Lena takes command of the Spearhead squadron from her post within San Magnolia's fortified First Sector. She and Shin fight on without ever seeing each other, buther attempts to forge a bond of trust are stymied by the walls of hatred between Alba and Colorata, as well as the literal fortified walls between the Republic's eighty-five Sectors and the front lines. With tempers flaring after a death on the battlefield, Lena is forced to confront her own ugly cowardice and will soon come to learn why Shin's previous handlers called him Reaper.