"PG Lucian!" All four Plutonians and the crazy half breed stand immediately with their hands up in salutation.

I stand as well and do the same, not wanting seem out of place. Lucian walks in swiftly and stands at the head of the table, beside the largest chair. He side eyes me and a small smile forms on his lips. For some reason it only makes me blush further.

I silently pray for the heat in my face to evaporate before the others notice. Thankfully, they don't.

"Pleasant day everyone," He greets and then he sits down. Everyone follows suit immediately while he shuffles around with a few pieces of paper.

"Pleasant day." A chorus of voices reply to his greeting like a song.

"Let's get straight to business. We'll start with the formalities, as you all know we have a new recruit who has joined our squad - Aria," He nods my way, acknowledging me. "She is an exceptional human, won her first three fights in a row, the first in a hundred years and I would appreciate if all of you would welcome such fine talent to our squad."

"Of course," Remulus smiles cheekily.

"I've placed Commander Remulus in charge of your transition. There will be multiple lessons and evaluations to complete before you are ready to begin your duty as a soldier. I can only hope your transition will be as quick as the time it took for you to join the army." Lucian stares at me and his words slowly sink in like metal in my lungs.

Great, more tests. More delays. The only thing I can think of is flying out of here and now I don't know when that will be. I curse inwardly, wondering why my patience is being tested so much.

"Any questions before I move on the next agenda?" Lucian asks and my hand slowly rises up to catch his attention.

"Yes, Aria?" He says looking slightly amused.

"Does that mean I won't be able to join any missions till then?"

"Unfortunately, yes. But don't worry it's standard protocol. You will be able to join once you have been fully assessed."

For the hundredth time I feel like stuffing their annoying protocol and propaganda down all their throats. I bunch my hands to fists and nod my head in understanding.

"Don't worry, newbie. We all had to go through it," Remulus tries to comfort me but I feel too depressed to notice. I want to learn how to fly, more specifically how to fly out of here. The impatience is slowly eating me up from the inside.

"Okay, now that that's settled let's move on. Aria, we are going to need you to address the humans next week," Lucian says and suddenly I'm jolted out of my misery.

I sit up straight and wait for him to explain, feeling utterly confused. For as long as I remember, no human has ever addressed us when I was a slave.

"It's nothing much. You just need to read a speech that will be prepared for you. It's part of the damage control that must be done after what happened during your last match. Despite our best efforts rumors have spread throughout the slave quarter's and none of the eighteen year old's have volunteered to become fighters ever since. If this trend continues, we wont have any new recruits."

Well maybe if they nominated deserving candidates into the army instead of using them for sex first then more humans would join as fighters. I know all these politics have been passed down for centuries and none of this is Lucian's fault personally, but I can't help the bubble of anger forming in my chest with this assignment.

And the worst part is I know I will have to do it because I can't risk endangering my ultimate mission.

"How many people do I have to address? Am I supposed to convince them somehow?" My voice comes out skeptical.

"All the slaves, including the two thousand that have come in. Don't worry about public speaking, we have experts who will train you beforehand. And no, you don't have to convince anyone, we just want them to see a success story and be inspired," Lucian says while he sifts through the sheet's of paper before him, completely oblivious to the inner turmoil behind my eyes.

I nod my head and lean back finally. The thought of lying to all those humans about the glory of becoming a fighter and joining the army after winning four fights makes me feel sick to my stomach. It was all a lie and I had believed it like an idiot before as well.

And now they want me to be their poster girl.

I almost tuned out as Lucian began briefing the others about some technical issues on one of their spaceships, which made Pollux type furiously on the screen before him. After a few other mechanical discussions, he told them that they had to pay a diplomatic visit to Cixin in the Alpha Centauri star system.

Cixin. The place where all their medicine comes from.

Everyone stands up and I half expect to be sent to a lesson or something but Remulus speaks.

"PG, can we bring Aria with us just this once, please. It's her first day and she's been through a lot. She deserves a nice trip."

All of our heads whip towards Lucian in unison and I can see that he doesn't look so eager. His eyes flit to mine and suddenly the expression on his face softens.

"Okay, fine. Just this once."

I'm so thankful for the dark haired Plutonian, I could hug him right now.

My heart beats in a tremulous rhythm as we walk out of the Grey region and exit the building. The five of us follow Lucian in a uniform straight line and march through the throngs of officers towards the base where all the spacecrafts lie.

I am the last in line and I try to keep my focus on the spacecrafts instead of everyone else who turns to look at Lucian and then the rest of us. It is only when I spot a familiar face that my facade breaks.

I see Joon -Rosie's friend from the party- look my way and then he starts walking towards me.

