The Price of Ransom — Alis A. Rasmussen

She crossed an ocean of stars in her search for freedom

Though the revolution is won, Lily Ransome and the crew of the Forlorn Hope are renegades, pursued by the forces of the liberator they gave their blood to proclaim.

Now their only hope lies across the void of space, on the fabled highroad to the old worlds that spawned humanity. There, in the heart of an age-old empire, they must battle treachery, madness, and death in their struggle for liberty.