About this book:

In "The Forgotten Astronauts," Dr. Amanda Harper and her crew aboard the Nova embark on a routine exoplanet survey that swiftly veers into an unimaginable odyssey. They stumble upon an ancient, derelict spacecraft—a vessel that defies all known human or alien origins. This discovery ignites a cosmic detective story, unraveling a decades-old conspiracy: a secret Cold War mission, "Project Daedalus," connected to the alien craft. As they delve deeper, the team uncovers a terrifying truth: humanity has been unknowingly "harvested" for millennia by a predatory alien race for a chilling, biological purpose, with the discovered derelict being a silent testament to their captured predecessors.

The Nova crew soon learns that the alien ship contains critical data left by Dr. Elara Vance, a forgotten astronaut from Project Daedalus, who managed to leave behind a desperate warning and a blueprint for a weapon to fight back. Their investigation is complicated by the revelation of a second, hidden human mission, "Project Icarus," which allied with a benevolent alien faction known as "The Protectors" to resist the "Harvesters." As the cosmic deception unravels, Amanda and her team discover that humanity's true role in this ancient galactic war is far more profound and terrifying than they ever imagined, ultimately leading them to an unimaginable power locked within a sentient, planetary anomaly, and its living "Key"—a human being. The crew of the Nova must then forge an uneasy alliance with a reawakened faction of the Protectors, preparing for a climactic battle that will redefine humanity's place in the cosmos.