Iter Per Astra: Volume 1 - Lost Princess
Astral 2 - New Cadet

“Forgive me for being late, Admiral,” Joseph said as he entered the bridge. “I would like to request for you to forgive me for my late arrival.”

The bridge of the ship looked out towards an orange-colored-nebula which dominated the view from anywhere you looked to the outside of the ship. In the middle was the admiral’s chair which overlooked the people controlling the ship’s maneuvers and some of the ship's hull.

The ship was stationed in the middle of a tunnel in the nebula that was made for ships to exit and enter the Coryzen planetary system which was located in the middle of a nebula.

“Don’t worry yourself about what’s already done, Captain... in fact,” The admiral said as she looked at her watch. “You are 7 minutes before your entering time.”

“Did I actually come that quickly?” He asked himself.

“Enough of being late or early...” The admiral said. “First and foremost-- Happy birthday, I can’t forget the birthday of my only nephew.”

“Thank you, Admiral Rove,” Joseph answered with a picture-perfect pose that soldiers should have and gave her a small bow.

The admiral gave a small sigh. “Just call me Aunt Cyana for today okay.” She said. “I know we have to maintain protocol due to the American naval military accords, blah blah blah, yada yada yada, just... just ignore them for today, do it for me okay?”

“A-are you sure Admiral?” He asked worried.

“Yes...” She said. “Now, what should you call me?”

“Um... Aunt Cyana...?”

“Perfect, anyway.” She said changing the subject. “As a gift from your father and I, we want to give you this.” Cyana handed Joseph a small box. “He wanted to be here but... Do you remember that representative from Planet America? He came today.”

“I see... I guess I will have to visit him later.”

“This is the first birthday you spend without your mother, isn't it?”

“It is.”

“How are you feeling? You good?”

“I am, I think I can get past today.” Joseph then grabbed the small box.

“I know she was very special to you, she was special to all of us. I for one will probably miss the parties that she would throw for your birthdays. I know this gift will not be able to fill that space that was left empty with her passing. But I hope you can appreciate it all the same. and believe me, I know the pain you are feeling closer to anyone as her sister.”

"Thank you aunt

He proceeded to slowly open the box. He was shocked. “Bu... But but... I still have to complete three weeks of training regimen to earn this.”

“Consider this a gift from us to you.” Cyana then stepped closer to Joseph. “But come on, we both know that you could go through all of that material in a couple of days if you wanted to.” She whispered.

“I know.” He whispered back. “Thank you...” He said.

“You’re welcome. Your mother would have been proud of you, truly.” Cyana said. “Now... how about you take the rest of the day off, so you can recover if you need to, and so you can meet your new cadet later today.”

“I’m sorry my wha– NEW CADET?!” Joseph said surprised.

“Come on,” Cyana answered. “You should’ve known this was going to happen. New Commander, they get a cadet for them to train. Didn't your friends from the academy get the same thing?”

“I thought that it was optional?”

“As a Coryzen Security Bureau member, it is optional, but your father wanted you specifically to train her,” Cyana said. “I don’t know why but he was very insistent on it. I heard that some of the other commanders wanted to boot her from the Navy. Lieutenant!” She called. “Send Commander Joseph the tentative file of his Cadet.”

“Yes ma’am.” The lieutenant said.

“So, uh... who is the new cadet that I will be training?” Joseph asked. "Have you met her?"

“I have not. Your father will probably give you all the details when you meet him later today, but I have a preliminary file, it doesn’t contain much information on her, but it does contain her name. Rose Nova.”

“Rose Nova.” He said it to himself. “Is she related to the Nova family from the French kingdom?”

“I don’t think so. You can ask her when you see her. She came from Lonor Prime, the farthest you can get from the French.”

“Is there anything in particular that I should know about her?” He said as he looked in his phone the file that the lieutenant sent him.”

“Um, let me think...” Cyana said. “You should know this... she has a terrible score on firearms training.”

