But Jethri..... Arin had thrown his lot in with a independent merchant family Looper captain, despite having been a larger force to be reckoned with, and had, if not broken with his biological family leadership, chosen an er different byroute from its leadership. Jethri chose yet a different direction, from his biological and gestational antecednts, rejecting the arrangement made for him the head of his social unit. Arin years before had been setting up or trying to devise defensed and continued livelihoods for looper traders against giant corporations (there was a lot of resonance to me in that, of Andre Norton's Solar Queen series, where were the giant Combines and the small independent merchant trading ships which were trying to survive against the big corporations big shiny ships and their routes.... Heinlein at the same time came up with the family ship meme, particularly expressed in e.g. Citizen of the Galaxy. C. J. Cherry Alliance-Union universe followed those modesl, with the Family merchanter ships in Downbelow Station and Merchanter's Luck and Tripoint, and the independent ships with unrelated crew or with a mix of Family and hires (Rimrunner and tripoint).