The Pax

Darrow's beloved flagship, spent as bait at Ilium—driven dying into Roque's fleet and abandoned so a clawDrill assault could smuggle the Valkyrie aboard the Colossus.

Story so far

The Pax, the Society flagship Darrow captured and made his first home since Lykos, meets her end at the battle of Ilium. Darrow drives her on a deliberate suicide charge into the heart of Roque's Sword Armada, betting the Poet will draw close rather than obliterate the Reaper's unrecoverable body. She takes catastrophic fire—Antonia's Pandora shredding her escorts, her shields failing in stages, her hull punctured, engines dying, decks aflame—reduced to a wolf pinned by a bear.

Darrow refuses surrender, evacuates her Blue crew to armored shuttles, and abandons her; her true purpose was always to be a hollow lure, drawing Roque's fifteen thousand boarders into an empty hulk while Darrow's real assault force drills out her belly toward the Colossus. Darrow bids her a grieving farewell—'Thank you, Pax'—one more friend lost to the cause.

Appearance

A great captured Society warship battered to ruin: shields collapsed, hull holed in seven places, decks burning, engines shredded, sirens flashing across an emptied bridge.

Role

Darrow's dying flagship, sacrificed at Ilium as bait to lure Roque's boarders while the clawDrill assault breaches the Colossus.

Relationships

Darrow — Her captain, who spends her as bait and mourns her as a lost friend as he abandons her.

Roque — The Poet whose boarding parties she lures into an empty hulk instead of the Reaper.

Antonia — The traitor whose flagship Pandora rakes her escorts apart in her final charge.

Orion — Her old admiral, who commands the true fleet from Persephone's Howl while the Pax plays decoy.

Earlier in this series

Also appears in books you've already read — spoiler-safe to their endings:

Red RisingBook 1
Golden SonBook 2

Sources — 2 recorded facts, by chapter

Chapter 39

Darrow's captured flagship, the first place to feel like home since Lykos—surviving the Triumph coup under Orion and rejoining the Rising.

Chapter 46

Darrow's beloved flagship, spent as bait at Ilium—driven dying into Roque's fleet and abandoned so a clawDrill assault could smuggle the Valkyrie aboard the Colossus.