Firelight

Emperor Gaius discovers Novum truth, confronts Director Vane, refuses to suppress the evidence. Commits to transparency. Learns of approaching alien fleet and Vanguard program origins.

Patrick infected by Gray Death, reveals Prometheus history to Ailana. Shares his plan with Steps 1-8, where Step 7 predicts institutional warfare (wrong) and Step 8 contingency notes force possibility. Patrick dies, Ailana walks south alone.

Desmond, Sara, and Dr. Quentin land on Novum, discover Earth flora mixed with alien biology, explore ruined city, find Feral remains, and locate archive terminals revealing a nuclear catastrophe 300 years ago. Ministry ship inbound.

Ailana's legs burned. They'd been climbing for three days, following switchbacks carved into the mountainside by people long dead. The path was crumbling in places, forcing them to scramble across loose scree that shifted under their boots.

Gaius processes Ailana's testimony, learns from Torres that Vane is targeting Senator Okafor's daughter, discovers Vane's coup preparations, and decides to confront Vane directly - the catalyzing moment of his transformation.

Vane executes Iron Hand operations after the Council vote, orders surveillance of Senator Okafor's seven-year-old daughter as political leverage, destroys his father's declassification petitions, and convenes secret Military Command Council meeting to prepare the coup.

Dr. Quentin explains the wine catastrophe and quarantine decree to Desmond while orbiting Novum, but escalating energy signature alerts from the planet create mounting urgency. Sara detects the anomaly intensifying and forces a landing decision before someone else investigates first.

Dr. Quentin observes Desmond's excitement as the team orbits Novum. Scientific discussions about the planet's independent biosphere and the Decree of Levetus play out while Quentin contends with an impatient Elena and mounting unease about anomalous energy signatures.