In Our Stars

The first book in The Doomed Earth series is set in a future where humanity has expanded into the solar system but has never encountered alien life. The story opens on 12 June 2180, as Lieutenant Selene Genji watches from the heavy cruiser Pyrenees of the Unified Fleet, humanity's future military, while a catastrophic weapon detonates on Earth's surface, consuming the planet in seconds. A shock wave rushes toward her ship, and her final thought begins: If only . . .

The narrative shifts to 6 February 2140. Lieutenant Kayl Owen, an officer aboard the Earth Guard cruiser Vigilant—Earth Guard being the multinational military force responsible for protecting Earth—discovers wreckage appearing out of nowhere on the ship's instruments. Owen leads a boarding party and finds an unfamiliar ship interior with the motto WE ARE ONE, fused electronics, and a living survivor.

The survivor is Selene Genji. She insists Earth Guard ceased to exist and accuses Owen of belonging to the Spear of Humanity, an extremist group that destroyed the Earth. She gives only her name and rank in the Unified Fleet, a future military organization. The ship's doctor discovers alien DNA in Genji's genome and orders Owen to forget she exists. Owen contacts Genji through an unmonitored channel. She explains she is a first-generation "alloy," a human-Tramontine hybrid created through genetic engineering, and references a First Contact due in April 2140. Learning it is only February 2140, she accepts that the energy from Earth's destruction hurled her back in time and asks, "Do you want to help me save the Earth?" (24).

In secret conversations, Owen learns that a Universal War consumed 300 million lives before the Spear of Humanity destroyed Earth with a Sigma bomb, a weapon that broke subatomic bonds and dissolved the planet in seconds. Owen's willingness to listen stems from his own experience of institutional betrayal: His father, Captain Cathal Owen, died when a new ship exploded due to design flaws Earth Guard leadership covered up, and Kayl's career has been sabotaged ever since.

Earth Guard transfers Genji aboard a courier ship with Owen as sole escort. The life-support system is deliberately poisoned with carbon monoxide while instruments show normal readings. Genji, whose alloy metabolism detects the threat faster, saves Owen's life. They discover the ship has been programmed to crash into Earth. Owen downloads the sabotage malware, and they escape moments before missiles destroy their lifeboat capsule.

They parachute into the desert east of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Troops fire on any life signs without attempting identification, confirming lethal intent. They hike west for days, evading searches with Genji's superior senses. Owen develops feelings for Genji, but she warns that closeness with an alloy would subject him to the hatred she endures. They reach Owen's Aunt Hokulani, who shelters them. Genji confides that changing the future will likely prevent her own birth, erasing her from existence. Kayl learns this and commits to the mission regardless.

Hokulani provides fake IDs and directs them to Rear Admiral Raven Tecumseh, a retired officer who lost her career defending Kayl's father. Tecumseh is persuaded when Genji's prediction that the alien ship will alter course for Mars is confirmed. She begins publicly advocating that the aliens are peaceful and reveals that Owen was placed on the courier ship so his death could serve as a cover story for Genji's elimination.

Tecumseh arranges transport to Mars through Tom Dorcas, the amoral heir of a powerful investment fund. Dorcas provides passage on his yacht but plans to harvest Genji's DNA. Two days from Mars, Genji overhears Dorcas and a hidden assistant discussing plans to kill Owen and imprison her. She fights back, accidentally killing Dorcas with a weapon she expected to be a stunner, then destroys all evidence aboard the ship.

On Mars, Owen pilots their craft through a low-altitude chase and they enter the colony undetected. They contact Captain Yusuke Yesenski, Tecumseh's trusted officer. Via voice-only communications, Genji briefs the negotiators for First Contact: She predicts the exact timing of the Tramontine's first message, explains that the first pictogram depicts "share," and speaks the Tramontine language. When the message arrives exactly as described, the negotiators' progress accelerates.

The Mars Planetary Defense Forces declare martial law and arrest the negotiators, an event outside Genji's timeline. Owen and Genji march through the colony in uniform, drawing a crowd to the Commons, the colony's public forum. Genji acknowledges her alien DNA, declares her heart "one hundred percent human," and urges colonists not to fear the aliens. Soldiers charge in firing; Owen shields Genji; civilians link arms to slow the troops. They reach the Earth Guard command center, where Yesenski places Genji under Owen's protection. Asked publicly about his relationship with Genji, Owen answers: "I love her."

With Earth Guard threatening the command center, Genji proposes escaping to the Tramontine ship. She sprints 200 meters across the Martian surface without a suit, relying on her alloy physiology. Owen covers her from a lifter, a small spacecraft, and pulls her inside. The Tramontine ship's defenses destroy incoming missiles, and Owen maneuvers to land on the alien vessel.

The Tramontine welcome them. Genji shares her story with their councils, and their theorists propose that the universe may require her to exist in 2140 as the "cause" of her changes, meaning she may survive even if she is never born. They honor her with the name "Sister," which moves her to tears given that her biological sisters refused to acknowledge her. Owen proposes marriage; Genji refuses, unwilling to subject him to anti-alloy persecution. She reveals the depth of her pain: a father who abandoned her, sisters who denied her, a mother murdered for being her mother.

When Earth Guard blocks communication from the Tramontine ship, Owen devises a plan to reach Earth. During the transit, the Earth Guard cruiser Lifeguard overstrains its engines under orders to intercept, triggering catastrophic failure. Genji insists on boarding the hostile ship to save its crew, designing replacement parts from Tramontine-derived knowledge. Chief Petty Officer Gayle Kaminski, who transferred from Vigilant, helps install them. Commander Elizabeth Montoya, the Lifeguard's commanding officer, lets them depart as promised.

They reach the Free Zone, an independent settlement on the Moon. Genji spots the business of Abraham Stephen Pradeesh, a man her mother described as a peace advocate who lacked the resources to compete with wealthy extremists. She gives him the lifter with its Tramontine modifications, redirecting wealth and influence into the hands of someone who may change history.

After their smuggler betrays them, they escape through an unfinished train tunnel with two other travelers. When Ivan, one of those travelers and an abusive man, tries to steal the oxygen supply of Krysta, a 14-year-old girl sold into marriage at 11, Genji fights him; his own weapon accidentally kills him. Krysta asks to stay with Owen and Genji, arguing a trio will be harder to identify than a wanted couple.

At Hamilton colony, they encounter Yolanda, an Earth Guard officer whose best friend aboard Lifeguard survived because of Genji. Yolanda lets them go. They board a shuttle for Earth with Krysta. As they approach, the shuttle is diverted with full security screening and fighter escort. Genji tells Krysta to stay down if danger comes; Owen gives Krysta Aunt Hokulani's contact information. The novel ends with Owen and Genji holding hands, watching the fighters approach, uncertain whether they will reach Earth alive but united: "We are one."