Corners of the Deep Dark by A. P. Howell

There are many places to run and hide in the deep dark between the stars Xan is the owner/operator of the Kitrino Alogo, a small, scrappy freighter and courier vessel. There’s a viable living to be eeked out making last-mile cargo runs and subcontracting from bigger corporations…especially when you supplement your income with the occasional bit of smuggling or other illegality. Raj is the proprietor of a bar on a station where people don’t ask too many questions. That’s working out very well and involves fewer people shooting at him than previous careers—until the appearance of an old friend who is rapidly acquiring new problems. One of Xan’s side jobs has gone unexpectedly sideways. She and Raj are on the run for their lives, desperate to learn why stolen data—supposedly low-level blackmail material—is worth killing over. And what, if anything, can convince the interested parties not to kill them.