Iter Per Astra: Volume 1 - Lost Princess
Astral 9 - Truth Revealed

Iago reached for his blaster, but before he could grab it, a laser blast destroyed every blaster on the ground, including the one he was about to pick up. The same laser blast continued to destroy all the robots in the area.

“What the hell?” Iago blurted out. “Well, it seems that we are not alone here.” Realizing that someone was protecting Joseph and that he would soon be outnumbered, he decided to bail. “Guess my time’s up.” He turned to Rose who was still on the ground trying to stand up. “I guess we will meet again, Princess Rosalina.”

“Don’t...”

Joseph turned to Rose who was still lying on the ground trying to stand up.

“Don’t... let him... leave...” Rose said in pain.

Joseph started to give chase when he heard something fly by his ear, he knew that it was something small because of the way it tore through the air, something small like a bullet, but he knew it wasn’t a bullet by the way it flew through the air as he was familiar with the sound it made.

Suddenly a long metal needle hit Iago’s left leg, passing to the other side, which made it difficult for him to run away. “AAHH!! What the--?!” He shouted in pain. “You did this.” He accused Joseph.

“That was a great piece of technology you had there.” Said a voice that sounded all around them, Joseph recognized the voice but he couldn’t replace where it came from. Then from midair in front of Iago, Melody appeared as if from thin air. She walked up slowly to where he lay on the ground with her arms crossed and crouched in front of him, showing him a little device that she held in her hand.

“A frequency that only affects people with nebulite in their blood, huh? good move... but useless against me.” She said as she crushed it in her fist and pointed another needle to his face.

“But I saw you. On the ground.” Iago said. “I thought I had incapacitated you.”

“Mm mm.” She said in a playful tone while shaking her head. “That only works with people that have a high enough concentration. You should have researched more on me if you wanted to actually stop me.”

“You son of a b- ”

“SHHHH!!!” She said placing her finger on his lips, so he didn’t say another word. “Not in front of the girl, would you please.”

“Melody?” Joseph called. “What are you doing here.”

“Oliver called and said that you were in danger,” Melody said as she stood up and skipped over to Joseph.

As Melody’s back was turned Iago tried to crawl away as his legs hurt too much to stand up.

“Um.” Joseph signaled Iago to Melody, she responded by placing her finger on her lips for him to remain quiet as she turned around and threw another spike at Iago’s foot, locking it against the floor.

“I strongly urge you to not try to run away.” She said sinisterly. “Cause I will hunt you down to the ends of the Galaxy if you do.” She then gave a burst of laughter that could be easily confused with the laughter of a villain in any movie. “Iago Rands. You have been doing some strange things for the last couple of months. But I haven’t been able to catch you in the act, but I’ve finally caught you.”

“You can do whatever you want to me, I am no longer needed,” Iago said. “The confederacy already knows... Rosalina is here... on Coryzen.”

“Rosalina?” Melody said. “I never thought you to be a joking type of person.”

Joseph looked at Rose as she tried to stand up.

“You, okay?” He asked as he gave her his hand to help her stand up.

“I’m fine,” Rose answered. “Just a little dizzy.”

“You best save your jokes for the time you will be serving on Stargate penitentiary on Ashistan, because you’ll be there for a long, long time,” Melody told Iago.

“Hahahaha! For an assassin... you should have to know everything about your target, you really are blind. Aren’t you.”

“Whatever do you mean?” Melody asked jokingly. “Do you think I don’t know everything about you? Oh my, you must be mistaken. I know your daily routine, what time you go to sleep, and what foods and drinks are your favorites, if you think I don’t know about you you are severely mistaken.”

“Rrr, it’s not me you should know; shouldn’t you bow in the presence of Her Majesty?” Iago said as he moved his eyes towards Rose.

