Scardown - Elizabeth Bear

She wasn't born for this mission. She was modified for it.

The year is 2062, and after years on the run, Jenny Casey is back in the Canadian
armed forces. Those who were once her enemies are now her allies, and at fifty, she' s been handpicked for the most important mission of her life-a mission for which
her artificially reconstructed body is perfectly suited. With the earth capable of
sustaining life for just another century, Jenny-as pilot of the starship Montreal-must discover brave new worlds. And with time running out, she must succeed where
others have failed.

Now Jenny is caught in a desperate battle where old resentments
become bitter betrayals and justice takes the cruelest forms of vengeance. With the
help of a brilliant AI, an ex-crime lord, and the man she loves, Jenny may just get
her chance to save the world. If it doesn't come to an end first. . . .

Elizabeth Bear was born on the same say as Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, but in a different year. This, coupled with her childhood tendency to read the dictionary for fun, has led inevitably to penury, intransigence, and the writing of speculative fiction. Her hobbies include incompetent archery, practicing guitar, and reading biographies of Elizabethan playmenders.

She is the recipient of the John W. Campbell Award for best New Writer and the author of over a dozen published or forthcoming novels, including the Locus Award-winning Jenny Casey trilogy and the Phillip K. Dick Award-nominated Carnival. A native New Englander, she spent seven years near Las Vegas, but now lives in Connecticut with a presumptuous cat.