Columbus - Demeter

With planetfall made by all three vessels, Project Columbus is a success'of sorts. Yet more than humanity crossed the light years between Earth and Demeter. Old grudges have traversed the gulf between humanity's birth planet and their new hope, and distrust has walled off the crews of Michael and Gabriel. Darius Owens resigns his commission in disgust, washing his hands of Colonel Eriksen's schemes. Despite efforts to keep his head down, former-Lieutenant Owens is drawn back into the...
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With planetfall made by all three vessels, Project Columbus is a success'of sorts. Yet more than humanity crossed the light years between Earth and Demeter. Old grudges have traversed the gulf between humanity's birth planet and their new hope, and distrust has walled off the crews of Michael and Gabriel. Darius Owens resigns his commission in disgust, washing his hands of Colonel Eriksen's schemes. Despite efforts to keep his head down, former-Lieutenant Owens is drawn back into the thick of the conflict, and forced to make a choice: ignore the abuses he witnesses and live out his life in miserable silence, or lay everything on the line to save two innocent men from Eriksen's corrupt regime. Cal McLaughlin begins life on Demeter putting one shaky foot in front of another. Forced to accept the assortment of odd jobs that come his way, Cal discovers just how ill-equipped to contribute to a frontier society a rebellious Air Force brat is. In order to prove his worth and assuage his guilt over his father's treachery Cal finds himself driven to venture out into the alien wilderness. But with this rite of passage come blood and heartbreak, the two companions Cal seems destined to keep no matter where he might journey. Marooned on an exotic'yet deadly'island, the surviving passengers and crew of Raphael have struggled to eke out a living since their inauspicious arrival on the new world. Captain Kimura's illness has kept her even further isolated, unable to assist with physical tasks crucial to the colonists? survival. Her subordinates? inability to bring an elusive and murderous criminal to heel not only frustrates Haruka, but the refugees under her watch. As Haruka finally claims justice for a fallen friend, a challenge to her authority rises from an unlikely group of refugees, threatening the balance of power in an already fragile settlement.