Aurora Rising

***Aurora Rising*** is the first book in *The Aurora Cycle* series by authors Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff.

## Synopsis

**From the internationally bestselling authors of THE ILLUMINAE FILES comes an epic new science fiction adventure.**

The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch…

A cocky diplomat with a black belt in sarcasm
A sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmates
A smart-ass techwiz with the galaxy’s biggest chip on his shoulder
An alien warrior with anger management issues
A tomboy pilot who’s totally not into her squad leader, in case you were wondering

And Ty’s squad isn’t even his biggest problem—that’d be Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley, the girl he’s just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth. But she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler’s squad of losers, discipline-cases and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy.

*They're not the heroes we deserve. They're just the ones we could find. Nobody panic.*

## Plot

Tyler is a Goldenboy- top of every class at Aurora Academy, he's made 4 of the five squad member picks in the draft. The only problem is he's gonna miss the draft. Instead, he's floating in the Fold, in a two-hundred-year-old wreck, searching for the biosign detected on his scanners. He finally finds the cryopod with the girl in it as a FoldStorm approaches, threatening both his and the girl's life. The effort of removing her from the cryopod breaks his hydration tube- meaning he will drown in space if he can't get back to his ship. Using his O2 tank as a propulsion unit- he pushes towards his ship, but he knows he won't make it- he's still too far. As he prepares for the worst, he suddenly finds metal under his hand. He pulls himself into the Phantom, and manages to activate his distress signal before he passes out.

The next day, Aurora wakes up disoriented, with a set of strange memories that she's not quite sure are correct. After talking to Battle Leader De Stoy, her brain finally catches up, realizing that she is two-hundred and twenty some years old. Meanwhile, Tyler meets some of his new squad members, Zila and Finian and ends up getting in a fight with his Tank, Kaliis. The next day, Aurora has been moved to a grey room, where she has a vision of Kaliis dying to a blast of light, gets a visit from Tyler- who gives her Magellan, and gets a visit from De Stoy- who gives her directions to a docking port on the station.

Tyler and the rest of Squad 312 head out to complete their first assignment. When they get to Sagan Station, as they are unloading supplies and preparing for a fight with an Unbroken Syldrathi Wraith, Aurora reveals herself as a crate is dropped. Aedra turns on Kaliis for not disclosing that they had seven people on board, and something awakens in Aurora as she watches the scene she visualized back on the Aurora station play out. She forces Aedra back into the wall, saving Kallis from the fatal blast. As all this is occurring, the Global Investigation Agency(GIA) are coming in on a Terran Defence Force (TDF) cruiser, Bellerophon. Aurora has another vision in which the GIA takes her away and tortures her, so she pleads with Tyler and the rest of the Squad not to let them take her. Squad 312 agrees that she's spent way too much time in The Fold, so they let the GIA take her, only to be taken aboard as well apparently for questioning.

When Cat tells everyone while in the holding cell that the TDF ship blew up Sagan Station, Zila understands that the GIA doesn't just want to interrogate them, they want no-one to know that they have taken Aurora into their possession, sparking a heated conversation on the squad's uniglasses. When the TDF comes to take the group to the GIA, they attack the troops and steal their uniforms. The squad splits, Kal and Tyler heading to find Aurora. As they reach their holding cell, all power in the Bellerophon dies, all ship systems are offline. They reach Aurora's cell only to see blood spilling out from under the door. They save Aurora and run back to the Longbow, flying as far as possible away from the Bellerophon.

While they are flying, Scarlett is on watch when Aurora comes through the bridge door. She appears to be sleepwalking. Only thing is, she was put in a room with top-of-the-art technology keeping her inside. Scarlett is thrown up against the wall when she attempts to stop Aurora from touching the navigation technology. Aurora continues in this trance-like state to change the course of the Longbow, and to speak backward. She only stops this when Zila comes up to the bridge and shoots her multiple times with her disruptor pistol. When the rest of the squad is raised, they decide to go back to Aurora Academy, but when Cat tries to change the course, Aurora holds the ship in place with her powers, shaking it, until Tyler changes the course back to the original course she set, Sempiternity- the World Ship.

Upon arriving at the World Ship, the team splits up, Scarlett and Zila going to find clothes, Finian and Cat going to bargain room space with Finian's cousin, and Tyler, Kal, and Aurora going to a bar to find out what news has happened since they left Aurora Academy. Tyler, Kal, and Aurora end up in a bar brawl with a group of Unbroken Syldrathi after Tyler says Kaliis's name. This is the first time Kal calls Aurora Be'shmai. In the middle of the brawl, all screens in the bar suddenly flash a message with a headshot of Aurora and a wanted message underneath. The three at the bar run for it, meeting with Scarlett and Zila and changing clothes before running for Dariel's (Finian's cousin) flat. Once they get there, Dariel tells them about Sempiternity before giving them a room to sleep in. The squad wakes up to a design painted on the walls over and over- one that Aurora clearly painted. They do a search on Dariel's computer for artefacts with that symbol and come across an artifact apparently from the Eshvaren that belongs to Casseldon Bianchi.

