Tomas Nau, cradling the wounded ziphead Ali Lin, opens a private voice link to Qiwi. He claims Tas Vinh and Trinli ambushed them, killed Kal Omo, and left Ali Lin near death, describing drowned kittens at North Paw to intensify her shock. Qiwi, rattled but compliant, confirms no traitors have appeared at Benny’s and agrees to meet Nau at sluiceway S-745 within two hundred seconds. Nau cuts the link and has Marli try to reach Ritser Brughel.

Aboard the Invisible Hand, sensors confirm three nuclear strikes on Southmost, though with poor penetration. Brughel orders follow-on attacks against Accord missile fields, while Bil Phuong notes their guidance is degraded without L1 expertise. Pushing his zipheads to the limit, Jau Xin chooses to introduce a subtle targeting error that will cascade into random deviations, giving the Accord antimissiles a fighting chance. He accepts he remains a butcher—of hundreds instead of millions—and transmits the altered advice.

At Sherkaner Underhill’s compound, Rachner Thract finally gains an audience to warn that command automation is corrupt. Before he can finish, a colossal blast annihilates the site. Dazed and half-blind from afterimages, Thract and Underhill’s crushed guide-bug, Mobiy, dig the injured Underhill from a collapsing crater edge. Underhill’s eyes are blistered and some legs likely cracked; he calls for missing loved ones and tries to return to the pit. Thract restrains him, proposes using the helicopter’s telephone, and Underhill insists they bring Mobiy—“That’s all a matter of scale, Colonel.” Thract slings the guide-bug and leads the staggering Underhill downslope toward the chopper as fires spread across the caldera.