In a Solar System connected by the Vanguard highways, distance is no longer humanity’s greatest barrier. For Indra, a twenty-five-year-old recruit from Delhi, the journey is only beginning. The sole successful candidate from Old Earth’s reserved seats, he leaves home to join the Vanguard Elite Service—and boards the Gatebreaker, a vessel capable of travelling at half the speed of light. Beyond its extraordinary machines lie questions of belonging, privilege and the price of progress. The Vanguard follows one young man into the system that holds humanity together—and towards the unknown waiting beyond its brilliance.