On Basilisk Station by David Weber. Short summary

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Basilisk Station was built by humans as one of the Earth Federation outposts. Victoria Harrington, who was recently promoted to officer for her talents, was recently transferred there.

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In order to control the space sector and secure their own domain from enemies, the Kingdom of Manticore has begun building space stations that can coordinate local spacefleet formations or maintain order on worlds controlled by Earthlings.

In order to ensure the protection of its own citizens from external and internal threats, the Federation’s engineers built a space station such as the Basilisk. The station is located in a cluster of planets where smugglers, pirates and other criminals, hunted by the imperial security service, have been running rampant for years. Most of the planets are still under the control of the natives, who are several centuries behind humanity in development. These planets the Kingdom plans to colonize in the near future.

It is Victoria Harrington, recently promoted to the rank of officer, who has recently been appointed commander of this station. And after her appointment, the station is attacked.