Stars Uncharted by S. K. Dunstall

Josune Arriola has been sent on a mission. Her captain has arranged a rendezvous with Hammond Royston of the ship The Road. Except the rendezvous is a secret and Josune has been dispatched undercover.

Her ship, The Hassim, arrives three days late and unresponsive to calls from The Road. Upon boarding, Josune, Royston, and the others find The Hassim has been attacked, the crew have been murdered, and only a few of those behind the hostile takeover remain.

Everyone knows exactly why The Hassim would be a target for attack. Their mission is exploration and their discoveries are legend. So the knowledge saved within the memory of the ship is of the highest value. But salvaging The Hassim leaves Royston and his crew the targets of a group of mercenaries seemingly unwilling to give up their lost bounty, leaving Josune no choice but to keep her identity secret all the while trying to discover why her captain wanted to meet with Royston in the first place!

This latest from sisters and cowriters Sherylyn and Karen, aka S. K. Dunstall, is a truly fantastic space adventure!

The Hassim has made a name for itself following in the footsteps of Goberling, a famed space explorer whose biggest accomplishment was discovering a world packed full of a Dellarine, a metal used in every kind of technology imaginable. But no one had ever found a mother lode even close to Goberling's. Unfortunately, before vanishing altogether, Goberling himself forgot where his discovery was located. And so others had taken up the mantle in search of it themselves.

The Hassim, but last account, hadn't yet discovered the world but had found many others and a record of the ship's travels is one any company would pay dearly for.

But the story doesn't begin on The Hassim. Instead, the story begins with a body modder called Nika Rik Terri, who's discovered a way to allow two people to swap minds for a period of up to 24 hours. Unfortunately for Nika, her tech is exactly what lands her on the run and on the path of Josune and Royston.

Half the fun of the book is waiting for the two groups to meet - Nika and a young apprentice she picks up along the way, and Josune, Royston, and The Road. And boy is this book some serious fun!

Stars Uncharted was like the perfect mash up of Expanse (books) style space opera and Killjoys (show, but I wish there were books!) style adventure. In other words, exactly the kind of book I'm looking for right at this moment! And though there were times when the story became a little easy to figure out, the fact that it was so entertaining and enjoyable made that totally fine with me.