Intrepid — Mike Shepherd

At long last Kris Longknife's dream of commanding a space warship has come true...in a wag. The Wasp is the best warship beyond the rim of human space -- actually, it's the only one -- and the contract crew has its own captain. But Kris knows he'll do what she tells him to when they run into trouble.

Sure enough, while hunting for pirates beyond the Rim, Kris stumbles upon a plan to kill one of the members of the aristocratic Peterwald family. There is no love lost between the Peterwalds and the Longknifes, but Kris cannot look the other wag especially when the would-be killers are setting her up as the assassin. Now Kris must lead her crew deep into Peterwald space to save a life and prevent a war between the influential families that could devastate what's left of humanity...