Growing fleets of Orbiters occupy the Milky Way, who are more convinced than ever that the Terrans are parts of the hordes of Garbesch. The Orbiters outnumber the Terrans by a factor one hundred and they also have weapons against which the Terrans are powerless.

Tifflor sends the seven pirates on a mission: to find the homeworld of the Orbiters. They leave on board the Atlantis but their flight is soon interrupted by the proximity of a black sun. The pirates ask the commander of the spaceship to abandon them on a planet called Loneliness. They take two shuttles and land on the planet, while the Atlantis departs.