Captain C.F. "Hawk" Hawkens, [Vince Edwards], a former Space Service Colonel turned pirate, leads his crew on a daring mission to steal a freighter owned by an interstellar corporation simply referred to as "The Company." During the theft, 10-year-old Peter, [David Mendenhall], slips aboard the freighter to hide, and the pirates sail away unaware of their extra passenger. After rendezvousing with Hawk's ship, the crew must scramble to tend to a comrade wounded in the ensuing firefight, while Peter quietly asks to be taken home once the danger passes.
At first, Hawk weighs the option of ransoming the child, but a pivotal moment comes when Peter volunteers to squeeze into a tight compartment and fix a damaged power conduit that enables a crucial escape. Seeing the boy's courage, Hawk promises to return Peter to his home planet, Procyon III. Before any safe return can happen, the crew stops at a space station run by the alien crime lord Zariatin, a stop that will prove to be more perilous than the heist itself.
On Procyon III, Peter's father meets with The Company's security director, who devises a plan to track down the boy using an advanced robot ship that can follow an identity tag Peter wears around his neck. Back at Zariatin's station, a pair of bounty hunters pick up Peter's trail and quickly realize he is a valuable ransom target. When Peter wanders away from his cabin, Flightplan, [Thom Christopher], a psychic alien member of Hawk's crew, senses the danger. Hawk finds the boy, but Zariatin arrives in anger over the intrusion. Hawk reassures him that Peter will not be harmed, even threatening Zariatin if anyone tries to lay a hand on the boy.
While Hawk and his crew unwind in the station bar, Peter slips out again and the bounty hunters close in. Meanwhile, Zariatin calls Hawk to remind him that service fees are overdue and demands that Hawk steal four Company fuel ships from a depot on Regulus V. To guarantee Peter's safety, the boy must remain at the station. Hawk refuses to abandon him, but agrees to undertake the ship theft. He tasks Amanda, [Patsy Pease], with bringing Peter home once the job is done.
Back on the freighter, Hawk returns to Peter's cabin only to discover the child missing, triggering a rapid chase back to the bar. As the pursuit unfolds, Peter is captured by the bounty hunters. Convinced that Zariatin has taken him, Hawk confronts the crime lord, but relief arrives when Zariatin learns the bounty hunters are making an unauthorized departure—an indication, in Hawk's view, that the boy is still nearby. Hawk presses the pursuit, and the would-be escape triggers a confrontation with the Company robot ship. Programmed for self-defense, the robot ship destroys the bounty hunter vessel, and Peter survives by using an escape pod which Hawk retrieves.
With the mission back on course toward Regulus V, Hawk teaches Peter how to operate the ship's lasers, using asteroids as targets for practice. Upon reaching Regulus V, Hawk's crew infiltrates the depot and seizes the four tanker ships, even as the Company robot ship—still in pursuit—tracks their movements. Before long, Zariatin's forces accelerate their pursuit, and the station becomes a flurry of activity as defense ships launch to slow the oncoming threat.
Amanda travels with the aim of delivering Peter home, but tragedy interrupts the plan when her ship is ambushed by Zariatin's starfighters and crashes on a nearby planet. Amanda is killed, and Peter is captured once more. Flightplan arrives to rescue Peter but is gravely wounded by Zariatin's guards. Peter finds Hawk in the bar with the remaining crew members, and the station's alarms escalate as the robot ship closes in.
The station launches multiple defense ships, but none can halt the approaching automaton. Peter and the surviving crew attempt a desperate escape, but the station is overwhelmed: the last two crew members are killed, and Hawk eliminates Zariatin himself at a grave cost, being shot in the process. With the station doomed, Peter helps Hawk stumble back to his ship, and the two make a final dash to safety as the station explodes behind them.
The relentless robot ship pursues their escape, and Hawk, weakened, urges Peter to fire the lasers at the precise moment the robot ships lowers its defenses. Peter complies, destroying the enemy craft and dealing a crushing blow to their pursuer. Although Hawk regains consciousness briefly, he is gravely wounded. He returns Peter home to Procyon III, but the voyage ends on a somber note as Peter disembarks with a heavy mix of relief and worry, while Hawk, badly hurt, drifts back into space.
