"By the Lord of All Stars, it's an Arkonide ship!"
When earth's first lunar rocket discovered alien Arkonide technology on the moon it opened up a whole new vista for humanity. Under the aegis of the Third Power, humans made great strides towards the stars during the past ten earth years. Many threats, from both inside the solar system, as well as outside, were overcome as mankind's reach grew.
Prior to mutant hypno-master Monterny's demise in the solar system's asteroid belt, he sent a desperate, undirected SOS to the stars at-large. It alerted alien Springer eavesdroppers to the exact location of upstart Terraneans, who unwittingly interloped on the Springers' ancient galactic trade monopoly. Some Springers used the intercepted coordinates to stealthily commandeer a few Third Power ships and gather intelligence about Earth. In return, Perry Rhodan sent space cadet Julian Tifflor out to trans-Pluto as a decoy, in order to smoke out the alien appropriators and their spy network on Earth.
Convinced of Tifflor's value, greedy Springer Captain Orlgans of the Orla XI hijacks the Third Power's K-9 ultralight cruiser with Tifflor onboard. The aliens never expected the likes of a Rhodan's Stardust II to intervene.
Die Flotte der Springer
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