Iron Tide

On the rim of a dying system, salvage diver Sera Imel knows two truths: the gloves are always the hardest part, and the star everyone ignores is about to kill them all. Veridian has begun to shed its outer layers, and the wreckage it scatters is already choking orbit. Ships are coming apart. Crews are vanishing. And in the silence between explosions, a signal pulses from deep space, a signal that was buried centuries ago for reasons no one on Tess-7 will admit. When Sera drags something impossible from a derelict's hold, she becomes the unlikely key to a conspiracy stretching back generations. Inspector Cassien Moor will break every law to silence her. Captain Aldric Vonn offers her the only ride out, if she trusts a man she cannot read. And somewhere in the dark, the entity called Hollow stirs, drawn by a signal it has waited lifetimes to hear. Lyra Kaine, Daro Vasik, and Jax Tern each carry pieces of a truth that could save the system, or ignite the iron tide that ends it. Mira Solenne whispers of an Architect whose design is finally coming due. The choice belongs to Sera: silence the signal and let the star die in peace, or answer it and risk unleashing something that has no use for human survivors.