The Icarus Hunt

The Icarus Hunt is a 1999 Sci Fi novel by Timothy Zahn, of Star Wars Expanded Universe fame. The plot is as follows: Jordan McKell, a former soldier and current pilot/smuggler, is given command of the Icarus, a very odd ship with a ragtag crew and a mysterious cargo. His journey is plagued with problems, not the least of which are a saboteur and murderer on board and a widespread manhunt for him and his cargo.

Tropes associated with this series:

 * Applied Phlebotinum: The Patth's stardrive and
 * Artificial Gravity: There's basically a switch that flips it on and off.
 * Badass: In Jordan's opening scene, he outsmarts and then punches a huge alien in that species' Groin Attack location. Just to get into a bar.
 * Bavarian Fire Drill: The Icarus and its crew get out of a few tough spots with a string of these.
 * Big Damn Heroes: When the rest of the crew show up to rescue Jordan.
 * Bio Augmentation: The Patth implant bits of their control hardware into pilots so the drives can't be reverse engineered.
 * Bizarre Alien Biology: Ixil has two rodent-like "outriders" that can connect to his nervous system and share memories. The computer also has issues diagnosing him when he gets injured.
 * Jordan uses this against aliens on a regular basis. See Combat Pragmatist.
 * Casual Interstellar Travel: Of the Space Is an Ocean and Planetville variety.
 * Combat Pragmatist: Jordan. He will use anything and everything against his assailants.
 * The Conspiracy: The hunt for Jordan and the Icarus is backed by a mysterious organization.
 * Death Glare: Tera gives lots of these.
 * Driving Question: What does everyone want with the Icarus?
 * Energy Weapon: Jordan carries a "plasmic" and runs into aliens that carry "coronal discharge" weapons. The former shoots balls of plasma and the latter burns the target to a crisp with a burst of electricity.
 * Eureka Moment: Jordan has several through the course of the book.
 * Faster Than Light Travel: Everyone has it; what's important is how fast.
 * Genre Savvy: Jordan, very much so.
 * Gondor Calls for Aid: Jordan calls for aid for The Climax, with The Cavalry being who have nothing to lose by helping him.
 * Guile Hero: Jordan, full stop.
 * Impersonation Gambit: Jordan uses one early to get more information about his pursuers.
 * Improvised Weapon: Jordan threatens an alien with broken space glass.
 * Indy Ploy: Whenever Jordan isn't on the ship, he's doing this.
 * The Handler: Jordan gets two. At the same time.
 * Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: Discussed in some of Jordan's internal commentary. It appears that kinetic weapons and energy weapons deal similar damage, but kinetic weapons are a bad idea on a ship where they can destroy equipment and cause hull breaches.
 * Half Truth: Jordan rarely tells the full story to anyone but Ixil.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Jordan and Ixil. Many comments have been made that their relationship is like Han and Chewie's, without the life debt thing.
 * Humanoid Aliens: Almost all the aliens we see in this universe are more or less humanoid.
 * Non Human Sidekick: Ixil to Jordan, sorta.
 * Recycled in Space: The plot strongly resembles a cross between the Alistair MacLean novels When Eight Bells Toll (including the hero's boss being known as "Uncle Arthur") and Fear is the Key.
 * Scary Shiny Glasses: Jordan believes that Uncle Arthur uses these on his underlings. It doesn't really work over videophone.
 * Significant Monogram: Tera ends up having one once Jordan learns her full name.
 * Token Romance: Tacked on in the last two pages or so.
 * What Did You Expect When You Named It: Pretty much averted. For a ship named Icarus, there aren't many similarities to the myth.
 * What Did You Expect When You Named It: Pretty much averted. For a ship named Icarus, there aren't many similarities to the myth.
 * What Did You Expect When You Named It: Pretty much averted. For a ship named Icarus, there aren't many similarities to the myth.