A have many names. The hundreds of people I've met call me by different ones. I'm Jane Thartiac. I'm Janine de St. Jehan. I'm Anna Maria Justinth. But mostly, I'm Giannine Bellisario.

I'm a normal enough girl. My parents are divorced. I live with my grandma. My father hardly acknowledges my existence (though he's gotten much better at remembering my name since the incident at the Rasmussem Gaming Center). I only see my mother twice a year.

And (despite earlier mentioned incident) I'm obsessed with Rasmussem games. It could also be that my best friend is the C.E.O. and founder of the company and works part time at the center in my neighborhood and going there is really the only time I'm able to talk to him. Might as well play some games there when he's busy.

I figured something like The Incident (as I called it) could only happen to a single person once, so playing the games didn't bother me. Leave it to Nigel to prove me wrong.

"Hey Gi!" Nigel called when I walked in the center and he handed a small stout woman her popcorn. He gave me that grin that (even though I only thought of him as a friend) was so hot it made my knees go weak.

I just smiled and locked my knees so that I didn't topple over. "Hey Nigel. How's work?"

He smirked and gave me a sly look. Whether he was going to be sly or he thought I was, I couldn't tell. I guessed the first one and I was right.

"Well, I have a new game that needs testing-."

"No."

"Awww! But Giannine!" He whined childishly as he walked up to me. "You usually like being the first to test my new games.

I rolled my eyes and gave him a look that said 'Not since the explosive one' and he just sighed.

"Sorry, buddy, but I prefer to play games that have been deemed safe."

"Heir Apparent was deemed safe."

"And it was until it was sabotaged."

He sighed again and gave me a pleading look. He's such a cheater! He knows I can't resist that look! Not even the toughest, most stubborn, most tattooed biker dude could resist that look. "Pweety Pwease?"

I glared at him and he probably took it as 'Fine, but I'm mad at you' which was for the most part correct. He just forgot to add in all the cuss words I was thinking. He lead me to the backroom and showed me a comfy red plush chair that was attached to a helmet by a wire.

I let out a deep breath as I plopped down in the seat and gave him a quick smile to tell him that he was forgiven, but he was un-forgiven if anything went wrong. "Alright," I said as if to prepare myself. "Hook it up."

He grinned and it was a good thing I was sitting down or else no amount of knee-locking would stop me from falling over. He sat the helmet on my head and walked over to a control box. He pressed a few buttons and while it whirred into life he walked back over to me.

"This one is about space pirates. The background story is different for every person so I can't tell you about that. The only thing that's the same is that you're a pilot-in-training. Whatever you do, make sure you get on the ship called the FireBird Mark Six."

"What happened to the other five marks?"

He smiled sheepishly. "Have fun, Gi."

"Wait! What-."

Then everything was black.