The 25th century as presented in Death Hawk and its companion series Star Rangers was a dystopia of Solar System-spanning corporations that held the true power behind the centralized government of the Sol 9 Commonwealth. His true name revealed, the protagonist was the surviving member of a group of corporate outcasts who called themselves the Death Hawks. When the group was betrayed by one of their own, Death Hawk escaped in his 50-year-old spaceship the Peregrine. With the aid of his bio-engineered sidekick, Cyke, Death Hawk traveled the spaceways eluding arrest warrants and creditors, his eye always out for ways to keep his salvage business going — often when legality was questionable.
Cyke, described as an "intelligent blob of goo", was a telepathic protosymbiote produced by the Biotek Corporation. Although Death Hawk is referred to Cyke as "he", the creature was sexless, but it possessed the ability to morph into a variety of sizes and shapes. Not only was Cyke extremely intelligent, but was also far more knowledgeable than his human partner and wasn't above reminding Death Hawk of the fact.
The story arc "The Soulworm Saga" revolved around the quest for a mythical alien object of immense power.
Other characters included:
- Brigid O'Shaunessy/Vanessa Bouvier, a beautiful con artist who claimed to be an exo-archeologist.
- R'yex, an Arcturan mercenary who first opposed Death Hawk then out of necessity joined forces with him.
- Anton Chane, a director of the mysterious Biotek Corporation, whose agenda has far-reaching implications for the evolution of humanity.
- Takaun, one of the "high daimyos" of the Sol 9 Shogunate, who was just as crafty as Chane and as greedy as R'yex, but in his own way.
