The Cold Between

In this first entry in the critically acclaimed Central Corps space opera series, a starship mechanic turns detective after her crewmate is murdered.

Chief of Engineering Elena Shaw has never been one for shore leave, but when her starship stops at the prosperous colony world of Volhynia, she ends up spending a diverting night with a local man. She takes nothing from the encounter but fond memories-until he's arrested the next day for the overnight murder of one of her crewmates. And Elena is the only one who knows he couldn't possibly have committed the crime.

When the corrupt local cops show no interest in giving up their suspect, Elena investigates the victim's final hours, seeking evidence of the real killer. But what begins as pursuit of justice evolves into a search of another sort. Seems Elena's dead crewmate was digging into the unexplained destruction twenty-five years ago of the Phoenix-a starship with ties to Elena's increasingly secretive captain. The longer she follows in her late crewmate's footsteps, the more her senior officers push her to drop the investigation-and the more she suspects everything she's been told of the Phoenix is a lie.

As Elena realizes she can't trust her chain of command, finding justice means not only proving one man's innocence, but also exposing the truth of the loss of the Phoenix. And it may cost Elena her career-or her life.