Chilling effect
(Book)

Capt. Eva Innocente and her small but talented crew traverse the galaxy in her beloved ship, La Sirena Negra, completing cargo runs for various clients. Eva may be a little rough around the edges, but who can blame her when her story begins with a shady customer ditching her with a cargo of troublemaking psychic cats (no, really) and no payment. But when Eva is contacted by a representative of the Fridge, a shadowy crime organization that has kidnapped her sister, Mari, the cats become the least of Eva's troubles. The Fridge orders Eva to complete a series of missions, each more dangerous than the last, in order to secure Mari's freedom. Eva is terrified for her sister's safety, but she's only barely in better shape herself. A sleazy alien emperor whose amorous advances she rejected will literally kill to have her, she lied to her crew about her sister's kidnapping, and, worst of all, she might have feelings for her engineer!