Armageddon recap

Joe Bishop leads the Flying Dutchman on a search for a refuge beyond the Milky Way and finds Avalon, but a Maxolhx battle group is soon dispatched toward Earth. Bishop saves time by framing the Bosphuraq for the loss of two Maxolhx cruisers, causing devastating reprisals, then uses manipulated wormholes to seize sections of senior-species warships and assemble Valkyrie. A raid for essential power devices kills Desai, Giraud, and many others while leaving Adams comatose and Smythe gravely injured. Skippy infects the approaching battle group's AI libraries, chains wormholes to strand the force beyond the galaxy, and helps the two human ships impersonate its missing carriers at Goalpost. Earth is temporarily safer but remains blockaded, unreachable, and unwarned. Avalon is still only a refuge candidate, Valkyrie's resident AI remains hostile, the human force is badly depleted, and Skippy can no longer repeat either decisive wormhole tactic.

Previously: Joe Bishop seized the Flying Dutchman without authorization, but that decision allowed his crew and Skippy to defeat two Maxolhx warships while keeping Earth's role concealed. Earth recently survived another crisis at Dayton, where a Kristang attempt to gain control of the local wormhole nearly prompted a nuclear strike. Nagatha was badly damaged during that emergency and now needs restoration. Humanity's public account still presents the Kristang and Thuranin as allies, partly to limit panic and preserve hope for troops stranded on Paradise. The danger has not ended. Earth's supposedly dormant local wormhole can become active, the loss of the Maxolhx ships may eventually attract attention, and the planet lacks a secure fallback if a senior species discovers what happened. Bishop and Skippy remain partners aboard the Flying Dutchman after the Dayton crisis.

So far this book: Government representatives review whether Joe Bishop should retain command, but Skippy covertly enters their secure meeting and argues that Bishop's earlier actions saved Earth. UNEF sends the Flying Dutchman on a six-month search for a human beta site while another gunship remains near Earth. Nagatha begins a self-directed restoration, preserving changes she considers part of herself. Chang is designated to command security at any refuge, Desai becomes executive officer, and Adams joins Smythe's STAR Team Alpha. Chotek and three other civilian overseers accompany the scientists. The damaged but flight-ready ship leaves Earth through Gateway with a crowded complement and extensive cargo. Once underway, Skippy admits that he exaggerated his knowledge of the super-duty wormholes needed to reach a satellite galaxy. The preferred dwarf-galaxy destinations are based on ancient observations, and the expedition has no confirmed route to any of them. Bishop therefore begins the mission knowing that even access to a merely adequate refuge is uncertain.

So far this book: The expedition learns that its controller cannot reach a dwarf galaxy without Rindhalu equipment. At Slingshot, a dead Rindhalu world watched by an old Maxolhx sensor network, Skippy conceals the Flying Dutchman while Smythe's teams recover three possible range extenders. The recovered data also indicates that the Rindhalu have, or once had, access to a functional Elder AI. One extender nearly destroys the Dutchman during testing, but it works. Skippy then redirects a dormant super-duty wormhole toward the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy. A missing local connection initially leaves the mission without a destination, until a concealed function inside Skippy supplies authentication for another protected wormhole. Beyond it, the crew discovers Avalon, a habitable planet in an Elder-altered system. Surveys find breathable air, no land predators, and no immediate existential hazard, although the access wormhole may also expose the colony. The commissioners recommend Avalon by a three-to-one vote, but do not grant final approval. Chang, Simms, Chotek, the commissioners, scientists, and security personnel remain there while the Flying Dutchman starts home. Nagatha proves she can transmit the wormhole password without Skippy directly providing it.

So far this book: On the return journey, the crew learns that Emily Perkins's attempt to reconnect Paradise with Earth helped expose the disappearance of two Maxolhx cruisers. The Maxolhx prepare a battle group for Earth and blockade Gateway before the Flying Dutchman can return. Bishop first considers moving people from Paradise to Avalon, but aborts the approach after finding another possibility. He frames the Bosphuraq for destroying the cruisers with a secret space-time weapon. The crew plants altered wreckage at the battle site, uploads a forged confession through alien relays, and changes conditions around a Bosphuraq star so the physical evidence supports the story. The Maxolhx accept the deception and launch coordinated punitive attacks. They destroy a research moon, condemning the inhabited planet below to a prolonged ice age, strike other sites and a city, and force the Bosphuraq to surrender scientists and research. The fraud averts the immediate attack on Earth, but Bishop accepts responsibility for the mass suffering it causes. Gateway remains blockaded, leaving the Flying Dutchman unable to reach home.

