Trading in Danger, by Elizabeth Moon

Kylara Vatta is about to graduate from Spaceforce Academy on Slotter Key at the top of her class when a scandal erupts that she unwittingly, innocently played a role in - and, to save face, they kick her out. Her family has a vast shipping empire, and to get her away from media attention and give her something to do, they make her a captain and send her on a "milk run" with an experienced crew to babysit her-- she's taking the Glennys Jones to Lastway. At the first stop she comes across a possible money-making venture and decides to risk it, hoping to make enough money to buy the old ship she's captaining for herself and repair it, rather than scrap it for salvage as she is supposed to do. Naturally, something goes wrong-- and Ky's military training ends up being very important.

While Ky and her ship are in the Sabine System picking up some cargo, a civil war breaks out and some unknown party is foolish enough to take out the inter-system ansibles, cutting off communication from all the other worlds and from Kylara's family. The FTL system on the Glennys Jones is broken and they didn't get a chance to repair, so they can't get away from the war. The military force that's keeping control of the area asks Ky to take on some temporary passengers, including some of the captains of other ships who may have participated in the rebellion. Things get tense quickly, and Ky's military training becomes all important to getting her ship and her crew through the crisis.

I enjoyed reading this book. Kylara is a great character, and her adventures so were pretty entertaining. There were hints and suggestions that the civil war and ansible destruction in the Sabine system might be part of something bigger, and that somebody has it out for the Vatta family. I'm looking forward to reading more about her adventures with her family's company, Vatta Transport.

Title:	Trading in Danger
Author:	Elizabeth Moon
Date published:	2003
Genre:	Science Fiction
Series:	Vatta's War
Number of pages:	384