Trouble on Paradise recap

On Paradise, Keeper loyalists aid the departing Kristang while UNEF shifts from neutrality to cooperation with the Ruhar. Major Emily Perkins and her six-person team receive one last projector assignment with young Ruhar liaison Nert Dandurf. Hidden Kristang commandos attack them on Tavalen Island, planning to turn its projector against transports carrying nearly 40,000 Ruhar. Stranded and unarmed, the team destroys the commandos' dropship and overloads the projector, sacrificing most of the island. Everyone on the team survives the resulting tsunami. Their success improves UNEF's standing: Perkins keeps the unit together for Ruhar infantry training, Nert remains its liaison, and humans gain new transport privileges, although relocation continues. The Kristang frigate supporting the operation evades a Ruhar pursuit with a decoy, erases its records, and surrenders. More than 5,000 Keepers leave under Kristang control, ending with Eric Koblenz descending toward an unknown world and fearing their decision.

Previously: UNEF personnel and other human communities are established on Paradise, where the Ruhar and Kristang remain opposing powers.

Keeper leaders send teams to seize UNEF weapons while Captain Chisolm leads fifty human volunteers in a Kristang-directed assault on a Ruhar projector. The assault is destroyed, and a British UNEF unit captures Staff Sergeant Surmacz's raiders. Generals Marcellus and Bailey then persuade Ruhar officer Orban Tahl to accept human combat advice. UNEF begins supporting Ruhar ground operations, and a ceasefire follows the destruction of the Kristang pursuit force. Elder finds near the projectors persuade the Ruhar to retain Paradise and station a battlegroup there. Major Emily Perkins and her six-person team assist a Ruhar crew with a successful arctic projector test. Meanwhile, the damaged Kristang frigate Glory hides in the system and lays a false trail, but Captain Rastall begins pursuing it. Ruhar authorities later announce that UNEF settlements will be relocated to southern Lemuria. Admiral Mohvalu also wants humans excluded from projector work, though Baturnah Logellia secures one final remote-island assignment for Perkins. More than 5,000 Keepers prepare to depart with the Kristang rather than face imprisonment. Chisolm, revealed as the only survivor of the opening assault, challenges the human team's confidence in the Earth messages and in its earlier actions for the unidentified Emby.

Perkins confirms through a personal code that the Fortune Cookie messages genuinely came from UNEF. Her team prepares for the tropical assignment with Nert Dandurf, Baturnah's young nephew, as its Ruhar liaison. Striebich and Bonsu qualify on the long-range Buzzard. A false drill-rig indicator then causes dangerous overheating, leading Perkins to suspect deliberate sabotage by someone opposed to the human mission. Master mechanic Slonn Janes provides replacement parts, and the team guards its equipment until departure. The escaped Kristang unit known as 39 Commando is already concealed on Tavalen Island. It jams communications and destroys the Ruhar aircraft leading Perkins's flight. Striebich lands the damaged human Buzzard, after which Perkins realizes the commandos intend to reactivate the projector and fire on transports carrying nearly 40,000 Ruhar. With no weapons or way to call for help, the humans turn their equipment against the site. Striebich and Bonsu remotely fly their crippled Buzzard into the commandos' dropship, destroying both. Shauna Jarrett devises a way to drill into the projector powercells and overload them. The team installs the device, escapes in inflatable boats, and destroys most of Tavalen, but the resulting blast and tsunami overturn the boats.

Every member of Perkins's team survives the tsunami and reaches a neighboring island, though all are injured and Derek Bonsu suffers a broken wrist and fingers. Their emergency beacons bring a Ruhar rescue craft. The projector's destruction has stopped 39 Commando's attack and saved the threatened transports. Baturnah Logellia, now acting Chief Administrator, tells Perkins that the rescue of 40,000 Ruhar has improved public opinion of UNEF. She keeps the team together for Ruhar infantry training and possible later service with security units or Fleet Marines. Nert is approved as its continuing liaison. Human relocation to southern Lemuria will still occur, but more slowly and with some choice, while UNEF gains permission to operate transport and cargo vessels. Captain Rastall's ships destroy the target they have followed only to learn that it is a decoy carrying the Glory's chemical traces. The actual Kristang frigate detects Tavalen's destruction, abandons the recovery of 39 Commando, erases its computer core, and surrenders under the ceasefire using a false account of its absence. The Keepers receive no comparable improvement in status. After leaving Paradise with the Kristang, Eric Koblenz and thousands of others endure harsh transport conditions. Eric's story ends as a dropship carries him and hundreds of Keepers toward an unidentified planet, leaving their destination and fate unresolved.

Perkins, Colter, Czajka, Jarrett, Striebich, Bonsu, and Nert all survive Tavalen's destruction and the tsunami. Their improvised overload eliminates the projector before 39 Commando can use it against the Ruhar transports, and their remotely piloted Buzzard destroys the commandos' concealed dropship. Baturnah Logellia, now acting Chief Administrator, credits the team with saving 40,000 Ruhar. She preserves the unit for infantry training and possible service with Ruhar security forces or Fleet Marines, and approves Nert's request to remain its liaison. UNEF's relocation to southern Lemuria still proceeds, but at a slower pace and with greater human control of transport and cargo operations. The Glory fools Captain Rastall's pursuit with a decoy. After the island operation fails, its captain destroys the ship's computer records and surrenders under the ceasefire while concealing the frigate's activity. The Keeper exodus remains unresolved: Eric Koblenz and thousands of others are held in harsh Kristang transport conditions, and Eric is alarmed when they descend toward an unidentified planet. Emby's identity, the suspected sabotage of Perkins's equipment, and the consequences of future contact with Earth also remain unsettled.