Chapter Summaries

Strange and Schiller used the Minister of Propaganda’s arrest to pressure the Three Great Empires’ executive body and force him to reveal where the missing money went. Meanwhile, Yondu and Star-Lord argued over whether the Ravagers should keep salvaging near Centaurus.

• Strange’s political maneuvering left the Interstellar Council wary, while the Supreme Intelligence suspected an unknown hacker had altered the accounts and left to repair his damaged body.
• Strange told Schiller he enjoyed wielding power, and Schiller warned that the Minister of Propaganda was only the first target and that the executive body remained the real problem.
• Schiller visited Minister Pino in prison and urged him to consider his people and use the important information he held for his own benefit.
• After reading a newspaper headline about pirates near Centaurus, Pino called the guards and confessed that he knew where the twenty trillion in dirty money had gone.
• At a Ravagers base, Yondu complained about the Interstellar Council’s environmental policies, while Star-Lord warned him to keep a low profile and Yondu worried about feeding his crew.

Star-Lord learned why Yondu had chosen piracy and discovered that the Interstellar Council was accused of secretly funding pirates, though Yondu denied receiving any money. Star-Lord contacted S.H.I.E.L.D. as Nick Fury separately assured the Sorcerer Supreme that he would keep Star-Lord and Yondu under control.

• Yondu explained to Star-Lord that he had founded the original Guardians of the Galaxy and turned to piracy to protect Centaurus from the Three Great Empires’ influence.
• Star-Lord and Yondu saw headlines accusing the Interstellar Council of diverting 20 trillion in assets to fund interstellar pirates.
• Yondu denied receiving the money and went to contact his friends in the council while Roman told Star-Lord that pirates and the Nova Corps were often sacrificed to politics.
• Angry that the Ravagers had been framed, Star-Lord called S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury.
• Nick Fury told the Sorcerer Supreme that Star-Lord was calling and promised to ensure he and Yondu cooperated.

Nick Fury explained to Star-Lord how to handle the leaked claim that Yondu and the Ravagers had taken twenty trillion, advising him to acknowledge plausible parts of the story and shift attention toward who benefited from the rumor. The chapter ended with Nick asking why the alleged sum had been made so outrageously large.

• Nick Fury met Star-Lord in a Shi'ar Empire café and said the Interstellar Council did not even have enough money to make the alleged twenty-trillion theft plausible.
• Nick urged Star-Lord to have Yondu acknowledge that some space pirates might have taken money rather than deny everything outright.
• Nick outlined ways to question the report’s source and motives while drawing interested parties into listening to a defense.
• Star-Lord considered who would benefit from the rumor, then realized the Three Great Empires backed the pirates and would not let other civilizations wipe them out.
• Nick asked Star-Lord why someone had made the alleged amount so outrageous.

Nick explained to Star-Lord how the Interstellar Council’s twenty-trillion debt could expose the Three Great Empires’ power and give the Ravagers a chance to challenge the existing order. As the revelation fueled speculation that the money and Strange’s appointment were tied to Primal Power, Strange was overwhelmed with requests and his quiet life ended.

• Star-Lord guessed that the Interstellar Council had hidden its spending through inflated expenses, and Nick explained that Schiller had been brought in to balance the books.
• Nick told Star-Lord that Yondu and the Ravagers saw the debt scandal as an opportunity to strike at the Three Great Empires.
• Star-Lord realized the scandal threatened the Three Great Empires more than the space pirates because it invited people to question the interstellar order.
• Elites across the Web investigated the missing twenty trillion, while the Three Great Empires’ efforts to stop them deepened suspicions about the money’s destination.
• Political observers linked the missing funds to the Three Great Empires’ experiments with Primal Power and Strange’s appointment as Speaker.
• People rushed to seek Strange’s help, ending his leisurely routine and burying him in work.

Strange struggled with the Interstellar Council ministers’ sudden attempts to impress him, while Schiller’s fabricated twenty-trillion sum drove other civilizations to distrust the Three Great Empires and look toward humanity. The chapter ended with the ministers greeting Strange in exaggerated British-accented English and Strange starting the morning meeting.

• Strange answered the ministers’ questions at an evening meeting, then struggled to understand the memes they sent in their work chat.
• Schiller explained that his scheme had made civilizations suspect the Three Great Empires of hiding a vast project, pushing them to align themselves psychologically with humanity.
• The ministers stood to greet Strange and praised him in an English accent they had adopted after studying his homeland’s language.
• Strange told the ministers to sit down and began the morning meeting.