Aurora knows right away that this is why she brought them to the World Ship. Tyler and Scarlett do some recon and discover that the artefact they are looking for is kept in Bianchi's private office. The squad plans a break-in that will happen during the party celebrating the World Ship's 50th anniversary, but Cat believes they are all crazy and leaves to go to a bar. While there, she encounters some GIA agents who ask her to rebel against her squad. The next night, Kal and Zila hide as pizza delivery people to plant a bug in the systems that will disable gravity. The rest of the group- excluding Finian, who is working everything from Dariel's flat- is at the ball, trying to get close enough to Bianchi to steal his passcode. Unfortunately, the GIA invade Finian's hideout before they are successful, so they take the back entrance- through the Great Ultrasaur of Abraaxis IV's exhibit. With the gravity down, they are able to surprise the Ultrasaur, thanks to quick thinking on Tyler's part.

However, when Tyler tries to blast his way into Bianchi's office, he fails, and the Ultrasaur ends up chasing them. Cat is almost eaten by the Ultrasaur but Aurora moves Cat to safety, kills the Ultrasaur, and opens the way to Bianchi's office using her powers. They retrieve the artefact, but the GIA, accompanied by Bianchi, arrives before they can leave. The GIA agents take the humans into their custody, and as they are walking down the hallway, the agents stun the Chellerians who were walking with them and take off their helmets to reveal Scarlett, Kaliis, and Zila. They run to the docking port that their Longbow is in, but as they start to fly out, Sempernity goes into lockdown, with no-one allowed in or out. Cat breaks free of the restraints on the ship, and they fly away.

Back on the Longbow, the squad contemplates what to do next. They talk about the GIA agents that they took the places of and how they seemed to be dead, yet still alive and moving. Aurora learns that one of the GIA agents was Patrice, who was going to be her boss on Octavia. While discussing, Zila suddenly stuns Aurora. This is when we first see The Enemy Within take control of Kal when he sees Aurora hurt. Punches are thrown and regrettable remarks are said but Zila explains that it was set to stun because Aurora's powers most often come out when she is asleep or unconscious. As she says this Aurora's powers are activated and she starts moving the artefact and saying 'Trii-i-ger'. The statue shatters into pieces, and a small diamond gem is uncovered. When this gem touches Aurora's hand, a star map is shown above it, highlighting twenty-two planets, all with naturally occurring foldgates. One of these planets is Octavia III, the star and planet that the Hadfield was originally bound for. When Aurora collapses, Kal and Zila take her to sickbay while Cat and Tyler plot a course to Octavia.

As they get closer to Octavia, the Bellerophon catches up to the squad's Longbow. They hail and warn that everyone will die if the squad does not hand over Aurora O'Malley. When Tyler tells them that they plan to head to Octavia, Princeps raises their voice for the first time, yelling that that system is under Interdiction. They continue on their way, and once they enter realspace(not in the Fold), they end up in a firefight with the Bellerophon. Suddenly, Chellerian stealth ships start attacking the Bellerophon, giving Squad 312 time to escape down to Octavia. They crash land on Octavia after taking a hit from the GIA and suit up to go outside. They find these writhing masses of blue-green plants, and it seems to be snowing blue particles.

The squad suits up and heads out to the Octavia colony, but along the way they get attacked by a group of savage chimpanzees. Squad 312 manages to defeat the chimps, but not before Cat has her suit ripped open by a chimpanzee. This results in her getting infected by the Ra'haam gestalt. They reach the Octavia colony, splitting up in order to find what they need. While Finian, Kal, and Aurora are exploring, they come across Jayla Williams, another Octavia colonist. After trying to communicate with Jayla, the three call for the rest of the squad to come join them in a warehouse. They see a TDF escape pod come down from space and they prepare for a fight. When the GIA arrives, Tyler tries to distract them as long as possible. When the firefight starts, Aurora hides over where Cat is laying and trying to keep the Ra'haam from fully infecting her. Aurora using her mind powers to try and keep the Ra'haam from infecting her and learns about Cat's life in the process. With Aurora's help, Cat is able to stall the Ra'haam long enough to let the rest of the squad get away. The whole squad is a bit stunned that Cat sacrificed herself for them, but they know that they must continue onwards and find the Weapon to defeat the Ra'haam once and for all.

## Special Editions

* **Illumicrate**: This exclusive edition has a pink cover instead of the standard purple one.

## Foreign Publishers & Titles

* **Bulgaria**: Егмонт (February 1, 2020) - Bulgarian title: *Изгревът на Аврора*
* **Czech Republic**: CooBoo (August 31, 2020) - Czech title: *Aurora povstává*
* **France**: Casterman (February 5, 2020) - French title: *Aurora Squad*
* **Germany**: FISCHER Sauerländer (February 24, 2021) - German title: *Aurora erwacht*
* **Hungary**: Könyvmolyképző (August 16, 2022) - Hungarian title: *Aurora felemelkedése*
* **Italy**: Mondadori (March 10, 2020) - Italian title: *Aurora Rising*
* **Persia**: نشر آذرباد - Persian title: *آرورا بر می خیزد*
* **Portugal**: Rocco (July 30, 2021) - Portugese title: *Aurora Ascende*
* **Turkey**: Pegasus Yayınları (November 25, 2019) - Turkish title: *Aurora'nın Dönüşü*

## Trivia

* Squad 312 is a nod to when Jay and Amie first met to work on American taxes - March 2012. [*citation needed*]
* The shoes Scarlett wears to the masquerade on the Bellerophon were inspired by @taherehmafi 's shatter me shoes, which were covered in mirrors.[*citation needed*]