Spoilers below for Guardians of the Galaxy #6!
The Guardians of the Galaxy have a special role in the Marvel Universe. While the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Earth's other superhero teams defend the planet we live on, they deal with problems affecting the rest of the Milky Way. But the Guardians of the Galaxy also have their own lives outside of fighting alien locusts and space pirate gods. So while the GOTG were handling a mission that put them into conflict with each other, pursuing personal agendas, and dealing with their emotional issues, Earth was enveloped in the Empyre storyline that brought an endgame to the biggest, most ancient war in the galaxy... and as the team finds out in the new Guardians of the Galaxy #6, they missed the whole thing!
Guardians of the Galaxy #6 is written by Al Ewing with art by Marcio Takara, color by Federico Blee, and lettering by Cory Petit. The series so far has seen Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord) sacrifice himself to defeat alien gods, a decision that Gamora blamed on his friends Rocket Raccoon and Nova. The team split in half, with Rocket and Nova bringing their friends on one side and Gamora hiring mercenaries to fill out the other. The next story pitted them against each other, thanks to a planetary tycoon hiring Gamora and company to kill Rocket Raccoon. It took a common enemy - Gamora's two-faced client, in this case - to bring them back together.
Meanwhile, on Earth, the Empyre storyline picks up where the classic "Kree-Skrull War" Avengers storyline left off: the spartan Kree and shapeshifting Skrull empires have been at war for millennia, with the peaceful Cotati plant people stuck in the middle. In Empyre, the Cotati reverse course, declaring war on the rest of the galaxy and threatening the Kree and Skrull so much that they join together to defeat them. In the end, Earth allied with the Kree and Skrull to defeat the Cotati, and the alliance seems to be holding. For the first time ever, the Kree and Skrull are at peace, which is galaxy-changing news.
In issue 6, the reunited crew takes a breather to process their feelings over the divide, get some therapy, and make amends. In the end, Nova and Rocket catch up, and Rocket has some big news to break: the most unexpected armistice in the universe just broke out. That changes the political situation in the galaxy massively, especially for an interplanetary peace officer like Nova and a weapons-dealing crook like Rocket.
This situation gets at the heart of a fundamental drawback to the Guardians as a series. They deal with cosmic issues that the Avengers never have to face, but the biggest Marvel space events are going to involve Earth, meaning nearly every other Marvel superhero team has jurisdiction. But that's okay. The Guardians of the Galaxy are a ragtag band of unlikely heroes, not the Avengers of space or even a heavy-hitter team like the Ultimates. The galaxy might change, but its guardians will stay the same.