You are Edison Trent, a freelance pilot earning your name and pay one contract at a time. Each job you take on brings new allies and enemies, aligning you with different forces within a dynamic universe. Choose to follow the compelling storyline, or break off at any time and follow wherever your adventure takes you.
-- from the Freelancer box

In the 23rd century, a war raged in the Solar system. The Coalition (homeworld Earth) and the Alliance (homeworld Jupiter) fought for decades, until the Coalition defeated the Alliance. But moments before the Coalition broke through the Alliance's defenses, five sleeper ships were launched. The sleeper ships were huge colony ships containing thousands of people, frozen for the long journey to the Sirius system. The five colony ships were named Liberty, Bretonia, Kusari, Rheinland, and Hispania. Each of these Sleeper ships would attempt to start a colony in the Sirius system upon arrival.

800 years after this tragedy, Edison Trent lives at Freeport 7, one of the bases in the Sirius system. Suddenly, Freeport 7 is destroyed by enemy fighters, and many inhabitants die. The criminal organization The Order is suspected. Edison Trent is one of the survivors, but in the explosion he lost his money. It seems that Edison Trent has to make a new start...

Freelancer is a space combat and exploration game developed by Digital Anvil and published by Microsoft Game Studios.