Dead Ends by Ken Newman

The Great War with the Erest won, Commander Jabal Shann of the Azurean Sky Navy is ready to test a revolutionary new technology that would make it possible for a spacecraft to leap thousands of lightyears instantaneously. Unbeknownst to Jabal, he is dying of cancer and only has a few months to live. SD—an ancient, mythic being of immense power, called a Deverow—declares Jabal a “Dead End,” or a being without a future and, therefore, free to be used by the capricious Deverow for their own convoluted purposes. Although no one on his home planet believes his radical idea is possible, Jabal is given a decommissioned ship, The Blossoming Flower, and told to test his theory far out in space, safely away from the Azurean planet. But as Jabel works to build his new drive, he uncovers deep, dark secrets, regarding not only The Flower, herself, but her mysterious cargo. Before Jabal can confront the leaders on his home world, Azurea is destroyed by an enemy with advanced technology. Jabal, along with several other Dead Ends, is tasked by the Deverow to use his new drive to annihilate the alien civilization before they can do more damage to the universe. But how can handful of misfits take on an entire armada and even survive, let along defeat them?

With no other choice, Jabal turns to the one ace he has up his sleeve, The Flower and her unnatural cargo, risking everything to save the remnant of his people, but at what cost?