Redoubtable — Mike Shepherd

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...