Science Fiction, Freighter, Families, irish

[Jekaarn]

Science Fiction with spaceships
I read the book in the early to mid 90s but book probably 10 years old.
The book starts with a guy who is alone on a spaceship hauling sort of illegal items into a space station. The guy is along because he family and extended family all were killed when he was hiding while younger. For some reason in the story my crew members on ships were all close family as no one else could be trusted. While in the port and looking for another cargo to haul he meets a girl who is a part of a very big family ship. The family is of irish decent and very powerful. The girl is frustrated with her ship as their is little chance of advancement due ot the large size of the family. She convinces her family to stake this guy and his smaller ship to give her a chance for a higher position. The family goes along with it but we find out later that he is just being used as bait for pirates. Anyway he eventual wins and a sequel is hinted at.

For some reason the name Family Ship comes to mind but I could not find that title anywhere.

Any ideas?

 

[chrispenycate]

I suspect it's a CJ Cherryh Union/Alliance book – could it be Merchanter's Luck? I'll have a look through her output and see if I can recognise the story I'm thinking of.

 

[Jekaarn]

wow that was fast and it is Merchanters Luck, This is a great site. It is being downloaded to my kindle now.