On learning the Stalwart II has self-destructed, Alex returns to Concord HQ, only to find it embroiled in a coup attempt by rebel Anaden forces. Caleb’s plans to travel to Namino and rescue Marlee are delayed as he helps Richard defeat the Anaden rebels.

On Namino, Grant and Joaquim rescue an unconscious Marlee from the Rasu and retreat to an underground bunker. Marlee awakens several hours later to find her injuries treated. Grant fills her in on events, and she meets Joaquim, Selene and Xyche’ghael. Joaquim and Selene clash over how to protect those trapped underground while fighting the Rasu invasion.

With their fleet decimated and Namino occupied, the Advisors gather at the Omoikane Initiative and review their limited options for how to respond. Unexpectedly, a fleet of Kat superdreadnoughts arrives to defend the remaining Asterion Axis Worlds from Rasu attacks.

At Concord HQ, David tries to keep the Concord infrastructure functioning while Miriam undergoes regenesis. Caleb convinces David to help him steal a CINT Ghost ship so can sneak onto Namino.

The Savrakath ambassador tells Mia that Malcolm died during the Savrak raid. She immediately starts the regenesis paperwork to bring him back, only to learn that he had a ‘no regenesis’ clause in his will. On Savrak, however, Malcolm wakes up to find himself injured and chained up in a dungeon.

Eren delivers Torval to the Savrakaths so they can punish him for destroying their antimatter lab. Eren returns to his ship, intending to commit suicide, when he’s knocked unconscious. He later wakes up to find himself restrained in the cargo hold, where his friend and teammate, Drae Shonen, intends to help him detox from the dialele.

On Epithero, the elassons Ferdinand elasson-Kyvern has gathered in his faltering rebellion against Concord bicker over how to move forward. Corradeo Praesidis/Danilo Nisi shows up at the Omoikane Initiative after rescuing Kiernan, stunning Nika and Lance, who remember him as their enemy during the SAI Rebellion.

Joaquim and Selene deploy drones to track the Rasu. Footage from the drones reveals widespread destruction, but also a massive Rasu compound being constructed on the edge of the city.

Alex belatedly learns Caleb has gone to Namino and that her father helped him; she and David argue, and she confesses how she’s afraid that due to his bond with Akeso, Caleb won’t survive the trial. Meanwhile, Caleb reaches Namino, battling both Rasu and Akeso’s protests as he crosses the city to try to reach Marlee.

Miriam wakes up from regenesis in a new body. She struggles with the news of what happened, what it means to have been dead and the incongruity of a new body. That night, she’s consumed by nightmares of the Rasu imprisoning her.

Caleb reaches the bunker and reunites with Marlee. He tries to convince her to to leave Namino with him, but she insists on staying to help everyone trapped there, and he agrees to stay as well.

Parc Eshett’s Plex twin was injured during the initial Rasu attack and is now trapped on the streets of Namino. Parc’s other incarnation reaches the Omoikane Initiative and reveals that he can communicate with his Plex twin on Namino despite the quantum block.

Mesme offers the Asterions a Rift Bubble device, which will prevent any Rasu from reaching the surface of a planet. Corradeo Praesidis tells Nika about the destruction he and Nyx saw at the Ourankeli’s halo ring. Nika urges him to go home to Concord and bring the Anadens in line.

Miriam gives the eulogy at Malcolm’s funeral, and Alex vows to do something to stop the spiraling carnage. Mia, in mourning, tries to convince Richard and Miriam to send Casmir and a Machim fleet against Savrak targets. When they refuse, she enlists Devon Reynolds, now in charge of Special Projects, to hack into the CINT servers and send a message directly to Casmir. Richard and David argue over David using Richard’s credentials to help Caleb steal a Ghost. Casmir receives a message he believes is from Miriam, authorizing him to send Machim ships against Savrakath military targets.

Alex returns home to find Akeso in a full state of revolt, with thunderstorms and flooding consuming the planet. She enlists her father’s help to steal a Machim Imperium, and they deliver it to Kennedy, who reverse engineers the Imperium’s double shielding in order to install it on Concord ships.

On Namino, a team from the bunker finds an injured Parc and brings him back to their hideout. Caleb suffers through the intense negative physical reaction of Akeso to the violence he committed during the excursion.

Dashiel develops a way to meld kyoseil into adiamene, allowing the kyoseil to dynamically alter the shape of adiamene hulls, and begins building a new, more resilient fleet.

Parc on Mirai wakes up after his Plex twin’s injuries were treated on Namino. He passes along a message for Alex from Caleb, then tells Nika what’s happening on Namino. Dashiel announces that his people have developed a virutox that should disrupt Rasu functionality. Nika asks Dashiel to create a kyoseil-infused body she can use to reach Namino and deliver the virutox.

Nika passes along Caleb’s message, and Alex decides to take the Siyane to Namino. Devon provides her with new toys to combat the Rasu, including a negative energy handgun called a Rectifier. Alex seeks out Morgan Lekkas, who since Brooklyn Harper’s death six years earlier has been running a bar on Chalmun Station, and convinces Morgan to accompany her to Namino. Alex then asks Akeso for help in tracking Caleb. They bond, and Akeso grants Alex the ability to sense the location of Caleb’s heartbeat.

Corradeo returns to Concord space for the first time in fourteen years. On learning that all the Praesidis Inquisitors who didn’t commit suicide after The Displacement have gone missing, he asks Nyx to try to find them.