Raised in the units, a government housing facility where the surplus population is kept, Lade is trained by his grandfather to be far more than just average. After an attack by an invading alien craft, Lade is found and taken to a military hospital where his uniqueness is discovered.

Sent to the SolarCorps academy, he runs afoul of a politically-connected officer and winds up condemned to the Tanks, a devastating bio-weapons station where every time the weapon is used against the invaders, a Tanker dies.

Besides being a Heinlein-style space opera, Tankers also incorporated a number of lit-RPG elements, especially in the final climax of the story.