“By how much?” He asked. “You remember that I was a bad shot when I was a cadet.”

“What was your number when you started?”

“Uh, it was fifty-eight percent, I think.”

“Oh shoot.” She said under her breath. “Well, her’s is at a staggering thirty-seven percent.” She said sarcastically.

“WHAT?!?!”

“I sort of forgot how that number worked, I thought that if it was lower it was better. I haven't had to deal with that for such a long time.”

“Was that number taken recently? Or was it when she entered?”

“I think it was taken from last week’s tests.”

“Oh God, I have a lot of work to do.”

“Look... just head back home and rest a bit, you will meet her later today. Remember your father appointed her to you, and it’s not like you can say otherwise.”

“Fine. See you later then.”

“Yes, see you later. If you go to the Royal Palace, you might see me there.”

“Got it,” Joseph replied as he entered the elevator to exit the bridge.

After exiting the elevator on the lower floors, he headed towards docking port A4, where the CRNS Javelin, a small destroyer, would be docking shortly.

The CRNS Javelin used to be a front-line destroyer, but it was later phased out with a newer ship; the Javelin continued working for the CRN transporting people from the space station to Coryzen and everywhere in between with the CRNS Bismarck being one the most frequent stops.

As Joseph waited for the ship to dock. A sudden impact slightly shook the ship, but nobody panicked as it was just the Javelin docking.

The circular door of the docking port turned 90 degrees to the left before opening its air seal with a sudden burst of air from between the two halves of the door. The two halves then opened sideways completely leaving an open route to and from the Javelin.

Two soldiers with spears came in from the Javelin and stood next to the entrance of the door, standing as guards, something normal with all the CRN naval ships.

As Joseph passed over to the Javelin, he saw a familiar figure. dressed in her usual black and white maid outfit and white diadem which was accented by her perfect black hair which reached down a little over her shoulder. “Melody?”

“Joseph?” She answered. “I thought you were working today?”

“Aunt Cyana gave me the rest of the day off. Well, most of it anyway” He replied. “What are you doing here?”

“Your father wanted me to pick up your cadet. He wants to talk to her personally.”

“Rose Nova, right?” He asked.

“Yes, her. Did Cyana tell you already?”

“She did, but I am a bit worried about something she told me about her, specifically her aim percentage.”

“You are? What’s her score? You were pretty low back in the day.”

“I know, but she is even worse, and this number is from last week’s test. Thirty-seven percent.”

“Thirty-seven percent!?” Melody exclaimed. “You can’t be serious, why did your father give you a cadet with such a low number?”

“You tell me.” He answered. “I am as clueless as you are.”

“Maybe he got confused with the cadet he was going to give you.”

“My father confusing a person like this? I replace it incredibly unlikely, if not impossible. But in reality, being in the CSB doesn’t need to be a good shot. Maybe she is good at something else, keeping track of a lot of data, good memory. There are a lot of things that could make someone a good CSB candidate.”

“Maybe he confused her number. No matter. Shall we meet her anyway?” Melody asked. “I was going to see her now.”

“Yeah sure, let’s go. Where did they tell you she was?”

“They told me she was in the standing room of this ship but as this is my first time here, I don’t know where that is.”

“The standing room is the room just outside the boarding ramp.”

“Oh, that room, I was just there. I really am clueless when it comes to ship interiors.”

“This ship is a bit confusing, let’s go.”

Joseph and Melody walked to the standing room where several other soldiers waited for the ship to land at its next destination.

The room was crowded with countless soldiers with varying outfits. Normal naval soldiers wear dark gray outfits with a few accents like lines or even entire sections of their clothing to represent what fleet they are part of. Joseph’s accent color in his uniform was colored bright red and was mostly lines passing by his arms and stitches of the shirts, signifying that he is part of the Coryzen Royal Navy Home Fleet or CRN Home Fleet for short. Although he is a member of the CSB or Coryzen Security Bureau, while onboard the Bismarck he is considered a member of the CRN.

