Yang decides to take Iserlohn by a ruse. The Rosen Ritter (Knights of the rose), a ground combat unit made of Imperial exiles, will pose as an imperial crew and infiltrate the fortress. Yang's staff is introduced: Murai, Patrichev, Fischer (a master of fleet maneuvers) and Frederica Greenhill, daughter of admiral Dwight Greenhill. The Iserlohn fleet is lured away from the fortress by decoys. When a damaged imperial spaceship asks for help, the commander of Iserlohn, who doesn't know where his fleet is due to radar jamming, authorizes it to dock...

Yang is sent to Thernussen (Heinessen's second largest city) with his ward, Julian Minci, to attend a ceremony at the Military Academy. He meets Jessica Edwards, who is campaigning for the Peace Party candidate in an upcoming election. We learn that Yang, while being loyal to democracy, has no love for the current politicians. The P.K.C. sets a bomb in the Peace Party's headquarters, killing the candidate, but their plan backfires when Jessica, who is the new Peace Party candidate, wins a landslide victory.