What happened next appeared, initially, to be just inconvenient, but was actually the first serious complication of the journey, and also led directly to what must unfortunately be regarded as one of the major moments of human history.

    After only traveling a few hours, the damage the Argo sustained while rescuing the Traveler caused the stardrive to malfunction, dropping the ship out of hyperspace. Further, the drive cutting out triggered an automatic emergency shut down of the ship’s reactor to prevent any possible core instabilities. Drifting dead in space while waiting for the ship’s  systems to re-initialize, the passengers of the Argo quickly realized they were no longer alone.

    The long range sensors of a Network trade ship had detected the Argo’s sudden exit from hyperspace. The Network trade ship, a veritable city in space, ten miles long and three miles wide, moved in to investigate, and determined that the small, primitive spacecraft was indeed in distress and, more importantly, matched no known configuration. Following standard procedure, the Network brought the Argo into one of its many dorsal docking bays to render aid.

     The Customer Service Representative on duty, a Rhindarian named Fyop, greeted the new arrivals and initiated a standard first interview to ascertain the identity of the possible customers and lay the foundation for future negotiations. All of this was fairly typical. At this point, the ship’s Master Trader was not even aware that the Argo or its passengers had been brought onboard.

    That changed as soon as the interview was over.

    A private audience with the ship’s Master Trader, Jenoe Lon, was instantly arranged. The Network has been aware of Earth for some time. They had little information concerning it, but what they did know intrigued them deeply. A report from a Network field xenobiologist made it clear that human biology was particularly adaptable and amenable to artificial augmentation. Moreover, Earth had already warranted the attention of some of the major forces in the universe on several occasions. All this had caused the Network to plan an extensive program of covert market research for the solar system, but these arrangements had been cancelled when New Genesis made Earth a protectorate.

    But now New Genesis was gone.

     More importantly, humanity had evidently achieved faster than light travel, and had thus earned the status as an Independent Race under galactic law, with all the rights and responsibilities that entailed. One of those responsibilities, of course, was that individuals in expeditions from newly recognized Independent Races could be considered de facto representatives for their sovereign species, and had the ability to negotiate binding business agreements on behalf of them.

     After pleasantries, the Master Trader began negotiating for repairs to the humans’ ship, preparing a standard contract appropriate for the occasion. The humans, of course, had a vastly different impression of what the occasion was.

     As the crew of the Argo read the contract, the Master Trader regarded the Noirmer Traveler warily. It was clear to the Master Trader that he alone suspected the ramifications of what was underway, and how it might change the course of mankind’s destiny. Would the Traveler maintain his race’s prized neutrality, Jenoe Lon wondered with some concern, or would he attempt to intercede?

     Before the Traveler could say anything however, the human Simon Williams, who it must be admitted had previously shown poor judgment in some of his business dealings on Earth, grabbed the digital contract display, smiled broadly, loudly exclaimed, “Looks good to me!” and pressed his thumb on the ID register plate.

     A portion of the Master Trader’s body roughly analogous to a head, nodded sagely and handed the contract off to Fyop. She calmly left the chamber, but as soon as the door slid shut behind her, she broke out in dead run for the nearest communication suite, where she logged the contract with Starholm.

    Back at the Master Trader’s chamber, Jenoe Lon invited the crew of the Argo to stay for a dinner celebrating their new friendship.

     Zero Man requested a delicacy from his homeworld. Jenoe Lon instantly realized that the Cholonu was probably unaware that his homeworld was in the path of a nova wave and would soon be destroyed. In anticipation of this, the delicacy he now requested was officially listed as “extinct,” thus making the few finite supplies of it the Network did possess unimaginably expensive.

     The Master Trader choose his words carefully. “Such things can be quite difficult to obtain in the current political situation, so you’ll understand if the price is a little higher than usual.”

     Zero Man waved his arm dismissively and said, “Put it on the earth man’s tab!” And the Master Trader did. Happily.

     By the time dinner was over and the crew returned to the Argo, tales of the new arrivals’ business acumen had spread throughout the entire Network ship. Ryan, Wonder Man, Zero Man and the Traveler now had to wade through a sea of alien merchants, their pre-launch check constantly being interrupted by knocks on the ship’s airlock. The Argo left as quickly as possible, all present (save Traveler—who didn’t have the heart to tell them) believing their visit with the Network to be little more than an odd detour.

