The Terran Gambit - Nick Webb

Lieutenant Jacob Mercer likes fast motorcycles, faster women, and screamin' space fighters. As a reckless fighter jock in the Resistance fleet battling the Corsican Empire, he lives solely for the thrill of taking out as many Imperial bogeys as he can. A rebel victory is looming on the horizon when the Imperials abruptly change tactics and, in a surprising show of devastating force, incinerate the city of Dallas with a thermonuclear blast - killing millions - and delivering a merciless example of what happens to upstart worlds in the Pax Humana. But the Resistance will not be cowed so easily. In retaliation the rebel leadership devises a daring plan to strike at the Empire's heart in a final, desperate bid for freedom, a plan that will put Jake Mercer in the captain's chair of the most advanced warship in the galaxy. In a life full of crazy moves, this one might just be the craziest, but Jake jumps at the chance anyway for it means a possible end to the war. To succeed, all Jake has to do is face down a psychopathic Imperial Admiral bent on utterly destroying the Resistance and even Earth itself. What could be so hard about that? Similar to Ryk Brown 's Frontiers Saga, Christopher Nuttall, BV Larsen, and Vaugh Heppner books.