The Relic

Off-world settlements Out There harboring the descendants of pilgrims and refugees are once again facing danger. For eighty years, the Peace Accords that ended a bloody war has protected the settlements in the Kavon System. Now soon to expire, the end of the treaty means their territory is open for colonization, allowing the Confederacy to continue its expansion to other worlds.

Erkhim is a Novice in an old religious order at one of the last remaining temples in the Confederacy. Unfulfilled in their studies to become a pilot like their grandmother, they decide to follow the footsteps of their aunt and become an ascetic. But those studies are interrupted when the captain of a starship asks for the amulet their aunt gifted them before she disappeared. Erkhim's amulet is not only a relic from their aunt's pilgrimage ship, it is also the only device that might help the captain locate the settlement before it's too late.