To Touch the Stars — Chris Hechtl

Decades after Mario and Luigi Irons led mankind to settle the red planet a new family began to take center stage. Jack Lagroose, his wife Aurelia, his friends and family, and others like him work together and sometimes against each other as they try to bring mankind kicking and screaming to the stars. Love, heartbreak, loss, genetic engineering, starships, AI, sabotage, terraforming, and all sorts of other things are tucked into mankind's past, present, and future.

And right under Jack's nose an evil lurks and waits for it's chance to rise and take center stage...