After Manford Torondo’s forces destroy three automated factories at the Thonaris shipyards, Josef Venport is shocked by the Butlerians’ brutality and angered by the deaths of his workers. Manford issues an ultimatum threatening to destroy the remaining robotic factories unless Josef surrenders within five minutes. Josef refuses to give up without resistance and orders Draigo Roget to find any possible way to hurt Manford’s superior fleet.

Aboard the Butlerian force, Gilbertus Albans studies the shipyards with Mentat precision, remembering tactical exercises with Draigo and with Erasmus. Gilbertus is disturbed by Manford’s indiscriminate destruction and by the deaths of human workers, though Gilbertus cannot voice sympathy for machine efficiency or criticism of the Butlerians. When Josef transmits a concession, Gilbertus tells Manford that Josef appears to have no viable military path to victory, while privately leaving room for irrationality or hidden information.

Under Josef’s orders, Draigo quickly devises a desperate plan using the remaining resources of the shipyards. Josef publicly announces an evacuation and asks Manford to guarantee the safety of his personnel, while secretly sending encoded instructions to loyal VenHold employees. Manford agrees that the evacuees will be safe from his forces but confirms that the complex itself will be destroyed, and three large evacuation vessels launch toward the Butlerian fleet ahead of schedule.

Gilbertus recognizes the vessels as refurbished robotic ships and becomes suspicious because the supposed evacuation has happened too quickly. Gilbertus presses Manford to demand the number of evacuees, and Josef claims more than six thousand people are aboard, a figure Gilbertus calculates cannot be true. From the unevacuated administration hub, Josef and Draigo watch the empty automated ships reach the enemy formation; Draigo worries because Gilbertus is present, but the trap still succeeds.

The three robotic vessels self-destruct in the middle of the Butlerian fleet, sending shrapnel, fire, fuel vapor, and shock waves through Manford’s ships. The explosion destroys nine Butlerian vessels and damages at least six more. Josef celebrates the opening blow and orders the next stage of the operation before Manford’s forces can recover.