During a battle on a starship, Colonel Mitsuko Windsor, head of the Templars, is trapped without a helmet in a sealed compartment with an Earth First renegade. She kills him by throwing a shock grendade at the transparent wall behind him. Recalling the story about Suicide‘s experience in a hard vacuum, she manages to survive long enough for the emergency bulkhead to come down. However, her ear drums are blown out, and she is in rough shape. Susan Areestes, her former NCOIC and now a major in the Templars, informs her the King of Bonaparte, Mitsuko’s husband, will no longer be permitted to go out into the field. Mitsuko reluctantly agrees, but only if Areestes becomes the field commander.
Preceded by: “Awakening”
Followed by: “Devil's Redemption“