Friends in High Places (Far Seek Chronicles)

Outlaw Torri Rendego, Captain of the Far Seek, travels to the mining colony of Newburg on Old Earth. Along with her crew, she has to smuggle out rare black opals, in fulfillment of their latest contract, which skirts the edges of legality.

Everything goes as planned until Torri discovers that the hated Coalition is increasing security and that Kai Tinsdale, her former bunkmate at the presitigious martial training institution known as the Academy, is stationed in Newburg to break up dangerous but profitable smuggling rings. Kai is now a captain in the Coalition military forces, and she's very, very good at her job.

They'd shared a connection once that deepened not so long ago, but will it mean anything now? Because in a city where allies can quickly become adversaries, Torri and her crew have to navigate both, and any wrong move may be a price too high to pay.