The Pirates of Exodus

"The Pirates of Exodus" takes place eleven Earth years prior to the author's 2011 novel, "The Dregs of Exodus."
Having lost billions in population, Earth governments declare migration to the colonized "Super Earth" called Alethea, illegal. For more than a decade afterward, thousands of starships continue to arrive from the colony, unaware of the law that passed while they were traveling through space. The demand to leave an Earth suffering from a failing world economy and the resurgence of disease is too much for corrupt officials to ignore. Human trafficking becomes the crime of the day, allowing migration to Alethea to continue for the wealthy and influential. With the Earth depleted of its best and brightest, infrastructures and governments fail, leaving the home planet to anarchy. A powerful criminal organization assumes control of America's remaining spaceport in orbit over Cape Canaveral and continues the human trafficking. Over the years, the clan's stolen resources dwindle. Unable to continue their operations on Earth, the upper echelons of the pirate band decide to take the last starship, the Spirito di Roma, and escape to Alethea with their ill-gotten wealth. It becomes up to the crew of five and the civilians of the Cape to stop them in this tale of futuristic adventure.