Broken ORBIT (Stars Without Borders, #1)

BROKEN ORBIT A Sci-Fi Mystery of Identity, Grief, and Survival at the Edge of Space In the cold, forgotten corridors of deep space, where rusted stations cling to asteroids and freighters limp along dangerous trade routes, one woman is running-not from the law, but from grief, ghosts, and the life she once lived. Rebecca Ann Jacobs-Rae-has finally become the woman she was always meant to be. Her transition is complete, her scars still tender, her spirit quietly resolute. A skilled mechanic and survivor of unimaginable loss, Rae boards the Indira, a decaying freighter staffed with misfits, mercenaries, and secrets as old as the ship itself. She‘s not looking for trouble-only purpose. But trouble has a way of finding people like Rae. From the first creak of the Indira‘s failing engines to the eerie scent of synthetic lavender that haunts its vents-an echo of Rae‘s dead wife-the ship whispers of sabotage. Something is wrong in the wiring. In the walls. In the manifest. And in the cargo bay, a secret hums-a heat signature that shouldn‘t exist, pointing to a stowaway no one is supposed to know about. A child. What begins as a routine haul spirals into a spiraling mystery of corporate corruption, human trafficking, and buried trauma. Rae must navigate a crew that doesn‘t trust her, a captain with secrets, and a past that bleeds into the present with every jump across the stars. Her tools are her only comfort. Machines can be fixed. People are harder. But as the sabotage escalates and systems begin to fail, Rae realizes that someone wants the Indira to die-and they‘re using the ghosts of her past to do it. Haunted by memories of her murdered family, shadowed by the ever-present scent of the woman she lost, Rae is caught between survival and justice, identity and revenge. In the freezing void of space, where no one cares who you are or what you‘ve lost, she‘ll have to decide how much of herself she‘s willing to sacrifice to protect what‘s left. Broken Orbit is a raw, deeply personal spacefaring thriller-a genre-defying novel that blends science fiction, psychological suspense, queer identity, and slow-burning mystery into a breathtaking emotional journey. Perfect for fans of The Expanse, Murderbot, and Station Eleven, this debut delivers stunning prose, unforgettable characters, and an intimate exploration of what it means to live authentically-even when the universe is broken.