Requiem for a Ruler of Worlds: (Alacrity FitzHugh and Hobart Floyt, No 1)

Alacrity Fitzhugh, a young space adventurer, is blackmailed into taking Hobart Floyt, a minor Terran bureaucrat, to claim a mysterious inheritance from a wealthy interstellar empire Minor Terran bureaucrat, Hobart Floyt, has been left a mysterious inheritance by the ruler of an empire located many light-years away. Earth's government is broke and its functionaries want Floyt to collect the money. To make sure he succeeds, they blackmail a brash young spacer named Alacrity Fitzhugh into shepherding him on a dangerous interstellar quest.