     Watching them depart, the Master Trader pondered his options. The Master Trader’s instincts told him that Earth had the potential to be a very special market, and present business opportunities that would require careful research and preparation. This was not something to rush into. He would have to think on this. Besides, he had a more immediate business opportunities to address.

    One of the beings he had just had an enjoyable dinner with was a Cholonu, and the Master Trader had instantly realized the financial importance of this fact.

    Several wealthy factions would be quite willing to pay handsomely for information concerning a still-living Cholonu; the only question was which one? Between the Network’s intelligence concerning the foundations of the peace conference and the vague reports of “irregularities” in what was left of K’te space (in particular, persistent rumors concerning the fugitive Shi’Ar Imperial Court), the K’te would clearly be the more profitable to deal with. Not only did they seem, on the surface, to have more to lose, but if even half of what the Master Trader suspected was true, he was sure that the K’te, unlike the Green Lantern Corps or Warpsmiths, would pay not just for his information concerning a surviving Cholonu, but also for his silence as well.

    Negotiations were conducted with Emperor Vexel, himself, over a secure, encrypted hyperwave channel and concluded after only five minutes. Once the appropriate credits (25% donated by D’Ken from the substantial sum he stole from the Shi’Ar Imperial Treasury) were confirmed as being transferred to the Master Trader’s personal account on Starholm, the Master Trader released the transponder signal for the homing device the Master Trader had ordered hidden in the Argo during its repairs. The installation of the homing beacon had been, of course, completely legal, as permission to plant one had been included deep within the “Quality Assurance” language of the contract Wonder Man had signed.

    Over the next few hours, military and intelligence analysts all over the galaxy began to puzzle over strange new reports that were starting to drift in:

    A K’te councilor ship was spotted cutting across Skrull space.

    The Green Lantern Sinestro, acting as an honor guard at the peace conference, had suddenly left the Dressilus system with no explanation and was last seen speeding through Warpsmith territory toward the K’te border.

    A Skrull warship, on its way to reinforce the ongoing effort to annex more territory from the Kree before the peace treaty was ratified, had suddenly disengaged from its battle group and now appeared to be racing towards Dressilus at speeds 15% faster than its design could safely withstand for prolonged periods.

    Intelligence assets reported that the Bounty Hunter’s Guild had been contacted by a wealthy client using an anonymity flag requesting that “private holds” be placed on several prominent hunters in anticipation of a major, confidential contract to be announced soon.

    A lesser analyst in the Qys intelligence branch, named Sarrilish, who also acted as liaison officer to the Green lantern Corps., was the only being who read these reports who correctly deduced the shape of the threat they suggested. S/he had already grown suspicious of Sinestro, as the sensors logs of a covert Qys listening post near the Shi’Ar border exposed glaring inconsistencies with certain sections of the mission reports Sinestro filed during the fall of the D’Ken regime. Sarrilish had voiced these concerns to a Qys member of the Green Lantern Corps; s/he promised to look into it, but then died in an accident two weeks later.

    The analyst passed the troublesome reports s/he was now receiving to hir superiors along with hir recommendations that the reports be immediately investigated. Hir superiors, preoccupied with the final preparations for the signing of the peace treaty, considered hir concerns paranoid, but told hir they would investigate the situation as soon as possible.

    Realizing s/he was being ignored, Sarrilish became deeply concerned, but was still wary of any action that would lead to a major diplomatic incident on the eve of peace. Still, s/he was convinced that something must be done and began trying to contact the only being in the Corps s/he knew s/he could trust; the Green Lantern Prime, himself, Alan Scott.

    Little did s/he know that the Green Lantern Prime had been aware for weeks of wild stories circulating in the underbelly of the galaxy of a possible “rogue” Green Lantern. Upon hearing these stories, Alan Scott had taken his concerns directly to the Guardians, only to have them immediately dismissed out of hand as impossible nonsense. Alan Scott, however, was not nearly as sure and began to quietly investigate these rumors on his own.

    Alan Scott had no clue that the major break he’d been looking for weeks was now desperately trying to contact him. Instead he was following a counterfeit lead into deepest space, and into the waiting grasp of Dr. Bedlam, who had learned of the Green Lantern Prime’s investigation and was intent on ending it.

    And him.