It is the year 2158, and colonization of the solar system has blossomed exponentially. Undersea bio-spheres, Martian mining facilities, underground and cloud cities on Venus, as well as outposts on Jupiter’s distant moons have proliferated, and are now teaming with transplants from Earth. These stalwart settlers transported by Javelin Class transport ships have been augmented by artificial life-forms, and technologically or genetically modified individuals who are better suited for some of the more extreme environments being settled.

For many it is a future once fantasized about. But for others, the disenfranchised - excluded from the dominant culture - the situation is far from ideal, and pockets of resistance have cropped up everywhere. “De-Annexed Lands” - cordoned-off by the United Nations-like “Earth-Sphere Government”, are for the most part lawless, unpredictable, and highly dangerous to reside in. Yet, the hope persists that a better life may await humanity in the colonies, and millions have willingly cast their lot on that dream. All the while, corporations wage economic wars over the colonists' fate who retaliate with now-rare commodities such as contra-band genetically unmodified food products, which are grown primarily aboard the ships, and stand as an act of rebellion.

Traveling in an endless 'circuit' around the solar system, the largest of these ships is known as the “Journeyman”. She has suffered a series of deadly explosions of mysterious origin. Damaged and hurtling towards Earth - the lives of her passengers hang in the balance. The ship becomes the focal point of already fractious political tensions back on Earth and Mars. With different factions and persons vying to reach the ship in hopes of protecting their nationals, loved ones, or cargo aboard, oblique motivations come to light as they attempt to affect the course of the Journeyman.