The S-7, one of the twelve sloops of the newly captured STARDUST II,sends a group of three hunters on a patrol flight above the thirty-eighth planet. As Sergeant Rous and Calvermann, under the leadershipof Conrad Deringhouse, fly to above the fortieth planet, they findthemselves surprised by a materializing Topsider supply fleet andare taken under fire. Sergeant Calvermann's hunter is hit andtopples down towards the planet, out of control. Deringhouse'shunter is also hit and he suffers massive burns. He and Rous manageto succeed in escaping, but they cannot save Calvermann. His huntersmolders out in the atmosphere of the planet.

They return on board the S-7, under the command of Rod Nyssen, andjump back to Ferrol , where they report to Perry Rhodan.

Rhodan is in the middle of negotiations with the Thort, for theconclusion of the promised trade agreement for weapons assistanceagainst the Topsiders. He has his eyes in particular onmicrominiature custom electronics, which would cause an innovativeadvance on Terra. He also promises himself a stabilization ofTerra's position as galactic power factor by the trade relations. Inexchange the Ferrones would be supplied with goods working on thebasis of hypertechnology and stronger weapons.

Rhodan insists on the establishment of a sovereign trading base,which meets with refusal on the part of a majority of the Ferrones.They want trade relations, but do want a base of foreigners on theirplanet.

After he is informed about Deringhouse's medical condition, Rhodanmeets with Crest and Thora, who had demanded in writing the flightto Arkon shortly after the Terran's capture of the STARDUST II -particularly considering Crests opinion that the world ofimmortality was not to be reached. Rhodan rejects a renewed demandfor it due to the proximity of the unprotected Earth to Wega, andthe associated possibility of a discovery of the same by theTopsiders. The position of the Earth is to be kept a secret until itis strong enough to be able to defy extraterrestrial dangers.

Later Rhodan meets with Chaktor, the contact man between the Terransand the Thort, who was saved from a space emergency. On Rhodan'srecommendation he has officially joined the resistance against aTerran base on Ferrol. With his assistance a special plan willhopefully succeed. Ishy Matsu, John Marshall and André Noir involvedin the plan also. With a fictitious escape attempt from the STARDUSTII Noir and the Arkonide disguised Marshall \"shoot\" the Ferroneglider with the fleeing Ishi Matsu, and then Chaktor shoots them.Before her \"death\" Ishi Matsu manages to throw away a capsule.Chaktor picks up the capsule, visible to everyone standing aroundhim and disappears into the crowd. He is to pass on this capsulewith information to the Topsiders, on Rhodan's order. For this PerryRhodan makes use of the imprisoned Chren-Tork, the deputy of theTopsider fleet commander.

As a calculated side effect of the action of the opposition againstthe Arkonides, which the supporters of the Thort strongly condemn,the trade agreement with Terra wins ground.

Chren-Tork is in a camp on one of the two moons of Ferrol. Thealleged \"Arkonides\" Reginald Bull and Marshall bring the Topsider,who is informed about the discussions between the Arkonides and therenegade Ferrones, to an interrogation on Ferrol on board theSTARDUST II. Here Bull lets a remark out, which encourages Chren-Tork in his previous assumptions that the Topsiders hadmiscalculated with the computation of the location of the distresssignals sent by the crashed AETRON and looked for it in the wrongsolar system.

During the \"interrogation\" Chren-Tork was affected with a Psycho-beamer and the Suggestor Kitai Ishibashi. He believes now, that theconquerors of the STARDUST II are colonial Arkonides of the fifthplanet of the only forty-five light-years removed sun Capella. Thisalso fits in with the impression that the alleged Arkonides made onthe Topsider due to their activity and initiative, which did not atall fit the familiar passivity of Arkonides the Topsiders werefamiliar with.

The following night Chaktor flees in a hunter with another Ferroneand Chren-Trok, according to plan, before the Topsider can bebrought back to the prison moon.

The STARDUST II lifts off on a supposed check out flight in thesystem in order to be able to avoid being requested by the Thort topursue Chaktor. This will lead – arranged by Crest – to thenecessary astro-nautical documents for the computation of atransition into the Capella system with itself, and is the Topsiderof the necessity for an attack against the homeland world of thecolonial Arkoniden to convince, in order to prevent a surpriseimpact against it. Supporting for this the S-7 under \"fleet admiral\"transmits the imminent arrival of an enormous fleet in the Wegasystem to Nyssen the \"raised large administrator Rho Dan\". Thisinstructs the immediate departure of the entire armed forces of theplanet to the fight against the Topsider, which get sequentiallysupply.

For the underlining of the threatening danger for the Topsiders, theSTARDUST II destroys several ships of the Topsiders, which wait forthe fleeing Chren-Tork, and destroy the third and smallest moon ofthe fortieth planet with two gravitation bombs.

Meanwhile Chren-Tork arrived in the cosmic fort of Topsiders andsucceeds in convincing the head of the Topsider invasion fleet,Chrekt Orn, of making an attack on the defenseless Capella planets.This is supported by consciousness contents of Chaktor's Ferronecompanions on board the hunter, who die with the interrogation.Chrekt Orn snatches the documents from Chaktor and orders himcarried off to a spaceship, from which Tako Kakuta saves him alittle later.

The Topsiders accept the data as desired and transit into theCapella system. However it not as directed by Rhodan into the spacebetween the planets, but as computed by Crest, into the exact centerof the sun Capella. He acted according to Arkonide manners ofthinking and go rid of the problem of the invasion danger.