Book III begins on Gliese where Shayna, Mai Li and Cain Hollyroad have taken over the leadership of the new colony. Shayna is worried because they've heard nothing from Declan and Logan. She decides to contact Earth using the equipment Eddie set up before he left. Unfortunately, when she succeeds and contacts someone she's never heard of with the New LA Vagrants, she gets bad news. War has broken out in New LA and the Vagrant she's contacted, a mole person named Reek running a small, solar-powered computer hacked into the Company's com systems, he tells her most of the Vagrants are gone, hiding and shipped off to mining worlds. Reek doesn't know Logan or Declan or any of the group from Gliese, and tells her the Vagrant space ship was destroyed. When she uses the equipment to piggyback off the Company's Interstellar communication waves, they are alerted and come to find the colony.
Razor Tsang and his father are at the Gliese spaceport. They have an interview with the CEO. Razor's father is the head of the Tong that has been the one sanctioned smuggling operation affiliated with the Company for decades. But the CEO, an alien who is a member of the ancestor race, laughs in their faces, denies them a new contract and give them twenty-four hours to clear off Gliese. Unfortunately for Razor's father Big Lou Tsang, a group from the Smugglers guild meets him at his ship and kills him. Razor escapes and runs for the hills. He meets up with Shayna and her group and tells them what happened.
Cain Hollyroad leads colony members out of their valley and into the badlands of Gliese where there is no water and little hope of survival. Some of the colony gets caught by the Company and sent to the mines. Shayna, Cain, Razor, Mai Li, her daughter escape and begin a terrible trek into badlands searching for water. When all appears lost, Cain finds some caverns in a canyon which lead to an underground chamber with a spring. They need to get to a spaceport. Shayna is so worried about Logan, he concerns drive them away from their temporary shelter in the cavern and onward. They find the newest mining settlement. It has a rudimentary spaceport and a gigantic interstellar ship on the ground. It's the ship they stole off the moon. Raj thinks he might be able to fly it. He has Helga. Knock reluctantly surrendered her control cube to him when he fell for Fenfang.
On Earth, Logan, Knock, Eddie and Fenfang are trying to fight their way, with the aid of the remaining Vagrants on Earth, to the Denver Spaceport where they hope to steal a ship to the moon where they can grab an interstellar ship and get home to Gliese. Logan is devastated by his father's death. To find him and then lose him so suddenly was a huge blow.
The remaining population of Vagrants is wily and motivated to escape Earth. When they can't contact Shayna, Logan becomes frantic. He lost his father and needs to know Shayna is safe and sound. Hounded by the Company and its new leader, a Company drone, frantic Logan, turns its eyes to smaller target, the spaceport in New Salt Lake City.
When Logan tries to contact Shayna again, he is stunned to discover she is traveling back to Earth on the Far Horizon. With the Company after them, the Guild discovers they are hiding close to their secret spaceport and moves in. Logan and his group hunker down and pray Cain, Shayna and Raj will arrive in time to save them.
