As Rim regains conciousness, he hears the sound of heavy c argo being moved. Outside the container, the pirate crew, made up of women, is examining the results of their latest prize. Each are revealed; Janny, Feb, June, Mei, and April. After hearing their voices, Rim is confused; he thinks that he's on Tres. A fter hearing what they're going to do with unused cargo, he's not so convinced. Then the crew notices his container hasn't been opened; they pop it open, and get a look at what's inside. Feb gets the opportunity for a smart line. Fade to black.
Cut to the pirate starship, Sol Bianca. In the lounge, everyone is relaxing. Everyone except Rim, and Mei, who hasn't been able to get anything out of him. As April and Janny arrive, they hit a brick wall questioning him as well. Janny is convinced they should space him, but April isn't one to give up without a fight. After Rim refuses to say anything except "I wanna go to Tres", April gets exasperated, managing to get where he's from: Uno. June, who has arrived, relates the history of the two planets, Uno and Tres. Uno is currently under a military rule by the sister planet Tres, which is currently ruled by an Evil Emperor, Batros. "Unfortunately, there's not much good I can say about him", remarks June. Switching to the planet Tres, an Earth-like world with a huge orbital ring, we get our first look at Batros, and the planet's national sport: public executions by involuntary hand removal. On the planet Uno, things aren't much better. The population is forced to mine for minerals in hellish conditions, sendi ng ore to orbit by space elevators. And the retirement policies leave much to be desired--it's usually a lead sendoff from the local stormtroopers. Rim's father is here, and is planning with the local resistance to strike a blow against the Tres dominatio n. Their plan is to secure a train full of explosives, and launch them towards Tres using the elevators. During a walk, the doctor notes that the only good thing left to Tres is it's beauty during an eclipse.
Back on the Sol Bianca, April rapidly los es her patience. Finally, she grabs Rim by the ear and tosses him into the airlock. Rim is terrified at this, but Feb calls her bluff. April claims she thought he'd talk if she pressed him. June explains to Rim that they only go where there's Treasure. Ri m interjects with "What if there was a treasure on Tres?" When pressed, he claims that the Golden Box is on Tres. Feb and June are startled by this announcement, although when Rim tries to bargain with it, they toss him into the airlock again. When Apri l intervenes angrily, June tells her that the Golden Box is the "Gnosis", a storage unit for the knowledge of the Galaxy, and whoever holds it is said to have ultimate power. This is enough to convince the rest of the crew, and they quickly make a U-turn for Tres. Approaching Tres, the planet has prepared a welcoming:seven Interplanetary Heavy Cruisers, who immediately start firing on the Sol Bianca. The first hit takes out the main engine, and the rest of the volley damages the shields severely. Quickly realizing they're outgunned, they fire up the Dimension Motor drive- the device that enables them to submerge in and out of hyperspace. The motor engages, but the crew can't relax because "due to an unidentified biological"--Rim, the ship can't dive. Jan ny would like a permanent solution to this but Feb interjects and orders April, Janny, and June to take Rim out on the shuttle. Zooming past the blockade, seemingly without being detected, they make it to Tres. Meanwhile, Batros has seen clips of the shi p disappearing into hyperspace, and he wants it. Bad. Informed that it deployed a shuttlecraft, he smiles evily.
After making planetfall outside Tres City, the crew makes preparations to sneak into Tres City. Assured by June that there's nothing out th ere, they quickly regret listening to her as a platoon of stormtroopers ambushes them. Concealed in the orbital ring, Mei and Feb also have their hands full with the repairs to the Sol Bianca. Meanwhile, the women and Rim are introduced to Batros. The rea l reason for Rim's eagerness to get to Tres is revealed-his mother is a prisoner of Batros. Unfortunately she's been carbon-frozen as a part of Batros' "collection", which includes the Golden Box. Given a choice between joining the collection or dying in the arena, the trio chooses the obvious one with a few insults towards Batros, earning April a cut on the cheek from him. With the four tossed in a prison cell until morning, June is quick to bemoan their fate. After making contact with Feb, they learn th at whatever rescue plan will have to wait until the morning also. Rim apologizes for getting them into trouble, but April is quick to lift his spirits with a promise to rescue his mother and score the treasure at the same time.
