Streamrider by Mark Huntley-James

SPSFC

Welcome to Bluesky! The most useful island of stability on the slipstream, only a few lightyears beyond Earth, the place to start wars, to bury enemies, and the gateway to the ultimate mineral-rich world of Cinder. Just don’t mention the revolution, the ousted Earth Colonial Office, or the uber-rich Rolanders who used to own it. Lois Rolander – rich girl and documentary addict – arrives on the run to save a piece of alien tech. She finds refuge under an alias amid the maintenance grunts. Jo-jo the thief drops in to put a price on Lois’s head and recover the alien tech he was stealing. Instead he’s dragged into a war he learns his grandfather secretly started. Lois and Jo-jo just need to navigate a path through the brewing war, as everyone fights over that alien tech, itself the key to future control of Cinder’s wealth.