The 2nd moon of Jupiter has been turned into a prison planet. Where for several generations, robot drone ships have been dumping the scum of the universe, and are patrolled by a ring of advanced security satellites that would destroy any vessel attempting to land.
After a century of research, old core samples from the ice reveal that the frozen oceans of Europa hold the base element for an immortality drug that can extend the human lifespan several-fold. Now greedy private & military corporations from earth race for the new fountain of youth,only to discover that they can't turn off the orbiting sentry that was programed to protect itself at all costs.
It appears the Confederation has a problem. How do they get past a self evolving AI that has appointed itself Warden? And furthermore, retake a planet roaming with the worst criminals and cutthroats who might well be immortal themselves...
Tranquility was one of those out of the way planets in a system far out of reach from the normal space lanes. Loners, dreamers ...whoever they were, chose to colonize this world.
Thirty cycles ago something went terribly wrong. It was rumored their terraformer reactor went critical, and few escaped the chain reaction that clouded the atmosphere with a planet-wide sand storm. A decade of hard labor evaporated overnight. What wasn't buried under the ocean of sand was left to fry under the twin suns.
Human explorers began to wander back into the forgotten zone. No one knew of the machines that had evolved, or the war that raged beyond the edge of the universe
