Redoubtable

Lieutenant Commander Kris Longknife has precise orders: seek out, engage, and destroy pirates, slavers, and drug lords operating beyond the Rim of human space—without interfering in Peterwald family affairs. Longtime rivals in business and politics, the Longknifes and the Peterwalds maintain a precarious détente at best.

Unfortunately. the pirates are acting within Peterwald territory, preying on the millions of refugees suffering there. Taking down thugs is all in a day's work for Kris's troops. Feeding the starving masses without government support is the real challenge -- especially if Kris is to avoid the appearance of a Longknife takeover of a Peterwald world.

But when slavers kidnap a twelve-gear-old girl, Kris's mission becomes personal. And if destroying the pirate compound flattens some Peterwald interests—well, to hell with politics...