Shot down in an escape pod onto a desert world, fugitive officer Kaine wakes believing his ship — and everyone aboard — is lost. Cora's avatar is destroyed; her mind survives in a crystal matrix, failing. Her only chance is to return to the Scimitar.
"She is dying. Her only chance is to return to Scimitar."
But Oberon is at war: open rebellion against a ruthless governor, while a renewed Confederation fleet moves in to own the winner. To save Cora, Kaine must cross rebel territory with the help of a young engineer who refuses to give up on either of them — and confront what the Confederation his family served for generations did to worlds like Oberon.
Then the rebellion's hardliners rig a two-megaton bomb on the government's orbital station. Let it detonate: thousands of civilians dead, and a tyrant's retaliation guaranteed. Stop it: the station — and the Scimitar's alien technology — stays in a tyrant's hands.
"I have amends to make for a lot of generations of Kaines."
What you will find inside:
Fast-paced military science fiction, no filler
A commander protecting a wounded human-AI hybrid
A planet divided by rebellion and reconquest
A high-risk raid to steal back a ship that can reach orbit
A detonation dilemma with no moral high ground
Every book resolves — no cliffhangers
For readers of The Expanse who like competent people inside broken systems where choices stick.
Kaine's Rebellion is Book 4 of Shattered Empire.
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.