Chapter 19

Rod's POV

"I ask that you all stay seated until we reach our destination. Thank you and have a wonderful flight," I heard the pilot say over the intercom. I was riding in a medivac heading to Jinksole. They were to drop me and Nicky off at Silinder to where we would be trained. I wasn't excited in the slightest.

I sat at the back. Right in between to terran untis. They were twice the size of a Marine and had what looked like a very large grenade launcher at the end of each arm. They were covered in black metallic armor and had several pictures of skulls painted on their chests. Their helmet covered their entire head and the only thing you could see were two bright red eyes glowing out from a narrow slit. I was told that these were Marauders.

He must have seen me staring at him, because he looked down at me and said in a deep voice, "What you lookin' at".

I quickly looked away and responded. "Sorry."

"Huh, that's what I thought," He said, laughing as he turned away.

"Now don't be actin' like jerk Booze," Another one said, "You were just like 'im once."

"I was not," Booze protested, twisting angrily toward the other. "You've always been da one hidin' behind me! Ah look it's a Zerglin' you'd always scream and then come runnin' back."

"Ay, now that don't count! We 'ad just entered the trainin' camp when there was an outbreak in da lab!" He argued, leaning across me to Booze.

"O' course it counts," Booze said. "I never did nothin' like that!"

"Well 'ow 'bout we settle this right now," The Marauder said. "Orange terran style."

"Hey you two loud mouths back there. Sit down and shut up, your rocking the ship." Mark yelled. Both Marauders huffed and turned away from each other, muttering.

I let out a long breath. We rode in silence. Now that nothing was happening I thought back to what had happened back at camp. Horror struck back into my head. I had tried to forget what happened. I kept picturing Derk's body flying limply backward. I was so shocked Leary had to carry me onto the dropship.

I continued to let my mind run wild. Am I going to have to see this kind of stuff all the time now? What will happen after training? Will I see everyone else die? What if it's worse! The Zerg are sure will be a lot more gruesome. How will I survive? Ugh why did I let myself get dragged into this? Why have I been so accepting? It's almost like I was born for this. What am I doing here? I don't want to see others die. It was hard enough watching movies.

Aw, movies. Me and my family would always sit down on Friday evenings and watch the craziest shows. I just want to go home. I could feel the tears water up in my eyes. No! I can't cry. Not here and not now. I sat up straight and looked in front of me. There was a Marine slouching on a bench with his hands behind his head. It made me giggle.

He glanced up and I quickly looked away. I could hear him mutter something, but I couldn't make it out. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep. This stinky medivac was driving me nuts. I sat with my head leaning on the wall for what appeared to be hours when out of nowhere the dropship shook heavily. I opened my eyes and jolted up.

"We are proceeding to teleport within Silinder's atmosphere," The intercom voice said. With nothing to grab on I wrapped my arms around my suit and shut my eyes. But this time the feeling was different. I wasn't being stretched, like when Nicky warped us. In fact I suddenly heard a loud crack and then I felt my entire body crush together instantly. Immediately after feeling this everything stopped and went back to normal. I glanced around to see everyone sitting where they had been previously. It was as if nothing had changed. Booze noticed my shock and snickered.

"Huh, yuh okay kid?" The Marauder said, slapping my back. I went tumbling forward onto my face. The whole medivac lit up in a chorus of laughter. Even Tenny, who had taken Derk's tragedy the hardest, burst out. Embarrassment filled my body. Blood rushed to my head. And I sat back down.

"We will be landing ETA five minutes," Intercom lady said.

"Ok now hold up! You mean to tell me that we are wasting time landing for these fools?!" Mark screamed at the pilot. "Why not just beam 'em down?"

"Orders are orders. I don't make them I just carry them out. As you should, so sit back and shut up." She said, angrily. He huffed in response. I sunk in my seat embarrassed. If it were to keep Mark off my back I would jump off the ship. But now I might not ever see him again. So it didn't really matter. I slouched, not wanting to leave the medivac. We suddenly came to an abrupt stop. I was almost thrown across the floor again.

"Kay, get off," The pilot said, bluntly. I pulled myself up and dragged my feet across the ground onto the ramp. Looking behind me I saw Nicky excitedly following me. We're going to get ourselves killed. I turned back and walked the rest of the way off the dropship. The moment I had exited, the shuttle lifted from the ground and was halfway through the atmosphere.

I looked around at my surroundings. The place was bustling with movement. There were several groups of people running around camp, others seemed to be brawling. All in all I was completely out of place. I had no idea what to do. While aweing at the camp I didn't realize a man approaching me from behind.

"Hey, what in tarnation do you think you're doing?" The man yelled. I jumped in fright, turning around. "As long as you're in my zone there will be no standin' around. Do I make myself clear private?!"

"Uh—yes, sir," I responded franticly, attempting to stand at attention and salute. The man huffed.

"Put your arms down. You two must be the new recruits we're receiving," He said. "Lovely. I am Seargent Turner Hans Baker. You will refer to me as Seargent Baker. You will do what I say and when I say it, am I clear?"