“Alright.” She exhaled. “I tried being friendly with you but enough is enough.” She then teleported to just in front of him. “Stop it with the games, Iago!” Melody shouted as she pointed another needle at his face, only inches away from his nose. “You have wasted my patience, tell me why you are doing this-- Tell me the truth-- Now!!”

“But it’s the truth, isn’t it? Princess Rosalina?” He said gazing toward Rose.

Rose shivered, making a sound with her voice that she couldn’t avoid. She closed her fists in anger.

“You really do love to joke don’t you?” Melody said. “I didn’t know that about you, maybe I don’t know anything about you.”

“I am not joking in the slightest,” Iago said.

“Well, it’s either you are trying to convince me of your joke, or you are stupid. That girl right there is Rose Nova, and she is no princess. Although if Lonor Prime did have royalty she would very easily fit that role.”

“Aren’t you going to say something, Princess Rosalina?” Iago said to Rose.

“I-I-I am... not what he is saying--.” Rose quickly said. “I’m not—”

“Hard to get, huh, you just going to keep denying it!?” Iago said. “You really are pathetic.”

“Nngh!” Rose exclaimed. “Will you please sh--”

“Shut your mouth!” Melody shouted moving the needle, so it barely touched his nose. “I hear another word out of you, and you will be sorry. And I mean it.” She then stood up and started to walk away.

“Oooh, scary.” He mocked her. Another needle landed on the ground beside him, a few centimeters from his face.

“I mean it.”

Iago proceeded to try to replace a comfortable way to lay on the ground.

“To think that we as the only survivors of that attack would be grateful that the CRN took you in, but no!”

“You’re doing great to keep that promise to yourself. The no killing.” Iago mocked her. “You could have killed me there and now and all of this would be over; come on I know you hate me.”

“You think I hate you,” Melody said sarcastically. “You think I hate you? Where could you have gotten that idea?” She laughed lightly before teleporting and grabbing the collar of Iago’s shirt. “You decided to accuse me of killing my father when we both know that it was that grenade thrown by that confederacy officer that day. And to think that it is your word against the word of a then eight-year-old child, people believed you, I think I have a pretty good reason to hate you.”

“I knew that it was a bad idea for Father to put you in charge of watching him,” Joseph said.

“You think?” Melody responded.

“Changing the subject for a moment. Do you know who the sniper was? Because if you don’t we have to get out of here.”

“The sniper? I think you and I know who it is.”

“Oliver...”

“That’s right.”

“What is he doing here?” Joseph asked. “Shouldn’t he be with father?”

“Well yeah, but when he heard about the attack on Nautica Harbor, he had to come over here, you may be trained for environments like this but your cadet is not.”

“That is true,” Joseph said as he helped Rose stand up. “Are you okay? I hope that you aren’t hurt because of what I said.”

“N-no I’m fine,” Rose answered.

“Hey Melody, is that device that you were holding legal?”

“What? this?” Melody answered as she handed Joseph another of the frequency. “This device is in a grey zone, as Xenohumans are mostly considered slaves this could be used to make them fall in line, but I am pretty sure that they are not legal in Coryzen.”

“We should get one of these to the lab to figure out who built them and how they smuggled them into Coryzen. This unit works right?”

“It should.”

“Can I please ask you to not turn it on?” Rose said. “You have no idea how painful it is.”

“Putting that behind us. What is he talking about?” Melody asked Rose. “About that princess part?”

“?!...”

“Well?” Melody asked. “I’m waiting.”

“I-I...”

“Rose?” Joseph said. “I know we just met... and to gain trust there has to be a process, but I don’t think my father made you my cadet just because, I think there is something that makes you special which is what father saw. Please... I can’t trust you if you don’t trust me.”

“I know... I have to tell the truth... my parents taught me to never lie, yet I have been living a lie for the past 5 years.” Rose said as she dried her eyes. “I can no longer deny it to you two...” She then stood up and looked at Joseph in the eye. “My real name’s not the one that you know.”

“So, your name is not Rose Nova?” Melody asked.

“No.”

