The Assassin and the Crown of Stars

The Assassin and the Crown of Stars: Part Eight

Nova did not wake until the Earth had fallen far behind them. When she dragged herself on unsteady legs to the cockpit to sit besides Mace, Nova looked up and finally saw stars. A million tiny pin pricks of dancing white light, like a crown resting on the brow of the pitch black sky. It took Nova's breath away every time she saw it. She could have stayed there for hours, staring into the endless expanse of space, if the spacecraft hadn't settled into orbit and turned so the bay window faced earth Earth. The dead brown planet was the last thing Nova wanted to see. 

The spacecraft was small, only four rooms. The sleeping quarters, the common room, the cockpit, and the storage room were barely enough room for them to move around independently. It still felt like a palace to Nova.

And yet, just like home as then gathered in the common room and eat what food they'd found in the storage room.

 Finn leaned against the wall, arm protectively around Rose. "So we've got a spacecraft. What now?"

Nova only smiled. "Nothing yet. We wait until The Baine cool their asses off and then we go back in." 

"How are we getting back in? The only landing site we know of is outside the Terra-dome a hundred feet down." Rose did not match Nova's smile. 

"The way I see it, we can make our own landing site." Nova reached over and stole a stale slice of bread off Parker's plate. 

Rose sneered. "Because that's going to be so easy." 

Nova rolled her eyes but kept her tone calm. "Glad I have your vote of confidence." 

"Sorry I don't trust a girl who only solution to problem is killing people." Rose muttered under her breath but Nova still heard it. 

Finn held his hands up, stepping between Rose and Nova, the peace keeper as always. "Listen, Both of you are just tired and hungry. We can finish this conversation later." 

Rose looked down, her scanner glowing even in the light. Nova followed her gaze to the scanner's flickering screen. 

Connection lost -- 6879840 feet away to reestablish connection to QX

And then everything clicked into place. 

Nova's shoulders fell, everything from the past day made sense suddenly. A headache busted in her temples as her hand slowly slipped to her handgun. She should have know. Zenith had tried to warn her, tried to tell not to trust her team. Nova could still hear the Queen's words: "I advise you to watch your back though, the one's closest to you always make the best spies." But Nova hadn't listened. Hadn't listened because she'd trusted her team, her only family in the world . But she'd be wrong and the truth of that hurt worse that any bullet she'd taken. 

Nova swallowed, her tongue like stone in her mouth.  "Rose, I think you have something to tell the team." 

Rose flipped her blonde hair behind one shoulder and batted her eyelashes. "I don't know what you're talking about Nova." Steady and cool, a picture of innocence. 

Nova smiles, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I think you should tell them what you've been doing every time we share our location with you in the field." 

Finn cleared his throat, and stepped back besides Rose. "Nova if you're accusing Rose of something just come out and say it." 

"Her scanner is trying to connect to a server over a thousand miles away in the Terra-dome. Civs don't have scanners. Other than us, only high up officials in the inner city have them." Nova forced Rose to make eye contact. 

But Rose just laughed but folded her hands behind her. "Nova, Zenith's crazy talk has gotten to you." 

"You know why the Baine knew I'd be on the rooftop, knew I'm be going to take out the Queen, knew we'd be going to outer city, knew we'd be to the tunnel people?" Nova fought to keep her tone calm. "Because you told them." 

"Minutes after I gave Rose my location, the Baine found me when I was bring Nova back." Mace's face was twisted with confusion and hurt. 

Finn stepped in front of Rose, blocking her from the others. "You're all wrong, the Baine must have been tracking us in another way. Rose didn't do anything." For the first time since Nova had met him, Finn was panicked. 

Nova shook her head, her hands steady as she leveled her gun at Rose. "Get out of the way Finn." 

Finn held his hands up, glancing for help between Parker and Mace but both of them knew better than to try to stop Nova when she'd made up her mind. "Just wait, just wait until there's real proof. Don't hurt her please," Finn's voice was weak, tears already pouring down his cheeks. 

Nova growled. "She's wasting air right now. She betrayed you Finn, she betrayed all of us. Step out of the way or I'll shoot you too." 

"Nova, please. I can't live without her." Finn's voice broke. "You don't understand, she's all I have. Spare her, for me." 

Nova's finger tapped against the trigger. "She clearly doesn't feel the same way you or she wouldn't have been working so damn hard to get you killed." 

"It's okay Finn." Rose's voice was small. "She's right about everything." 

Finn spun on Rose. "Don't say anything, you did nothing wrong." 

Rose pushed Finn away and stepped towards Nova. "She's going to kill me either way Finn, but I won't have you getting hurt too." 

Nova grinned. "Didn't think such a damn coward like you would face her death so willingly. Any last words?"

Rose glanced over Nova with dead eyes and looked back at Finn. "Finn, I love you so, so much. I never wanted to hurt you. I swear to you that I never gave your location to the Baine, I never put you in deliberate danger. You mean everything to me, I just wanted to make a future with you. I'm sorry we'll never have that chance."

Finn took two stumbling steps back before he hit the wall. He crouched on the ground, hugging his knees close, sobbing. "I don't care what you did Rose, I love you." 

Nova yawned. "Are you done yet?" 

Rose turned back to Nova. "Nova, when I first joined your team as GreenLynx, I thought we were going to change the world. I thought we were going to help the civs, I thought we were going to make a difference. But you changed. You became obsessed with power, obsessed with becoming Queen, obsessed with killing." 

Nova bared her teeth. "So you sold us out to the Baine? You could have stepped down." 

"I couldn't leave Finn, I couldn't risk you succeeding and taking power. I don't care how bad things seem now, if you become queen Nova, you will make life a true hell. I know you're trying, I know you've been hurt, but power does bad things to you." 

Nova hesitated, the gun wobbling in her hand. 

"When there's a problem, your only response is violence. You're dangerous, you're --"

Nova fired. Rose's head jerked back. Blood sprayed, on Nova, on the floor, on the ceiling. The bullet pierced through, ricocheted before burring itself in the wall. Finn screamed and lurched up from the floor, diving for Rose's falling body. 

"Jesus Christ, Rose--" Finn's hands shook as her grasped at her face. Her eyes were still open, staring into nothingness, all defiance gone. 

Nova returned her handgun to her side, a disgusted smile still hanging on her lips. "I want her body dropped out out an airlock or left in the trash compactor." 

Mace crept towards Finn, his arms slowly wrapping around him in comfort. Parker stayed still, head down, eyes averted. 

Nova sneered. They'd get over it. They'd understand someday. Understand that she'd done it for them. She rolled her shoulders and disappeared into cockpit, slamming the door behind her.