Life in the 26th century is different, to say the least. The Earth is dying and nearly unlivable to humans (entirely, to most), the Terran Union is allied with four major extraterrestrial species, and everyone has a place where they belong, whether that be in the very quadrant one was born or in another galaxy altogether.
Except, apparently, one Grant Orion Vonté. He's at a loss when he is told, on his 22nd birthday, that all his dreams of soaring through the stars with a crew of his own have all been in vain. Because no one told Grant that his mom's disappearing act back when he was a baby was a felonious crime punishable by, you guessed it, permanent planet-side isolation. As incentive to lure Marine back on planet, Grant has been thusly banned from service.
Instead of sulking on-planet, though, Grant makes it his mission to track down his mother's whereabouts and to, at long last, clear his name. (He makes a lot of cool alien friends in the process, but that's neither here nor there.)
Read about this Self-Proclaimed Star Captain here in Collision Course!