The Replacement — J.S. Frankel

Lorne Kimbrel, a student and part-time short-order cook, needs money, and he needs it fast. His parents have died due to illness, and the tax department waits for no one.  In steps a man named Dass who promises Lorne a job. Lorne accepts, but when Dass opens a portal and they land on a space station, Lorne realizes that he's just become part of something greater. His job? A cook for the scouts of the Peace Federation whose primary mission is to go to various worlds and assess them as potential resettlement places for refugees. Lorne adapts slowly, but he has two things going for him—he can cook fast, and he can hurl knives with unerring accuracy. That earns him the affection of Mikidra (Miki) Menorkana, a super scout with the Federation. Miki trains Lorne, and he learns what it means to be a scout and uphold the tenets of the Federation, those being integrity and justice. However, a race known as the Outliers, horrid, ghoulish creatures, are after a weapon that the Federation possesses and will stop at nothing to get it. Lorne and Miki have to stop them from fulfilling their mission—even at the cost of their lives!