The Corvus arrives at Iden's homeworld of Vardos—once an Imperial utopia, but now an ash-strewn wasteland due to the effects of Operation: Cinder decades earlier. Iden orders Zay to stay aboard the Corvus, while she and Shriv confront Gleb at the Archive building. As they make their way through the ruins of Kestro, they see red lights streaking through the sky—the destruction of the Hosnian system by the First Order's Starkiller Base.
Entering the Archive, Iden finds Gleb dead on the floor. Gideon Hask steps out of the shadows, saying the Protectorate had outlived her usefulness to Project Resurrection and the First Order. Iden accuses them of kidnapping children, but Hask refers to Resurrection as "rescuing" children, and forging them into an army for the First Order. Shriv says the Senate will not allow it, but Hask informs them that the Senate and the Hosnian system have been destroyed. He tells Iden that on this great day, he chose to be with her where it all began—the defection of Inferno Squad from the Empire at the Vardos Archive. Hask gloats that he is at last getting his revenge for Iden's actions that day—first by killing Del, and then her daughter. He gestures outside, where a Star Destroyer opens fire on the Corvus, destroying it. Hask orders his squad of stormtroopers to interrogate Iden and Shriv for information on the Resistance. As they are escorted outside, a Jinata Security officer throws a thermal detonator at the troopers, allowing Iden to disarm and incapacitate them.
With J-Sec and the First Order occupied with fighting each other, Iden orders her droid Dio to slice a relay station to detect the homing beacons from the Corvus's escape pods. They locate two pods but both are empty, however Dio picks up a third beacon, where they find Zay has set up a sniper's nest to defend herself. After clearing the area of First Order and J-Sec troops, Iden tells Zay that her father is dead—she blames herself for not joining the Resistance earlier, and resolves to board Hask's Star Destroyer, the Retribution, to kill him. Shriv and Zay assure her it isn't her fault, and Shriv welcomes Iden to the Resistance.