Book about a mutiny on a space ship, the hero has a scarred face

Question

Read a book many years ago. Best information I have is that it was about a young man who goes to a brutal space academy where they cadets run a gauntlet being hit with belt buckles that scar his face.

He gets posted as a midshipman on a even more brutal ship where the captain routinely spaces cadets for trivial reasons. Once he has to report from the engine room, meaning he will be the last to report, so he says so and so reporting from engine room, eventually the crew mutinies.

Best I have other than his name might begin with a C or a K been looking forever.

Answer 1

I think this might be Star Rebel by F. M.Busby.

It isn't a perfect match, but it contains the elements you mention. The protagonist is Bran Tregare. He is sent to the Space Academy, which is notoriously brutal and also called The Slaughterhouse. Amongst the punishments is running the gauntlet while being hit with belts, and several of the cadets have facial scarring due to this though I don't think Bran has.

The brutal captain is Arger Korbeith aka The Butcher. When Bran and other new recruits first reach the ship Korbeith selects a woman called Megan Delange and has her thrown out of the airlock for no apparent reason other than to scare the other new recruits.