DISCLAIMER: Lydecker is not mine, nor is Manticore or the idea of the pulse, I think that's it… anything else that I don't own point out to me… I do own Damiya and her many facets, the Vaunns, the MacDougals, Jon and Sandra as well as any other petty people that enter the story.

SUMMARY: Damiya is a normal X5, but when she goes on one mission another comes back to haunt her, will she still be loyal to Manticore after all they've put her through?

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The fate of this story is on your shoulders, good reviews mean that it continues, bad reviews mean I get discouraged and start crying and no reviews means I begin to believe that I REALLY suck instead of just moderately suck.

TITLE: The Mission Key

CHAPTER 1: Assignment

AUTHOR: Laila Lucine

"X5-175 report to the small briefing room, now." A guard barked at the pretty girl standing in line in the mess hall.

"Sir, yes sir." She replied thinking defiantly 'I'm not just a number you idiot, I'm Damiya.' Of course she didn't speak her thoughts out loud, that was not allowed at any point in time, unless her opinion was asked for, which was really rare.

She was about fifteen, or at least that's what she'd figured. She'd given herself a birthday too, March 8th, though no one knew about it but her. She had long black hair, tan skin, deep brown eyes, full lips of a pale pink and the complexion of a goddess. Her body had curves in all the right places and she knew how to use them as well. She had it made, except for the brand on the back of her neck commonly known as a barcode.

She marched quickly through the corridors. You didn't walk in Manticore unless you were a guard, you marched. There were rules and regulations everywhere and she followed them, at least that's how it looked on the outside. Ever since a group of X5s escaped they had been hard on all the other X5s and she had undergone tons of special 'reprogramming' trying through it all to hold on to a sense of who she was.

She'd come out on the other end pretending to be their dream soldier but having thoughts of her own which was what they were trying to prevent in the first place. They'd made her smarter than themselves, that was their first mistake. However; they only taught her what they wanted her to know, she had to use her brains to gather the rest of the information. Well, her brains and her breasts. The human mind was so feeble that it was easy to persuade guards to spout info. All she had to do was lean forward slightly and pout her full lips.

For now she had to just concentrate on getting to the small briefing room. There were five main briefing rooms in the facility. The large one, the small one, the open one, the closed one and the one off of Lydecker's office which the other Xs considered the hell room. She was thankfully not going to the hell room, normally when you went there it meant you were being sent out to kill someone. The small briefing room was reserved for talk about small but somewhat important missions and that was all she wanted at the moment.

She finally reached the door and rapped on it the allotted two times. Finally after a slight pause Lydecker's voice answered steadily. Actually it was more steely than steady, but they were taught to think of the two as the same thing.

"Come in X5-175."

She entered and stood at attention. She raised her hand to salute and he saluted. She followed it up and he looked her up and down.

"At ease soldier." He told her.

"Thank you sir." She replied relaxing slightly, though not too much, she had to stay on her guard.

"It has come to my attention that you are an exceptional soldier with the art of attracting men and using them for your own personal gain."

"Sir?" She asked puzzled, she didn't have the slightest clue where this was headed.

"Soldier, we want you to go on a mission for us. You will meet Trevor MacDougal and plant on him a tracking device that will enable us to keep tabs on him at all times. However you won't be able to go in plant it and go back out. You will have to get close to him." Lydecker paused and seemed almost hesitant to go on. "Intimately close."

"If that's what it takes to bring honor to Manticore sir I'll do it." He seemed to blush more after her wording, though she didn't know why, they weren't in third grade after all.

"Alright soldier. You will be known as Claudia Maria Vaunn, nineteen year old daughter of Paul and Angela Vaunn. They are a wealthy couple that were once friends with the MacDougals but they haven't seen each other in fourteen years. You are to 'hook up' with Trevor, plant the device and then get out of there, not raising suspicion. We contacted the MacDougals on the behalf of the Vaunns and arranged for you to spend a few weeks with them. That is the pretext you will act under. You will be trained in Claudia's past history as well as her parents'. You will leave in three days. Any questions?"

"Sir, how old is Trevor MacDougal?" She knew it was risky to ask, but if she was going to have to use the guy she at least wanted to know how old he was.

"Twenty soldier. You are dismissed, please head to room 349 for your lesson."

And then he turned away from her. It would have been a bad move in a fight, but she couldn't take the advantage it gave her, she had to turn and walk away. It took all her strength not to snap his neck like a twig, but she knew in the long run there would be more convenient opportunities and she wouldn't pass them up. She made her way quickly to room 349, wouldn't want to be late to 'new identity class' as the other Xs called it when they told you who you were for the weeks ahead.