This is a story where the female protagonist finds strength within her she didn't know she had.  She tries to help a fellow student at the military academy who turns on her and ends up being a scapegoat.  She is forced  to resign from the military academy.  In order to get her away from the bad press, her father sends her on a broken down transport that's headed for the scrap yards.  There are adventures along the way and our unwitting captain gets caught up in a galactic war, putting her in untenable situations from which she draws on her experience and military training to save her ship and her crew.