“We did it!” screamed Athena, pumping her fist into the air. “Geela has officially been silenced!” The heat from the blast licked at her back as she and the other rebels raced away from the exploding server. The entire structure glowed orange, and the giant computer fizzed and popped.
Then horrible honking sounds began to echo out from somewhere inside the building. “Is that Geela crying?” Hera asked, looking back over her shoulder.
“Oh, no,” Juno said. She grabbed Hera by the elbow and tugged her forward. “You’re not feeling bad for her, are you?”
Hera jutted out her chin and continued to run. “Not even a little bit. She destroyed our families’ homes. She’s holding our parents prisoner. Our planets are a mess. She’s taken over our beautiful galaxy and encouraged the people—our people—to distance themselves from each other and fight among themselves. She deserves this … and much more.”
Juno whacked her on the back. “Atta girl.”
“You know who I do feel bad for?” Rhea asked as they ran toward the same space transport they had stolen from the guards earlier. They knew they had to get back to the relative safety of their space bus quickly, before Geela or her guards could catch them. There was no time to run all the way there. “I feel bad for all the people who invested weeks watching The Empress. With Geela’s media networks down, they won’t get to see the season finale tomorrow night. Who will she choose? We may never find out.”
“I’m guessing she chooses Geela,” Athena said blandly. “I don’t see ‘the empress’ sharing her life with anyone other than herself.”
As soon as the girls reached the transport, they all hopped in and clumsily pulled Chamberlin aboard. Their weary butler settled into the front passenger seat and began massaging his temples as the girls’ collection of pets cuddled in around him. He closed his eyes and muttered, “I have shared just about enough of my life with the five of you. I suspect I may expire if there’s much more of the kind of rigmarole we got into tonight.”
“We have to find Luna,” Athena said suddenly, while Rhea pushed at buttons to turn on the transport. Athena scanned the horizon. “I just hope she got Bradbury far away from the server building before that explosion, or we’ll have more than a few questions to answer. I doubt our biggest fan is going to be a fan at all anymore if he realizes we’re working for the Resistance. Bradbury is great, but he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’s going to love troublemakers.”
Behind them, they could hear guards streaming out of the server building. Someone shouted, “Find the intruders! Destroy them!”
Juno took a deep breath. “Let’s also hope Luna and Bradbury aren’t too well hidden, since we have got to hit the sky—now.”
“If you ask me, getting out of here about five minutes ago would have been preferable,” Chamberlin muttered.
“No one asked you,” Rhea said, grinning. She pushed the transport’s throttle to full-speed and blasted across the rough terrain. Far off in the distance, behind a giant rock, something flashed. “There!” Athena said, pointing. “I think that was Bradbury’s camera flash.”
Rhea whipped the transport to the right, around some jagged rocks, and squealed to a stop on the other side of the rock. Luna was singing to Bradbury, her voice loud and strained. “There you are!” Luna said, a panicked look in her eyes. “Are we all set? I think Bradbury has everything he needs now. We were just doing a nice, loud, private concert.”
“Fun.” Athena nodded. “Yes, we are all set here.”
“Would you like a lift back to the coliseum, Bradbury?” Luna asked sweetly.
“With, uh…” Bradbury looked into the crowded transport, his eyes focusing on Juno. “With … all of you?”
“Hop in,” Rhea said. “But I should warn you—I don’t have my license.”
“Oh!” Bradbury said, nodding solemnly as he squeezed into the crowded transport. “Is that what all of you were doing way out here? Helping Rhea practice for her spaceway exam?”
“Huh?” Rhea asked, giving him a funny look.
Hera giggled. “No, silly! We were out here to find G—”
Juno cut her off, trying to hide a smile. “Yeah, Bradbury. You’re very perceptive. We were way out here so Rhea could practice her flying. You’re exactly right.”
Bradbury snapped a picture of Rhea behind the wheel of the stolen transport. “Can I post a picture of you practicing for your flying exam on my site? It makes you look really relatable!”
“Better not,” Rhea said apologetically. The last thing they needed him to post was a picture of Rhea behind the wheel of one of Geela’s guard’s transports. Even if Bradbury didn’t realize it was Geela’s transport, surely someone would recognize what was happening if the picture were floating around online for the entire galaxy to see! “I don’t want Chamberlin here to get in trouble for, uh…”
Chamberlin broke in, “For taking a group of unlicensed drivers out without helmets.”
