A serial interviewer on behalf of Kiith Manaan, speaks to the five individuals who live to tell their tales, to make a documentary about the Kushan Landfall and the remaining Taiidani staying behind to keep what they've cherished, cared and honoured. Like with the Bentusi, the Kushan see madness reflected right back with the Taiidani, both races lost their homes; yet their homeworlds' fate were different.
The first is a Taiidani Separatist, who talks about why the chose the Kushan over their empire. Though they can accept Riesstiu's good intentions, that was only when he retain some honesty and chose the Hiigarans exiled instead of either extinct or enslaved. By the time they destroyed Kharak following the mothership's hyperspace jump, he was already gone corrupt and decadent.
Having become immortal through minduploading he lost his purpose and morality, and the empire split apart between the Separatists and loyalists. She joined Captain Elson, seeing him just as good as Riesstiu was, as long as he doesn't upload his mind into a computer.
Even when the emperor died, his loyalists range from admitting defeat to never surrendering "even the corrupt must be obeyed," even in death.