There is no escape. I'm a ship-kid, cruising around the galaxy in my spaceship home, exploring planetoids, charting asteroids and sleeping away the long years between solar systems in stasis/sleep along with my family and friends. Or, at least, that's what I'm supposed to be. I'm not that anymore, not by a long-shot, not since a sentient alien spaceship ate my home. That home is gone now, blown to bits by the same aliens that took my sister, kidnapped...

There's no turning back. Hero Regan is a fugitive, running from family and foes alike. She's on a mission to save Fink's life, and no one, not a former best friend, an AI, or Fink himself is going to stand in her way. But life on Jørn's surface isn't what she thought. The planet has secrets, secrets older than the human cities built atop them, and they have sharp teeth, bloodied claws and a mission of their own. After a year on the run, Hero just...

She won the battle, but the war is just beginning. Hero Regan is a telepath, the first in a new subspecies of human engineered to save the world, but that was before she blew up a chunk of Cumulus City. Now the world doesn't need her, which is just how she likes it. Hero has just about everything she wants: independence, friendship and a shot at her fondest dream — to explore the surface of the alien planet she calls home. Life would be perfect...

In this action-packed short story with aliens, spaceships and big arse mechs, Belinda Crawford expertly combines complex worldbuilding and non-stop action in a tale that will leave you wondering who the real monsters are. Grea used to be human, but she's not anymore. She used to have family, but they're gone. All that's left is Sister, a sentient spaceship waging a holy war against her creators, with Grea as her sword. Set in the world of The Echo,...