“What are you talking about? You don’t need helmets to drive a space transport!” Bradbury laughed.
“Silly me,” Chamberlin said. “I didn’t realize times had changed so much since I was a young alien, learning to drive myself. I am rather old, you know. Many things about our galaxy have changed.”
“Silly Chamberlin,” Rhea echoed. She winked at him—grateful for his ridiculously believable cover, and even more grateful for Bradbury’s foolishness—then threw the transport into gear. “Buckle up, everyone. It’s time to fly.”
Once they had dropped Bradbury back at the coliseum (with promises to give him the first-ever SPACEPOP exclusive interview soon) and the group was safely back inside their tour bus, the girls finally took the time to celebrate properly. There were hugs and high-fives all around, and Chamberlin pulled out a small tin of crater caviar and a package of Martian macaroons he had kept hidden for a special occasion. As they all filled up with goodies, Athena flicked on the holo-screen, and they all cheered some more … because the only image on any of the channels was a small, spinning G logo. No The Empress, no news, no Geela.
“Tell me everything!” begged Luna. “I can’t believe I missed the end of the mission.”
“I can’t believe Bradbury showed up in the middle of a mission,” Juno said, shaking her head. “Seriously, that guy is going to be bad for business.”
“He’s really sweet,” Luna told her. “He does mean well—and he was very easily distracted. He also clearly hasn’t figured out any of our secrets.”
“Yet,” added Athena. “Thank you for handling that situation, Luna. As it happens, your role was just as critical as the rest of ours in this mission. Bradbury could easily have foiled everything.”
Luna smiled. “Thanks. And the best part is, I don’t smell nearly as badly as the rest of you do. Come on, tell me everything—from the moment you left me, until you picked me and Bradbury up in the transport to come home.”
“Home?” Rhea asked. She gestured around the tour bus, eyebrows lifted.
“For now,” Luna said with a small smile. “It’s the closest thing we have to home, isn’t it? Now spill!”
The other girls were just about to launch into the story of their night when a tiny holo-ball blasted through the bus door. A moment later, a flickering, miniature Captain Hansome stood before them. “It appears things went well tonight?” he asked, flashing SPACEPOP a broad smile.
“It went very well. I took care of a major problem that came up and totally saved the day,” Luna said, stepping in front of the other girls to pose in front of Hansome’s hologram. She batted her eyes and said, “Mission accomplished, Captain.”
“Tell me everything,” Hansome said.
As soon as they got to the part about blowing up the server, Rhea announced, “Ka-boom! Now we don’t have to watch or listen to Geela’s ridiculous programming anymore. No more Rocky Remodel, Cookin’ with G, or The Empress. She has been silenced.”
“Well done, SPACEPOP,” Captain Hansome said. “You have proven yourselves to be a worthy addition to our team. Tonight, thanks to you, we scored a major victory for … the Resistance.”
“So that’s it, then?” Chamberlin asked, cradling his tea in his hands. “We blew up the server and performed our final mission, so I assume you’ll take over from here?”
“Ah, Chamberlin,” Captain Hansome said, chuckling. “We have won this battle … but we are still in the midst of a war. Geela still has the royal families imprisoned in the Dungeon of Dark Doom, the five princesses of the Pentangle are on the run…” Here, the girls all shared a quick glance. Captain Hansome continued in a somber voice, “… and the citizens of our galaxy are more ill at ease than ever before. This battle is won—but the war is most certainly not over.”
Chamberlin sighed. “I had a feeling you might say that.”
“There will certainly be many more battles to fight,” Captain Hansome said seriously. “Athena. Rhea. Hera. Juno. Luna. The time has come for you to decide: Are you ready for more?”
One by one, they each nodded. Chamberlin was ready for a rest, but his five royal charges were only getting started. The past few weeks had given them the opportunity to see what they were capable of. These five girls—who had gone from spoiled, pampered princesses to strong, powerful rebels in the space of just a few weeks—wanted nothing more than to take back their galaxy. They were ready to continue the fight. Athena spoke for the group when she said, “We’re with … the Resistance all the way. Captain Hansome, we will do whatever it takes.”
There was no doubt there would be many more battles to fight. But more importantly, there was also no doubt that the five princesses of pop were ready to rock the rebellion.
It was time to start something big.