In the distant future, mankind has spread out among the stars. Interstellar travel is common now, enabled by the use of special gates that make travelling from star system to star system simple and easy. However, this does not mean humanity has entered some kind of golden age. On the contrary, planetside life for most people means total domination either by the Emperor of Earth or one of three megacorporations. Those who want to be free of imperial bureaucracy or economic exploitation have to head out to the edges of known space, where asteroid mining stations and freelance interstellar traders can still make a decent living. But with freedom comes chaos, in the form of ravaging pirates, hostile aliens, and rogue AI-controlled ships.