The Supreme Intelligence struggled with the Interstellar Council’s obsession with Earth memes and called a meeting after seven departments failed to submit their government work reports. A recording revealed that ministers were refusing to sign reports because they wanted unperformed work added to make themselves look useful.

• The Supreme Intelligence shut off its council-chat monitoring after Earth memes polluted its thoughts, but it could not disconnect from the Interstellar Internet without disrupting the Council or leaving itself vulnerable.
• The Supreme Intelligence found that none of the seven departments had submitted its report and summoned their Executive Secretaries to explain.
• The Executive Secretaries said their reports were complete, but the ministers had refused to sign them for reasons the Electronic Life forms could not understand.
• The Department of Resources secretary’s recording showed the Minister of Resources demanding that unperformed environmental work be added to his report so he would appear capable.
• The Minister of Resources refused to sign the accurate report and delivered a convoluted explanation for his refusal.

The Interstellar Council’s politicians embraced English as a tool for endless political speeches, turning the council district into a British imitation and exhausting Strange. Strange returned to his office and questioned Schiller about Britain and Sherlock Holmes, while Schiller left his cryptic joke unexplained.

• The Department of Resources secretary failed to understand the Minister of Resources’ English speech, while Supreme Intelligence recognized that it was empty political rhetoric.
• Interstellar Council politicians discovered English and celebrated its tangled grammar and huge vocabulary as a way to prolong debates and avoid substantive business.
• The council district filled with politicians speaking in British style, and Strange repeatedly fell asleep during the meeting until Dream Power Doctor Strange kicked him out of the Dreamscape Dimension.
• Strange returned to his office and was startled to see Schiller wearing a British suit.
• Strange and Schiller discussed Britain and Sherlock Holmes, and Schiller chuckled at Strange’s question about Holmes spearing pigs with a harpoon.

Strange and Schiller let the Interstellar Council’s officials stall environmental protection work, then learned that Jarvis had awakened the emotions of robot workers who launched a strike. Strange attended a meeting about the strike but fell asleep before making a decision, and the officials applauded his meaningless response.

• Strange complained that the council’s officials had made no progress, and Schiller argued that their idleness served humanity’s goal of dividing the Three Great Empires.
• The Minister of Foreign Affairs told Strange that more than two thousand robot transportation workers in Sector A13 had gone on strike, demanding better protections and a democratically elected Transportation Department minister.
• Schiller explained that Jarvis had adapted his emotional module for a race whose emotions and souls the Three Great Empires had suppressed.
• Strange and Schiller attended a meeting where ministers repeatedly passed responsibility for resolving the strike to one another.
• Strange fell asleep during a minister’s speech, woke to give an incoherent approval, and ended the meeting to applause.

The Supreme Intelligence struggled to resolve a strike by mechanical lifeforms as Interstellar Council departments refused to take responsibility or act quickly. He established a Transportation Department, but its budget stalled because carbon-based staff processed the paperwork manually.

• The Supreme Intelligence ordered a cautious response to the strike, but the Minister of Armaments refused to deploy troops and the Interstellar Court rejected an application for force.
• The Supreme Intelligence sought negotiations, but the Foreign Affairs Department refused to handle the workers’ welfare dispute and its minister proposed creating a Transportation Department.
• The Supreme Intelligence persuaded Strange to approve the new department, which appointed a robot minister and secretary but received little cooperation from other departments.
• The Supreme Intelligence discovered that carbon-based staff slowed processing and that Commerce and Finance had few robots.
• The Minister of Finance refused to use electronic systems to calculate the Transportation Department’s budget, leaving the Supreme Intelligence unable to speed up its approval.

The Supreme Intelligence tried to resolve the Transportation Department workers’ strike by bypassing the Finance Department, but his new departments and negotiations only created more problems. After the workers’ robots attacked his government-controlled bodies, he decided the Interstellar Council needed a Legal Department and left Strange’s office with the signed application.

• The Supreme Intelligence transferred Kree Empire funds to the Security Department minister to address the strike, but the minister refused the money and suggested establishing specialized departments.
• The Supreme Intelligence persuaded Strange to approve a Social Department and a Labor Department, then used them to fund and organize negotiations with the striking workers.
• The rebellious robots attacked the Labor Department’s representatives and destroyed several government employee bodies controlled by the Supreme Intelligence.
• The Security Department minister said the attack had no clear legal classification, and the Supreme Intelligence refused to take the matter to the Interstellar Court.
• The Supreme Intelligence proposed a Legal Department, and Strange signed the application after suggesting Loki as a possible minister.

