HydroWorld: Hydroplanetary Adventures - Season 7, Episode 37: "The Brightest Star"

**Premise / Plot**

The episode title appears as the Hydrohovership Helicarrier Hovercraft is seen sailing through the night skies on its way to the New World, before cutting to an onboard observatory deep within the vessel's Colony Cores. Eleven-year-old Luciana Vega is seen examining the stars through the observatory telescope with her best friend and supreme commander Nolan close beside her. She points out familiar astronomical bodies and constellations she finds interesting before Nolan eventually asks her how she knows so much about stars. Luciana tells him that she enjoys looking at space and aspires to become an interstellar astronaut when she becomes old enough. She also explains that she went to space camp and sat in full-day courses in astronomy, so she knew everything there was to know about stars.

But when Luciana finds an unnaturally bright star through the telescope and tries to figure out what it's called, her mind draws a blank. When Nolan remembers the star and tells her that it's called "Luciana Vega" (her name), Luciana shoots her friend a confused look and asks him if he's joking. Nolan pulls out his tablet device and reads the written email from the International Astronomical Association confirming that his request had been granted to name the star after her as an early birthday present, and that he was in fact not joking. Once he finishes reading, Luciana hugs him with all her might and tells him that he's the best and sweetest friend she's ever had.

After parting ways for the evening, the two best friends return to their respective staterooms. Luciana thrillingly tells her parents that Nolan had named a star after her, her mom cheers and wants to celebrate by cooking a big meal for dinner. Luciana enjoys the meal and thanks her friend again for his gift. But when she climbs into her bed at the end of that night and looks out her bedroom window to see her new star again, and she notices that the bright light is no longer there, she texts Nolan that something must be wrong.

The next morning is the morning of Luciana's birthday. Nolan meets Luciana and the rest of his best friends on the Colony Cores' passenger dining deck for a special breakfast. At first, having not been able to read Luciana's text the previous night, Nolan is shocked and concerned to hear that her birthday star was missing, and offers to ask the International Astronomical Association if they could name a different star after her instead. Luciana tells him that's it's not a big deal and not to stress over it too much, but Nolan didn't want to let down his best friend on her birthday, so he insisted. Luciana's parents show up and wish their daughter a happy birthday, but their smiles disappear when they notice the kids' disappointment. They ask what happened and Nolan explains everything, promising that he will do whatever he can to get his best friend's star back before her evening birthday celebration that night.

Right before dusk, Nolan doesn't waste a second of his time. We see him marching into the Colony Core Launch Bays and strapping into a futuristic flying mech before deploying from the main vessel into the atmosphere. He pushes buttons and pulls levers to operate the mech through the air as he searches for the missing star. He keeps in contact with his friends through the communication system and eventually finds the brightest star being towed through the air by an enemy spacecraft. Upon closer observation he determines the spacecraft to be piloted by a sky pirate transporting the star to *Misfortune's Keep*, or the Sky Pirates' flying base of operations.

Nolan follows the Sky Pirate in his mech and opens fire at his ship just moments before *Misfortune's Keep* sees him coming and fires back, taking out one of his mech's propellers. In an effort to safely fly the mech on only one propeller, Nolan instead focuses his firepower on the weakest link between the Sky Pirates and Luciana's star: the towing chain. Unfortunately, true to its name, *Misfortune's Keep* doesn't wait for him to reach the chain before sending reinforcements. Sky Sharks and pirate fighters take aim at Nolan's mech from every side and swiftly take out his last propeller, sending him hurtling downwards in the opposite direction.

As the vehicle rapidly descends through the clouds, Nolan manages to tell his friends that the Rogues have shot his mech in combat just before his communication systems cut out, as the severely-damaged Sky Mech lands atop the summit of a tall mountain high above sea level. There, Nolan exits the machine and searches for assistance, calling out for anyone who could help him get off the mountain. Luckily, he eventually finds the Freemakers, a team of three children and a retired battle droid from the Seven Star Wars Galaxies who also found themselves stuck on the mountain while on a salvage run to the Sky World. Zander and Kordi are seen making repairs on the Hydro Star Scavenger, the Freemakers' Starship, with Rowan handing them tools as Nolan arrives.

After the Star Scavenger is fully repaired, the Freemakers agree to helping Nolan get Luciana's birthday star back. Using their radar systems, the Freemakers track down *Misfortune's Keep* and fly the Star Scavenger through its lower hangar to retrieve the birthday star with its salvage scoop. The Sky Pirates fight back the moment they realize that the star is missing but do so too late, as the Star Scavenger is already well out of their sights by the time they notice. The Star Scavenger returns the star back to its rightful place in the sky before touching down in the Hydrohovership Helicarrier Hovercraft's colony core loading bays. When Nolan arrives at Luciana's birthday party and tells him that her star has been returned, Luciana hugs him again and thanks him for making her birthday the best she'd ever had. Leaving the sky pirates well behind, the Hydrohovership Helicarrier Hovercraft continues its long journey to the New World as the episode ends.