As raiders try to board the Preservation survey team’s sea research facility, SecUnit swims under the attackers’ boat to disable it from within. On the observation deck, Dr. Thiago attempts to talk the raiders down despite SecUnit’s warnings, while Dr. Arada waits at the hatch with a weapon. SecUnit is already angry because the raiders previously shot it when it pulled Thiago out of danger.

After climbing aboard the raider vessel, SecUnit quietly incapacitates crew members inside, including the people controlling the boat’s heavy weapon aimed at the facility. While Thiago stalls the armed leader outside, SecUnit reflects on Thiago’s distrust of it and on Mensah’s confidence that SecUnit will protect the team. SecUnit then moves to stop the raiders on deck before the leader can turn Thiago into a hostage.

SecUnit sends drones to wound and disarm the raiders instead of killing them outright, partly because it knows Arada would hate unnecessary deaths. It fights through the deck crew, absorbs another gunshot, and confronts the leader after the leader grabs Thiago at gunpoint. SecUnit tries to create an opening, uploads a terrifying SecUnit drama clip to the raiders’ feed to unsettle them, and keeps pressuring the leader to release Thiago.

The standoff ends when Arada, who has moved into position, shoots the leader in an exposed part of the arm. SecUnit throws Thiago clear, disarms and incapacitates the leader, and orders Arada and Thiago back inside. Because the raider boat’s weapon system begins to power up again, SecUnit calls for Overse to execute the team’s launch plan.

The research facility rises from the water and reveals itself to be mobile, shoving the raider vessel off target and breaking its lock. As the facility lifts clear and its warning siren sounds, the raiders retreat. SecUnit recalls its drones, reenters the facility, and the chapter ends with the launch protocols underway, showing that the survey has entered a far more dangerous phase and that SecUnit remains the team’s real line of defense.