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Drift Protocol

Name: Drift Protocol
Price: 4.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.7 (3 reviews)
Author: Nico Vargas

by Nico Vargas · published via Smithbook

A four-person salvage crew finds a derelict station still running a protocol nobody wrote.

★★★★★ 4.7 · 3 reviews 22 readers English

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★★★★☆

"Short and punchy. The ending hit harder than I expected."

lui•••@readers.staging.smithbook.test · verified reader

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What it covers

space operasalvage crewfound familyscience fiction

About this book

The Kestrel is the smallest salvage ship licensed to work the Ceres drift, and her crew of four is always one bad job from losing her. When they board a derelict research station to strip its copper, they find the lights on, the air warm and a system that keeps asking them the same question in a language nobody on board speaks. Fast, funny and a little sad, Drift Protocol is a science fiction story about a crew that would rather argue than admit they are a family.

Look inside · First chapter

The Kestrel had one working coffee machine, four crew and a debt to the Ceres Salvage Authority that grew faster than any of them could pay it. So when the job board posted a derelict research station in the outer drift, copper wiring intact, Ofelia Reyes took it before the captain was even awake. “You didn’t ask,” Captain Dace said at breakfast. “You were asleep,” Ofelia said. “And we’re out of coffee filters.” That settled it. On the Kestrel most things were settled by what they were out of.

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Product details

Title: Drift Protocol
Author: Nico Vargas
Format: Digital · browser reader
Language: English
Category: Fantasy & Science Fiction
Delivery: In seconds · to your e-mail
Access: Lifetime · any device
Publisher: Independent · via Smithbook

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Reviews

4.7

★★★★★

3 reviews

5★2

4★1

3★0

2★0

1★0

★★★★☆ · lui•••@readers.staging.smithbook.test9/20/2026

Fast and fun

Short and punchy. The ending hit harder than I expected.

★★★★★ · mar•••@readers.staging.smithbook.test9/18/2026

More please

Ofelia is the best captain I have read in years. She is not even the captain yet.

★★★★★ · hel•••@readers.staging.smithbook.test9/10/2026

The coffee machine subplot

I did not expect to care this much about a broken coffee machine in space. Great crew.

About the author

Nico Vargas

I grew up in San Antonio reading paperbacks my tía bought at garage sales, most of them missing a cover. Now I live in East Austin, work nights at a hardware store and write in the mornings before the heat gets bad. My science fiction is about people who fix things in places where nothing works right: orbital stations, salvage ships, towns at the edge of a map. My fantasy is about the same people with swords. If you like crews that argue, found families and endings that cost something, you will probably like my books.

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