by Ashley Sheley
Rust Before Gold follows Varen Kael, a young capsuleer trying to build a forgotten prospecting corporation in the harsh industrial frontier of Outer Ring. When Blackglass Prospecting accepts a low-value O.R.E. recovery charter, they expect wreckage, debt, and another chance to prove themselves. Instead, they uncover the remains of Convoy Tarlis-9, a destroyed O.R.E. convoy whose official record hides too many lies. Among the frozen hulls and scattered cargo, Varen finds evidence of altered manifests, missing crew, and a sealed data core tied to the old Serpentis occupation years. Hunted by rival capsuleers, watched by O.R.E., and drawn into a buried conspiracy known as the Heart Ledger, Blackglass must decide whether survival is worth silence. In Outer Ring, every contract has a cost, every wreck has a memory, and once the rust starts to speak, the truth never stays buried.
