Carl meets Rishi, the surviving naga from the original Blood Sultanate, alone in a protected cell after Rishi surrendered following Vinata’s death. Rishi has been stripped of gear, isolated behind layered shields, and mutilated by having his four arms removed, but Carl remains wary because Rishi is a high-level political actor rather than an ordinary conscripted soldier.

Carl questions why Rishi hid instead of joining Vinata, Rishi’s wife, and the others in Khepri’s temple. Rishi explains that he believed Vinata’s plan would get everyone killed, that the mantids’ earlier flight convinced him something was deeply wrong, and that he had already accepted his wife’s likely death once Vinata refused to abandon Faction Wars.

Rishi then introduces the Great Consensus, a separatist philosophy spreading through several systems. Rishi claims Vinata wanted the naga to steal their fleet, abandon Syndicate entanglements, and disappear for generations, but that leaked news of the plan caused chaos at home. Because Carl’s Emergency Action Item cut off Rishi’s view of the outside situation, Rishi chose to survive and approach Carl with an offer.

Rishi produces a sealed contract that treats Carl as Earth’s de-facto legal representative under Syndicate rules. The deal would grant Earth natives citizenship rights in naga territories and five generation ships in exchange for letting the naga terraform and settle other planets in Earth’s system after the crawl and quarantine. Rishi argues that Earth will need allies if the crawl ends normally, and that if the macro AI changes the post-crawl order, the naga could become early friends of a rising Earth.

Carl discovers that Vinata never signed the agreement; Rishi drafted and signed it himself because he claims to be the new ruler of the naga. An achievement confirms that almost the entire newly renamed Naga Protectorate is watching Carl’s feed. Rishi reveals his brothers are deposing Vinata’s father, the prime minister, and the ruling house, making the contract part of a wider coup.

With open hostilities minutes away and the team’s preparations underway, Carl rejects Rishi’s political maneuvering. Carl says his terms are for the naga to take their ships and destroy themselves, then uses the opportunity of the massive naga audience to mark Rishi successfully. Carl announces that Rishi is only the opening act, signaling that he intends to kill another naga leader in front of their people.