The protagonists will be the foursome (or rather, the threesome + kids + one new possible partner?) from "Jump Space," and the book will open almost immediately after "Jump Space" ends, though I think I will not try to incorporate that story into the book. It's a little tricky, since that kind of ended with a crisis, but I think I can fold it in, and that will be less clunky that trying to start a novel with a short story prologue.
So we have Sarita (Sri Lankan descent, slightly spoiled rich girl), Kate (working-class Irish, captain of their somewhat grotty trading ship), and Joshua (Jewish descent, an academic). Also their two small daughters. Also, a genetically-modified cat-man. And interstellar war breaking out, and power struggles on a planetary scale, and ex-boyfriends showing up complicate things, and a somewhat dysfunctional set of relatives (Sarita's). I think her mother may talk to ghosts. Her dad is having chest pains. Her sister, who is supposed to take care of this sort of thing, of everything, has disappeared.
That's just the opening of the story -- there's a lot more to figure out. But it's nice to finally have a starting point. :-)