Harry turned to Luna. "Are you ready?"

Luna nodded, her expressive and dreamy face set in a smile. Luna had always had an extremely interesting smile, and it was set in an expression where you would think she was mocking you subtly. But there was something in that expression, right now that told him she was not joking. "I'm ready, Harry," she replied. "We just need Hermione."

Hermione Granger was the third member of their little group. Harry, Hermione and Luna had grown up in the undercity, their parents had been a mixed bag. Luna's mother and father had been against the Federation, and they had run a vigilante propaganda magazine, called the Quibbler, which spouted off the anti-Federation rhetoric. Like most habits and quirks of a child's parents, Luna had no real clue as to when her parents had turned against the Federation.

She remembered her parents telling her that the Federation was evil and needed to be torn down and something new put into its place, but she also told her daughter that she had discovered the Federation brainwashed and drugged its citizens into compliance a long time ago, and she and her husband Xeno had both joined the local resistance movement, but the Quibbler was moved from one world to the next, pumping out edition after edition as the Lovegoods tried to put the galaxy to rights.

Luna had lost her parents when she was only a girl, no more than 5 years old. She remembered their murders/executions as the Federation so wonderfully put it, and she had run away with a burning desire to destroy the Federation. She had seen first-hand that passive resistance was not going to work. The only thing the Federation truly understood was violence and control, so Luna wanted to take both from them.

Hermione Granger was the polar opposite of Luna. Her parents had once been loyal to the Federation until her mother had gotten ill and she had stopped taking medication and food and water for at least 3 days, and she realised she felt clear-headed when she recovered. Hermione's parents had logical minds, and while Hermione had inherited that from them she did have a habit of reciting things verbatim from data books, and her mother had realised it was due to the drugs and food. She managed to persuade her husband to go without food and drink for a couple of days, and he felt the same way. Together they both examined the food and water they had and saw it was doped with subtle amounts of drugs, and chemical analysis of the drugs showed they were designed to render the minds of those who consumed them susceptible to suggestion.

After that, the Grangers joined a resistance cell. They realised if they wanted to have children they did not want their family to ever go through that, although it would be tough. And Hermione was born in a world where the Grangers gathered their food and checked to make sure it was clear of drugging.

The Grangers, determined to shake off the yoke of the Federation's hold over the galaxy, moved from one world to the next, secretly joining one cell after the next, and unlike other resistance fighters, the Grangers knew that the only way to shrug off the Federation and restore peace and diplomacy and freedom to the galaxy was to use force as so many protesters were massacred. But they were killed when they went too far, but their actions caused a lot of damage to the Federation, not enough but they caused enough confusion and chaos for Hermione to escape. And the girl had been on the run ever since, and determined to make the Federation pay the ultimate price for destroying her family.

Harry was the biggest contrast out of the trio. Harry was the latest generation of a long line of rebels, born in a family which had seen the Federation become less about peace and diplomacy and more dedicated to tyranny and control. The Potters had gone underground, slowly gathering contacts and making inroads into freeing the galaxy from the oppression of the Federation. Harry's mother was someone who had discovered the Federations' propaganda and had freed herself from their control and then she had met her husband, Harry's father. His parents, Lily and James had both been fighting the Federation for a long time. They had both committed multiple assassinations, killing dozens of officials while targeting Federation communications facilities to slow, if not outright destroy them. The Federation didn't take kindly to that. They massacred so many people, but Lily and James managed to get Harry away, and Harry, Luna and Hermione had all three been raised on the streets of the colony world and they had been forced to eke out a meagre living. They were the last of their families as far as they were aware, but they had each other.

But now all three of them were in their teen years and Harry, Hermione and Luna wanted to go big. The three of them had joined a resistance movement, and they had committed many acts called treason by the Federation. The trio had a different word for it. The trio had spent so long in this world that it was becoming increasingly harder for them to move around. The Federation was closing in on them all the time.

Hermione appeared, sounding breathless. Her face was flushed and she looked so appealing to Harry's teenage mind. "The ship's at the landing pad," she whispered. "We have to go. It's leaving in half an hour."

"Come on," Harry said.

The journey to the spaceport was easy enough barring having to hide from some of the troopers and the security systems. Finally, they boarded the ship. As they looked around the cargo hold, they kept their eyes open for trip systems and surveillance eyes and guards. They also kept their eyes open for food and water. They found a section of the hold that was reasonably shielded, and they found numerous hiding spots in case someone came near them.

"How long do you think we'll be here?" Luna whispered.

"I don't know, but we've got plenty of food and water. We have a decent air supply. All that worries me is someone coming down here," Harry said.

Hermione looked up over the crates. "I can't see anything, but that can change."

"You know what will happen when we land on a planet, don't you? We'll have to find a new resistance group, and lash out at the Federation," Luna said. "But can we make a difference this time?"

"Definitely," Hermione nodded.

"Right," Harry said.