The characters are all employees at a mining colony at the furthest periphery of Humanity's galactic reach. One day, a message comes in from Earth - top priority.

It's the Galactic President with a message directly for the colony as a whole, which in and of itself is momentous, but her actual message is astounding.

Humanity has made first contact.

A group of scout ships of an unknown type appeared in human space several light days closer to Earth than the colony. Those ships attacked human vessels and settlements indiscriminately before a star cruiser arrived to drive them off. Consequently, all non-military traffic in the region has been suspended. The colony is cut off from resupply for the time being.

But that's not the worst news.

Long range optics have detected the alien fleet moving at sublight speed. It is massive, with several heavy ships visible. And it's headed directly toward Earth. And the colony is the first human outpost between the aliens and humanity's home planet.

In 90 days, 13 hours, 27 minutes, the fleet will pass by the colony, and the President needs them to transmit a full assessment of the fleet's size to the nearest fermion relay so that the EDF can begin making plans.

There's no hope of the colony making any kind of military stand against the aliens, but the campaign isn't about that, it's about how the colony spends its remaining 90 days, 13 hours, 27 minutes.