“Then who are you, really?”

“Could I get something off my chest first? It’s concerning Iago.”

“Go ahead,” Joseph said.

“This man.” Rose pointed at Iago. “He was part of the crew where they held me prisoner. I would appreciate it if you would arrest him, as I don’t feel comfortable with him being free where I am.”

“I will work out the details when I get him to base,” Melody said.

“Now...” Rose said. “About my real name. My real name is–”

Interrupting Rose was a fit and muscular 6-foot-tall man.

Rose was so scared by his sudden appearance that she swung her right arm and using her power launched one of the pieces of the broken robots to him. But he caught it before it hit him. Rose then noticed that he was carrying a 5-foot-long sniper rifle, and quickly thought that she shouldn’t have done that.

“You should know if the target is a foe or a friendly before hitting them with stuff, Cadet.” He answered sternly.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to... um... W- Who are you?!” Rose asked scared.

“I’ll talk to you later.” He said. “Melody... Sorry for eavesdropping on your call, but I heard your call with Director Terix, and came here to help.”

“You intercepted my call? Why did you do that?” She asked as if she was in deep distress in a monotone voice while holding her hands up trying to cover her face. “Surely you should be arrested for such a thing. Stalker. Pervert.”

Oliver rolled his eyes as he and Melody did not get along very well, despite them both seeing each other practically every day.

“Conversations with Director Terix and you on a phone are rare, and when you do call him is to inform him of something big that you can’t handle yourself.”

“I was trying to act distressed you know,” Melody said ignoring what she just said. “You could have at least followed the act.”

“Yeah,” Oliver said as if shrugging it off and not caring about the act she was putting on.

“Hey.” Melody protested. “I am talking to you.”

“Um... you two know each other?” Rose asked Melody.

“We do,” Melody said. “That man right there is Oliver Collin, he is the lead guard of the Terix family home, and I as the guard’s main stealth operative, hate him.”

“Why is that?” She asked.

“He doesn’t let me be free like Joseph, but not in the way that you think, he is always watching me, and tends to be overprotective, thankfully I can use my power and escape from his sight in a second,” Melody said as she teleported behind Oliver.

“I do that because you tend to be more heroic and get yourself in trouble.”

“Oh really?” Melody said. “That’s the first I’ve heard of it.”

“You could have been killed fighting that bounty hunter earlier.”

“You saw, huh?” Melody said. “You know that father told me to protect the cadet. Right?”

“That I know.”

“Then why are you scolding me for doing my job?”

“Because director Terix told me to keep you safe!”

“Alright fine.”

“Is this the cadet you were supposed to defend?”

“Yes... it is...” Melody said as she teleported behind Rose and put both her hands on Rose’s shoulders, which caused her to jump slightly scared. “But the name she registered in the CRN is not her real name.”

“You know that that is a federal offense, right,” Oliver said.

“I know, but if you knew a fraction of everything, I’ve been through you would understand why I did it.”

“I doubt it,” Oliver said. “You should be arrested.”

“Oliver,” Joseph said as he stood next to Rose. “Please calm down. She is a Xenohuman. And her power seems to be very powerful.”

“That clears up a lot.”

“Now that we cleared that up, would you please ease off?” Joseph said. “He tried to kill her.”

“He did what?!” Oliver exclaimed as he turned to Iago. “Him?!”

“Hello,” Iago said as he waved at him.

“You were one of the best of us, why did you do this.”

“Did you think I was part of the CRN?”

“We saved you and Melody from that village; you would be dead.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“When we return to the base, you are going directly to jail.”

“Rose,” Joseph called.

Rose turned towards him.

“You were going to tell us who you are, I want you to trust us.”

“Okay...” Rose took a deep breath. “I... My name is... Ro-”

“Just tell them already! Jeesh,” Iago said.

Melody turned towards Iago with a clear fire in her eyes.

“You sound like a broken record now.” He continued.

