The shadow of the Donnager spread across the viewport of the Rocinante, like a frigid iron curtain, crushing all hope of escape into dust. Holden stared at the repeated command "Surrender immediately" blaring from the comms, his knuckles whitening from the force of his grip. The flames of the Canterbury’s explosion and the final screams of its crew surged through his mind. He spun around abruptly, grabbing the portable recorder in the cabin; his bloodshot eyes were reflected in the lens. "This is Jim Holden, former XO of the Canterbury," his voice was hoarse yet resolute, "This civilian ice hauler carried fifty innocent crew members, and it was deliberately destroyed by the Martian Fleet. Here is the evidence—this is their crime!"
The unpolished video of his accusation was originally Holden’s message to "future generations"—he hadn’t hoped it would reach the outside world, but merely wanted to leave the truth behind if he was indeed going to be executed. However, the Rocinante’s tattered emergency comms channel accidentally picked up a faint public signal, and the video drifted along with the data stream to every corner of the Solar System. Within hours, the footage played on a loop across public screens on Ceres Station; Belter miners took to the streets brandishing tools, roaring "Mars get out!" On Earth, social media was flooded with the hashtag #AvengetheCanterbury, and the UN Headquarters’ phone lines were overwhelmed by furious citizens. Meanwhile, at a press conference in Mars’ capital, the spokesperson could only repeat "This matter is under investigation" when bombarded by reporters, his sweating temples betraying his flustered state. An interstellar upheaval triggered by a single video had only just begun.
The wave of public opinion failed to shield the Rocinante; instead, it made the Donnager’s stance even tougher. "Your actions constitute defamation against Mars. Board our vessel immediately for investigation, or we will destroy you." As the cold command came through, Naomi was clutching Holden’s arm, her eyes filled with urgency. "Don’t act impulsively—we still have room to negotiate." But Holden knew they had no leverage left. When the Rocinante’s airlock connected to the Donnager’s docking tunnel, heavy metallic footsteps approached from afar. A squad of Martian soldiers in red armor cut through the hatch and stormed in, weapons raised. Amos instinctively stepped in front of Naomi, while Alex lowered his head, avoiding the soldiers’ gazes—a subtle movement that did not escape Holden’s notice.
The Donnager’s interrogation room was even smaller than the Rocinante’s cockpit, bathed in a harsh, pale light that stung the eyes. Martian Commander Colonel Thorne sat across from Holden, with the crew’s files scrolling across the holographic screen before him. "Jim Holden, your record is as clean as a blank slate," Thorne’s gaze flicked across the screen, then suddenly halted on Naomi’s profile. "But your crew is a different story. Naomi Nagata—three years ago, you had secret contact with OPA leadership on Titan Station." He paused, then pulled up Alex’s file, the crimson words "Martian Fleet Veteran" standing out sharply. "Alex Kamal, once an ace pilot of the Martian Seventh Fleet, dishonorably discharged for insubordination. How does it feel to be back in Mars’ embrace?" Holden’s mind reeled. Though neither of them admitted to any wrongdoing, doubt had already taken root in his heart.
After exiting the interrogation room, Holden spotted Alex in a Martian Fleet uniform. Alex approached him, saying, "I’m not a traitor, but I did serve in the Martian Fleet and was honorably discharged—that’s why I’m being treated this way." He also told Holden that the Canterbury hadn’t been destroyed by the Martian Fleet; instead, another organization had framed Mars to incite an interstellar war, and he suspected the OPA was behind the attack.
While Holden’s crew was trapped in a crisis of trust, a heated debate was unfolding in the conference room of the UN Headquarters on Earth. Undersecretary Chrisjen Avasarala projected Holden’s video onto the massive screen, her voice ringing out with conviction: "The Martian Fleet locked onto a civilian vessel and forced it to surrender—this is an act of aggression against Belt sovereignty! Their recent military deployments near Ceres are clearly an excuse to ‘combat the OPA’ while seizing control of all Belt resources!" No sooner had she finished speaking than a representative from a European member state retorted: "We can’t accuse Mars without conclusive evidence. If the video is forged, we’ll be the ones starting an interstellar war!" Both sides clung to their arguments, voices overlapping, and the Security Council’s votes ended in deadlock time and time again.
Determined to find a breakthrough, Avasarala arranged a private meeting with the Martian Ambassador to the UN. In the reception room at UN Headquarters, she held a cup of hot tea and casually mentioned: "Colonel Thorne claims the explosion was the OPA’s doing—do you find that credible?" The ambassador’s fingers froze for a split second before he smiled and replied: "Of course. Mars has always been a victim of the OPA." But the panic in his eyes did not escape Avasarala—it was not the anger of someone wrongfully accused, but the unease of someone caught off guard. Avasarala set down her teacup, her tone turning serious: "Ambassador, Martian Fleet deployment records show that the Donnager was not at the coordinates officially stated on the day of the explosion. If Mars is innocent, why hide its movements?"
The ambassador’s face paled instantly, and he stammered, unable to form a coherent response. After seeing him off, Avasarala immediately summoned her assistant, slamming a copy of Martian military deployment documents on the table: "The Canterbury wasn’t destroyed by the official Martian Fleet. Thorne’s story is a diversion, and Naomi’s OPA ties are probably just a coincidence." She pointed to a blurry signature on the document. "There’s definitely a third party pulling the strings—one that wants to frame Mars and use the OPA to destabilize the region."
Holden was taken alone to the command center, where a Chief Petty Officer pressured him to testify that Naomi Nagata, an OPA agent, was responsible for destroying the Canterbury. Holden refused, but he also realized that regardless of the truth behind the explosion, he and his crew had already become pawns in the power struggle between Earth and Mars. Somewhere in the darkness of the void, the true mastermind behind the scenes watched the chaos they had sown, a cold smile playing on their lips. Cracks in trust had already formed, and the mist surrounding the truth had grown thicker. Their fates were already irrevocably tied to the future of the entire Solar System.