After hiking through the Novamesa jungle for hours, Diya stooped to the ground and hoisted up a metal plate camouflaged with glued-on fake leaves, revealing an entrance to a tunnel. Nia watched from behind her.

"Let's go," Diya said. "I have to put the plate back on top of the hole as I go in, so it's best if you go before me."

"Go...down there?"

Diya laughed. She pointed to the steel rungs riveted in the side of the tunnel.

"Just grab and climb down," Diya said. "You think you can do that?" She laughed.

Nia nodded and began descending. Diya followed, making sure to put the metal plate back on top of the hole.

Both of them kept going. Beneath Nia, there was nothing but darkness and almost no sound. She felt like she was descending deeper and deeper into an abyss.

She took another step to climb down and hit the ground.

"I'm on the ground," she whispered to Diya.

"Good."

Diya landed beside her. She patted the walls gently, searching for a switch, memory guided her fingers, and she soon found and flipped it.

The wall slid open, revealing a hall.

"I didn't see that coming," Nia said.

She followed Diya into the hall. The door automatically groaned to a close behind them.

The hall was gray, without a single thing adorning it. It had the feeling of a bomb shelter.

They swept up the corridor with the aid of Diya's flashlight until they reached another door and pushed through.

Then they emerged into a room with a bunch of guards.

"Diya, welcome," said one of the guards. He eyed Nia suspiciously.

"Is this the girl?" he asked.

"Yes," Diya replied.

Diya marched past the guards, leading Nia deeper into the compound.

Nia's expectations of a small band of syndicate members living it out in a dusty cave with stone-era tools for cooking and sanitation were spoiled. Instead, she was walking through a compound with paved concrete floors. People were bustling about from point to point; few cared to glance at her for more than a few moments.

"Come on; we're going to a meeting. Theo will be there."

"Is he the leader of the fellowship?" Nia asked.

Diya laughed loudly.

"That nutjob, ha, no! But he's one of our top agents."

They entered a large room with a long conference table in the center.

Diya and Nia grabbed a seat toward the end to have a clear view of anyone entering.

"You know I never got to thank you, Diya," Nia said half-heartedly.

Diya turned to her and smiled.

"I'm sorry I had to be rough in the interrogation. I tried to cool things down when I held your hand, but I had to act like I was one of them. As a spy for the Syndicate in the Xymoran police, I've had to do that for years."

"I understand," Nia replied.

Soon two strangers streamed in. Only after the last unknown face appeared did Theo poke out from behind. He shut the door, and the others grabbed their seats. Theo sat across from Nia at the other end of the table. When he saw her, he smiled.

One by one, they began introducing themselves. The first, Ren, was a middle-aged man in glasses with jet black hair peppered with occasional streaks of gray. He was a computer scientist. Beside him was an older woman, Jenna, with delicately creased skin and bright green eyes. Her head was all white. She spoke with the energy of an ardent believer, and her tone fired up the still atmosphere of the room.

After the quick introductions, Theo finally sat down and produced a sheet of laminated paper. From where Nia sat, she couldn't see the words on it, but how he handled it with care suggested it was important.

"Nia, do you know why you're here?" Jenna asked.

"You want me to join your organization," she said.

"We've seen how you've behaved in the most excruciating circumstances. And we want someone with your inner strength to augment our organization," Jenna said.

"I'm not strong. I would have been shot dead if not for Diya and Theo. And I betrayed you guys when I gave up Theo's number under pressure."

A hand gently grazed her shoulder, prompting her to look up. It was Diya, with a concerned look on her face.

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"You see, the crazy thing is seeing what made you break was valuable. Only breaking for family is honorable. It shows a tremendous capacity for loyalty, something essential in this organization. We want to become your second family," said Theo in a mellow tone.

"I have no other family anymore," Nia whispered.

Jenna spoke up, "I can't imagine what you're going through, having lost your only family."

"She wasn't my mother, really, though I wanted her to be," Nia sneered. "And, somehow, I still miss her."

"Yes, that must have been a tough revelation. I know nothing I say can numb the pain of your loss, so I won't offer you any pity. But I can offer you the power to get justice against the government that killed her."

Nia's eyes perked up. Her mother's death had lit a fire in her soul. Deep within, she felt a rage she had never had her whole life, and she wanted to unleash it on those responsible.

"How?" Nia grunted.

"By giving you a chance to help take down the government, destroy their hegemony and liberate the people they have made miserable for so long."

Nia laid back in her seat.

"We have powerful capabilities, Nia. It can be done," Theo said.

"But how exactly?" Nia pried.

"Remember those powerful allies I mentioned before, the Biosians?" Theo asked. "Well, we're teaming up with them to take down the Xymoran government. And BIOS is one of the only other civilizations strong enough to beat Xymora."

Nia nodded.

