Exile's End — Nina M. Osier

Interstellar Guard Commander Alana Robie first hears of her fathers disappearance and her little sisters kidnapping when the freighter Callons first mate summons her home to take charge of the House of Callon, and of the search for her sister. Alana answers that summons against all of her own wishes. She has just begun a coveted assignment as executive officer to Flag Captain Anna Sullivan aboard the Andromeda, she and her close friend Dominic St. Pierre have recently become lovers, and she wants only to continue living the life that she has built for herself far away from her abusive father. Yet home she goes, with Captain Sullivans sympathetic support. Once there she follows Alan Robies rival, Anders Valeria, to a mysterious rendezvous on a remote world where in a long ago duel Valeria scarred Robie, and then refused to finish him.