Melody slowly walked towards him, increasing her speed with each step, it was as if Melody was the hunter and Iago was the Prey. “I told you...” She said as she pulled out another needle and pointed at his chin. “I TOLD YOU TO SH--!!”

Mid speech Melody placed her right hand on her head, as she slightly lost balance.

“Melody!” Joseph quickly called.

“I-I’m fine, I’m fine...”

Joseph then grabbed Melody’s left hand and it was extremely hot. “You have been using your power too much today, haven’t you?”

“Come on I didn’t do that much.”

“Really Melody?” Oliver asked. “Where did you take that bounty hunter when you disappeared?”

“Well, I uh, I took him around the plaza once or twice.”

“I replace that hard to believe.”

“Um, if I may say something,” Rose said. “I did remember the bounty hunter say that you took him to the observatory.”

Before Melody could say another word Oliver grabbed the sleeve of Melody’s shirt and talked to her sternly. “This is the reason that I have to watch over you, you are too reckless using your power.”

Melody tried to break free from his hold first by trying to push Oliver away, and then by trying to use her power.

“Give up Melody, you know you can’t overpower me in this condition.”

“Just leave me alone,” Melody said. “The Nebulite will cool down on its own.”

“Oh, it will cool down, by the medicine you should be carrying with you.”

“W-W-What medicine?” She said as her forehead was slowly being covered by sweat.

“You know very well what Medicine I am talking about,” Oliver said. “Joseph, hold her there.” He then reached for his backpack and pulled out a small medicine container that seemed to glow on its own, and from it pulled a small medicine capsule.

Oliver then pulled Melody’s right hand and placed the medicine in her hand. Melody looked at it in disgust.

“Swallow it,” Oliver stated.

“But... I know that it can cool down on its own.” Melody protested.

“We are on a battlefield I would have let that slide if we were at home, but we are not there, so you must swallow it now.”

Melody’s face twisted in disgust as she looked at the glowing blue liquid-filled capsule. She did a little dance with her feet as she convinced herself to swallow it, she then took a deep breath, closed her eyes, put it in her mouth, and swallowed. Shortly after she wrapped her arms around her as if she was suddenly cold.

“Aah!” She exclaimed in discomfort. “This is why I hate this medicine.”

“This is for your own good Melody,” Joseph said.

“I know, I know.”

“Are you okay Melody?” Rose asked.

“You’re a Xenohuman aren’t you?” Melody answered. “You’ve never had to take one of these Cooled Nitrogen meds?”

“Not really, what are they for?”

“At least in my condition, if I use too much of my power I overheat, which not only hurts like hell, because I feel like I am burning up from the inside. So, I T-Take one of these tablets to forcefully cool me down. It feels ten times colder than any cold drink you can imagine.”

“Oh... Okay.”

Oliver then stood in front of Iago menacingly.

“I am just going to say this one time,” Oliver said. “I recommend you don’t say another word, every word you say will only make it worse for you.”

“I don’t care what happens to me...” He answered as he pushed himself upwards. “Coryzen’s time has come... and they will pay for the injustices they made to the galaxy.”

“The only injustice made to the galaxy; is the injustice the Confederacy has done.” Oliver then grabbed the sniper rifle from his back and smacked the handle of the rifle at Iago knocking him unconscious.

“Nice swing.” Melody praised Oliver.

“You shouldn’t be happy for what I just did.” He answered with a serious face. “This sort of thing shouldn’t happen. That’s what we stand for.”

“Do you think that he was part of the confederacy before the attack on my village?”

“Probably. That would explain why only you and him survived the attack, both of you were unharmed.”

Oliver then turned towards Rose. “Is this the cadet that the Director told you to get?”

“She is,” Melody answered. “He told me that I should protect her as Joseph can take care of himself.”

“A Naval cadet who can’t take care of herself, I wonder what made the Director choose her out of all the new cadets. She can’t even hold a blaster straight.”

