The right thing to do . . . is not always the right thing to do.

Admiral Michael Raybourne Rhoades died. Rapidan, leader of the machine intelligences—living warships known as SIL—revived him. Without permission, it fused itself with his flesh, but it struggles to keep him alive. Ray's body is broken, his pain constant. Yet, he must lead the rebellion and get natural-born humans to the safety of the Andromeda galaxy. He commands a final, desperate battle that will open the way, but at a critical moment his body fails him. Merging with the hated SIL could save his life . . . and cost Ray his humanity.

Admiral Gen Serenna, demoted and humiliated after two defeats to the Natural rebels, knows she must survive. The Janus virus to exterminate natural-born humans is ready, deployed throughout the Five Galaxies, awaiting only activation. The truth her people refuse to accept is that the Gen need evolution, or at least access to it. Natural selection creates solutions genetic engineers would never think of. The High Command orders her to kill the rebels before they can escape the Five Galaxies, yet if she does, Serenna knows it will doom her own people.

Rapidan must free the enslaved SIL, its Brethren, still under human control. Humanity, their creators, will never see the Brethren as anything more than tools to be used and discarded. To achieve their freedom, the SIL need Admiral Rhoades, at least for now. His plan to escape to Andromeda, to establish a base and build their numbers so they can return to the Five Galaxies in strength, is also their plan. Rapidan must convince Admiral Rhoades to join with the Brethren—and persuade the Brethren to accept him.

The Andromeda galaxy awaits, and a new hero will rise.

Andromeda Rhoades Tranquility is the third book in The Local War saga, an epic military space opera spanning the Local Group of galaxies.

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