Renegades recap

When two Maxolhx cruisers prepare to investigate the wormhole near Earth, Joe Bishop and a small crew seize the Flying Dutchman rather than accept UNEF's plan to surrender. Their mission requires a Maxolhx dropship, authentication devices called pixies, relay intelligence, and a convincing explanation for the cruisers' disappearance. Raids on a Bosphuraq base and a pixie factory provide the needed equipment. An Elder wreck supplies technology that lets the crew stage future wormhole disturbances and support a false Maxolhx report. Skippy's micro-wormhole ambush destroys one cruiser and cripples the other, which he then destroys through a precisely tuned maser strike. The badly damaged Dutchman returns to Earth with the immediate investigation threat removed. Bishop still faces consequences for mutiny, while evidence of Elder conflict, a dangerous damaged Elder AI, Skippy's concealed knowledge, a possible off-galaxy refuge, and his growing public following leave larger dangers unresolved.

Previously: Joe Bishop commands the Flying Dutchman with Skippy, an Elder AI whose abilities give humanity a rare advantage among far stronger alien powers. Their missions have kept Earth hidden while interfering in the wider conflict among species including the Maxolhx, Rindhalu, Thuranin, Bosphuraq, Kristang, and their clients. Humans remain stranded on Paradise, where vaccination and treatment efforts are progressing as a Kristang civil war continues. Bishop's crew has also altered parts of the Elder wormhole network, a secret whose discovery could expose Earth, Skippy, and the captured ship. Earth governments know about the Dutchman but disagree over how to use it and how much independence Bishop and Skippy should retain. The ship is returning home after its latest operation, carrying experienced personnel whose prolonged off-world service has separated them from ordinary life. Humanity still depends on secrecy because it cannot withstand direct attention from the galaxy's senior powers on its own.

The Flying Dutchman returns to Earth with intelligence that two Maxolhx ships will investigate the wormhole near humanity. Earth authorities blame Bishop's team for unauthorized actions and the wormhole changes that may have attracted attention. Bishop loses the prospect of another command, Chotek is pushed out of his diplomatic role, and much of the experienced crew declines another deployment. UNEF then secretly tries to seize the Dutchman and remove Skippy, while its member states move toward surrendering to the Jeraptha. Major Jones admits a Delta Force team aboard and attacks Skippy's apparent escape pod, but Lauren Poole retakes the ship and Skippy reveals that he staged his apparent destruction. Bishop, Jennifer Simms, Jeremy Smythe, Samantha Reed, and a small collection of returning pirates recruit volunteers including Katie Frey, Justin Grudzien, and Jason Nunnally. Margaret Adams remains confined on Earth because extracting her could endanger fellow Marines. With Simms as executive officer and Nagatha integrating as ship AI, the volunteers knowingly reject Earthside orders. The Dutchman jumps away with six returning pirates and twenty new crew members, committed to stopping the Maxolhx without exposing humanity.

The renegade crew first needs intelligence on the approaching Maxolhx ships. Accessing their automated relays requires paired authentication devices called pixies and a genuine Maxolhx dropship, neither of which Skippy can manufacture. Simms also establishes that destroying the ships is insufficient: the Maxolhx must receive a believable report that makes Earth appear unimportant. While Bishop privately considers a distant human refuge, Smythe organizes the new special-operations personnel into STAR teams. The crew targets an abandoned Maxolhx facility buried beneath a moon in Bosphuraq territory. Reed flies Smythe's team through a defended sensor network, and Frey devises a way to capture a crawler without making the incident look hostile. The infiltrators use the crawler to enter the moon base. After plans fail and equipment is damaged, Smythe and Frey reach a computer port and connect Skippy through a micro-wormhole. Bishop then helps deceive the sealed command crew into opening its defenses. The assault team takes the control center, and Frey finds the final authorization key. Using the base's weapons, the crew destroys two orbital stations, a planetary research installation, and an investigating dropship. A short recovery window now remains before distant forces can learn what happened.

