Ghost Ships of Terra — T.S. Paul

Throughout the course of history, humanity has reached for the stars. Interstellar travel was a dream of mankind. The invention of the Doohan drive or fusion engine in the 21st century made achieving that dream a reality. We now had the ability to leave our solar system and travel ...anywhere. Suddenly, everyone wanted to go out there, out, into space. Colony ship construction began almost immediately. Those individuals or groups that had enough funds or resources built themselves a ship. Political groups, extremist groups, paranoid collectives, and religious cults all built or purchased ships to leave Earth. Many of Earth's religious minorities left in search of freedom. Following them into space were profit seekers, those who looked for the last great score. The corporate world embraced the movement sending out their own colony ships. These were different in that its colonists were wage slaves or those in financial bondage. Those that could leave ... did. The remaining world governments and the United Nations looked to use colonization as a way to help with population control. Large swaths of "undesirables," criminals, illegals, or unwanted found themselves scooped up. Colonization by force. Pack them up and ship them out, often never to be seen again. Cryogenics was in its infancy, mostly it was just fantasy, not science. Drugs could only extend sleep periods and enhance calm aboard ship. The colony ships became generational. A colonist's entire life would be spent traveling to a new world. Many people had families aboard ship, and it was these descendants that began the new colony. My own ancestors were such travelers. Exiles because of being different, of having a non-standard religion or belief. The lists of missing or overdue ships were as long as it was famous. Space is vast. Many of Earth's historical figures and political movements disappeared to be swallowed up by the dark. Many of the earliest colony ships just simply vanished into the depths of space. It was these ships that history began to call the Ghost Ships of Terra. Athena Lee is back in the Navy as a Lieutenant on the Empire ship James Cook. She hasn't forgotten that members of this new Empire tried to kill her but there is safety in numbers on board ship. Pirates have been sighted in a nearby galaxy and her ship is sent to investigate. Old enemies and new threaten her existence. Read as Athena and Wilson fight for the future but work with the past. Read book three of this star spanning series