In the wake of breaching Mercury, Lysander flies south with the Iron Leopards and XX Fulminata through mountains into desert, numbed by relentless bunker hunts and Ajax’s reckless aggression. When rooftop snipers fire, Ajax uses Lysander’s targeting to call an orbital strike that erases a town, civilians included, souring Lysander and prompting Kalindora’s hard counsel about necessary cruelty.

At a playa landing site, legions and armor pour in as scouts range out. A thousand starShell-clad Praetorians arrive under SubLegate Rhone ti Flavinius and kneel to Lysander, offering apologies and renewed oaths. The public allegiance horrifies Lysander politically and enrages Ajax, while Rhone reveals other Guard will come and Julia au Bellona has released them to him.

Ajax outlines a westward push when Fury Command warns of hypercanes forming over Sycorax. Lysander urges delay; officers scoff until drones and scouts go dark and a sand wall bears down. The storm annihilates ships, armor, and infantry; Lysander and Kalindora shelter behind a tank as transports are shredded. Ajax stumbles in shock, and Lysander steadies him, breaking their hostility.

In a battered transport, Seneca reports catastrophic losses. Debate over the storm’s nature ends when Lysander deduces Darrow is using a hidden Storm God, likely one Octavia buried to leash Mercury. He explains the storms form a kill circle to pin and isolate them and argues the engine lies northwest and is likely lightly defended; bringing it down will take days to clear the ocean weather but will end the desert sandstorm sooner.

Facing ruined timelines and expectations, Ajax resolves to seize initiative: when the sand lifts, Grimmus will mass-land and strike Heliopolis, while a cohort hunts the Storm God to free the skies. He asks Lysander to lead the mission with the Praetorians; Lysander accepts. Seraphina volunteers to guide the crossing, and Kalindora insists on accompanying them, vowing to defend the heir and kill the engine.