Rissard continued to work alongside Zackaria during much of early 2617. After Zackaria went with Anthony Hawke aboard Ifrit to destroy Griffin, Rissard took over command of Dragon.

Julian Rissard went to Orca Beach with a detachment of Pandoran soldiers to intercept the evacuees from Ifrit, in anticipation of finding the White Knights amongst them. Kelly Taylor and Enrique Todd were discovered on the beach, though the other three were nowhere to be found. Satisfied that he had all that he was after, Rissard shot security chief Cole and had a number of survivors from Ifrit killed. He then ordered that a handful of Ifrit's evacuees be taken a holding facility to act as test subjects.

To discover the whereabouts of the ATAFs, the other White Knights and the Tachyon Star Bombs, Rissard took Enrique from the cell he had locked him and Kelly in and began beating him. When Enrique refused to talk, Rissard ordered that Kelly join him in the adhoc torture room. After inflicting a number of forms of torture on the woman, Enrique finally gave Rissard the information he was after when he threatened to cut out Kelly's eye.

He was enraged by Enrique when the pilot accused him of being a coward and only picking on the weak. It was enough to cause Rissard to challenge him to a fight, one which he ultimately lost. Enraged further, Rissard then had Enrique restrained so that he could beat the pilot without mercy. He later returned Enrique to his cell, beaten half to death.

For his actions Rissard was given a dressing down by Jason Zackaria, who was displeased with how he had treated the two captive Knights. Zackaria ultimately planned to have the White Knights join the frontline Pandoran forces, flying the ATAFs in support of the Mission. Even so, Rissard seemed to hold grievances against Enrique.