Empire Claim — Kate Sheeran Swed

It might be true that there's no rest for the wicked – but Sloane Tarnish wishes they'd at least take a nap. Unfortunately, the Cosmic Trade Federation is too excited to sleep. All keyed up about their little bid to establish a galactic empire, and all that. They've wrapped her home system in an iron grip – literally – and she's desperate for news of her family. Torn between the urge to jet home to save them and the bone-deep need to beat the CTF at their own game by getting one step ahead of them – instead of reacting to their evil deeds – Sloane finds herself wracked with indecision. It doesn't help that she's also dealing with just a tiny bit of trauma, from getting blasted into space multiple times. It's enough to give a girl a complex. When the bad guys use her out-of-the-box tricks to blast her out of indecision – and the once-safe boundary of the Currents – Moneymaker takes a crippling hit that nearly sinks the ship for good. If she doesn't get the parts she needs to fix it, and soon, then she won't be able to help anyone. Unfortunately, the ship is stuck in the middle of nowhere, and the closest junk pile is crawling with danger. And when an old friend shows up to help, it quickly becomes clear that his secrets might doom the entire crew...