Prelude:

Change of Identity

2453 November 12, Syndicate Headquarters

Zebulon: Capitol Planet & seat of power of the Intergalactic Federation......within the Pleb System.

Levi Fost stood alone in the corridor outside of one of the many containment cells within the Syndicate headquarters on the Federation capitol world of Zebulon. He was currently in a vexed state as he was trying to wrap his mind around the events of the past few weeks that had brought him here. Levi was a sergeant in the Syndicates espionage division, his job was to oversee the training of new recruits and supervise the assets within the division. On occasion he also recruited candidates for the asset program. In the past he had tried to distance himself from recruiting because it was a shady business, he had to portray himself different and use a different persona. It had its benefits, but it also had its cons. Those cons usually went without repercussions most of the time, but for the first time Levi had a gut feeling that there would be a price to pay this time around.

This feeling came when Levi learned some interesting facts about his newest and most promising candidate. For years he had heard stories of soldiers who claimed to be from another dimension of the universe. All throughout history these soldiers were known to have played some sort of role in major events that had shaped galactic history. Levi had never personally come into contact with any of these soldiers before, but he believed that his new recruit was one of these soldiers. The only problem was she didn't seem to possess the knowledge of being one of these mythical warriors. For weeks he had been trying to piece together the puzzle that was this woman's past life and he found himself at a loss. This woman seemed to be for lack of better words amnesic, or so that's what she portrayed. He couldn't fully tell whether her lack of knowledge of her past life was all an act in an attempt to deceive him or the real thing. Levi had been trained to know a lie when he was being told one, he also was able to use his own common sense when feeling out a candidate. Though, something was definitely off with his new candidate.

He gazed at her through the one-way mirror. She was the only trainee left from the first batch of candidates. Fair skin that had a slight tan, raven black hair with blonde highlights, athletic physic and piercing dark blue eyes. She was the epitome of a beautiful woman soon to be turned assassin. For a moment, he felt sorry for her as her old life would soon be lost to her forever. The Syndicate had been recruiting new assets for months now, but she was by far the best that they had brought in. Rumor had it that she had ties to the Federations special forces division, but that was impossible. Before he brought her in they had conducted meetings. In these meetings she had told him about her past. She was indeed military, but special forces might be stretching it. Although she did possess a high amount of knowledge on hand to hand combat, not to mention her skills with multiple types of plasma-based weapons were beyond exceptional.

Levi knew that the commander would be pleased with his recruit, but he wasn't sure if she would be happy to meet the commander. He hadn't exactly gotten her to come here by her own choosing. He had lied to her about who he really was, he could tell from the look on her face that she wasn't in a good mood. Levi had told his troops to use non-lethal force, but he noticed a few bruises on her arms and neck. He shook his head as the commander's voice echoed down the hallway. The only thing Levi could do was hope for the best in a crazy situation like this. If things went wrong, she would be eliminated and forgotten, but as he continued to watch her, he knew that wouldn't happen.

Levi looked at the Commander and nodded. He was a tall and muscular man in his mid-forties. He had been leading the Syndicate for almost twenty years now, word was that he was its founder. The commander had no idea that the woman he was looking at was brought in to end lives of some very important people. There were other people in charge of making sure all trainees were screened and processed into the right divisions.

"Sergeant Fost, is this her?"

"Yes sir, I believe she is the best that has ever come through here recently."

The commander looked at him and smirked. He knew that line had been spoken to him quite often over the years. The difference was that Levi was confident about his statement. Not many assets made it past ten missions, he believed that his prospect could kill anyone. She just had to be broken and molded into a killer.

"Forgive me Sergeant if I don't agree with you, but what division is this one going into?"

Levi looked at her as she walked up to the glass. For a moment, he wondered if she could hear them but the room was sound proof, according to the engineers who built it. The only thing she could hear was the sound of herself breathing. He literally had her life in his hands and he hoped he made the right choice.

"I'm personally enlisting her in the asset program. Her tests results show that she's been very well trained in all forms of combat and with a little push I believe she can be the best we've ever seen."

The commander restrained a small chuckle as he turned to look at the young woman once again. She didn't look a day older than nineteen or twenty and he could spot a few bruises around her neck. He shook his head as he gave the sergeant a ‘Where the hell did those come from?’ look. The Syndicate usually recruited ex-soldiers or local small-time gang members. Occasionally they would scout new recruits using a observatory approach, then when the time was right high command would send in a team to abduct the recruit and bring them to headquarters. Apparently, this young woman was one of those cases. This made him realize that Levi must have seen something in this woman that suggested she would make a good asset. He wagered that the bruises on her neck was because she had gotten the best of one or two of men who were sent to bring her in.

Levi knew he would notice the bruises sooner or later. He simply shrugged at the Commander and shook his head. The commander was well aware that sometimes the handlers get a bit carried away when apprehending a recruit. From what he heard she’d given the guys a run for their money in the beginning, even managed to blacken one of their eyes.

The commander sighed for a moment. "So, who is she? What made you choose her?"

"Her name is Alicia Greyshon, she was born on Serqwet and her parents died in the war. We weren't able to trace any siblings and no known next of kin. As for why I chose her, I didn’t. She found us."

The commander thought for a moment as he tried to figure out where he heard that name. Her parents must have been in the armed forces because he knew that name. What he couldn't understand was how did she make it all the way to Zebulon with no money. She must be a very resourceful person; Zebulon was cruel to newcomers who chose to visit the seedier districts of the planet. The Federation handled crime and corruption on the surface swiftly, but Zebulon was an Ecumenopolis. For centuries the Federation turned a blind eye to citizens who lived within its seven hundred level spanning ‘Lower City’, a name that was created by surface dwellers to mock those that lived beneath them. If only the average surface dweller understood that forty-one percent of Zebulon's planetary income was generated by the ‘Lower City’ crime organizations, corrupt military officials, even the Federation’s armed forces were under the influence of the criminal underworld. So, if this mysteriously fortunate new recruit that Levi acquired spent

"Interview her, find out exactly who she is and submit her into the program." The commander ordered as he walked away.

Levi stood there for a moment as he tried to figure out why the commander had walked off so abruptly. Normally he interviewed new recruits and submitted them. Something was going on, but he didn't have the time to figure out what it was. He turned to look back at Alicia as he prepared to walk into the conference chambers. She stood in front of the glass staring at him. He knew she couldn't see him, but it was like she knew he was there. The chambers weren't that big and he knew she couldn't be held in there forever. Levi had to get this interview over with quickly because there were other things that Alicia would have to go through. Syndicate assets usually were injected with a serum that caused them to forget recent past events. Its use was primarily for ex-military personnel, to ensure complete loyalty. In her case, he would make sure that dosage was doubled, there were a lot of things he wanted her to forget. He sighed slowly as he shook his. He knew this was about to become a long day.