Marsh, Burns, and Marsala go to South America to retrieve a Terran geneticist named Ketzer, who the ExoFleet hopes will help them discover a weakness in the Neo lords. Although they destroy a Neo patrol they encounter, Draconis becomes aware of their presence in the rain forest. The three are then attacked by green humanoids, who succeed in capturing Nara. They take her to their village. She awakens with her arm hurting. Ketzer is there, for it was he who altered the natives, as well as himself. Ketzer notifies her comrades of her whereabouts, and they soon arrive. The Neos also pick up the signal, and Draconis is convinced by Medusa that he will be rewarded if he were to personally lead a successful attack. Medusa then reports to Livia that Draconis only serves for the sake of his own gain, not out of loyalty. Ketzer asks for the help of the ExoTroopers in attacking the nearby city Manaus. When they refuse he reveals that he has injected Nara with a retrovirus that will alter her DNA to make her like them, but has a compound that will prevent it if they help him. Just then the Neos launch an attack on the village, forcing both the villagers and the exotroopers to flee. Draconis is killed for disloyalty on Livia's order by a group Neo lords, ending Neo pursuit. Marsh tells Ketzer to recreate the compound that will cure Nara, but Ketzer says that he lied when he said there was a cure. Marsh wants to take Ketzer back to the ExoFleet, as were his orders, but Ketzer escapes when his altered humans distract the exotroopers with the possibility of an attack.
