Echelon's End Book 4 — E. Robert Dunn

Pioneer Pod 4 had become a wanderer in the interstellar frontier, a hobo on a runabout with no foreseeable end. The newly born jungle and one of its inhabitants had claimed the life of a crew-member as the great, saucer‑shaped ship was nearing a launch point. After months of repair and preparation, the Pioneer Pod 4 was once again ready to join the glowing jewels on the black velvet pad of space. Earthquakes have begun to wrack the planet as tidal forces bombard it. One of the suns overhead is close to going supernova. Crack! Huge vents open across the desert planetscape's stress points. Just as the refugees from the sundered planet of Aidennia prepare to venture out into the cold reaches of the void and try and find a place to call Home, their nemesis waits for them in Space.