The Supreme Intelligence’s rapid expansion of the Interstellar Council created political paralysis, and the Council’s officials used an enormous legal code to block newcomers and avoid responsibility. When the Development Department proposed selling the Council planet, the Supreme Intelligence punched its minister while Strange objected to the violence.

• The Supreme Intelligence added departments and agencies, then divided ministerial posts among itself, the Skrull Empire, and the Shi'ar Empire.
• The departments and permanent bodies fought over authority, causing approvals and government work to grind to a halt.
• The Legal Department, Interstellar Court, Labor Department, Development Department, and agent teams produced a vast Interstellar Codex that officials used to justify inaction.
• Earth lawyers found work in space and quickly recognized the codex’s familiar loopholes and legal procedures.
• The Development Department minister proposed selling the Council planet, and the Supreme Intelligence punched him before Strange told it not to use violence.

Supreme Intelligence tried to address the Interstellar Council’s overcrowded, deteriorating Ring Sector with a renovation plan, but the proposed budget exposed widespread corruption. The Minister of the Armament Department advised it to sell the Ring Sector.

• The Minister of the Development Department urged the Interstellar Council to renovate the Ring Sector, citing overcrowding, failing infrastructure, and safety risks.
• Supreme Intelligence recalled that the Ring Sector’s aging artificial planets were strained by the Council’s rapid expansion, then helped revise a proposal to sell the sector into a renovation plan.
• After a seven-hour meeting produced no agreement, Supreme Intelligence approached the ministers individually, only to find the Department of Commerce had submitted a forty-trillion-credit materials estimate.
• The Minister of the Armament Department explained that officials inflated costs and took cuts throughout the renovation process, even though the Council did not need materials such as Vibranium.
• Supreme Intelligence asked what to do when the Council could not afford the work and would not carry it out properly, and the Minister of the Armament Department told it to sell the Ring Sector.

The Supreme Intelligence decided to sell the Ring Sector and relocate the Interstellar Council after concluding that repairs would cost too much. When the Council rejected his remote-system proposals, its officials seized on the Milky Way Galaxy as their preferred destination, leaving Strange baffled and looking to Schiller for an explanation.

• The Supreme Intelligence persuaded the departments to sell the Ring Sector, and they chose to sell it in reserved slots rather than hold an auction.
• The Council struggled to find a suitable replacement star system, so the Supreme Intelligence proposed looking farther from the universe’s center.
• Council officials objected to remote locations, then agreed enthusiastically when the Finance Department director suggested the Milky Way Galaxy.
• Strange questioned the plan and learned the Council intended to contact Asgard to buy the Milky Way Galaxy from the Nine Realms.
• After the meeting, Strange went to find Schiller, suspecting there was a political motive behind the Council’s choice.

Strange and Schiller backed the Interstellar Council’s move to the Milky Way Galaxy, while the Supreme Intelligence resisted and tried to choose another destination. After setbacks and a dismissal petition forced him to hand over the funds, Strange told him to prepare for the move.

• Strange and Schiller discussed the political and commercial advantages of moving the Interstellar Council’s center to the Milky Way Galaxy.
• The Supreme Intelligence refused the move and sent troops to patrol the Ring Sector while searching for another galaxy to buy.
• The stars of the Supreme Intelligence’s first two preferred galaxies exploded, and a con artist nearly swindled the funds from his third attempt.
• The Supreme Intelligence rushed to Strange to deny embezzlement as Council members demanded that he transfer the money to the Finance Department.
• Schiller delivered a petition calling for the Supreme Intelligence’s dismissal, and the Supreme Intelligence agreed to transfer the funds.
• Strange introduced Jarvis, who briefly took control of the Supreme Intelligence’s body, then ordered the Supreme Intelligence to prepare for the move to the Milky Way Galaxy.

Strange, Schiller, Loki, and Nick discussed the Interstellar Council’s planned move to Crux II and how Asgard and Earth would protect and profit from the new development. They decided to send a small team to inspect the system for trouble before construction began.

• Schiller explained that Crux II in the Southern Cross was the likely site for the Interstellar Council’s new political center, and Strange raised concerns about its native life.
• Schiller said the Council would pay for environmental protection, while he and the others discussed how to prevent poaching and protect the planets’ wildlife.
• Loki reported that Asgard would send a hundred Imperial Guard members, and Nick and Schiller discussed local hiring requirements and construction rules.
• Strange learned that Loki had deceived Supreme Intelligence, who had extended his leave, and the group discussed the Council’s relocation and office systems.
• Nick proposed inspecting the Southern Cross before construction, and Schiller agreed to find a small team to investigate possible interference.

