Cadets Derek Wildstar, Alex's younger brother, and Mark Venture investigate and discover a beautiful, dead woman, ejected from the escape pod and clutching a message capsule.
In response to his request, a number of volunteers elect to sign on for the trip, including cadets Wildstar and Venture; Nova, a nurse and radar operator; Sandor, an engineer and chief mechanic; Dr.
To address the problem, Avatar orders the ship to sail for Titan, where the mineral – titanite – needed to repair the energy-transmission unit can be found.
Navigator Mark Venture manages to stabilize the Argo by using the rocket anchor and side thrusters to stop the battleship in the orbit of Pluto's moon.
Unsurprised at this development, Gamilon Leader Desslok orders Pluto's commander to engage the Star Force knowing that this will mean certain death for the Colonel and his men.
To make the needed repairs to the Argo, Avatar orders the battleship to sail for the asteroid belt remains of Minerva, the 10th planet in the Solar System – the first to have been destroyed by the Gamilons.
Desslok, getting some satisfaction out of seeing his inferior officers fail at their attempt to stop the Star Force with space mines, now offers his own solution: a matter-eating Ecto Gas.
Meanwhile, Assistant Engineer Sparks begins to question the feasibility of the mission, and asks Orion to present a case to Avatar for simply finding a nice, quiet planet on which to settle.
Meanwhile, the Star Force experiences a sudden loss of engine output, and soon determines that they have stumbled into the gravitational effects of a Galactic Whirlpool, a precursor to a black hole.
The jealous Volgar, now demoted to being General Lysis's aide, decides to see if he can curry favour with Leader Desslok by defeating the Star Force on his own.
Captain Avatar is undergoing an operation to treat the effects of his radiation poisoning, and the remaining bridge crew are left to run the ship in his absence.
While the Star Force is still on its way to planet Balan, Communications Officer Homer visits the Holography Room to view images of his hometown, but has an emotional breakdown, declaring, "It's all a lie!".
Lysis's command ship has a device called S.M.I.T.E (Space/Matter Instant Transforming Equipment), capable of causing fighter planes to undergo a space warp for a surprise attack.
On the Argo, the Star Force receives an audio message from General Lysis proposing that they meet for a decisive battle at a nebula called the Rainbow Galaxy, just outside the Magellanic Cloud.
Captain Avatar delivers a rousing speech, as the entire Star Force crew drinks a toast to the occasion using bottled spring water (saké, in the Japanese version).
As the Star Force enters the Great Magellanic Cloud, the galaxy in which Iscandar resides, they receive a strong radio signal which affects all of the navigation instruments.
Missile fire rains down on the Star Force, and so Wildstar orders the Argo to fly directly above the central city in hopes of discouraging further attacks.
As the Cosmo DNA is loaded onto the Argo, Starsha mentions that she has been taking care of a wounded Earthling who is now ready to travel, and she wants to send him back to Earth.
With the Argo unable to escape the shot, Sandor activates his latest invention – a reflector force field based on the Gamilons' Reflex Gun – which sends the energy from the cannon back to Desslok's ship.
At peace and complacent, Earth receives a mysterious, extraterrestrial radio signal from Trelaina of planet Telezart which turns out to be desperate warning of a new enemy, the Comet Empire.
Wildstar takes his Superstar flighter out on a solo mission to chase the mysterious enemy, only to be called back to the ship which has been crippled by an enormous EMF surge which has passed through the Solar System.
The surge burns up many of the Argo's electrical circuits, but the communication system holds out long enough to record a garbled radio message from an unknown source.
As the Star Force reunites to honor Captain Avatar's memory, Derek Wildstar says that he scouted what he thinks is a new and potentially very powerful and dangerous enemy.
Back on Earth, the large comet is expected to arrive in one hundred days, prompting Captain Gideon to request five more ships similar to the Andromeda.
As Desslok prepares to fire upon the Argo, he is distracted by a call from Princess Invidia, falsely claiming Prince Zordar orders him to return immediately.
Mark Venture pushes the Star Force crew excessively hard for getting to Earth more quickly, in hopes of validating Trelaina's apparent sacrifice.
However, when the Argo reaches the coordinates, the Star Force discovers that the Comet Empire is headed to Earth, while they find themselves quickly surrounded by Gamilons, led by Desslok.
Wildstar learns of Venture's fate but is given little time to mourn the loss of his longtime friend when he finds out about the Earth's capitulation and imminent official surrender.
As soon as the ship comes out of warp, he has the crew go through sixteen hours of drills, including a simulated attack on Mars and the Argo taking damage and casualties.
Commander Wildstar answers a distress call from Captain Hammer, a stranded meteorologist, who says he spotted a large fleet of Galman vessels and requests an escort to a nearby space station.