The luminescent glow of a streetlight refused to let Malik sleep. He keep tossing and turning in his bed. Just out of high school at the age of eighteen he knew that he would soon be drafted into the Confederacy marines. The Zerg and Protoss had been terrorizing all fringe worlds and Malik was going to join the military any way to protect his own colony world. But he still couldn't get the thoughts out of his head, the reports of marines being shredded by the ruthless Zerg. Being vaporized by the far superior technology of the Protoss. The casualties were in the millions, no the billions to think that one man could change any thing. No, he was just throwing his life away by joining. But then he thought to himself, what else do I do. Wait till the Protoss come and "cleans" this planet. Or should the Zerg show up first and infest every thing and destroy all life. By joining the marines at least he could feel like he was helping the cause. With these thoughts still fresh in his mind he slowly lost consciousness and drifted into sleep.

The next mourning he went to a Confederate base that was in charge of recruiting and training local recruits. They used to be a semi-common site but ever since the war started more people were unwilling to sell there lives and the Confederacy used drafting and abducting people as a much easier method to get their troops. But they couldn't just go to every colony world and snatch up every civilian and turn him or her to soldiers. Soon people would catch on and rebel. So on some more populated fringe worlds there would be little recruiting and training bases for the few that did join.

Unfortunately the closest one to Malik's city was a couple hundred miles away. Fortunately Malik's Father had owned a Vulture hover bike. His Father had been killed a couple of years ago in a raid by some thieves that existed in some of the more populated worlds. They would travel from world to world and go through small cities and villages and steal any thing of value and kill any one who resisted. Malik's father resisted. Luckily they didn't get the Vulture since local militia took care of them before they could steal much. No one had driven his fathers bike since his father had died, and it was just accumulating dust out in the workshop that his father had to service it. Luckily Malik's father had taught Malik how to drive it, and drive it quite well indeed. With this he could make the distance in a much-reduced time. So that mourning after Malik got up he gathered some useful items, such as a small amount of rations, a small ruby amulet his girlfriend Summer had given him and a double bladed 6 inch knife that his father had given him to protect him self if ever an occasion occurred. Malik doubted that his father would think the occasion would be fighting another intelligent alien race. He scratched a little note out to his mother and then went to see if the bike still ran.

The Vulture still had the key in the ignition and started on the second try. Malik's father had serviced it well. Vulture hover bikes were much like the ancient motorcycles of old earth apart from they had no wheels. Instead they relied on the anti-gravity pulsations to keep them off the ground. This worked really well to avoid rough terrain and smaller obstacles that might hinder driving otherwise. It also made the Vulture a lot faster then an average motorcycle. Most Vultures came occupied with a grenade launcher and some of the Confederate or militiamen cycles had the ability to lay spider mines. Spider mines were a type of smart mine. They could communicate with each other using small sensory waves and would communicate how best to destroy the opponent, the more they detonated the smarter the others would get. Newer models could also tell the difference between human and alien species. Malik's Vulture was a civilian model though and didn't have the spider mine capability.

The hover bike sped through the barren deserts of Malik's planet and through and occasional town or village before it finally arrived at Teronis the larges city on his home planet. He drove through the streets until he found what he was looking for. The recruiting office was old and falling apart. The Confederacy probably didn't think that their money was best spent fixing up some old building that barely gathered enough recruits to keep it in existence. Malik parked his bike in the vast and empty parking lot, and begin to advance up the steal stairs, knowing that once he walked through those doors his life would be changed. He thought to him self for one moment then pushed the door open.

As Malik walked in he noticed he was in a small room no more then fifteen feet wide. Directly in front of him there was a man sitting at an old mahogany desk. He was wearing Confederate uniform and had stripes showing that he was a sergeant. He was leaning back in his chair with his feet on the desk and was reading a magazine. Malik craned his head a little to the left to see what the magazine read. The front cover showed in bright red letters "Sara System Obliterated." Malik had seen it on the news a week ago. First to go was Chau Sara. It was the first time we had contact with the Protoss. They had sent a fleet in and glassed the planet. Next was Mar Sara, it was the first time we were blessed of knowing of the Zerg. They quickly came and over run the planet consuming every thing. Then the Protoss showed up and glassed that planet to. Yes, the Sara System was the first of the fringe worlds to fall, but in the past week several more had also been destroyed.