Next morning, the trio are escorted to the arena, with a huge crowd in attendance. (Rimmer voice:After all, if you can't attend the odd execution, what've you got left?) As the scene turns grim, Feb pipes up with her usual flair; she's got the laser sniper's rifle from the frei ghter pointed at the arena. Just as the axe is about to fall on June's hands, a laser beam falls on(or rather, through) the axeman. Taking advantage of the situation, April and Janny make short work of the guards. The trio make their escape, with Feb's la ser backing them up. After Mr. Toad's Wild Ride on a luxury flyer(and some humilating moments for the Tres airforce), they manage to beat a retreat back to the shuttle. April wants to go back for Rim, but Janny's driving and she argues that they need a pl an. The Sol Bianca powers up, blasts out from the orbital ring, picks up the shuttle and makes its escape into hyperspace. Meanwhile, on Uno, the resistance has decided it's a good time to rumble, and all hell is breaking loose. The rebels easily capture the elevator control center, and prepare to launch the explosive pellets. On Tres, Batros is royally pissed-but snaps out of it when he decides to launch his fleet to make a permanent solution to the Uno problem. And it's definetely permanent-the entire T res Citadel is a giant spaceship that blasts off and starts turning Uno into a zillion-hole golf course along with the rest of the Tres attack force.
Back on the Sol Bianca, April is incensed when the rest of the crew doesn't think it's a good idea to go back after Rim. Even Feb is non-commital towards the idea, leading to April retiring to her room to think things over. After a bit of introspection, April charges down to the armory, but is stopped by the others, who are already in battle gear. (BGCers note:Come on, you saw this coming.) The crew is of course ready to support April-and steal the treasure in the process. Feb tells them they can use the ship's jump capacity to catch the Tres fleet off guard... Meanwhile, the fleet in question has finishe d destroying the elevator sites, and is preparing to catch the rest of the rebels, when ships suddenly start blowing themselves up. On the bridge of the Citadel, Batros' assistant is understandably confused-although it's obvious what it is when the Sol Bi anca exits hyperspace in the docking bay and drops its cargo-five heavily armed and annoyed women. April and Janny head for the bridge on their hoverbike, Mei goes after Rim with her battlesuit, and Feb and June hunt for the treasure in the cargo truck. T he ship's interior defenses are no match against the invaders, and all three teams soon have what they came for. Although it gets hectic when Mei accidentally destroys most of the bridge. Mei and Janny then take off for Feb and June, who have found the t reasure;meanwhile April goes in search of something else. Down in the treasure room, June is thawing Rim's mother, while Feb gleefully examines the stash. Janny and Mei arrive with Rim, who is joyful when he sees June thawing his mother. Down in his thro ne room, Batros is deep trouble when April bursts in on her hoverbike. The usual confrontation scene takes place: although Batros pleads for his life, April seems fit to take it. But no, she merely repays him for the cut he gave her. "You did all this-jus t for that?" Batros asks. April smiles, then walks off, noting that if he wants to live, he'd better get off the ship. Batros seems to lose it with this. The Sol Bianca takes off with the crew watching the Citadel go down.
But back on the bridge, Batr os manages to activate the main weapon of the Citadel-an immense laser cannon. Alerted to this situation by June, the crew seems to concentrate for a minute. Outside, the Sol Bianca sprouts lots of strange protrusions;the Citadel's computer reports a mass ive buildup of Bio-Energy. The Citadel's cannon fires at the Sol Bianca-which fires a giant beam back, wiping out the Citadel's blast and making a large hole through the Citadel, and in Batros. The Citadel goes up in a fiery blaze and the screen blacks o ut.
Finally, Rim is reunited with both of his parents. We hear Rim's voice dictating into his personal log-he wants to be a space pirate when he grows up. Although, he notes, his parents may not want him to. So he may become a freighter captain, just so he can meet the crew of the Sol Bianca again. Back on the Sol Bianca, the crew is somewhat less than impressed with the situation. The "Gnosis" turns out to be an ancient data record from a long-forgotten space probe from the third planet in a far away solar system. June and Janny are dumbstruck, Feb is boozing again, Mei likes the images of beauty, and April seems to find serenity in the message from the mother planet. As the camera pulls back we notice images of a giant coral reef, the Wo rld Trade Center towers, and then finally an orbital picture of the planet.(Come on. You've surely figured it out by now.) Cut to the outside of the Sol Bianca, as it cruises into the galactic equivalent of the setting sun.