Lyria pores over Volga’s latest letter, which mixes brutal memories and childlike hopes. Volga reveals she was lab-altered, monitored by doctors, and once gifted a toy ship by a dark woman; she jokes about piracy and asks about the Sovereign. Lyria, conflicted about calling Volga a friend, begins a reply written with her own blood.

Sol Guards bearing the Julii sun enter with a Brown mercenary, Figment. Fig taunts Lyria, steals and reads the letters, then demonstrates the cell’s puzzle interface, transforming the room into comforts and martial trophies. Fig reveals that Ephraim has arranged an exchange for Lyria and Volga through a White, and that the Alltribe has a boat inbound, so the captives must be cleaned and processed.

Escorted into the JBS Pandora’s training deck, Lyria sees Volga heavily guarded. Fig secures a slave ring on Volga, who had covertly slipped her cuffs, then restrains her hands with a specialized device. In the barracks, a young Sol named Paxton outfits Lyria and, hostile to Vox, lets slip that “Lionheart” is dead and the Reaper is in trouble. Lyria, shocked, realizes the Sovereign is dead.

While showering, Lyria hears a piercing tone as an almost invisible blade carves a triangular seam in the bulkhead. The panel retracts into a four-meter tunnel sealed by a fleshy membrane. Fig arrives; her skin patterns throb and scale as she draws a pistol. Dark, viscous shapes drop from the membrane onto the floor—no babies, not dead, but seemingly sleeping—signaling a mysterious bioengineered boarding that interrupts the planned exchange.