Imperial warships descend on Rossak under the Corrino lion, alarming Raquella, Valya, and the Sisterhood. Raquella recognizes that this is an official Imperial intervention rather than a Butlerian mob, and she decides that resistance would only provoke destruction. She prepares to accept blame for Anna Corrino’s tragedy if doing so can preserve the Sisterhood.

Emperor Salvador Corrino arrives with Roderick and Dorotea, surrounded by armed soldiers and gunships aimed at the cliff city. Raquella approaches calmly and offers cooperation, expecting Salvador to demand vengeance over Anna. Instead, Salvador announces an investigation into allegations that the Sisterhood uses outlawed thinking machines for breeding records and has judged his genetic line unfit to produce an heir.

Raquella realizes Dorotea could have learned of the computers through Other Memory, but the claim about Salvador’s genetics likely came from Dr. Zhoma, suggesting betrayal or coercion. Raquella counters by portraying Dorotea as unstable after the poison ordeal that made her a Reverend Mother, comparing Dorotea’s possible delusions to Anna’s altered state. Dorotea insists the computers exist, but her reliance on voices from Other Memory makes the accusation appear unreliable to Salvador.

Raquella leads the Emperor’s party to the restricted caves, where Valya’s preparations have removed the illegal computers. The chamber now holds handwritten breeding records and Sister Mentats, presented by Karee Marques as human computers trained to memorize and analyze the information. Dorotea frantically searches for the missing machines and claims they must have been hidden, but the evidence before the Emperor supports Raquella’s explanation.

Valya then shifts suspicion onto Dorotea by suggesting guilt over Anna’s poisoning and revealing that Dorotea worked in the pharmaceutical labs. Valya produces the poison dose Dorotea had given her, while Karee confirms Dorotea’s access to dangerous drugs and implies Dorotea allowed the dose to leave the lab improperly. Salvador grows angry with Dorotea and expands the investigation, while Raquella outwardly promises full cooperation despite knowing the Emperor remains suspicious.