Part 2: The Army, The Sect, The Resistance

"Number seven-two-zero-three, please take a seat." A female voice announces the moment I walk into the induction room for humans.

The white walls give the illusion that the tiny space is larger than it really is but this room is only big enough for one person. It takes me two steps to reach the only piece of apparatus inside- a small white chair that is positioned in front of a large clear screen and a rectangular sensor that hangs from the ceiling.

The door clicks shut behind me and I hear it lock automatically. I take a seat as instructed and the see through screen lights up immediately. My fingers tingle with apprehension when I see my picture plastered above my age, health status and even partner status. I'm surprised to see Lucian's name floating next to that section.

"Kindly place your hands on the handles where indicated and look straight into the sensor." The mechanical voice chimes again and I resist the temptation to look for the source to her voice.

I place my arms on the chair's flat handles and my hands on the lighted portions located at their ends. Once my palms touch those parts, I see them change color from white to red and then the sensor hanging from the ceiling drops and lingers in front of my eyes.

It inches closer and it's border almost touches my nose, the proximity increasing my discomfort.

"Please recite the human pledge."

I keep my voice calm and recite the pledge effortlessly, having repeated the damn thing every day for the past eleven years. The words are ingrained into my cells, I don't think I will ever forget them.

But I know they are not testing my memory. They are testing my loyalty just like Lucian said they would.

While my mouth delivers the speech they want to hear, my mind fills with thoughts of Lucian hugging me two nights ago. I can almost feel the warmth of his embrace as I think of him and it is the perfect memory to deflect the anger that I feel for this pledge.

"We, humans are forever thankful for the mercy shown upon us and our planet. We thank our ancestors for inhabiting our planet during the dark ages and bringing Earth to its full glory today."

I think of the way I fell asleep in Lucian's arms. Arms that were so strong yet so tender.

"We thank the Plutonians for giving rise to our species, for without their colonization we would not exist."

I remember him stroking my hair in the most soothing manner whilst I sniffled into the pillow.

"We are honored to have been chosen to serve our creators for the rest of our lives. We pledge our allegiance to the Plutonian Empire, the rulers of the galaxy and creators of human kind."

I almost close my eyes thinking about Lucian's arm snaked around my waist, holding on to me possessively, making me feel like I had nothing to worry about anymore.

"We are proud to be at your disposal."

My lips threaten to form a smile, the silver outlines of the clear screen remind me of Lucian's hair.

"Number seven-two-zero-three, do you wish to serve the Plutonian army as an officer with the potential of becoming a sergeant?" The voice asks me.

"Yes." I keep my breathing steady, my heart as calm as possible and my gaze fixed on the two green dots that float on the sensor facing my eyes.

"Do you appreciate what the Plutonian's have done for you and your kind?"

"Yes." I appreciate Lucian and what he has done for me. I push all the other Plutonian's out of my head before the sensor catches anything.

"As an officer in duty, would you give your life to the Plutonian empire's cause should they require it?"

"Yes."

"Do you wish to return to Earth should the opportunity arise?"

"No."

"What would you do if you were to come across knowledge of a conspiracy or plans of rebellion against the empire?"

"Report it immediately."

"Thank you, number seven-two-zero-three. Please do not move your right hand while we insert a mandatory tracker into you forearm." I barely have time to react as I feel a small pinch in the area below my wrist, the pain disappears before I blink.

The sensor zips away from my eyes and I watch the outline of a body plastered on the screen in front of me. It must be mine, since my number floats above its head and I see splotches of red concentrated at my chest and groin regions whilst my head is colored in green.

Numbers appear at the bottom of the screen and I lean forward to look at them:

Number of times pupils dilated: 2 - simultaneous with increase in pheromone level

Chemical reactions in body and stimulatory responses in prefrontal cortex and limbic system indicative of:

Happiness: 50%

Arousal: 40%

Anger: 3%

Fear: 2%

Panic: 5%

I frown at my second highest reading, wondering why it scored so high. I knew what arousal meant and I definitely wasn't thinking about sex. A lump forms in my throat as I wonder if those thoughts of Lucian made my body react that way.

"Based on the results, the subject has been deemed genuine and is dismissed." The female voice speaks again and the door unlocks behind me.

I rush out quickly, partly relieved that I passed the routine examination and partly curious about my results. I can't get the image of the redness over my groin region out of my head and the tracker in my forearm.

My eyebrows crease together in worry as I glance at the red dot under my skin, wondering how I'm going to get rid of it.

