Scimitar is presumed destroyed.
Cora is dying.
The orbital battle is over. Kaine hits the desert in an escape pod with one thing intact: Cora's memory module. Fused with alien code and damaged in the crash, she is failing.
She says she can still hear Scimitar calling. Across interdimensional space.
If she is right, the ship that could reconnect human space is still out there.
If she is wrong, he is following a ghost while his only friend dies in his hands.
Oberon is at war. Open rebellion against the planetary government, while Admiral Thomas's renewed Confederation moves in to own the winner. To save Cora, Kaine has to cross rebel territory and deal with the government that has the information he needs to find Scimitar.
That is when he learns what the Confederation his family served for generations did to worlds like Oberon.
Save his friend. Or act on what he now knows he can't unknow.
There are no good options, but he still has to choose.
Inside:
Fast-paced military SF. No filler.
A commander protecting a wounded human/AI hybrid
A planet divided by rebellion and consolidation
A high-risk raid to steal a ship that can reach orbit
Power that externalises its cost — and who paid for it
Every book resolves. No cliffhanger manipulation.
If you liked The Expanse for competent people inside broken systems where choices stick, you will feel at home here.
Kaine's Rebellion is Book 4 of the Shattered Empire series.
D.M.(Doug) Pruden worked for 35 years in the petroleum industry as a geophysicist. For most of his life, he has been plagued with stories banging around inside his head that demanded to be let out into the world. He currently spends his time as an empty nester in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his long-suffering wife of many years, and a far too energetic cavapoo puppy named Lucy. When he isn’t writing science fiction stories, he likes to spend his time playing with his grandchildren and working on improving his golf handicap.