My skin tingles in apprehension when he walks right past me. He lips barely move, it looks like he is breathing heavily but I don't miss the whispers that escape his lips.

"See you tomorrow."

I almost freeze in place but Joon is already long gone, swallowed by groups that stand behind me. First Mike, now Joon. It can't be a coincidence and a small fire of curiosity ignites in my belly. Should I take the chance and go? The burning deep inside tells me I should but the scars on my back are a grim reminder that I should trust no one but myself.

I push my decision to tomorrow. I will just have to decide then because I need all my focus for now.

The walk is much longer than it looks and it takes us almost twenty minutes to reach the area that houses the spacecrafts. They aren't as many officers here and my eyes are wide as they try to drink in the shape and size of each spacecraft.

All the ships are arranged about twenty metres away from each other and are attached to a long platform.

We walk up the platform and down a long ramp until Lucian stops in front of a large black spaceship, shaped like a round disc with a rectangular protrusion that juts out from the back like a tail. It has a large Trinity symbol painted over its side which glows translucent red.

"Welcome to the Black Star, Aria," Remulus says.

The door by its side opens and a small ramp falls down to our feet. Lucian walks in first and the rest of us follow close behind.

Once we are inside the door slides shut and I release the breath I didn't realize I was holding. The ship is much bigger that it looks from the outside. My head is as frantic as my heart and I try to take in everything at once.

The slick white walls, the small buttons that line the door and the rear end. The tubes that curve outwards and then disappear into the walls.

"Give her a breather suit," Lucian orders and Altair hands me one.

"You can change in there. It's more private." Altair points to a small cubicle fitted into the wall at the back that looks like it can only fit one person.

I take it and rush into the cubicle to change, not wanting to miss any important procedures. I put on the surprisingly fitting suit and zip it up all the way to my neck and then run out to join the rest of them in the control room.

I weave my way through the tall, commanding bodies that make up Lucian's squad, not caring about being a newbie. My excitement is too great to suppress and I study the large dashboard in front of us with it's infinite amount of buttons and levers.

I guess I do have a lot to learn.

"I've programmed our coordinates and alerted the command center, PG." Pollux's hands are a blur as he types furiously into a inbuilt computer by the wall. "Our flight path is clear and checkpoints are ready to receive us."

"Magnetic forces to counteract absence of gravity has been activated." Deneb informs and then he adjusts his pony tail.

"Good, everyone prepare for lift off," Lucian commands and I watch everyone activate the button on their breather suits.

I do the same just as the ground shakes under me. My fingers tingle with excitement as the spacecraft hovers in the air and then slowly lifts higher and higher till it exits the open ceiling.

I hold my breath and look out of the clear screen at the sea of space around us. It feels surreal to be out here, floating with the rest of the universe. The vastness of everything makes me feel so free.

"Preparing to go into hyperdrive," Altair keys in a few numbers and a time schedule measured in parsecs.

I try to memorize everything they are doing but it only reinforces how unprepared I am to escape. Not only do I have a tracker in my hand but I also have to alert command if I want to operate a spacecraft.

The moment of doubt is fleeting as an explosion of bright light blinds me and swallows the ship in an instant. My body tenses like a coil of wire and I expect to be swallowed by the brilliant white but it soon becomes apparent that we are flying through this phenomenon which must be the hyperdrive.

"Breathe, Aria," Lucian whispers into my ear and I suck in a desperate breath.

We stop outside a magnificent ring of floating bits of rock and pass through it after a small hovering ball of metal scans our ship for clearance.

"What is that?" I ask.

"Our space police," Lucian replies and then he pulls on a lever and we fly through the brilliant white light again.

I reel at the impact, not only from the short bursts of speed but from the amount of control the Plutonian's have over space travel.

"What happens if they catch a ship that doesn't have clearance?"

Lucian doesn't answer.

The second journey through hyperdrive is much faster than the first one and soon we come across the hazy atmosphere that surrounds a small green planet with two moons.

A sharp glint of light flashes from one of the moons and Pollux speaks.

"Our officers on A1 Moon have secured our landing path."

Lucian smiles and his fingers subtly brush against mine. "Welcome to Cixin, Aria."

I try to smile in excitement but my mind is now tangled up in a mess of worry. They have officers on Cixin's moon and it reminds me of the P.Moon file on Lucian's computer under the folder Earth.

The Plutonian's must be watching Earth from our Moon as well and I can't help but wonder how I would ever get past them?

Heyyy hope you enjoyed this chapter. :) :) It was a difficult chapter to write because I wanted to incorporate some real elements inside like for example Alpha Centauri really exists, it's the closest star system to our Solar system and hyperdrive and parsecs were terms used in Star Wars for space travel. Anyway now you can boast to your friends about these cool facts haha