So far this book: The Bosphuraq frame-up buys time but does not end the danger. The Maxolhx decide that projecting strength requires an even larger expedition to Earth, including two star carriers and additional capital ships. Skippy also discovers an Elder-built barrier surrounding the Milky Way. Restrictions inside his matrix prevent a full explanation, but it appears to defend the galaxy from an external threat. Unable to fight the approaching force with the worn Flying Dutchman, Bishop proposes assembling a warship from deliberately disabled Maxolhx vessels. His plan uses an Elder wormhole to cut a ship as it emerges, preserving selected sections for capture. The Dutchman returns to Avalon for Smythe's STAR personnel and prepares the refuge for possible arrivals. At the first live attempt, an overlooked data feed lets a Maxolhx cruiser detect the trap and fire. Skippy induces the wormhole to crush the cruiser, but no usable section survives, and debris damages the Dutchman. The capture concept remains unproven while the ship undergoes urgent repairs.

So far this book: Skippy corrects the wormhole trap and severs an Extinction-class battlecruiser. Smythe's teams board its forward hull, taking deaths and serious injuries before Adams reaches a critical data connection and Skippy gains control. The corresponding engineering section is destroyed, so the crew risks another attempt with depleted medical resources. A second battlecruiser yields compatible power and propulsion systems, and a final use of the trap captures a heavy-cruiser engineering section before the wormhole network removes Skippy's access to the cutting function. The salvaged sections can be combined into a stronger battlecruiser and used to improve the Flying Dutchman. Bishop names the reconstructed ship Valkyrie and keeps Nagatha with the Dutchman because moving or copying her would destroy the identity she rebuilt. Valkyrie's firmware-bound Maxolhx AI remains hostile and must be controlled by Skippy. The new ship also lacks intact vacuum power multipliers, leaving its major weapons and defenses underpowered. The crew has acquired a warship hull, but it must obtain those irreplaceable devices before Valkyrie can provide the capability Earth needs.

So far this book: Bishop develops a plan to strand the Earth-bound battle group outside the galaxy by chaining closely aligned wormholes. Skippy finds that the ships' AIs can be crashed with corrupted foundational mathematics, but the malicious update must enter a protected Maxolhx data system. Instead of landing on a ministry world, he intercepts a transmission beside its orbital dock with micro-wormholes and inserts the altered library file into updates destined for the target force. The trap is now prepared, but Valkyrie still needs vacuum power multipliers as a backup combat option. The Flying Dutchman and Valkyrie raid an automated Maxolhx supply station. Concealed defenders kill four boarders, after which the team resumes loading devices. A patrol ship and a supply ship then arrive unexpectedly. Their attack destroys two Panther dropships, catastrophically damages another, and badly hits the Dutchman. Valkyrie destroys both hostile ships, but the boarding party, damaged craft, and survivors are still caught in a lethal emergency. The raid has recovered some power devices, not enough for both human ships, and its final losses remain unresolved.

So far this book: The supply-station rescue confirms catastrophic losses. Desai and Giraud die, Adams remains in a deep coma with possible brain damage, and Smythe loses both lower legs while suffering severe internal injuries. Twenty-seven people have died across the warship captures and raid. Nagatha handles navigation while Skippy treats the wounded, and Kapoor takes command of a STAR force reduced to six combat-capable members. Despite their grief, Bishop and Skippy execute the wormhole diversion. A scout destroyer is sent beyond the galaxy, and its compromised AI reports a safe transit that draws both Maxolhx star carriers and their attached ships through. The planted mathematical corruption crashes their AIs, stranding the battle group outside the Milky Way. The wormhole network then prevents Skippy from repeating the chain. To conceal the diversion, Valkyrie and the Flying Dutchman impersonate the missing carriers through Goalpost while a disguised Condor clears a Ruhar picket from their path. The false transit may delay discovery, but Earth remains blockaded, unreachable, and unwarned. Avalon is still only a contingency, both human ships need repairs, Valkyrie's resident AI remains hostile, and the wounded expedition faces further Maxolhx and Elder-scale threats.

The wormhole chain sends the Earth-bound Maxolhx battle group beyond the galaxy, where corrupted mathematical libraries crash its ship AIs. The Flying Dutchman and Valkyrie then impersonate the missing star carriers at Goalpost, extending the deception about their route. Earth gains time but remains isolated behind the Gateway blockade and cannot be warned. Avalon still holds Chang, Simms, Chotek, the commissioners, scientists, and security personnel as a possible refuge, though it has not received final approval. The mobile force retains two damaged ships. Nagatha remains aboard the Flying Dutchman, while Valkyrie's resident AI is hostile and requires Skippy's supervision. Desai, Giraud, and twenty-five other people are dead. Adams remains comatose, Smythe is gravely injured and not lucid, and the surviving STAR force is severely depleted under Kapoor. Skippy has lost access to both the ship-slicing and wormhole-chain tactics. Possible enemy Elder AIs, the unexplained barrier around the Milky Way, future Maxolhx forces, the unfinished Paradise evacuation, and the unresolved recovery of the wounded remain open threats.