Handful of Stars, A

Ellfive colony won its independence in the One-Day Revolution, but while much may be forgiven, its debts haven't been. The orbital nation needs a serious supply of minerals and ore to realize its manufacturing potentials, and in this solar system, the cost of lifting rocks to orbit is prohibitive, the only viable option is to mine them yourself.

And so, Star Svensdotter leads a prospecting expedition to the Belt, almost two AUs out, on the very edges of Earth's colonization of space. It's not exactly unexplored territory—a motley assortment of grifters, drifters and fortune-hunters have already made the Belt their home—but Star and her crew soon find that they have a lot to offer the anarchic frontier society, and that there are richer opportunities than merely mining for minerals.

The second in Dana Stabenow's Star Svensdotter trilogy, A Handful of Stars follows humanity's outward migration into the solar system.