Synopsis
Silver Surfer's banishment to Earth by Galactus was ended in #1. But another Kree/Skrull War has broken out. In #2 Norrin Radd's homeworld Zenn-La declared neutrality, and Surfer helped Empress Shalla Bal tell the Skrulls to stay away. At the end of last issue he got a message from Shalla-Bal asking for help against the Kree.
Reaching Zenn-La space he finds 3 Kree battlecruisers. He disables 1 by flying through it on his cosmic surfboard. But the other 2 descend to the planet and transform (like Transformers) into Destructoids (containing thousands of soldiers). They see an apparently agrarian world (Galactus consumed its energy but Shalla-Bal with the aid of Surfer's Power Cosmic made the planet bloom, all in the Silver Surfer 1-shot). The Empress orders them to leave or face the consequences. When they don't SS shows them the consequences by flying through 1 of the Destructoids. The other vessel staggers him with a blast but he destroys the ship's weapons and the rational Captain surrenders.
Norrin sees his love Shalla-Bal waving and calling to him from her distant tower but he ignores her and enters that last Destructoid. 1 fanatical trooper tries to attack him but the Captain orders him to stop. Surfer tells the Captain the Zenn-la is under his protection, and the Kree must leave it alone. The Kree soldier replies that only the Supreme Intelligence can agree to that, so SS says he'll go to Kree-Lar to tell *him* that. And he'll tow the the Kree ship a long way from here on the way.
But 1st he goes to visit Shalla-Bal. He responds to her stiffly and says their love is over. He now loves Mantis. And then he leaves her weeping.
Mantis turned up at the end of #3 and since then has been helping Surfer investigate the Elders Of The Universe's plans. At then end of last issue when Norrin headed back to Zenn-La she followed the Elders in her own unique way, which we see now is by transferring her consciousness to be reborn from a plant on the planet where they are now meeting. Which turns out to be the Earth because it is the 1 planet that Galactus has sworn to leave alone.
Present are Astronomer, Champion, Collector, Gardener, Grandmaster, Possessor, Runner and Trader. Missing are Contemplator, Ego The Living Planet and Obliterator. Ego obviously can't actually land on another planet. Contemplator is on a mission we'll learn about later. Obliterator went after Silver Surfer and Mantis (last 2 issues) and they can't imagine he failed to kill them (we know better), despite Champion and Runner having failed to stop SS (#1 and #3 respectively).
Gardener now outlines their plan for us (and eavesdropping Mantis). Astronomer has deduced that by destroying Galactus they will collapse this universe, and a new 1 will be born in which *they* will take his place. To accomplish this they will use the 6 Soul Gems that Thanos gathered together for the battle that killed him and Adam Warlock (Avengers Annual #7 and Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2). Warlocks's Soul Gem was left on his grave where Gardener retrieved it (as revealed in Hulk #248), but the other 5 Gems were believed destroyed. But Astronomer knew they could never die, they were scattered throughout space-time.
Collector discovered where 1 was but then he was killed by Korvac (Av#174). Grandmaster organised the Contest Of Champions played between him and Death, which resulted in Collector being brought back to life, after which he was able to get the Soul Gem. Champion won another Gem in 1 of his fight contests, and Trader traded for 2 more. And Contemplator is currently negotiating for the 6th.
At this point it becomes clear that some of the Elders expected Mantis to be watching, and deliberately arranged this meeting in a lush tropical setting. Gardener takes control of the local plants and turns them against her. She manages to mobilise some plants in defence but she is soon overwhelmed. She has only 1 chance to get what she learned to Norrin Radd, and so she sends her consciousness across space to the plants of Zenn-La. And Shalla-Bal thinks she hears her plants whispering the name Mantis.
Later Silver Surfer reaches Kree-Lar. He is allowed through its encircling battleships to talk to the Supreme Intelligence. He descends to the planet that is completely covered by city and enters the Hall Of Judgement where resides the Kree Supremor and his chief coordinator Nenora. He faces the screen showing the giant head which is the representation of the collective of the greatest Blue Kree minds from all history and asks that Zenn-La be kept out of the Kree/Skrull War. Surprisingly the SI acquiesces because the place isn't worth fighting over.
But then SS asks that Earth be excluded too because he's grown fond of the place. But Supremor can't agree to that because the place is too dangerous. It has a high proportion of superbeings, including Rick Jones whose mental powers ended the previous Kree/Skrull War (Av#97) and which the Supremor tried to use to restart Kree evolution (Captain Marvel #41-46). It is also the place where the Kree created the Inhumans (as explained in a backup tale in Thor #147). And where the Kree's plant enemy the Cotati merged with Mantis to give birth to the Celestial Messiah.
Surfer claims that if that is the case then he will be forced to side with the Skrulls to oppose the Kree. But Supremor reveals that *he* has the missing Soul Gem and uses it to steal Norrin Radd's soul. He explains to Nenora and the watching Contemplator that he needs the Gem to enable him to absorb great minds from the *Pink* Kree race too and suppress the millennia-long racial hatred between the Pinks and Blues. So he can't let the Elders have the Gem, but at least Silver Surfer is now out of both of their hairs.