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 used in The Icarus Hunt include:

• Applied Phlebotinum: The Patth's stardrive and the teleportation device the Icarus is built around.
• 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.
• Batman Gambit: Jordan pulls off a couple big ones at the end.
• 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 Kalirixi commandos 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. The papers he gets help Nicabar set up another one later.
• 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. It turns out that Ixil is technically Jordan's superior officer, though their relationship is more one of partners.
• 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.
• Undercover Cop Reveal
• What Did You Expect When You Named It?: Pretty much averted. For a ship named Icarus, there aren't many similarities to the myth.