Book one of The Ragged Frontier Series

Description: 

Everyone knew that trying to earn a living as an independent miner in the asteroid belts was dangerous, but this was getting ridiculous. Captain Miller sunk every penny of his veteran’s benefits into a down payment on a used geologist’s sled, not quite the size of a frigate, a second hand core drilling unit, and some kick-butt EVA suits.

Every member of the crew knew the score coming in. They would work long hours, eat crummy dehydrated slop, live a day or two away from starvation, and maybe end up freezing to death in the black. They knew they might well be killed in an industrial accident, or from some natural phenomenon. They knew that at any minute a micro meteor might cut them in half without making a sound.

They all agreed to put up with all of that, because of the dream that on any given day, they might find a strike that would make them all rich beyond imagining.

The job offered the thrill of death-defying combat, a way to escape living in normal society,  and the possibility of retiring among the universe’s most rich and famous.

But now, the whole thing was falling apart. They had the death-defying part, running from pirates, from the mega corporations’ mercenaries, from the interstellar law enforcement agencies, and oh, yeah, also the power of the corrupt bureaucrats at the top of the warring government factions.

There is big money to be found in asteroids, they proved that. But all the money in the world won’t help you if you’re dead. They were a team on a simple mission; take high risk in return for  making a nice living. But now, they’ll be lucky if they can stay alive at all.