Corebound
F16/100Web serial by M.J. Markgraf
One case of mistaken identity lands Jacob at the center of a silent power struggle nearly a thousand years in the making. Abducted by a malfunctioning alien AI that believed he was someone else, Jacob wakes up trapped aboard a failing alien starship with no way home. The ship is broken, his life is on the line, and survival means working himself to exhaustion just to keep the lights on. The AI, Melody, still follows directives from an empire that abandoned it long ago — directives that drive them toward a forgotten station at the edge of known space, where Jacob finally has the tools to attempt real repairs. A misunderstanding at an alien outpost places him on the radar of a mercenary company, and he learns he was not the only human to run afoul of Melody. As Jacob struggles to hold everything together, his station becomes the focal point of another species' fight for freedom — a conflict he wants nothing to do with.