Lysander and Diomedes lead the Rim deputation through Ash Guard ranks aboard the Annihilo, noting the Core’s field armor and the slight toward Rim independence. In the hangar, battle-scarred Core Golds face austere Rim Golds. Kalindora au San appears with Ajax au Raa, now Storm Knight and Legate; the reunion is tense as Ajax demands proof of identity.

A Pink presents the Manteío. Lysander submits blood, and a Green adjunct confirms his DNA and security helix. Ajax verifies with a private family question, then embraces Lysander, overjoyed at his return. Lysander withholds correcting the “captivity” narrative, wary of the politics surrounding his reappearance.

Introductions sour as Ajax needled Diomedes over Cassius and Bellerephon. Diomedes answers with measured dignity. Spotting the storm crest on Diomedes’s cloak, Ajax forces a concession; Diomedes removes it. Ajax then urinates on the cloak, turning a negotiated exit into humiliation. Recognizing Requisite Disrespect, Lysander declines to defend Diomedes to avoid opposing Ajax.

Seraphina moves to retaliate but halts at Diomedes’s warning, while Obsidian Stained lower axes to menace the Raa. Ajax piles on crude taunts before shepherding the party onward, leaving relations inflamed. The chapter closes with Lysander aligned, at least outwardly, with Ajax as they proceed deeper into the Ash Legions’ domain.