Kaine's Retribution

The gates went dark ten years ago. He gave the order.

Hayden Kaine destroyed the jump-gate network to stop the Malliac. He saved Earth — and stranded a thousand worlds. Now he scrapes by as a salvage pilot on a wreck-strewn moon, drowning in guilt, officially listed as dead.

Until his ship comes back.

The Scimitar, lost for a decade, reappears crewed by the survivors of his old life — and she is now the only ship in human space with faster-than-light capability, rebuilt around a stolen Glenatat drive. Her engineer Cora didn't survive the transformation intact: she chose to merge with the ship itself. She is the Scimitar now.

"We are the only ship in human space with faster-than-light capability."

And the crew found something else out there: the cynosure, an ancient locator pointing to a portal — and to powers greater than even the Glenatat. Every faction left standing wants it. A warlord wants it to rule. A rebel general wants it to forcibly reunite humanity under one banner. Kaine's old captain wants to sell it to the highest bidder.

Kaine has a chance to undo what he did. But repairing the damage means deciding who gets to own the future — and who pays for it.

Knowledge isn't power. It's a moral trap.

What you will find inside:
Fast-paced military science fiction, ten years after the Collapse
A guilt-ridden commander dragged back to the decisions he swore off
The only FTL ship in human space — and everyone hunting it
An ancient device that points beyond anything humanity understands
Factions, betrayals, and a hostage exchange with no clean exit
Every book resolves its story — no cliffhangers

For readers of Battlestar Galactica who understand that command is a moral burden and survival never comes clean.

Kaine's Retribution is Book 2 of Shattered Empire.

The question was never whether the empire could be saved. It was who would be left to save it — and what saving it would cost.