A SPACE SHIP IS ONLY AS GOOD AS ITS GEAR CREW That is the mantra that itinerant 'gears' − starship engineers − Franklin and Sri live by. They've just been hired to work aboard a prestigious luxury liner, but their plans are disrupted when an unknown fleet presses a ruthless attack. Fleeing to safety, they and their semi-sentient toolbox organism known as the Quiddle, wind up aboard the Alizarin Crimson, a ship that is barely holding itself together and run by a dysfunctional crew led by the bullying Captain Boris Tankready. Turning the Crimson from space junk to shipshape is a challenge made more difficult by the discovery of a strange derelict. While Franklin and Sri try to solve the mystery of the derelict, they find themselves confronted with an invasion force of creatures intent on wiping out all human beings in the galaxy. The only thing standing between humanity and utter obliteration, is the Alizarin Crimson and its gear crew.