Lieutenant Bertram decides that there is no way to escape from the Free Planets Alliance ambush and plans to self-destruct the destroyer Hameln II and die an honourable death as an Imperial military officer, completely ignoring a plan proposed by Schmidt, an enlisted soldier who studied astrophysics before being drafted into the military. Siegfried Kircheis, after learning about Bertram's plan and his rebuffing of Schmidt, decides to release Reinhard von Müsel from detention, even if that means starting a mutiny. With the help of some enlisted crew members, Kircheis manages to release Reinhard and forcibly take over the bridge of Hameln II...