Q.U.A.S.A.R

A/N: This was posted on Wattpad under my other account. I HAVE NOT COPIED EMEMWOLFIE'S STORY ON WATTPAD BECAUSE THAT IS ME. I am EmEmWolfie. That's all!

Cassiopeia Melodia Haiyaki The Eighth was not pleased.

At all.

The suit that her advisor, Haneka, had suggested chafed irritatingly at her waist. He always had horrible taste anyway. He was an advisor and not a fashion consultant after all. She picked at a loose thread on her cloak absentmindedly.

The space shuttle hummed its way through the Circinus Galaxy, traveling at a comfortable speed of two light years per hour. Quite slow, but it was a leisurely cruise after all. They were headed for the Tadpole Galaxy, stopping over in the Sculptor Galaxy for a quick souvenir shopping.

"My Lady, there have been reports of strange disappearances in this particular region. Shall we take another route?" Haneka suggested.

"Are you mad, Haneka? We've traveled so far already."

"Not at all, but I do think that we have made a mistake in our calculations-"

"Are you saying that you doubt our mathematics?"

Cassiopeia eyed the stoic figure as he exhaled softly. "Never, my Lady."

"Good."

The woman turned around and settled herself back in her chair, watching the stars and deep space objects lazily roll by. The huge window to the lifeless space outside glazed over with a press of a button, allowing them to analyse the planetary objects in the glass.

Haneka leaned over to Cassiopeia. "My Lady-"

"Just call me Cass."

"Cass, then. I do believe that is Circinus' largest black hole in the distance: do you see that magenta-tinted circle?"

"Yes, very nice. We've seen millions of bloody black holes, Han, one more won't make a damn difference."

The soft-spoken advisor simply admired the massive energy pulse in the distance

The soft-spoken advisor simply admired the massive energy pulse in the distance. "See, Cass, black holes can power universes and even-"

"Shut up, Han. Please."

The man kept quiet. The stars of distant systems glittered like a multitude of scattered diamonds upon a silky, never-ending black velvet, dazzling to the eye and wondrous to see. Each of them had their own mystery, their own story. They were all different.

He glanced at the magenta black hole, and frowned. There was something slightly off about it. He reached over and clicked a silver button on the control panel. The glass shimmered and returned to a normal transparent. The 'black hole' in question certainly did not have the usual mesmerising black orb in its centre.

"Han, what are you doing?"

The man quietly ignored the nearly-child and squinted. Was it growing bigger?

"Get the space controllers and the Batelities up here now, Cass."

Sensing the urgency in his voice, she obeyed unquestioningly and tapped in a frequency to summon the engineers. Moments later, the doors to the observation room burst open to allow in a large group of thirty.

"My Lady, go to your chambers. We will deal with this matter ourselves." Haneka's voice dropped to a serious murmur in her ear. Cassiopeia sighed reluctantly, but complied. The man was wise beyond his age, and even the headstrong, young ruler had to admit that much.

She padded down the carpeted hallway towards the opulent rooms set up for her. Pressing her key card to the scanner, it signified her access with a small beep and the doors slid open, which closed behind her retreating back.

The scratchy carpet became soft fur and she kicked off her boots casually, settling into her luxurious bed. The viewing panel in front of her, slightly inferior to the one in her observatory - how grand that sounded! - displayed a slightly better angle of the doubtful black hole that Haneka had been so mysterious about. Cass shook her head. That man.

However, there was one thing the slightly-ditzy girl knew that he did not.

That black hole was a quasar - an enormously bright, supermassive black hole with accretion of materials that swirled around it that powered galaxies. But quasars did not simply burn by themselves. And she knew the organisation that set them up.

She had been part of it.

Q.U.A.S.A.R - the reigning company of quasar manufacture. It stood for Quintessential Utilisation of Andromeda, Sagittarius, and Abell for Radiation. And their products indeed radiated immense amounts of energy.

Cass scowled at their latest contraption. They were cruel: turning a normal black hole into a super-charged energy source just to fuel their own projects. And also destroying a few galaxies on the way: TG 3902, NL 0124, IW 9620...

She knew the destruction they were capable of. Especially since they destroyed her home.

Gritting her teeth, she pulled on a set of plated space maneuver gear and attached a ray gun to her waist, as per instructed by Haneka's countless exercises in emergency battle, hoping the blaster was similar to the simple light gun she normally wielded.

A knock on the door made her jump. "Cass?" Haneka's muffled voice wafted through the door. "I'm changing now! Don't come in unless you want to see my beautiful self in its natural-"

The door slid open. Haneka stood there coldly. "My Lady, do not lie to me. Where were you going?"

Cassiopeia scowled. "Do not test me, old man. You know me well. You know my drive. Now move."

She tried to push him aside. His arm blocking the doorway never faltered in its position. "Cassiopeia Haiyaki. I am in your Council of Advisors and I currently am telling you to hold your ground and unsuit immediately."

