Captain Podkayne and The War To End All Wars

This is a second novel about Podkayne, named after Robert Heinlein's character in his novel "Podkayne of Mars" and her family, including her new baby girl Friday. When they arrive with their interstellar cruise liner from Earth at Alpha Centauri they are set to change over to a very modern newly built and much larger ship. But it isn't just a cruise liner; it is a covertly built battlecruiser which is a combination mobile starfighter base. There have been indications of need for such increased firepower and her Mother is a highly respected Captain both in commercial lines and in military vehicles. She is to maintain a military presence all the while conveying passengers from Earth to Alpha Centauri and back again. But... such is not to be. They are suddenly attacked just after her mother and father take off on a two week vacation leaving her and her husband Joe, a highly decorated military intelligence officer, in charge of the Minerva. Joe and then Podkayne become captain while her mother ends up as chief admiral of the fleet. It is a crash course of new vessel construction all the while trying to protect all the planets that have been colonized as well as several friendly alien species. As the war progresses it is clear the enemy will not give an inch; the only choice is to seek out and destroy them before they can exterminate all the colonists. They cannot be reasoned with and refuse all communication. Nineteen year old Podkayne, just recently having given birth, turns out to be a natural instinctive captain and her husband defers to her while he seeks out intelligence on the location of the enemy strongholds. Podkayne, in the end, concludes what her husband has called the conflict "The War To End All Wars" in a way only she, with the help of her sister who is the ship computer also named Minerva, could ever come up with. In her heart she knows Heinlein himself would have been proud of her.