Merchanter's Luck
First edition cover
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| Author | C. J. Cherryh |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Barclay Shaw |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series |
Alliance-Union universe, the Merchanter novels |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | DAW Books |
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Publication date
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July 1, 1982 |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
| Pages | 208 pp (paperback) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 42454975 |
| Preceded by | Downbelow Station |
| Followed by | Rimrunners |
Merchanter's Luck is a science fiction novel by American writer C. J. Cherryh. It is set in the author's Alliance-Union universe, in which humanity has split into three major power blocs: Union, the Merchanter's Alliance and Earth. In the context of the Alliance-Union universe, the book is one of Cherryh's Merchanter novels.
Merchanter's Luck was reprinted in 2008 along with Cherryh's novel Forty Thousand in Gehenna in an omnibus volume entitled Alliance Space.
Sandor ('Sandy') Kreja is the sole survivor of a moderately prosperous merchanter family that had operated in Union space. When he was a young boy, all but two of his relatives were killed or taken by the renegade Mazianni, once soldiers in the service of Earth, who had refused to accept the end of the Company War and turned pirate in order to keep on fighting.
The three remaining Krejas had continued to run their aged freighter, Le Cygne, as best they could, but an accident had killed one and a shady deal gone bad the other, leaving Sandy both impoverished and preposterously wealthy — the sole owner of a starship. By the dangerous expedient of hiring crewmen when possible and running solo when not, the young man had kept his ship running (under constantly changing names), but as unpaid debts piled up, he had begun to run out of safe Union ports.
At Viking station, as Edward Stevens of Lucy, Sandy has a chance sleepover with another merchanter, Allison Reilly, which proves to be pivotal to his future. Allison, one of the powerful Reillys of the superfreighter Dublin Again, lets slip that she is going "across the line" to Pell, the Alliance star system. Having heard rumours that trade between Pell and Earth might be re-established and wanting desperately to see her again, he decides to try his luck in Alliance space.
Sandy races Dublin Again to her next port, but the only way he can catch the much faster ship is by taking chances. He performs a dangerous double-jump and arrives at Pell groggy, causing a stir when he barely manages to dock. As a result, he is questioned by Alliance security, but is released when the Reillys come to his aid, not for his sake, but to protect their reputation.
At Allison's suggestion, they offer to refit Sandy's ship and provide a crew and cargo as a loan. The Reillys are also interested in the Earth trade, and the small ship would be an ideal conduit. Sandy swallows his pride and accepts the generous deal.
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