SecUnit returns to the station aboard the responder with the rescued refugees and captured hostiles while a tug takes the hostile ship and module to impound under isolation. SecUnit reviews updates: Lutran was killed by a long needle-like weapon to the head, the damaged transport has yielded no usable data, and Pin-Lee’s report confirms Lutran had been moving refugees through multiple allied stations for years. SecUnit worries that Lutran’s death may endanger the wider refugee network.

SecUnit proposes baiting the hidden Port Authority collaborator into acting again. Indah rejects using Target Four and chooses Mish, one of the rescued refugees, because Mish plausibly could have overheard the bounty-catchers. Mish distrusts SecUnit, but Indah pressures Mish to help, reminding Mish that SecUnit helped rescue the refugees and declined to file a complaint after being shot by a traumatized refugee.

As Indah prepares to coordinate the trap and data audit, SecUnit grows suspicious of a message supposedly from Aylen asking SecUnit to come to the Security Office. While crossing the empty Public Docks, SecUnit realizes Lutran’s assigned cargo bot should have records related to the module transfer. Before SecUnit can follow the clue, a hover crane is dropped on SecUnit, but drones give enough warning for SecUnit to dodge. SecUnit confirms Aylen never sent the message and learns someone spoofed Aylen’s ID to lure SecUnit into danger.

SecUnit connects the evidence to Balin, a long-resident Port Authority bot. SecUnit enters Supervisor Gamila’s office, orders Gamila to run, and confronts Balin. Balin attacks with both code and physical force, revealing that beneath Balin’s general-purpose shell is a CombatBot with military-grade armor. SecUnit deduces that BreharWallHan likely acquired Balin’s command codes and activated Balin to kill Lutran, stop the refugee pipeline, and deliver the refugees to the bounty-catchers.

The fight spills through the Port Authority window into the Public Docks. SecUnit damages Balin but is also injured. Cargo bot JollyBaby and many other station bots gather silently, recognizing that Balin’s feed now shows a CombatBot presence and interpreting it as an intruder that destroyed Balin. Outnumbered and exposed, Balin shuts itself down, ending the immediate threat.

Later, while a MedUnit repairs SecUnit’s ankle, SecUnit and Indah review the solution: Balin came from outside the station, killed Lutran through the module lock with hatch-decoder rods, sterilized the body to mislead investigators, attacked the transport bot pilot, dumped the corpse in the mall, and returned via the hull. Indah admits their major mistake was assuming the killer entered from inside the station. She also tells SecUnit she did not leak SecUnit’s image to the newsstreams and acknowledges they are on the same side. SecUnit leaves to meet Mensah and, when Indah offers future work, says only if it is really weird.