Joule

2022. Ultra-V space drives allow for interstellar travel.
2026. First alien encounter.
2078. The Union prevails in the thirty-five year Tri-System war.
2141. Lack of food and overpopulation forces the Union to introduce
a draconian measure—the flushing. A mandatory culling of those
that don’t produce.

The situation within the Union is desperate…but there is hope

Joule has a rude awakening. At fifteen years old he is kicked out of his parent’s home to make his own way in the world. He harbors no animosity; after all it is the law.
Fifteen years later he has run into a snag. Now thirty years old the Union has judged him to be non-productive. Joule must enter the flushing and forfeit his life. Still no animosity; after all that is the law also.
But Joule is not your average Union citizen, He possesses a unique gift that he keeps well hidden. A gift that will buy him time until he finds a niche in life that will reverse his fortunes.
What he stumbles upon is a treasure so valuable to the Union that he escapes the flushing forever while at the same time making himself the seventeenth richest person in the galaxy.
Not bad for a thirty-five year old.