protogen’s crowd-control munitions. The push for the final blast doors snarls in a crush of bodies until Miller forces space for a welder to cut. The bulkhead groans open, and the OPA floods the operations center.

Miller announces the take and recognizes the suited executive as Dresden. With ops secured, Fred enters transformed from engineer to commander; taking the station offers him a quiet absolution for Anderson Station.

Dresden immediately frames the situation as negotiation: Protogen’s power guarantees reprisals, so he offers supplies, weapons, and amnesty if the OPA withdraws. Fred cites Eros; Dresden dismisses the charge and urges quick terms, claiming this is Fred’s best leverage. Fred rebuffs the bargain with a biblical allusion Dresden doesn’t recognize, leaving the standoff unresolved.