Prologue:
War, war never changes, Ghost Lieutenant Michael Hawkins thought as he checked his bulky Anti-Material rifle. It had a full cartridge loaded and set. He smiled as he saw one of the Nuclear Blasts in the distance – they always reminded him on the trees he saw when he was younger. He stood up and pulled his half-helmet over his head and face, leaving his hair exposed. No need for him to protect his cranial area – a shot by any of the zerg there would kill him instantly – might as well feel good while he could.
He had been told this mission was the most dangerous mission since, well, since the re-appearance of the Zerg throughout the galaxy. This didn't trouble Michael; he was a ghost, trained and graduated at the Ghost Academy. He was obedient to his superiors and commanded his special operations soldiers with an excellence matched by few. His marksman ship with a rifle was paralleled only by other Psionics.
He had no backup on this mission, an evac was the best he'd expected at this point – but it seemed that the possibility of it was declining as they waged the war their ancestors had fought. He clicked on his laser sight and began to move through the destroyed buildings, through the smaller patrols of zerg. He couldn't kill any of them – that would alert whichever Queen or Cerebrate who commanded them. So he put as much distance between him and them as possible, and little noticed anything at all.
It wasn't long before he heard the rumbling of the great war-machines – tanks, mobile bases, and nuclear pads being moved a good distance away from the city. Several other Ghosts had been deployed on the planet and he could see them on his tac-sat view (tactical satellite). His black armor became visible once again as he reduced the flow of psi to his suit. He was one of the last few to remain without one of the new suits that required no energy to cloak. He went to thermal imaging as he reached the top of the building and switched to armor penetrating rounds. He then sighted a good mile and a half away at what seemed to be a swarm of zerg – what it really happened to be was one of the few entrances to the Main Zerg Hive. They had obviously under-estimated the terran's Black Operations abilities.
He entered a Psi Induced state like to that of a meditation and sighted downrange. He activated the red laser and heard an adjutant's voice over the comms. "Nuclear Launch Detected," It said simply. He saw one of the missiles flow up into the air. He then took the laser off and pointed it at the structure, while taking his rifle and sighting it at the area of the building behind him and mumbled," Come and get me you suckers." He felt the Zerg begin to swarm around the building, several climbing up through it or outside it. His blood ran cold and he began to fire.
