Overcrowded Earth awaits. Expand or go extinct. A new, multicultural, heroic crew is roaming the stars alone. The first human starship has just launched. The Wind Among the Stars opens the new First Voyages series with hurricane force. Book 1 introduces legendary explorer Aurelio Lupetti, Captain of the Victoria, humanity's first Faster-Than-Light starship. When Lupetti departs the Terran system in 2402 TCE, no life has been discovered elsewhere in the Cosmos. Not yet, anyway. "Earth Alone" politicians fight the FTL project as a waste of money, badly needed to help crowded masses on the homeworld. After the anti-FTL party maneuvers Indonesian Senator Ndari Nurcahya aboard as Lupetti's astrometrics officer, it's nose-to-nose conflict from day one. Ndari is brilliant, beautiful and wealthy. A media superstar with a powerful, golden voice. She's the youngest member of the Commonwealth Senate and holds a degree in astronomical sciences. From the moment she reports for bridge duty in the wrong uniform, the diva from Jakarta battles Aurelio Lupetti every parsec along the way. Until extraterrestrial life is discovered-Lutzak pirates-forcing Lupetti and Ndari to work together and rescue her fellow East Indians from alien slavers. And to explore new worlds. Forward together, like The Wind Among the Stars. "Set in the Star Lawyers Universe way before Tyler Matthews." "I love the characters! Hawaiian 'Chief of the Boat' and a sexy alien babe who considers humans puritanical primitives." "Great world-building. Exploration and First Contact. Trekkies will love it." "Nicely flawed characters, clashing galactic civilizations. Splendid space opera." "Pure adventure. With the right mix of conflict, humor and romance that makes a Tom Shepherd book such fun to read."