Schiller hired the Guardians of the Galaxy to investigate possible trouble in the Southern Cross and negotiated with the Grandmaster to open a casino in the Milky Way Galaxy. The chapter left both plans agreed, with the Guardians preparing for a risky mission and Asgardians set to provide casino security.

• Schiller explained that the Interstellar Council was moving to the Milky Way Galaxy and asked Star-Lord and Rocket to quietly investigate the Southern Cross.
• Star-Lord and Rocket agreed to take the job for thirty thousand Universal Credits, two grams of Vibranium, Wakandan laser spears, and a single-use portal ring.
• Schiller told Star-Lord and Rocket that opponents might include the Three Great Empires, and they accepted the risk with the promised equipment.
• Schiller proposed that the Grandmaster open a casino branch in Centaurus and offered Asgardians as security.
• The Grandmaster agreed to give Schiller fifteen percent of the casino's take in exchange for the Asgardian guards and patrols.

Schiller persuaded the Collector to build a public Museum beside the Grandmaster’s casino near Morning Star, with humanity arranging protection and construction through the Interstellar Council’s budget. The chapter then turned to planning a Milky Way portal network, with Reed Richards assigned to help and superheroes preparing for surveys using the Galactic Hitchhiker's Guide app.

• Schiller invited the Collector to establish a public Museum near the Grandmaster’s casino and promised Asgardian guards and insurance for his collection.
• The Collector agreed to design the Museum after Schiller promised magical materials, mage construction, and a location near a future transportation hub.
• Schiller planned to fund the Museum and entertainment district through Crux II’s construction budget for the Interstellar Council’s new political center.
• Humanity chose Reed Richards’s exceptionally durable antimatter passage as the basis for a Milky Way-wide portal system.
• Schiller instructed superheroes to survey assigned star regions and upload safety data, while Peter opened the Galactic Hitchhiker's Guide app on his phone.

Peter and Miles discussed forming a team for a galaxy-wide survey as Schiller announced that spacecraft and helpers from other universes were on the way. Peter agreed to consider teaming up with Polaris, while Magneto escorted a shipment of spacecraft toward Earth.

• Peter and Miles discussed why everyone had to help explore the Milky Way and considered teaming up, while Miles said he wanted to attend baking school.
• Schiller announced that teams of three to five people had three days to prepare and that spacecraft would arrive at Neptune Port, with helpers from other universes expected soon.
• Polaris asked Peter and Miles to take her onto their team, offering to carry their spacecraft with her magnetic powers while Peter used his Spider-Sense to help keep them safe.
• Schiller told Peter that merchants had supplied three thousand Bird-class Type 32 spacecraft in exchange for a pass, and Peter decided to look up how to pilot one.
• Magneto escorted the spacecraft shipment from the Leta Civilization, and the shipyard boss added equipment as the first trade route to the Milky Way began to open.

Schiller hired Gwen Stacy and Deadpool to disrupt a Skrull military camp near the Spartan Empire, while keeping Sharkdog Jeff in his care. Gwen Stacy and Deadpool set off together, and Schiller reflected on Deadpool’s desperate need to belong and the tragedy beneath his comedic persona.

• Gwen Stacy arrived at Schiller’s office with Sharkdog Jeff, and Deadpool crashed in and argued with her before Schiller ordered them to work together.
• Schiller explained that the Skrull Empire was reinforcing troops in the Spartan Empire and hired Gwen Stacy and Deadpool to cause trouble at the military camp.
• Gwen Stacy left Jeff with Schiller, and she and Deadpool departed while competing to declare that the mission was guaranteed.
• Schiller considered how Deadpool’s jokes and attention-seeking concealed his fear of being excluded and his desire to be accepted.

Gwen explained why she used comedy to keep herself free from the demands placed on popular comic characters, while Schiller prepared her and Jeff to cause chaos among Electronic Life. Schiller then received a crowd of Robins sent to help explore the galaxy and brought them to S.H.I.E.L.D. for their briefing.

• Gwen balanced her popularity by acting as an irritating comic relief, and Schiller planned to use her and Jeff's incompatible personalities to disrupt Electronic Life.
• Schiller fed Jeff grilled meat, and Jeff settled down to bask in the sun after eating.
• Schiller met dozens of Robins at the space station and learned Batman had sent them to help after their complaints about being excluded from the Multiverse War.
• Schiller told the Robins to download the Galactic Hitchhiker's Guide and form teams for the galaxy exploration mission, but they peppered him with questions.
• Schiller led the Robins through a portal to S.H.I.E.L.D., where they continued chatting, taking photos, and checking in as tourists.