Victory Conditions (Vatta's War, #5)

Victory Conditions, book five of Vatta's War: When Ky Vatta takes command of the Slotter Key privateers and a few allies, she knows she's still outnumbered and outgunned by Gammis Turek and his allies. Worse, she realizes that he is planning to attack shipyards where large warships are under construction... not to destroy those ships, but to steal them. Most of the ships in her fleet were built as merchanters, and have already sustained structural damage – and every combat stresses them more, sometimes to the point of failure.

Meanwhile, her distant cousin Toby is abducted by pirate agents who want to learn the secrets of the new Vatta shipboard ansibles, and Rafe Dunbarger, CEO of the beleaguered InterStellar Communications, is embroiled in a political and economic battle with ISC's Board of Directors and the government of Nexus. Prejudice against the Vatta family is so great that Nexus refuses to ally with Cascadia against Turek because Ky Vatta commands the fleet. Alone, with only the outdated ships of the ISC fleet to protect it, Nexus looks like easy prey for Turek... and controlling Nexus means gaining control of the galaxy-spanning communications system. Ky Vatta is the only hope if Nexus – and ISC – are to survive.