Plutonian

Chapter 46

"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.