3 ideas
Jenks, the Wayfarer's human computer tech, loves Lovelace ('Lovey'), the ship's AI. He saves to buy an illegal humanoid body kit so she can live beside him physically. Late in the journey an attack damages the ship and forces a system reboot. The personality that returns is a new entity with none of Lovey's memories, so the crew grieves a person the law treated as software.
The crew holds together because members accept each other's own account of who they are. Rosemary is not held responsible for her war-profiteer father, the Sianat Pair Ohan is addressed as the plural being they say they are, and Corbin is defended when he is exposed as an illegal clone. Tolerance here means more than putting up with difference.
The Wayfarer's mission to punch a tunnel to a war-torn planet mostly serves as a pretext for the months of transit. The relationships, rituals, and small conflicts along the way are where the real value builds up. Seen this way, ordinary shared routine is the substance of a life, and the destination is just the frame around it.