Birth of a Burning Star — R.B. Banfield

It's the early days of space exploration, when the rules are being written as they go, and two competing forces work to be the first to find a new world. One has the weight of the world on its shoulders, the other prefers to work in secret. Despite having no money or connections, or knowledge of what awaits him out there, young John Beggs fights to join them and become a space pilot. In contrast, retired sports star Doniel Tanner has everything he wants for a life in space, but needs convincing that it is probably time to go home. A page-turning thriller set in the early days of galactic colonisation, when the race is on to get out into the universe by any means possible. The last of the series of nine novels about the far-reaching influence of people who were only ever looking out for themselves.