A Sci fi book with feline woman, man in space bullet suit and a talking ship

[wander.]

So i read a book when I was about thirteen or fifteen, and never really thought much of it. I read it once or twice while I had it, but im not really sure what happened to it, and for the life of me i cannot remember the title.
Now im 19 and have literally been looking for the time from then till now for this book.
Now heres all that i remember about the book. hopefully someone recognizes it and can help me with the name so i can find it and read it.

I can remember nothing of names, or the title just what went on in the book.

Alright so theres some guy who is supposedly really really smart and a clone? or made if i remember correctly, and has some ship that is co piloted with him by some temperamental feline woman. the ship can talk and has a witty sense of humor and is always messing with the smart lead pilot person. they get in a few gun fights here and there then in their travels through space they find some huge chunk of metal now they bring thispiece of metal onboard for somme reason and it turns out to be some man inside a "space bullet" from some warrior planet and his names hallan(( i could be wrong)) well they end up listening to his story and taking him to his homeworld and end up fighting with him against some alien species or something like that.

The space bullet guy and the feline woman end up hooking up, and i think the main guy dies.
This book has been haunting me for sometime. I have searched endlessly on multiple search engines etc etc for space bullet, feline woman, talking ship space bullet etc etc.


Hopefully someone can give me closure on this.
thanks very much for the time :)

[wander.]

also This might not help as books seem to be printed with loads of different pictures on them, but i remember the cover of the book having like some black eclipse type deal on the front a big ole black circle with a fading dark to light deal going on. sorry details are so vague =(

[Ropie]

The plot with feline women sounds a lot like Robert Heinlein to me for some reason. I am probably wrong but I thought I'd mention it..

[wander.]

Well i wiki'd his bibliography, and i can't say any of the titles jump out at me...I looked at a few that might of been it. But none of them had the right set up he sounds like a good author though.

[wander.]

well i'll be a monkeys uncle....A slight mess up in typing the space soldiers name got me the name of the book! Doomstar by Richard Meyers...I can't believe that that was all it took....how i dunno but im very glad. my eyes welled up now i just have to find a place with the book :)

[Rocket Sheep]

Gasp! It was Fate!

[Omphalos]

It was Doomstar? Ive never heard of that one, so I was going to suggest Norstrillia, by Cordwainer Smith. It sounds like book two of that Novel, The Underpeople.