I walk down the long corridor that leads to the army base and almost walk straight into Asta.

"Aria! I was just looking for you," She says excitedly. She hooks her arm around mine forcefully and practically drags me out of the Induction Center. "Sergeant Atmos has left me in charge of introducing you to everything around the army base."

I instinctively wiggle out of her hold, not feeling comfortable around her at all and Sergeant Atmos's name only reminds me of what Rosie told me about him being a fixer for the Plutonian's. A gut feeling told me she was telling me the truth about these two.

Asta only ever paid attention to me when I won my first match, when I was a hit at the ball and after I won my third match. Other than that, I never even saw a ghost of her shadow.

I try to stifle my disappointment as we walk towards the gates of the army base. I was hoping someone I liked would introduce me to everything instead of a woman I didn't trust.

"Aria the BB?" A tall and slender Plutonian leaning by the barrier beside the gate suddenly walks over to us.

The two of us freeze in place and I take in the unique looking officer who approaches us. His build and pale skin is signature Plutonian but his face is uniquely handsome, his features are delicate and his hair is mostly black interspersed with a few streaks of silver.

It looks like someone dipped his head into a bowl of salt and pepper.

"You must be Aria the BB. I'm Remulus, Commander of the third rank and member of a second tier squad, Precursor General Lucian's squad." He holds out an out stretched hand and I take it, eyeing him cautiously the whole time.

"Commander Remulus! It's a pleasure to be at your service," Asta gushes but he ignores her and yanks me towards him.

"Wow, I can't believe I'm holding the hand of the girl who is screwing my leader," His eyes widen in amazement and I visibly cringe. "I'm going to let go now before I get executed."

He releases me quickly and addresses me formally with his head held high. "As of today, PG Lucian has placed you under my watch. I will oversee your training and preparation and everything else that has to do with your job as an officer."

"This is so amazing. You'll be trained by a third ranked Commander. Sergeant Atmos will be so proud," Asta stares at Remulus dreamily.

"You there with the hopeful eyes and creepy smile," He finally points at her and acknowledges her presence. "You are officially dismissed."

He then walks ahead, ignoring the shattered expression on her face as he passes her.

"Come on minion. Keep up!" He says and I hurry after him.

"Are you Plutonian?" I ask him curiously. I've never seen a Plutonian with black hair, unless he colored it that way.

"I'm a half breed. Half human, half Plutonian. The only recessive human gene I inherited was my hair but I suppose it makes me rather exotic." He winks and starts fiddling with his hair as we walk side by side.

The doors to the base opens right after they scan our trackers and I am immediately in awe of the spectacular view in front of me. I see the large training field with Plutonians arranged in blocks, some of them marching, others in discussion and behind them lies the huge hangar with all the space crafts.

I can't believe I'm finally here. I have to pinch myself to confirm that it isn't just a dream.

"Beautiful, right?" Remulus murmurs and I nod my head in agreement. The space crafts lie idly next to each other and I can't help but wonder when I will be able to board one.

I look up at Remulus, wanting to ask him about them but he is busy staring at a female Plutonian officer who is standing in a group about fifty meters away.

"Yup, definitely a beauty. Glad you agree, I think I'm going to ask her out later," He says to me, never once breaking eye contact with the officer. To my dismay she is blatantly staring at him too with a flirty smile splayed across her face.

I frown at this weird Plutonian Lucian has entrusted me with. Did Lucian hit his head when he assigned me to this guy?

"So where do we start?" I ask him and he jumps back to his senses.

"Ah yes. So this is the army base. Not much for you to do here for now. Let's head to the CC. I'll show you around and then PG Lucian will introduce you to our squad."

He leads me down a straight path towards a large glossy black building that stretches all the way up to the ceiling.

"CC as in Command Center, right? What's BB and PG?" I ask as I hurry up after him.

"BB stands for bone breaker and PG is precursor general. Keep up girl."

"You can just call me, Aria. Please," I state, hating the title 'bone breaker' immensely.

"As you wish and you can call me HG," He says.

"HG?"

"Hot guy." He smiles proudly making me scowl. There's no way I'm calling him that.

We reach the glass doors that lead to the center and I feel a spark of excitement ignite in the pit of my stomach. I'm about to enter the building that controls the entire planet and I'm about to meet my squad.

Remulus bows humbly and gestures for me to enter first. I take a quick look at him before we go in and pray that the other people in Lucian's squad will be normal.