"Can I help you," broke Malik's train of thought

Malik a little startled looked up to see the man at the desk peering over his magazine at Malik. He was staring at Malik waiting for an answer, looking quiet irritated and wanting to get back to his magazine.

"Uh yea, I am Malik Zero and I was wondering if this is were I go to sign up for the marines." Replied Malik.

"Yes it is Mr. uhh Zero," answered the sergeant and set down his magazine and grabbed a packet of papers off of stack on the desk, and then handed it to Malik. "Fill out the information asked, then give it back here I will run it through to Major Arowson and then you can get to boot camp."

"Thank you sir, and when do I start my boot camp" Asked Malik.

"Most recruits have three days to gather their belongings and then are to come here and you will receive your training." Said the officer taking his magazine back preparing to read it again

"Would it be possible to start my training today," interrupted Malik, not wanting to go back to confront his family and friends.

"Well if you qualify to be a marine then we can start training as soon as you're ready," answered the irritated sergeant.

"Thank you sir," Malik then turned and sat in one of the three chairs that stood in the small lobby. He found a pencil and a table next to the chair and he began scribbling away all the information that was on the sheet. Ten minutes later the three pages were soon covered in information, and Malik got up to deliver the papers to the officer. After he handed the pages off, the sergeant started to thumb through them. When he reached the end he hit a button on an intercom system on his desk.

"Arty, come here I got a new recruit for you," said the officer

"Be right over," Said a staticy voice. Three minutes later a man arrived in the doorway behind the desk

"This is Major Arowson he will be your Superior for your boot camp," Said the sergeant while handing the papers to the tall man. " Follow all of his orders, and do just what he says and you might turn out fine."

"Come" Bellowed the huge man. As he walked through the doorway Malik followed after. Arowson was a big man, about a foot and a half taller then Malik. He also had the build of a body builder, with biceps the size of Malik's legs and a solid chest. He had dark brown hair a stubby nose and blue honest eyes. It was one of those people that you wanted to either make friends with or stay out of their way. Malik decided it wasn't worth the risk to make friends with him. But he must have misjudged the huge man, because he started a friendly conversation with Malik.

"Not many people volunteer to die, so why are you," Interrogated Arowson.

"Well if I don't I will either get drafted or this world will be destroyed, I just figured its easier this way," replied Malik

"Ha, right you are. I like you, your going to make it all right if you just stick close and do what your told. Like I said before though there's not to many recruits here just some people who don't know what to do with there lives and people with your kind of thought," Said Arowson.

"Well at least we'll all get along then," joked Malik

"Yea, I wouldn't worry about that every one here is pretty much family, cept for the confederate marines, from Tarsonis been showing up lately. We think that they might be tipped off that the Zerg or Protoss might be heading this way, no one knows for sure but they just keep telling us that they are just here to make sure every thing is progressing how it is supposed to," commented Arowson.

"Ah, here we are," Sighed Arowson has he yanked open a large door to reveal what looked like a cafeteria. "My favorite place in the world, the mess hall. Its getting late in the afternoon so how about we grab some food I will show you to your sleeping quarters and you can get some sleep. Tomorrow I will come by bright and early to get you up and you can start boot camp.

"Works for me," Replied Malik, thinking that any other answer might get him into trouble.

Arowson strode into the mess hall with Malik tagging after him. It isn't that bad, thought Malik. I already have a friend that is an officer and like he said every one gets along here. But what about the Zerg coming here, we had only known of them for a week and they were already getting here, god he hoped not. He decided to dismiss these thoughts and eat though.