Firstflight — Chris Claremont

"YOU BLEW IT, SHEA. YOU FAILED THE SIMULATION TEST. BUT THE COMMANDER OVERRULED THE BOARD-YOU GOT A SECOND CHANCE."

Lt. Shea's second chance was to play pilot to a minimal-hassle scientific mission, mapping a chunk of the solar system.

Then the Wolfpack struck, and the space pirates left her defenseless ship a blasted wreckage, stripped of anything of value.

Now Shea and a handful of survivors drift in an interstellar tomb, farther and farther from any hope of rescue.

Until a ship appears. But as it approaches, the survivors realize that no human could have constructed it.

Nicole's second chance is about to become mankind's first contact with alien life ...