Fire Strike — Elsa Jade

The rebellious miners of Ydro-Down have won a fortune in the rare crystalline mineral that empowers intergalactic passage, but other players on the Rim won't take the loss without a fight.

Arjay -- incarcerated as Miner 870 -- has pledged his considerable hacking prowess (and a few other illicit skills) to saving Ydro-Down from those who would subjugate its people again. But there was a time he championed the rule of law, and when he accidentally uncovers a legal loophole that might legitimize the miners' claim, he dares to hope maybe he can reclaim the charmed life he lost.

What he found was a half-feral girl.

Tick's mothers buried her in the heart of Ydro-Down to protect her when their colony was attacked for the valuable qubition found there. Imprisoned in cryo, Tick wakes to her world still in danger. Though she's kept herself barely alive scavenging the depths, her encounter with the big, clever miner convinces her to seek a life out of the darkness.

But on the Obsidian Rim, only might makes right. And stepping out into the light might mean reaching for the stars…or igniting a fire that burns everything to ash.