After failing to save Visari's life, Sgt. Tomas Sevchenko and Rico Velasquez regroup with Captain Jason Narville outside the imperial palace. With Helghan cruisers preparing to attack their fleet, they are forced to fight their way through the ruins of Pyrrhus, sacrificing most of their remaining armor and manpower in order to reach an extraction point near the edge of the city. Admiral Orlock, commander of the First Army, is pressured by Jorhan Stahl, the chairman of arms manufacturer Stahl Arms, to either ensure the total destruction of the ISA or turn over control of the army to him. Meanwhile, Rico receives a transmission from Jammer, a sniper whose platoon has been cut off by the Helghast. Against Narville's orders, he goes to assist them. The rest of the force attempts to link up with the fleet, but enemy interference leads to several ships being shot down, forcing the remainder to leave without Narville's men.
Six months later, Stahl calls for a vote in the Helghan Imperial Senate to remove Orlock for incompetence, but his request is denied. Furious, Stahl ends his company's cooperation with the First Army and organizes his personal guard to hunt down the ISA, who have set up a base in a remote jungle near one of their destroyed cruisers. While working to restore the base's communication uplink, the soldiers learn that the UCN has agreed to a ceasefire with the Helghast, effectively abandoning them. The transmission is intercepted by Stahl's men, who subsequently attack the camp and kill everyone aside from Tomas and Narville, who are taken captive.