Colin's mission is hijacked by "Dahak" and his death is faked; as had MacIntyre returned with his data, "Dahak"s cover would have been blown. While MacIntyre is aboard, Dahaks AI explains the situation to him, and prevails upon him to, as a descendant of the loyalists, become "Dahak"’s newest captain, and to exterminate the mutineers—quickly, as Imperium installations are being destroyed, signs of the start of the latest Achuultani incursion. MacIntyre reluctantly accepts; the first step to making him the captain is to massively revamp his body surgically, granting him superhuman resilience, speed, and strength, in addition to the built-in electronics granting matchless control of Imperium technology. While Dahak has known for millennia where Anu's forces have bunkered up—under the South Pole in Antarctica—their base is protected by extremely strong force fields, force fields so strong that to penetrate them and destroy the base would require "Dahak"'s heavy weaponry, which would inevitably kill a significant percentage of the human population of Earth.