With seconds to the OnOff star’s Relight, both Emergents and Qeng Ho gather in the temp’s meeting room to watch. Ezr Vinh, alongside Podmaster Tomas Nau and flight tech Jau Xin, reviews the risky choice to remain moored behind a diamond rock instead of retreating outward. Outside, Qeng Ho crews spread reflective canopies over volatiles to limit boil-off as brightness climbs rapidly.

Qiwi Lisolet, angry at being ordered indoors despite her strong stationkeeping plans, is removed from outside duties. Pham Trinli, nominally the stationkeeping lead and a minor conspirator, maintains appearances while others slip away to execute the takeover during the expected confusion.

Using a hidden antenna through a cleft between diamond boulders, Pham bypasses Emergent I/O controls and taps Hammerfest’s line-of-sight link. As Relight turns the rockpile into a steaming comet and alignment shifts, he reestablishes the connection and penetrates internal traffic. He finds unfamiliar Emergent subsystems and detailed surveillance: the Emergents have mapped the conspirators, cracked their crypto, and anticipate an attempt to seize the Far Treasure.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Diem, Tsufe, Do, and Patil rappel around the sunside under makeshift shields, nearly losing Patil when a spike slips. They reach the Far Treasure’s rim hatch as diamond-transmitted light floods the moorage. Using a passcode Tsufe observed, they prepare to board.

Pham laser-warns Jimmy that the plan is compromised and likely a setup. Weighing the risks, Jimmy orders the illicit link cut and continues. He opens the hatch; Do and Patil enter the airlock first. Jimmy plants a device on the hull and follows, committing the team to a raid that may be walking into an Emergent trap.