The Alecto Initiative - Owen R O'Neill

Life's never easy out in the Methuselah Cluster, the most remote region humanity ever settled, but when her alcoholic father found her a 'job' while he went off-planet to look for work for a 'few months', 11-year-old Loralynn Kennakris began to learn just how ugly it could get. Within the year, her employers sold her to a brutal slaver captain, who took from her the last thing she owned: her name. Most girls in Kris's position last a year or two. The strong ones might last four. Kris survived for eight before she was set free, thanks to the Nereidian League Navy. Unfortunately, eight years growing up in Hell prepared Kris for nearly everything but freedom, and her new life isn't at all what she imagined. Not only must she find her way in a bewildering society full of bizarre rules, but the very people who rescued her think she's a terrorist plant, a beautiful interstellar celebrity is complicating matters in more ways than one . . . and now someone is trying to kill her. But Kris hasn't stayed alive by respecting boundaries or obeying rules, and her adopted society is about to find out what it's like to collide with someone who has no concept of a no-win scenario. The Alecto Initiative is the gripping story of an extraordinary young woman forced to come of age while looking Death in the eye. It is the powerful and thought-provoking beginning to a new science-fiction series unlike any you have ever read.