Iter Per Astra: Volume 1 - Lost Princess

Rose followed Melody around the marketplace as Melody appeared to be looking for a specific place in the marketplace.

“Excuse me uh... Miss Melody? Is it okay if I call you that?” Rose asked.

“Of course,” Melody answered as she turned around and continued walking backward with both arms behind her back. “Just keep in mind that I am your superior in case we meet anyone, but you can call me Melody until then.”

“N-Noted.”

As Rose now had a chance to have a better look at Melody, she couldn’t help but notice how beautiful Melody was, she was tall, she had deep-black-colored eyes and hair, she had a very beautiful figure, and her clothes, even though she was wearing a maid outfit which was mostly black and white, and it was not very tight, it slightly accentuated her curvy figure.

This was different to Rose as all the time she had been in the CRN she was talking to people who wore a similar outfit to the one she was wearing, with only colors and badges with names and ranks to distinguish the people, she also remembered that she was technically her superior, although she wasn’t sure if she was joking or not.

“May I ask... Are you really my... my superior?” Rose hesitated to ask.

“Mmm- not quite,” Melody answered. “I don’t technically have a rank per se, although I do hold a rather special rank, which very few people in the CRN have, but as it is in its bubble, I don’t think that I am much higher than a third lieutenant rank-wise.”

“Oh really? Then may I ask what that rank is so I can address you properly?”

“It’s a secret,” Melody said holding her index finger to her mouth. “But after today there is a chance that you may know it.”

“I see... Thanks for letting me know.”

“But you can continue calling me Melody, I don’t mind.” She said as she turned around and continued walking forward.

“So uh, Melody, I had another question.”

“Go ahead.”

“Where are we going? I didn’t catch the name very well.”

“We are in the marketplace, in here, there is a shop from Intrepid Technologies, which is where we are going. As the biggest supplier of technology to the CRN, they sometimes provide us with incentives or grants like the one that the Director has given you to buy some of their things.”

“Really? I will have to thank him personally for that.”

“You will meet him soon.” She answered. “So as this may be the only time it’s just the two of us; do you have any siblings?” She asked. “I am an only child, but I sometimes treat Joseph as my little brother, as you probably have already seen.”

“I do... But I only know of his existence, he left when I was very little.”

“I... I’m sorry to hear that.” Melody noticed she had struck a rather delicate chord. “Changing topics,” Melody said as she slowed down to walk behind Rose.

“Melody?” Rose asked confused as she slowed down as well.

“Just keep walking,” Melody whispered as she pushed her lightly to continue walking. “This hair of yours.” She continued as she grabbed a couple of strands of Rose’s hair. “Do you dye it yourself? Or do you have someone dye it for you? Because they do one hell of a job with it.”

“Oh uh...” Rose said trying to hide her cheeks turning slightly red. “Well, it's ---”

“Before you answer... I just want you to know that I have a habit of knowing everything about the people who are close to Joseph, I consider him my brother because we were raised by the same woman. On her deathbed, I promised to protect him, so don’t get any weird ideas as to why I am asking this sort of question.”

“No no, I-it’s okay, thank you for sharing that with me. A stranger.”

“Now... you were saying?”

“Right... my hair color is natural.”

“What? You are kidding me.” Melody said shocked. “You are telling me that there are people in the galaxy that have cyan-blue hair like this? And there’s you with blue eyes as well. Jeez, you look like an anime character come to life.”

“St-stop it, you’re embarrassing me,” Rose said as she turned her back to Melody.

“And with a dash of red to top it all off. It’s a miracle that none of the cadets were swooning over you with how beautiful you are...”

“Seriously!?” Rose said embarrassed not knowing how to feel about that last comment.

“Joseph did warn you, didn’t he?” Melody smirked. “About my rather sharp tongue?”

“I guess you’re right.”

Rose took a few seconds to compose herself.

“So, uh... What can I buy from Intrepid Technologies?” She asked.

Melody gave Rose a weird look. “You don’t know? Do you even know what they make?”

“I’m sorry but... I have never heard of them.”

“Hmm, that’s odd,” Melody said. “The company is very well known for what they do, hmm, maybe you come from one of those planets that aren’t very advanced. What planet are you from.”

“Oh uh... I-I don’t remember the name clearly, my p-parents never actually told me the name, I think it had an abbreviation, I think it was... LP?”

“LP? As in Lonor Prime? That’s the planet you came from? well, that planet is underdeveloped.”

“Y-Yes that’s the one.”

“Considering your looks and how you acted earlier, I thought you might have come from a much higher social society than that. But, oh well, I might as well tell you, Intrepid Technologies while they manufacture much of the technology used on many of the ships that the navy use, they also make electronics for the general public, things like smartphones and tablets, along with other personal electronics.”

“Smartphones and Tablets got it,” Rose said unknowing of what those things are.

Melody found her answer odd but decided to ignore it as she might be one of the people who are loyal fans of other older companies like Apple and Samsung.

“You do know what smartphones and tablets are right?” Melody asked. “It’s not like they are the only company that makes them, there are hundreds of cheaper brands sold some of them even sell them on planets like Lonor Prime.”

“I-I-I-I Do...” Rose stuttered. “I really do...”

“Okay good. Now come on, we are close now.”

“Do you know why he gave it to me? The grant I mean.” Rose asked.

“I’m not completely sure,” Melody answered. “I have taken other soldiers to the director, but none of them have had this grant that he gave you, maybe it’s a new thing...”

