Corebound

One case of mistaken identity lands Jacob at the center of a silent power struggle nearly a thousand years in the making. Abducted by a malfunctioning alien AI that believed he was someone else, Jacob wakes up trapped aboard a failing alien starship with no way home. The ship is broken, his life is on the line, and survival means working himself to exhaustion just to keep the lights on. The AI, Melody, still follows directives from an empire that abandoned it long ago. Those directives drive them toward a forgotten station at the edge of known space, where Jacob finally has the tools to attempt real repairs, and the time to realize that nothing about his situation is normal. A misunderstanding at an alien outpost places Jacob on the radar of a mercenary company, and he learns he wasn’t the only human to run afoul of Melody. If that weren’t enough, unseen political forces begin to maneuver in the shadows. Jacob’s station and Melody become the focal point of another species’ fight for freedom, a conflict he wants nothing to do with. As Jacob struggles to hold everything together, he learns that survival isn’t the only challenge. Not all of the humans are as willing to accept their new reality as he was. To protect the fragile future he’s building, Jacob will have to repair a ship he barely understands, navigate alien politics he’s unprepared for, and decide what kind of power he’s willing to wield when escape is no longer the only option.