Mentusa Chronicles
Breakfast is always the same aboard the cargo ship Mentusa. Eggs. Beans. Burnt toast. Captain Kesla has never managed to finish one. When a routine freight run turns into a deadly game of sabotage, Kesla and his close-knit crew must rely on decades of friendship, hard-earned experience, and the stubborn reliability of an old merchant ship to survive. Because somewhere aboard is a saboteur. And somewhere out in the darkness, an enemy is already on its way. Warm, witty and packed with suspense, Manto is the first adventure featuring the unforgettable crew of the Mentusa.
The Mentusa Chronicles Book 2: Ghost Station A distress call from an abandoned space station should be impossible. When the merchant freighter Mentusa receives a transmission from Acheron Listening Station—evacuated more than twenty years ago—Captain Kesla and his crew are sent to investigate what everyone assumes is a malfunction. Instead, they find lights still burning. Fresh tea waiting. And one elderly engineer who has spent twenty-three years faithfully maintaining a station everyone else forgot. But Acheron is hiding more than one secret. A mysterious signal leads the crew to a long-lost courier ship, a forgotten government archive, and evidence that someone has recently returned to a place history abandoned. As old promises resurface and forgotten lives are remembered, the crew of the Mentusa discover that not every mystery is about danger. Some are about hope. Blending quiet humour, memorable characters, and classic science fiction adventure, Ghost Station is a heartwarming mystery about loyalty, friendship, and the people who keep the lights on long after the rest of the galaxy has moved on. Perfect for readers who enjoy character-driven science fiction in the tradition of Becky Chambers, Nathan Lowell, and the optimistic spirit of classic Golden Age SF.
Some journeys aren't measured in distance... but in trust. A routine maintenance mission should have taken only a few days. Instead, Captain Kesla and the crew of the Mentusa find themselves questioning decades of accepted navigation, confronting evidence no one expected to find, and uncovering the legacy of people whose careful work has been quietly protecting travellers for generations. As old records, forgotten observations, and patient engineering begin to reveal an extraordinary truth, the crew discover that experience can be every bit as valuable as technology—and that sometimes the smallest voice in the darkness is the one worth listening to. Dead Reckoning is a warm, character-driven science fiction novel celebrating curiosity, craftsmanship, friendship, and the simple belief that bringing people safely home will always matter more than finding the fastest route.
Sometimes the most important cargo is the warmth you carry with you. When the aging cargo ship Mentusa is sent on what should be a routine supply run to the frozen world of Hawking, Captain Kesla and his crew expect little more than bad weather, difficult communications, and five days of cold-weather hauling. They couldn't be more wrong. Hawking's nearly five hundred residents have survived years of brutal winters by learning to share what little warmth they have. Their aging geothermal system is failing, buildings have been closed, crops reduced, and everyone has quietly sacrificed their own comfort so the most vulnerable can stay warm. Then Mentusa arrives carrying the replacement heat exchanger they've been waiting almost a year to receive. But replacing a machine that has kept an entire colony alive for thirty-eight winters is no simple cargo job. With a worsening storm closing in, the crew must work alongside Hawking's engineers to shut down the old system, install the new one, and keep the settlement warm through the changeover. As the temperature falls, Mentusa's crew discover that Hawking's greatest achievement isn't its technology. It's the people. A heartfelt science-fiction adventure about ordinary cargo, extraordinary engineering, quiet courage, and a community that refuses to leave anyone behind. The Ice Run is the fourth Mentusa Chronicles adventure — a warm-hearted tale of friendship, frontier life, and the remarkable things people can accomplish when they choose to look after one another.
When a stellar flare shuts down one of the busiest freight corridors in human space, the crew of the merchant ship Mentusa faces a choice: wait days for the crowded official diversion—or trust a road that history has almost forgotten. Hidden beneath modern navigation charts lies the Old Freight Road, a longer route winding through distant stars, abandoned stations and places marked only as legacy infrastructure. But Captain Kesla and his crew soon discover that the road was never truly abandoned. From lonely relay keepers and fuel-station mechanics to customs officers, gardeners and tug crews, ordinary people have quietly kept the lights on, the engines running and the way open for travellers who rarely come anymore. As Mentusa carries vital cargo—including medical supplies, vaccines and desperately needed equipment—her journey becomes more than a way around a closed corridor. One beacon at a time, the crew discovers a community that refuses to be forgotten. Because sometimes the long way around isn't a detour. Sometimes, it's the way home.
Sometimes the safest place in the galaxy is the one everyone has forgotten. When the Mentusa is assigned a routine delivery to Quiet Harbour Refuge Station, nobody expects anything more exciting than a working coffee grinder and a few quiet days among the stars. Quiet Harbour is small, old-fashioned and scheduled for decommissioning. Its four docking arms rarely see more than a handful of ships a year. But when a powerful solar storm closes the major shipping routes, suddenly everyone needs somewhere safe to stop. The berths fill. Then the auxiliary docks. The station's twenty-three residents find themselves caring for dozens of unexpected guests—and discovering that a harbour is about much more than somewhere to park a ship. As strangers become neighbours, the crew of Mentusa are reminded of something the modern galaxy has almost forgotten: sometimes the most important journeys are the ones where you stop long enough to help someone else continue theirs. A warm, character-driven Mentusa adventure about friendship, community, and the places that keep us safe.