Kaine's Sanction. Shattered Empire, #1

Dark terrors await on the frontier of space... Hayden Kaine, a brash young cadet, thinks his family's influence has guaranteed his destiny as a future leader of the Earth Confederation. But falling on the wrong side of an Admiral is never a good idea, and he soon finds himself posted to an outdated starship at the farthest reaches of the Confederation. What at first appears to be a routine mission turns south when an unforeseen disaster traps Kaine and the crew of the Scimitar at the edge of charted space, with no means to return home.