Pathfinder : Departure - Part 1 of the Becoming Series

Pathfinder: Departure follows Earth's first attempt to break the faster-than-light barrier in a fractured future where Earth is dying, Mars has become a militarized rival power, and the Systems Alliance is desperate to reclaim its place among the stars. Lieutenant Commander Kyle Reece was once one of the Alliance’s most gifted pilots, until one reckless decision during the Trafalgar incident destroyed his career, disgraced his crew, and helped send the captain who saved his life to prison. Now assigned to the secretive Lawson Project as a test pilot, Reece is brought aboard the SSV Pathfinder because he may be the only person capable of flying its unstable experimental drive. Captain Noah Andersson never asked to command humanity’s most important ship. A grounded Marine officer more comfortable with clear orders than political agendas, Andersson is tasked with leading a crew already divided by distrust, old loyalties, and the shadow of Reece’s past. With Brooke Hale still carrying the fallout of Trafalgar, Jacob Alenko trying to hold the crew together, and Cerberus pushing the Lawson Drive beyond safe limits, the Pathfinder becomes a pressure point for everything humanity has failed to resolve. When the first jump finally comes, it does not deliver the future anyone expected.