Out of the Dark Nebula

A battleship carrying five thousand largely inexperienced space cadets is ordered home when hostilities erupt between the Solar Federation and the Dark Nebula League, led by an alien Xantu fleet. Senior officers scramble to prepare the green crew for combat while the ship attempts to outrun and outfight pursuing enemy forces. The narrative follows the strain of command, the testing of raw recruits under sudden war conditions, tactical maneuvers in space, and the looming threat of being cut off before reaching a secure base.