A Crowd of Stars — Dave Creek

Winner of the 2016 Imadjinn Award for Best SF Novel! Earth Alliance starship captain Jon Hendrik barely escapes death at the hands of the Star Rebellion, and vows to defeat it! Rachel Adero, a young woman scarred by poverty, joins the Star Rebellion to fight for the destruction of the Alliance! Meanwhile, the ruler known only as the Eminence is pulling the strings on both sides of the conflict!