"No."

"It wasn't a question."

She was thrown onto her bed, light enough to not cause damage but sufficient to knock the wind out of her. The girl hissed at the figure standing in her way.

"I'm old enough to not be mothered over by someone who hasn't experienced what I have!"

"I have gone through worse than my planet being burned into oblivion! I have, too, lost my family! And I will not lose you too - not when I have been tasked by your father to protect your sorry life!"

"What do you know about my father? He's dead, and I'm the only one alive, you nitwit!"

"Maybe I know even more about him than you, Cass! I've served in the Haiyaki household since thirteen: when you were a child!"

Cassiopeia scoffed. "Please. I'd know if I saw you in my house."

She spun around wildly and growled at him. "Stay out of my way. We're headed for a damn quasar and I presume you don't know blazes about it. Prepare a mini shuttle for me in two minutes. That is my order."

"Cass-"

"Do it, Haneka!"

The man sighed and left the room, leaving the fuming girl alone with her thoughts. How dare he think that he knew her father? That he knew anyone that she did? Still with a scowl etched on her features, she threw an extra generator into her belt and snapped on light-goggles - basically a smaller, portable version of the special windows.

Marching out down the corridor towards the docking bay, she noted the absence of soldiers patrolling. They were slacking off - she had to let Haneka deal with that for now.

Bay Three was the only one with the small, easy to pilot ship that she had demanded. Thankfully, her advisor was nowhere in sight as she hopped into the shuttle.

Cassiopeia knew that she didn't have to do it - the Batelities would eventually recalculate their trajectory - but this could be the only chance Haneka would allow her near a quasar, no less one run by her ex-slave-traders. She had to take revenge. And the air-headed facade would just have to wait.

She yanked the throttle and the ship eased out of the docking bay. As the tiny shuttle reached an acceptable distance away from Haneka, she spun it around and shuddered speedily towards the pulsating object of her hatred.

Five minutes into her silent, but angst-filled ride, she felt a creeping feeling crawl up her neck - like someone had been staring at her. But she was alone in the tiny ship...

"Meteorite to your left."

She swore violently and nearly smashed the shuttle into the crater-pockmarked rock. "What the blazing supernova nebulae are you doing here?" she shrieked.

"Making sure my Lady doesn't die."

Haneka casually leaned over her seat and pressed a button, allowing the rumbling of the ship to cease into a smooth ride. "I knew that," she muttered.

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did."

"No, you- Watch out!"

He jerked the throttle back one notch and threw the wheel to the left. Cass was flung into the side of the ship. "Damn it, Han, I can steer it myself."

She shrugged his hand off and powered their way to the quasar stonily. Haneka grimaced in the backseat. "Do you even know how to destroy a quasar, Miss I-Am-A-Strong-Independent-Woman-Who-Doesn't-Need-Any-Help?"

"Yes."

He awaited an explanation, but it never came. The girl stared stubbornly ahead. He couldn't know yet.

The quasar came into immense view right in front of them. He blinked. "Where did that come from?"

Cass rolled her eyes. "Don't you know? Q.U.A.S.A.R always cloaks quasars until you're staring it in the face. Idiot."

Idiot? Idiot? How dare she?

Wait, he was technically her servant.

Damn it to nebula.

He felt the temperature grow warmer, and the light shields went up. "We're going in." A warm ray of light started to surround the entire shuttle, glowing strangely, and unlike anything he had ever felt before - like a caress at one time, but a hard slap in the mouth at another.

Cass unbuckled her seatbelt. Haneka really was such a bore, but at least he knew what to do. But he definitely didn't know what she was going to.

"Be careful."

"I'm not a kid. Shut up."

She unfastened the gun from her belt, and attached a ventilation mask over her mouth and nose, feeling the elastic snap comfortably against the back of her head. "I'll be out in ten minutes. Pilot the ship round the back. I'll meet you there."

Ignoring his protests, she struggled out the hatch and leaped into the heart of the flames.

He could only hope she wouldn't be swallowed into the void, and come out unscathed.

He could only pray that she knew what she was doing.

He could not tell that she had tears streaming down her face.

And he would not know that she didn't have the self-assuredness she seemed to have.

Haneka trusted Cassiopeia with his life. He worshipped her, silently, in his own way. He believed that she would be alive, and she would perhaps stop one of the millions of quasars used by the mysterious organisation she never talked about.

Obeying her, he settled the shuttle southward of the glowing, pulsating sphere.

Each minute was a burning agony.

Each second a furious scream.

Finally, finally, he saw a figure float out from the quasar. A silhouette of a girl.

Flowing hair.

Wan smile.

Triumphant eyes.

"Hope you were satisfied," he grumbled as she came nearer.

She made no attempt at a reply. And that was when he saw it.

The burned flesh at her throat.

The lifeless slack of her shoulders.

And worst of all.

Her chest with a gaping hole.