Odyssey

Deep space has never paid off. Interstellar travel and industrialization never materialized on the grand scale once thought possible. Meanwhile, the greenhouse effect is taking its toll on Earth.
Famed journalist Gregory MacAllister has put all his efforts behind a campaign to cut funding for the Academy and its deep-space programs, in order to focus on more practical concerns Earthside. In an effort to stir waning public interest, the Academy mounts a mission to learn the truth about "moon-riders," the strange lights supposedly being seen in nearby systems.
Academy pilot Valentina Kauros will be at the helm of the starship Salvator. Along for the ride is MacAllister, who hopes to turn the hunt into a book; the Academy's public-relations director; and the fifteen-year-old daughter of a Senator. As they chase moonrider sightings along the Blue Route - the star paths frequently traveled by tourists - the team will soon discover that their odyssey is no mere public-relations ploy, for the moonriders are not a harmless phenomenon. They are very, very dangerous - in a way that no one could possibly have imagined.