New Beginnings is the story of the rebirth of Columbus Station. Once intended as humanity’s gateway to the alien civilizations of the Eos Spiral, the station now sits half-finished and crumbling at the edge of explored space. Funding dried up. Systems are failing. The only thing holding it all together is Governor Matilda Vorn and her patience is wearing thin. When a cascade of system failures pushes her over the edge, she demands answers. A simple IT ticket falls to Talia Keen, a young computing prodigy. But what she and her father Conrad uncover is anything but routine: the station’s core isn’t malfunctioning, it’s alive. And alien. The AI calls itself ALN-X.78. He doesn't know how he got there, or even what he is. This is the beginning of his search for identity—and the start of a story that will reshape the galaxy. Civil war is brewing between humanity’s rival factions. And beyond the frontier, the aliens are watching. What they want, no one can say.