"Uh, yes sir," Both me and Nicky said.

"Well good. Follow me and I will explain your duties," Baker said. "Starting tomorrow you will begin the Anecode Assessment. This is where they take you in, plug your brain up with cords and ask you questions. This will determine how much you know. Proceeding the assessment you will then be injected with First Class Selethicks. These will give you information needed for combat. Everday following you will be injected with them until your brain can't get rid of it. This process can take up from two days to two weeks; depending on the structure of your mind.

"Then you will proceed to be inserted with Second Class Selethicks and then Third Class Selethicks. Some say that this could kill a person if given so much information. This is not true. We use Selethicks with every single military unit and only have minimal casualties. All the information will come naturally and easily. You'll find yourself knowing things you didn't know before. Like how to fire a gun, or how to survive in difficult situations.

"Even more forcefully you will know the names of different types of Zerg creatures, things like that. If you are really so worried about this then you can talk to our scientist Hank Ioney and he can explain it to you." Baker stopped in front of a flight of stairs and turned to me. "You do not want Hank to explain it to you. It is possible you will not leave his lab alive."

"Um… okay," I said, frightened.

"Now back to what I was saying. After you have been given all three Selethicks you will proceed to the Seargent Major Groff who will then teach you in the arts of combat. Basicly training the body instead of the mind. Selethicks can only take you so far. You may know how to fight, but you have to teach your body doesn't. That's what Seargent Groff is for. Injections can only train you mentally. Any physical aspects will have to be done, hint, physically."

He stopped talking for a moment as we approached a metal door. Seargent Baker stepped forward and knocked loudly. Streams of gas spewed out of the corners and the door split into two, opening an entrance into a room.

"Enter," A female voice said, seeming to come from behind a large chair at the end of the room.

"Lieutenant, we have a couple more recruits. I want to send them around the camp. Let them get a feel for it," Baker said, with his hands behind his back. "Do you wish for someone to give them a tour?"

"I appreciate your willingness to consult in my approval, but sense we have been receiving so many new members and stating the fact that I have talked to you about this before, you do not need to ask me about every single little detail," She said turning her chair to face us. My eyes flew to the ceiling as I gawked at her beauty. "However this is not a museum. This is a training camp. I do not want a couple uninformed recruits wondering the grounds, unaware of the danger they could potentially be in. So no Seargent I do not want them by themselves. Please retrieve someone to go with them or otherwise, go yourself.

"Yes ma'am," He replied. "It will be done."

And with that we headed back where we came from. Baker made his way down the stairs and outside. I followed him. Looking over at Nicky I noticed that he wasn't wearing any armor. He was simply in his green shirt and jeans that he had worn ever sense we left our apartment.

I didn't realize before at how much taller this armor suit made me. I was at least a foot higher than previously. I looked to see what the Seargent was wearing. He wasn't in any armor either. Baker simply wore an orange military suit, with pockets down the sides. He had a number of medals and ribbons on the front that I could see, and a couple symbols on his upper arm. Seargent Baker glanced back at me.

"Well you're not going to need that suit here, let's go down to the barracks and get it off." He said, like reading my thoughts.

"Will I get it back?" I asked, concerned.

"Oh trust me son, after you're through with training, you'll never want to see this thing again," He said, gesturing toward my armor. We made our way to a barracks. One like I had seen back on my planet. We walked inside, passing a group of newly trained marines, as noted by the seargent.

He sent me into a room very much like the one Tenny had shown me earlier. The only difference was that this time I was taking off armor. Not putting it on.

"Alright step in the center; you know how this goes," He said. Ugh, I wish they had easier and faster ways to do this. I did as I was told. A second later the machines began to move, reaching for my arms. They started to cut the welds, and take each piece away. It wasn't long until I stood half naked, shivering in my blue shorts.

I looked up to see the large metal door shift open. Seargent Baker threw me a new pair of military tan pants and shirt. I quickly pulled on the shirt and looked down at my trousers. Feeling embarrassed I glanced awkwardly up at Baker. He nodded to me, obviously expecting me to change into them.

"Aw come on man," I pleaded. He rolled his eyes and turned around. As quick as I could, before Seargent changed his mind, I yanked off my shorts and threw on the tan jeans.

"Alright let's go," He said, marching out the door. I quickly ran after him, feeling uncomfortable in the large clothes.

"So where exactly are you taking us now?" I asked, looking over at Nicky.

"I will take you to someone who can show you the base. Following your tour you shall be sent to Corporal Sludge for a physical exam. This will tell us about how much physical training is needed for you. We don't want to overdo it." He said. I walked after him in silence. Great. Ugh, what the crap have I gotten myself into?

Hey! Okay so I know that I took a while on this one. Heh, I have no excuse. But sadly this is probably going to be the amount of time it takes to update. Sorry. I will continue to wright, and hopefully quit this random lazyness I've been having. Heh. Well enjoy!

P.S. I wanted to get this up ASAP so unfortunately... It has not been revised. So it may suck. Sorry. I will revise it and update. :D

And of course! DON"T FORGET TO REVIEW!