Spindles — David Forbes

Keisha Omondi was once a captain in the Commonwealth Defense Force's Viper Brigade, the most elite fighting unit in human space. After a rescue mission she commanded went horribly wrong, she was drummed out of the brigade and sent into exile, forced to live on the planet Harmony, a blistering furnace of a world crawling with religious viruses and ruled by aloof, indifferent Families who covet high technology for themselves and forbid it to most baseline humans.

On Harmony, Keisha goes about the long hard process of rebuilding her life. Luck seems to favor her when she lands a job as the security chief at a remote archaeological dig. But this isn't just any dig: it might be the most illegal location in all of human space. A long-abandoned alien outpost, whose inhabitants fled before the onslaught of a deadly foe that may or may not still be in this region of the galaxy.

When the archaeologists make a breathtaking discovery that could change the course of human history, everything Keisha knows suddenly comes into question. Who is she, really? Where do her loyalties lie? And more importantly, does she even have a choice?