Ground Control to Major Thomas (The Foundry)

To do what is right, sometimes you've got to break the law.

Earth, 2095. War, overpopulation, and climate collapse have pushed the planet to the edge. The United Exploration Initiative is humanity's last hope-one mission reaching toward alien contact, the other forging life across the solar system. Darnell and Lexi are Void-Striders on the front lines, mining metals from dead space to keep the dream alive.

Darnell is a faith-driven Texan with demolition skills. Lexi is a sharp-tongued pilot with a checkered past. Together they scrape by-until another crew captures 16-PSYCE, a golden asteroid worth trillions, and crashes the market. Broke, running out of time, and stuck on a dying ship, they're offered a job too good to be true: steal a legendary electric car drifting through deep space. The payout? More than they've ever dreamed.

But nothing's ever simple in the void. Corrupt governments, religious zealots, opportunistic pirates-they all want the prize. As chaos unfolds, Darnell, Lexi, and their ragtag crew must decide whether to play by the rules... or rewrite them. Because sometimes, doing what's right means breaking everything.

Ground Control to Major Thomas is a stand-alone novel set in the backdrop of the Foundry universe, focusing less on the alien encounter and more on those left behind after the FICSE mission departed. Reading this book does not require you to have read the others in the series, though it is a great complement.