Of Bravery and Bluster (Book 2 - Worlds Afire) by Scott Kelemen

Book 2 of Worlds Afire After years of intense training in the star system of Havoc, five cadets are nearing graduation from the Academy which trains officers for the Alliance Navy, the force responsible for protecting humanity in a region of space far from Earth. Having survived every test the Academy has to offer, including a deadly encounter with rogue cadets that was never planned, the cadets must now embark on a new series of challenges that will have them face to face with aliens, meet high powered politicians, and tested for bravery under deadly stress. Yet as difficult as those trials might be, there are worse dangers stalking them in the dark. The agents who manipulated the rogue cadets seek a reckoning for their disrupted plans, and an old enemy is about to resurface who is not nearly as dead as everyone thinks. The Academy wants to test the mettle of these cadets. But what they are about to experience will go far beyond anything their instructors ever intended.

Adult • Science Fiction/Military SF • Science Fiction/Space Opera