“I guess I’m the lucky one then.”

“I guess you are.” Melody smiled. “This is the place.”

Melody pointed to a white-painted store with giant glass windows that made up the entire front wall of the building.

“Come on, let’s go inside,” Melody said.

“Hello.” Said one of the employees as they both entered the shop. “Welcome to Intrepid Technologies, is there something in particular that you are looking for?”

“We are interested in buying a smartphone with a grant given by the Director,” Melody informed. “Is there a special process for this to be applied?”

“There is.” Answered the employee. “Let me get the manager as this is a more complex transaction.”

Melody then turned to Rose. “You go ahead and look around the shop to see what you are interested in. I’ll handle the rest.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Rose said as she headed into the different sections to look at the different phones provided by them. Rose headed to the section which said ‘Smartphones’. As that was the thing that they came here for.

“So this is a smartphone. These things seem to be made of... glass?” she said as she touched the display models. “And what do these things even do?” She continued looking around at the phone.

The unit she was holding was a broken display model, and its display didn’t turn on, but Rose didn’t know that.

“And these things cost... fifteen hundred credits?!?” she said extremely surprised. “For a piece of glass... I have seen some of the higher-ups and other cadets with one of these, I wonder what they are useful for...”

“You seem surprised.”

“Waugh!!” Rose jumped. “You-- You scared me.”

“Sorry,” Melody said trying to hold back laughter. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I-I-I don’t think it’s funny...”

“Well, I do, to think that you gave off this very serious personality back at the ship and comparing it to what you are, I think it is funny.”

“Yeah, well, for... forget about that. Did you need something?”

“I came to let you know that the grant is for two thousand UGCs, that’s United Galaxy Credits for your information. As this currency is not used much on Lonor Prime.”

“Okay, and what can I buy with that?”

“Two thousand. Hmm...” Melody thought. “You could get the newest premium model, spec it the heck out of it and probably still have some leftover for some headphones.” She thought out loud. “That’s one choice; but you could also just get a mid-range model and get a mid-range tablet as well, along with the same wireless earphones if you want. And one other option is to get a last-gen high-end model and get a mid-range tablet. there are plenty of other options though, you have two thousand credits.”

“Those are some options.”

“I saw you looking at the Nebula Pro there, do you want that one?”

“No... Not really, I am still undecided... Oh uh, may I ask... what model does Commander Terix have?”

“Joseph? Well... He has the same one you are holding consequently. And now that I think of it is the same model that I have.” Melody said as she took out her phone. “Although this is an older model, it should be basically the same.” She continued as she turned the phone towards Rose.

Rose just then noticed that this “Glass object” was a small screen that people would carry around with them.

“Performance-wise it's pretty good even for an older model, the new one should be better. The screen is very good, and the sound quality is great as well.”

Melody’s phone cover was color pink, and the black section of the phone was lit up and displayed many small squares that looked like icons of stuff Rose had seen before in promotional material on billboards.

“With how technology is nowadays, I don’t think there is a wrong option, but I would still recommend going with the mid-range one and getting a tablet with it, you can upgrade the phone later, but it’s your choice, not mine.”

“Well... um... I will take this one.” Rose told Melody.

“You chose the mid-range then; I can tell you are a little nervous about this.”

“N-Nervous? What are you talking about?”

“Uh-huh...” Melody said softly. “Do you want me to pick out the tablet and headphones for you? I have a good eye for this stuff, at least that’s what Cordelia said about me.”

“S-Sure go ahead.”

“I’ll tell the manager that you have decided, do you want it to be a specific color, or you don’t mind the color choice in your hand?”

“This is black, isn’t it?” She asked.

“Um... the color is in the back...” Melody informed weirdly.

“Huh?” Rose said as she flipped the phone around. “Oh... I-I knew that. This is sort of a blue-ish black right?”

“Yes.” She answered awkwardly. “Are you okay with that one?”

“S-sure. I’ll take this one.”

“There are other colors for it, you can look at them in the price tag.”

“I’m good with this one.” She quickly answered wanting to stop this conversation which she knew would end in an awkward matter if it was continued. “So, they have to come take this thing off, right?”

“Uh... That’s the display model... they will give you another one in a box... from storage... from the back... probably... hmm... unless they have to ship it.”

“Oh... Y-yes, I forgot about that.” Rose answered.

Melody gazed at Rose as she could notice her getting increasingly nervous. “She reminds me of how I acted when the Director brought me here for the first time all those years ago... I’ll spare her any awkwardness she must endure with this.” Melody thought.

“You can go wait outside,” Melody informed Rose. “I can handle everything else on my own.”

“T-Thank you!!” Rose said almost shouting as she quickly went outside.

“She really is cute when she panics like that,” Melody said to herself. “Time to finish this off, meet Joseph, and head to the Royal Palace.”

Rose pushed the door to the outside and quickly headed to the pillar that was beside the building and rested there. Taking deep breaths to calm herself down, she could feel her heartbeat almost everywhere in her body, and it didn’t go down slowly but she was able to eventually calm down.

“That was close.” She said to herself. “I’ll have to tell them someday, but not like this.” She then looked at herself in the glass beside the column. “Maybe if I just came out and told them, everything could be easier?” She looked at her face for a minute before breaking out of the trance. “No! I must keep it a secret, I can’t let anyone find out if anyone was to find out...” She then took a deep breath and turned around to entertain herself by looking at the people walking by. “This could be my first friends in a long time that don’t know about my power... maybe... just maybe... they could help me...”