Delokita has her life finally working out for her in the asteroid belt. As an Enforcer, she has the means and the excuse to go anywhere she wants and talk to anyone she needs to.
Smugglers, fences, illegal salvagers, crooked businesspeople, she’s in a position to help them all. And accept a portion of their profits. It’s a sweet deal, as long her bosses never find out.
But then she fails to prevent a terrorist attack, and the voices that plagued her childhood come back, and an unknown enemy sends a team of assassins after her, and her best friend is hired to investigate an incident she was involved in… well, things can start to get complicated.
For the last four years, Bilan has been an Enforcer with BeltSec, the asteroid belt’s privatized combination police force and search-and-rescue operation. Chasing pirates, busting smugglers, enforcing claims, rescuing endangered prospectors, Bilan wouldn’t trade it for anything. Especially not her old life on Venus. She never said why she left, and Belters don’t ask.
It’s a good life, but when she’s hired by an outside party to investigate an apparent terrorist attack, and it looks like her best friend may be involved, it may fall apart. And the past has a way of catching up to you.
Jie was born and raised in the Belt. The son of miners he moved on to work for BeltSec, the enforcement arm of Zono Mastro, the meta-corporation that runs what passes for government of the whole Belt. Since he’s made Inspector he has turned his eye to the future of the Belt. If it is to have a future, it will have to somehow learn to govern itself, but to do that the people will need to learn they are more powerful than the corporations that currently run things. With all its resources, the asteroid belt could have a bright future and become the kind of place where Jie and his spouses can raise their children in peace and prosperity. But for that to happen, the rampant crime and corruption will need to be brought under control.
Amelia grew up in the lowest slums of Venus. She studied hard to make more of her life, and qualified for a position at the prestigious Venus Science Academy. Unfortunately, she was shut out due to her lack of any qualifying family connections. She moved to the asteroid belt and worked as an engineer and accountant before being blamed for an accident that cost the life of three people.
Unable to pay the fines, she was sentenced to a term of indenture until her debt was paid. Refusing to serve, she fled the corporate controlled Belt and went on the run still hoping to find some kind of future…
