[center][b]Baltar Iskaron[/b][/center]

Sleep continued to elude him, much to his chagrin. Tomorrow was going to be another day filled with endless drills and Baltar Iskaron would rather face it after a night's rest, at least one. Emperor above, he hadn't managed a decent night's sleep in weeks. Every day was filled with mind numbing, exhaustive drills while his nights were spent half awake, tossing and turning in his bunk, surrounded by more people than he had ever seen during his life in the sands, inside a ship that was largest than the most populous market city he had ever visited before going to the Hive. Which by itself was an entirely different beast. Not that he had had much time to gawk at that incomprehensible titan of steel.

Guarding caravans through well trodden desert routes, as it turned out, did not prepare him for the life of a Guardsmen. But that was only one of the many prejudices and misconceptions that Baltar had been forced to abandon ever since that fateful day in which his father told him to go out into the world and make a name for himself.

Perhaps, in time, this torrent of disjointed thoughts and ideas would settle and Baltar's mind would allow him to settle down for a night of proper sleep. He needed it, needed it more than ever. Soon the regiment would be disembarking on the front, or so he had been told. And then, Emperor above, the desert was a deadly mistress to the unaware, the tired, the distracted. Baltar could only imagine what an actual warzone would be. And his mind was very fertile. He certainly wasn't counting on the privilege of having a sure bed and uninterrupted sleeping time when they were thrown into real combat.

At least then, Baltar would see the sun again. Not the Sun he had grown up with and learned both to revere and respect as a manifestation of the Emperor's unmatched power, but a sun nonetheless. Certainly just as mighty and divine as the one back home...

Which he would never see again. Holy Emperor, he was never going back to Vosmarth, was he? Never see his family again either. If only he had taken up Haddad's offer. It was the safe route, work under the Trade Master. Learn from the best, his kin in all but blood. But no, Baltar had decided to go to the Hive first. Oh, he surely would've visited if he had taken up the offer. Eventually, if sparingly. 

But Baltar wanted to do more! To serve the Emperor. To see places beyond the Desert, new worlds beyond Vosmarth. Problem is, Baltar hadn't really considered the full consequences of his actions.

[i]"Like all stupid youths."[/i] His father's voice rang clear inside his head. [i]"But you gave your word, you made an oath to the Emperor himself. And by Him on Terra, you will see it through or die trying!"[/i]