Free Asteroid by Viola Grace

Sebena has spent her time in the Alliance using her accuracy to blow large rocks into tiny rocks suitable for refinement. When she picks up a heat signature she has to pursue it, even if it means doing it on her own time. Finding a life pod is not really a surprise, but having it functioning and its occupant alive is quite the shock.
    Issul is the avatar of the planet Zeering and has been lost in the asteroid field for a century. Opening his eyes in the mining vessel, he sees his rescuer and both he and the world within him have a visceral reaction to her.

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    Asteroid
    Copyright © 2012 Viola Grace
    ISBN: 978-1-77111-138-6
    Cover art by Martine Jardin
    All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
    Published by eXtasy Books
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    Asteroid
    A Terran Times Tale
    By
    Viola Grace

    Chapter One
    Mining was a dirty job and being a mining gunner was far beyond what most of her co-workers were willing to do for the paycheque. Sebena Hadros had thrown herself into life as a gunner with gusto and she enjoyed every minute of it.
    “All staff to stations. The ship is in motion.”
    The disembodied voice rippled over her and Sebena walked down the hall with a relaxed stride, pinning her hair into place as she went.
    The mining ship, Sheppan, was her home and her place of business all in one. She manned one of the guns that both guarded the ship and created the small bits of floating rock from the asteroid field that they flew through to gather the minerals. Blasting rock into bits had never been a career choice offered to her in high school, so hooray for the Alliance and the Volunteer recruitment centre.
    She slipped into her gun and put her headset on. “Gunner Hadros reporting at station.”
    Control answered. “Acknowledged, Gunner. We are looking for the following minerals today. Scan and target.”
    Sebena watched the data roll over her screen and she programmed the info into her scanners. With her assignment given, she started to scan the asteroids for her targets.
    She spent her day blowing rocks to pieces and listening to music from home. It wasn’t officially sanctioned, but she was allowed to blast tunes inside her gun turret as long as she didn’t miss her targets.
    Once she shattered a rock, she filed a notice to Control and they sent collectors out to capture the minerals. It was almost boring for her by the time she was on her final scan pass of the day.
    A blip that shouldn’t have been there caught her attention. “What the hell?”
    She swung her scanner back and watched the image on the screen. There was no doubt she was seeing a heat signature in the asteroid field.
    “Control.”
    “Yes, Gunner Hadros?”
    “I am getting a heat signature in the asteroid field.”
    “You are probably reading one of our collectors.”
    “No, it is deeper in the field. I am sending you the coordinates.” Sebena waited for a response.
    “I cannot read anything in the area you selected. It must have been a sensor blip.”
    Sebena had been staring into the field all day.