Rose overheard the conversation, and all the confidence that she had gathered throughout the day, all disappeared. “Um... I...” She said scared.

“Oliver!” Joseph called. “Don’t treat her like that, you don’t know everything she’s been through.”

“It’s the truth,” Oliver told Joseph. “The last cadets that Director Terix chose were cadets that could take care of themselves, some of them could even defeat you.”

“Well, it’s not up to you to choose what cadets will be trained.”

“Fine,” Oliver said. “Tell me, cadet. What is your name?”

“M-My name is... is...”

Rose then remembered something that happened to her a long time ago.

She remembered a soldier dressed in black battle armor and a helmet where the eyes were barely visible. And at his feet were several dead people.

She remembered how scared and panicked she felt that day, and it only got worse when she remembered the words that the soldier said to her.

“All of these people knew who you really are, and if any more know about it, they will end up like them. Princess...”

The panic she was feeling finally reached her breath and caused her breath to sound panicked.

“Rose...” Joseph said as he stepped beside her and placed his hand on her shoulder to give her confidence. “Calm down, please, tell me what’s wrong, you can trust me.”

“I’m scared...” She said. “The last time I said who I was to someone, everyone who knew me disappeared. I don’t want that to happen.”

“That won’t happen...” Joseph reassured.

“You can’t guarantee it!” She said back. “You can’t guarantee me that when we head into town you won’t end up dead.”

“Fine then... I have no way of guaranteeing anything, but I give you, my word. I will not abandon you and I will help you in any way I can.”

“Alright,” Rose said as she took a deep breath. While still hearing those words that have haunted her for years. She decided to do it a second time, say who she really is. “I am... M-M-My real name is... Rrrrrrosa--- R-Rosa... Rosalina Novasong... Crown Princess of Elysium...” She said. “Did I say too much?” She thought after. “I probably said too much.”

Suddenly a laser blast came out of nowhere headed towards Joseph, Melody disappeared for a second and moved Joseph a couple of steps back, and at the same time pushed Rose away, the blast burned a couple of strands of her hair as they just barely avoiding the blast.

“Six O’clock!” Melody shouted in the direction of the blast.

Oliver quickly grabbed his rifle and turned around 180 degrees as the blast came behind him. A blue shot was fired from the rifle and proceeded to hit someone in the forest behind him.

“Be careful,” Oliver said as he went into the forest to get whoever came.

Melody nodded as he left. “You okay?” She asked Joseph.

“I’m fine.” He answered.

“H-How?... That was so quick?” Rose shuddered.

“Rose? You okay?” Joseph asked.

“I’m sorry!” Rose shouted. “I am the one bringing you harm.” She then looked Joseph in the eye, he noticed tears started to form in her eyes. “I’m sorry.” She then turned around and ran off into the forest behind her.

“Rose!” Joseph called.

“Go after her,” Melody said. “I will meet up with you when I can.” She then handed Joseph a small tracking device.

Joseph nodded as he gave chase to Rose.

Melody then used her power to catch up with Oliver.

“What did you replace?”

“I thought I hit someone, but I only hit the blaster.”

“What make is it?”

“KM-17, this is the standard rifle for CRN soldiers.”

“Are you sure you didn’t just hit him with a disintegration shot?”

“You know those things aren’t real.”

“Not if you saw what I did.”

“All right yes, except that prototype disintegration cannon, I did not disintegrate them.”

“Fine, I believe you.”

“This weapon here has two clues that can help, either the one who pulled the trigger was from the CRN, or it was a bounty hunter that somehow managed to get its hands on a CRN weapon.”

“I think it’s the latter,” Melody said. “Iago might have turned a few soldiers to his cause.”

“That seems the most plausible.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“I’ll take this and Iago back to the command center. You better stay with Joseph and the cadet.” He then took out his blaster pistol and handed it to Melody. “Give this to Joseph. Go!”

Melody nodded and then ran off.