Ada Lamarr is in a tough spot. Her ship, the Glory, has a massive hole in the side of it and all of her oxygen (well, almost all of her oxygen) has vented out into space. As she watches what little O2 she has left inside her suit dwindle away, she can't help but wonder why the nearby ship, the Halifax, isn't answering her distress signal.
Fortunately for Ada, the other, larger vessel finally answers her and lets her get on board. Now she just has to explain to the government ship why she is in orbit over the crash site of the Roundabout and how exactly she got there before the Halifax.
Ada's status as a salvager is well-documented, but neither Captain Ursula Io, nor the attractive Rian White (whose exact rank isn't quite clear), quite buy the fact that she just happened upon the Roundabout, especially since the Halifax made pretty good time in their own right. While Io and White are suspicious of Ada, they soon learn that they will need her particular expertise in retrieving what they need from the Roundabout. It seems that the crash site on the very young planet below is unstable and any attempt to reach their desired cargo is going to be dangerous.
As the plot of Full Speed to a Crash Landing unfolds, it becomes clear that Ada is hiding something, and not just from Rian and the crew of the Halifax, but from the reader as well. Ada attempts to remain laser-focused on her mission (whatever that is), but she can't help but think about Rian. It's clear that there is some romantic interest budding between them, but Ada knows she must keep her distance and Rian, himself, can't help but wonder just how much he can trust her.
While Full Speed to a Crash Landing: Chaotic Orbits - Book 1 is a fast read, Revis manages to pack a good bit of content into this novella. By the end of this story, both Ada and Rian are fairly strongly-established characters that don't feel two-dimensional. On top of that, the universe they inhabit already has a lot of depth to it, especially as it only brushes up against the history of humanity as it spread to different star systems. Given just how Ada and Rian left things by the end of this first book, I'm curious to see what adventures await in the next installment.
