Due to its location near a stargate to the Greater Magellenic Cloud, Azimuth Station has become a major waystation for thousands of refugee ships seeking to flee the Andromeda Galaxy and escape the Annihilation Wave. It’s also a stopover for those who have encountered the Wave and lived to tell the tale, such as Gamora and her Graces. After another argument about who should lead the Graces, Nebula breaks off from the group once and for all and begins looking for a ship and a crew, hoping to re-start her piratical career and search for the Infinity Gauntlet. She falls in with Paibok the Power Skrull, who commands a small band of Skrull opportunists, and they begin constructing a plan.

In the darkness between stars, in a vast and radioactive cathedral-cube, the Silver Surfer meets with two other Heralds of Galactus, Firelord and Stardust, to discuss the threat posed by the Seekers. Still loyal to her master, Stardust summons Galactus to the meeting, and the Devourer of Worlds tells the Heralds that the destruction of the Kyln has freed two of the Proemial Gods, vastly powerful entities that Galactus battled and imprisoned during the first moments of the universe’s birth. If they recover their strength, or if the Seekers manage to capture one of the Heralds and subvert the Power Cosmic, reality itself could be threatened.

Devos the Devastator has also made his way to Azimuth, but only just – his high-tech armour is almost completely drained of power. Searching for a way to regain his strength and self-respect, and to fight back against the Wave, he meets with Recorder 808, adjunct to internal security leader Spirit, to ask how he can assist resistance efforts. At the same time, Gamora and Moondragon meet with Spirit to discuss what they can do. All receive the same answer – there are no resistance efforts against the Wave.

Meanwhile, Quasar – Azimuth’s external security leader – flies out to meet a Shi’ar battle cruiser that has come through the local stargate. Commanded by Gladiator, the cruiser demands Azimuth’s surrender, and that it acts to stop the flow of refugee ships – as the ships are flooding into space now controlled by the Shi’ar Empire. Quasar does his best to persuade Gladiator that working with the station’s Rigellian masters to help the refugees is the best way forward, but his argument is halted by a sudden alert – the station is powering up its weapon systems to attack the cruiser!

In truth, Nebula has engineered a massive energy spike to cause a distraction so that her crew can steal a ship. Devos defeats one of Paibok’s agents in the security centre and flies across the station, exhausting his armour’s reserves, to stop the spike from destroying Azimuth – and by draining the excess power, recharges his own systems. Moondragon races through the powered-down station to intercept Nebula, who has abandoned her allies in order to escape alone, and captures her with her mind-control abilities. With the power spike quelled, the Shi’ar no longer think the station is on the attack, and Quasar is able to negotiate an agreement with Gladiator, who will stay on Azimuth as the Empire’s liaison – and perhaps to help the resistance efforts taking shape on the station.

In the aftermath, Firelord arrives at Azimuth to check on his friend Air-Walker; he uses the Power Cosmic to imprison Nebula in a impenetrable sphere of fire and launches it into space. And the Silver Surfer and Stardust arrive at the Crunch to find that the Proemial Gods are building something from the remains of the Kyln, some kind of gigantic energy storage and conversion system. They watch the immortals at work and wonder how to proceed – unaware that their every move is being observed by Thanos, the Mad Titan…