Most commanders start by becoming part of this fleet for a minimum of 3 years before they are either transferred or moved to another fleet. They also have a crest or badge for their rank on the arm or the top right of their chest. Joseph had just changed from captain to commander.

Over at one side, several soldiers with very distinctive clothing were together. This group of soldiers wore a similar uniform but differed greatly from all the other uniforms in that the accents they wore in their clothes were mostly white, signifying that they were cadets.

A person can freely join the Royal Navy, but to become a member of the CSB they will be personally chosen by their actions while being a cadet of the CRN.

Joseph looked at every one of the cadets, everyone was talking to each other normally, but he noticed that there was a young woman who was alone, she had long blue hair and it seemed that she was around the same age as him. But she had a heavy face on her, there was no doubt that she was sad about something.

“Excuse me, Commander Mercia,” Melody called. “I think you received a message from Director Terix earlier?”

“I did.” He answered. “Are you Melody Trear?"

“Yes, I am,” Melody said. “I’m Melody Trear, and this is Captain-- I mean, CSB Commander Joseph Terix.”

“You are here to pick up the cadet. Let me get her for you."

Commander Ardal Mercia then turned towards the cadet group. “Group A7 Attention!” He shouted. All the cadets quickly stood up straight in a perfect soldier pose and formed up into a neat square. He followed to look at his phone and then continued. “Cadet Rose Nova, registration number 48464, step forth.”

The young woman that Joseph had looked at earlier quickly approached the commander. “Cadet Rose Nova, Sir!” She said standing in front of him. She looked just like a college student even though she was obviously older, as CRN cadets must be older than 18 years.

“Cadet Nova, you remember what I informed you earlier.”

“Yes sir I do.” She answered.

“They have come to take you to the director, go ahead.” the commander informed. “I hope to see you again. And try to keep your hopes up, if you were called by the director it has to be something good.”

“Thank you, sir. I will do my best.” Rose said as she then approached Melody and Joseph.

“Greetings Commander,” Rose said to Joseph. As she was closer to him now, he saw that she had long blue hair and bright blue eyes. “I just want you to know that I am capable of anything you throw at me, should I introduce myself to you?”

“If you want to,” Melody said. “We should know how to address you.”

“Okay--- Um... I’m cadet Rose Nova.” She said while giving a small bow. “... Ha... Hajimemashite...”

“So, you from the Japanese empire?” Joseph asked.

“No sir, why do you ask that,” Rose answered.

“That word you said is Japanese. I assumed that-”

“W-What?! n-no that is just a word that a friend of mine taught me, and she told me that I could use it in greetings.” Rose said panicking a little. “What if I said something offensive and I have been saying all this time...”

Joseph laughed a little at her little panic tantrum as his first impressions of her personality seemed that she would not break that easily “My name is Joseph. Commander Joseph Terix.” he said extending his hand to her. “It's a pleasure to meet you."

“Likewise Commander,” Rose said extending her hand to him.

“My name is Melody Trear," Melody said butting in. "And I am the personal maid of Joseph here, and assistant of the Terix family; I am going to be your guardian until I deliver you to the director. Now come.” Melody said as she walked towards the boarding ramp. “The ship is about to land, and this is our stop.”

“So where are we landing exactly? ...S-sir,” Rose asked as she followed Melody and Joseph. “If I can ask?”

“Of course. And please drop the sir at the end of a question.” Joseph answered. “I don’t feel like I have that privilege.”

“Yes sir,” she answered.

“Have you heard of Nautica harbor?”

“No sir.” She answered. “Is it important?”

“Wow, you must come from a pretty desolate planet to have never heard of Nautica Harbor. it’s one of the most beautiful places in the galaxy as well as Mirror Lake, both of them are here on Coryzen.”

“I think I have heard of Mirror Lake, but I don’t know why it’s so special.”

“You will see it later.” He said.