Merchanter's Luck

Your hero is Sandor Kreja, an owner, captain and crew of a spaceship Lucy. Kreja came to be the single crewman of Lucy after he managed to survive a pirate raid that left rest of the crew dead. Since then, he's trying to earn his living as a merchanter - not an easy job for someone with old and undermanned ship. Occasionally, Kreja borrows from emergency funds of large merchanters, always returning the money but sometimes also alienating a station or a merchanter in the process - no surprise he is slowly running out of places to go.

Looking for a crewman to hire, Kreja chances to meet Allison Reilly, an officer of a large merchanter ship. Joking, Kreja offers her a job on his ship, and later follows her in a hazardous flight on a sudden impulse of affection. Little does he know that Reilly harbors thoughts of piloting a ship on her own, something that she will probably never be able to do in her current position.

Soon after the encounter with Reilly, Kreja runs into trouble with both station authorities and the military command, who think a small ship like Lucy might actually be an ideal bait in their hunt for pirates (the military is just a little different from the pirates, really). Reilly uses the influence of her family to help Kreja out and actually takes his offer of a job - strings attached of course ...