"Theo is right," Jenna chimed in. "That's partly why we need more recruits because we're training up a new generation of agents under a program designed to produce fighters that will be sent to BIOS to enhance our cooperation with them in preparation for the coming war. So you would be in the first cohort of that program if you join us."

She began to realize the gravity of what they were offering her. It was an opportunity to help destroy the government, a chance to get justice against the whole system.

"We are looking for new soldiers to add to our current pool. Years of strife with the government has depleted us. We are hungry for newcomers who will devote themselves to the cause," Jenna said.

"I'm in," Nia said.

"Good, we'll have to train you. We'll show you how to fight, build you into a soldier, and then unleash you against the government."

In the past, she had no interest in being associated with anything anti-government. She just wanted to live her life drama free. But something had changed in her. She felt an instant maturation transpire shortly after her mother's murder. She was no longer a kid indifferent to politics. She had become a political animal. All she could think about was how to get back at the government. And she would do anything to, even work with the Syndicate.

But she was mad at them too. She felt they bore much of the blame for getting her only remaining family member killed. Her mother wouldn't be dead if the government hadn't come knocking for information about Theo and the Syndicate. The government, for all its problems, had left her alone until the Syndicate showed up and kidnapped her.

She would have to get revenge against them, too, someday. But, first, she would use them to grow strong and to get back at the government; both were guilty in her mind. She needed to learn how to fight, use weapons, understand the organization's inner workings, and then have her revenge. Until then, she would temper her anger towards them; she'd build her strength and bide her time. She was too weak to get revenge on either of them if she struck before that.

"Well, we have to initiate you into the syndicate," Jenna said. "Please stand and place your right fist across your left chest."

Nia complied.

"Repeat these words, 'I pledge my life to the people's cause, to set them free, topple the government, bring lasting peace, and to create a new order for the ages."

Nia repeated the words.

The others stood and clapped.

"Congrats, you're one of us now," Ren said.

Theo gave a smirk when his eyes met Nia's.

"Oh, you'll have to do a medical before training. It's standard to test if recruits are physically fit for training. But you're young and a free diver, so I'm sure you'll ace it," Theo said.

"No problem. If you guys don't mind, I'd like to use the bathroom," Nia said.

"No problem. It's up the hall on the right," Theo said.

"Thanks."

Nia walked through the door and closed it behind her. Then she knelt in front of the door outside to listen in. She untied her shoelaces and began tying them slowly as a cover for anyone walking by.

"Well, Theo, I was right, huh?" Jenna asked. "You wanted to warn her that her mother was going to betray her, based on our intelligence about the Xymoran police raiding her home days before Nia returned. But I told you it could be the impetus for good things. Her mother gave her up, and predictably the Xymoran government killed her mother. Thanks for letting that happen; like I told you, Diya, save Nia, not her mother. And, you see, that lit a fire in her. Did you see the rage in her eyes? She's exactly the kind of recruit we need."

Nia cupped her mouth. She realized Diya had been lying. She intentionally let her mother die when she could have saved her.

"B...Bu..but it just doesn't feel right; maybe we went too far," Theo replied.

"No, we did what was necessary. You tried convincing her to join us peacefully, but she rejected the offer. So we had to change tactics."

"New tactics, fine, but something other than this would have been better. Did you really have to give that anonymous tip to the Xymoran police that Nia was working with us?" Theo fired back. "Before that, they had pictures of her on the ship with me, but they didn't know who she was, where she lived, or who her family was. Without your tip giving them Nia’s house’s location, the police wouldn’t have been able to force Nia’s mom to betray her. The government's records are pretty bad outside cities."

"I needed them to raid her house to set things in motion. We've been getting fewer and fewer recruits lately. People are too scared to join. And if we can't get recruits, we must create them using any means necessary. I'm planning to use similar tactics to generate a flood of newcomers," Jenna replied.

Nia gasped again, but loudly.

"Shhhhh," Theo said, "You heard that?"

The others shook their heads. Theo was closest to the door, so he wondered if the sound hadn't reached them.

"No, I didn't hear anything. Stop trying to dodge the argument," Jenna retorted.

"I'm not dodging anything," he quipped.

"You're the one we sent to get recruits anyway. If you feel so sorry for her, why did you pick her? Why not someone else?" Jenna asked.

"I don't find doing this any easier than you do, but it has to be done."

Nia wondered why Ren and Diya were so quiet. What was his view? Did his silence mean assent or disapproval? So far, Jenna, Theo, and Diya were on her target list, but there was room for expansion.

"Let's move on to the discussion about constructing the spaceship," Ren interjected.

Nia realized the relevant part of the conversation had drawn to a close. She shot off to the bathroom.

She found an open stall, jumped in, and sat on a covered toilet seat. She had no intention of relieving herself. She broke down in tears instead. The weight of the betrayal and treachery descended on her. She had no family and didn't know who to trust. She was all alone and would have to chart her own way. She had never felt such deep sorrow and so great a burden.