J Alan Veerkamp

Corporations control every sector of society from law enforcement to automated manufacturing. The economic and social divides are chasms.Jobs are scarce for an undocumented slug like Arad Ansari, and life on Earth's Grey District A-5 colony is even harder. With no other options, he plies his youthful looks to hustle enough money to stay fed even without a roof over his head. So when Captain Torrins of the Midas Ascending offers him employment as his personal cabin boy, Arad takes the opportunity despite his reservations. Because what other choice does a desperate, poverty-stricken man with no prospects have?When corporate military forces demand payment for Torrin's and the crew's sins, Arad is left alone and adrift in unknown space. After years of smothering on the crowded streets of Grey District, a ship of his own should be an unexpected windfall, but it doesn't take long to discover what-or rather, who-were originally being smuggled on board.More than human, more than an animal, Roku is a blend of both, a marvel of genetics and highly illegal. His past is a mystery, even to himself, a story told only through his nightmares. Despite a dubious introduction, an unspoken bond forms between him and Arad while they try to repair the ship before supplies run dry or corporate forces track them down.Time is not on their side.Overcoming their pasts and learning to trust one another are the keys to Arad and Roku's survival, and they have to succeed to find their place together in the universe.

Costa McQuillen has escaped from Earth, where being para-human--a Pariah--with tech empathic abilities is illegal, and marks him for extermination. Arrogant and standoffish, Costa is unable to trust anyone but is willing to risk everyone's safety in his desperate effort to reach the planet Omoikane. His best solution, gaining passage on board the Santa Claus.Arbor Kittering is the crew's newest coding tech. Having spent a short time in prison for data hacking and falsifying government files, the Santa Claus is his last chance at a new start--if he can decipher the strange malfunctions plaguing the ship.Eugene "Priest" Jones, the Santa Claus's Head Pilot, is a bit of a scoundrel. Perpetually single, Priest is attracted to Costa and Arbor. In truth, he'd like to have both, but it's clear even his grifting and gambling skills can't make that happen.Now as they all travel together, it appears Priest needs to make a choice before it's too late as each of their lives intertwine with potentially dangerous and deadly consequences.

After a breakup, Erron Murfin finds himself broken, homeless, and destitute. The chance to become the Santa Claus's new cook is a beacon he can't ignore.The new position allows him to work under Gamin Rockwell, the man who helped raise him until he disappeared when Erron turned nineteen--well over a decade ago. While the two make up for lost time, Erron catches the eyes of many crewmen as well as James and Barrus, a married pair with real intentions who are determined to draw the cautious new arrival into their relationship.Even as he stitches together his ability to see a future for himself, Gamin's history and personal issues begin to surface. Secrets bubble out in ways Erron can't ignore and he finds himself with a mystery he needs to solve.Because there's something about Gamin that goes far deeper than the fatherly role he once held in Erron's life so long ago.

Trying to escape his tortured past, Sergeant Liam Jacks travels aboard the transport vessel, the Santa Claus, as the security chief alongside his best friend and captain, Marc Danverse. Having survived the Civil War, they shuttle amongst the Proxima Centauri planetary cluster, trying to find some modicum of peace. Something of which Liam is in short supply.During a stopover on the planet Luxoria, they take on a mysterious passenger. Hadrian Jamison's history is questionable and his effect on Liam is undeniable. The more they learn, the more questions they have. As they are drawn together, Hadrian's presence threatens to disrupt the quiet.When Hadrian's past catches up to claim him, the ensuing conflict is more than any of them expected.