The crew excavates the abandoned underground facility and restores one of three stored Maxolhx dropships. The complex proves to be a stellar-manipulation research site with technology that could eventually threaten planets. After destroying the evidence of their raid, the renegades turn to the harder problem of obtaining pixies without alerting the Maxolhx. Bishop proposes manipulating a factory's quality-control system so usable devices are discarded as defective. Skippy guides micro-wormholes beneath the heavily defended factory, allowing Bishop, Reed, Grudzien, and another ground operator to jump into a hidden cavern. Bishop and the operator enter the facility, where Skippy takes control of its AI and diverts ten working pixies. An accidental production improvement brings inspectors toward the site, and the damaged escape computer forces Skippy to attempt an untested jump. The dropship vanishes and is feared lost. Simms keeps the mission moving, assumes command, and promotes Poole to major. The missing craft then appears at the intended location one hour late, having shifted forward in time. Everyone survives and eight pixies remain usable. When a factory fault prevents the planned cleanup, Bishop finds another way to trigger Skippy's erasure routine before the intrusion is discovered.

Using a repaired Maxolhx dropship and the stolen pixies, the Flying Dutchman enters an automated relay and learns that the two investigation ships will launch in twenty-seven days. With no attack plan, the crew pauses for major repairs in an isolated system where Nagatha uncovers an Elder ruin that Skippy had withheld. The debris shows that two Elder vessels fought, contradicting his belief in a peaceful Elder civilization. Exploration reveals a buried craft containing a dead Elder, a zero-point energy power tap, and a spare wormhole controller. A nearby damaged Elder AI then attacks Bishop and Skippy, destroys their Falcon, and nearly kills Bishop before Skippy destroys it. The encounter raises the possibility of uncontrolled or rogue Elder AIs. Bishop finally constructs a cover story: an unstable Earth wormhole destroys one Maxolhx ship and fatally damages the other after it reports the accident. Similar disturbances elsewhere will make the event look natural. The recovered power source and spare controller allow Skippy to schedule the crucial future anomaly independently, so the deception can continue even if the Dutchman is destroyed. The false explanation is now technically credible, but the crew still lacks a method to eliminate both cruisers during the limited portion of their route it can predict.

An unexpected ship blocks the first relay, so Bishop revises the false route and Skippy makes a direct wormhole appear unsafe. At a second automated station, the Dutchman plants the fabricated Maxolhx report and prepares an ambush. Skippy manipulates the targets' arrival geometry and positions micro-wormholes to intersect any emergency jumps. Both cruisers arrive within the attack envelope. One is destroyed, while the other is crippled. The resulting space-time disturbance nearly wrecks the Dutchman, destroys ten jump coils, and leaves it without effective missiles. The surviving cruiser identifies humans aboard and begins restoring its weapons. Skippy models its structure and AI in real time, tunes the ship's maser to produce a destructive resonance, and eliminates it. The immediate investigation of Earth is over, but the Dutchman must return for extensive repairs. During the journey, Skippy finds a concealed report describing the ancient extermination of an intelligent species through stellar heating and discovers that his own higher awareness had been denied related knowledge. The crew also identifies two dormant wormholes capable of reaching beyond the galaxy, though they cannot visit them before returning. The Dutchman reaches Earth with Bishop's command future uncertain. A public movement devoted to Skippy is marching openly, and the President requests an immediate conversation with Bishop.

The Flying Dutchman returns to Earth after destroying both Maxolhx investigation cruisers. The planted report and staged wormhole anomalies support the claim that an unstable wormhole caused the disaster, concealing direct human involvement. Bishop, Skippy, Jennifer Simms, Jeremy Smythe, Lauren Poole, Samantha Reed, Katie Frey, Justin Grudzien, Jason Nunnally, and Nagatha survive. Margaret Adams remains on Earth, while Chotek's situation after his detention is not resolved. Frank Muller and Simms are now partners, and Muller agrees to help Bishop improve his practical understanding of physics. The Dutchman has exhausted important supplies, lost ten jump coils, and needs extensive repairs. Bishop expects scrutiny for taking the ship against orders and does not know whether he still has a military future. Earth has no immediate alien threat, but its secrecy is not permanently assured. Planning for a remote human refuge remains preliminary. Skippy is unsettled by the attacking Elder AI, evidence of ancient genocide, and knowledge hidden from his own conscious mind. Two dormant wormholes might provide a route beyond the galaxy, though activating them would eventually create detectable emissions. On reaching Earth, the crew also discovers that Skippy's public follower movement has become visible and that the President wants immediate contact.