Chapter One: Infiltration

Nova Terra rappeled out of the dropship, her blonde ponytail flowing around her. The white-clad ghost made a three-point landing, one knee bent. Standing up, she gazed over the barren wastes around them with narrowed eyes.

Raising her binoculars, she gazed out over the rocky cliffs and terrain and saw her target. It was a command center surrounded by heavy defenses. A large wall surrounded what had once been Backwater Station.

Now it was a fortress with dropships around it.

"Nova here, I've reached the planet Mar Sara," said Nova. "Ready to begin assault on target Magistrate."

"Acknowledged," said her communications officer, "proceed."

Nova Terra reached out with her thoughts and made her way through the desert, letting her suit blend her in. As she did, she noticed a patrol of men moving beyond. The soldiers had their guns readied and were gazing here and there.

"Any idea what the Commander is thinking?" asked one. "Are we moving?"

"It's the Dominion, private." said another. "We can't fight em, not even the Commander."

"Yeah, but we can't just let them walk in." said another. "If we just let them push us like this, sooner or later, they'll take everything."

"Cut the chatter and focus." said the sergeant.

Nova was far past them by this point. However, as she reached out, she sensed something. A missile turret that would prevent her from cloaking. Unfortunately, there were dozens of guards around it. They were scanning the surroundings, and then Nova's motion tracker picked something up.

Looking in the direction, she saw a scanning droid approaching. Quickly, Nova made for a set of rocks and hid as it passed overhead. This was some serious security. Even so, it was nothing she couldn't handle.

Even so, the entry point had been arranged.

Scaling up the cliffs, she enhanced her speed with psionics. Moving up she came to the edge of the cliff and saw men patrolling. A whole squad of them. Waiting until they passed, she made for the wall and reached for it. As she did, she drew back her hand, nearly yelling in alarm as her shields were burned through.

There was some kind of disruptor shield on them.

No warning signs, either.

Another drone was coming. Nova quickly moved back and hung from the edge of the cliff again to avoid sight. Glancing down, she saw how far she'd climbed to get up here. When Nova had been dispatched to take down a rogue militia commander, this was not what she had expected.

Serena Calabas was something of a legend, in spite of Dominion propaganda. She'd been instrumental in Mengsk's conquest of the sector. From there, she aided him in dealing with Alan Schezar's rebellion. And when General Edmund Duke had been killed, she'd stepped in to help secure the Dominion. Since then, however, she'd operated behind the scenes to undermine the Dominion. She'd provided forces and training for renegades like Raynor.

Even so, she didn't have access to high tech equipment to Nova's knowledge. No siege tanks or anything serious. Her battles had been won with limited resources.

It didn't matter. The drone had passed.

Nova pulled herself back up and made her way along the cliffs to the front gate. Heavily guarded like everywhere else. There were sentries with overlapping fields of vision. Nova reached out with her mind and sensed for anyone with divided loyalties. Maybe she could get them to shoot the Commander out of a desire for vengeance.

No such luck.

There was a fierce loyalty to her by the people of Mar Sara. She had saved them from the zerg, brought them out of Mar Sara, and refounded it. Her example had seen them become a major player in the Fringe Worlds through sheer force of will.

The same reason Nova had to kill her was making it nearly impossible to do it. Most pirates she went after had something. Someone they mistreated or insulted, but Calabas was considered beyond approach. Similar to how many believed in the Emperor.

No wonder Mengsk feared her.

How was Nova supposed to get in here? She couldn't scale the walls, and the gates had detectors. Looking up, she saw a patrol returning. They had a vulture with them. Narrowing her eyes, she ran forward and rolled under the vulture. Catching hold of it, she pulled herself up as it drove.

Now Nova felt gravity pulling on her as she clung to the vulture. The patrol returned, entering into the gate. Her cloak was broken by the sensors, but no one could directly see her.

"Welcome back, men." said a man, moving around. But he was coming toward her, and Nova realized from his thoughts that he was going to check underneath. Nearly panicking, Nova quickly scaled forward and pulled herself up near the engine. She felt the heat on her skin, and it hurt to hold on to it; however, it provided some cover as someone looked down.

Come on, come on, go away.

The okay was given, and the vulture moved on. Nova let herself fall down and hit the ground hard. She narrowly rolled out of the way to avoid being trampled by the rest of the patrol. Scrambling away, she made for some boxes. And she realized that the security here wasn't any better than outside. A sensor drone was heading around in patrols, and there seemed a random element.

Her cloak fell as she stood behind the boxes, and someone came to unload them. Nova crouched low and hoped they didn't find her. She had nowhere else to go.

Finally, they left.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Nova wished that she'd been sent at night.

On paper, this looked like an easy mark. Calabas was good at motivating men to launch suicidal attacks. But it had been taken for granted she could be removed. Even if she was better at security, this was like Nova was expected.

Drawing out a mirror, she scanned and observed the sensor drone's movements. As she did, she noticed the ventilation shaft. Command Centers had originally been designed for miners to defend themselves from pirates. So there was no real security against things like ghosts.

It looked like Calabas used an older model with a ventilation system having outlets on the side. That was Nova's best bet. If she could get in, she'd have some cover.

Waiting for the drone to pass, Nova made a run for it.

She sprinted with all her might, not daring to make a sound. A man crossed her path, and she nearly collided with him. Even so, Nova didn't make a sound and, at last, reached the ventilation shaft. Glancing around, she grabbed it and found the screws were on tight. Focusing her mind, Nova took hold of the screws and had them remove themselves.

It came off, but Nova kept them levitating. Pulling it aside, she slipped into it, then replaced the ventilation shafts. She put the screws back in, but not as tightly. Okay, so far, so good.

This was a standard command center.

That meant that the command deck ought to be a floor up, near the top. Nova made her way along with the vents, moving as quietly as she could. Soon she came to a way up and began to scale gradually up-

Nova saw a drone. It was floating near the top, and it had a flamethrower set up on it.

Seriously?

Nova dropped down again as the flames were unleashed where she'd been. The drone then turned downward. Quickly she raised her silence canister rifle and put a round through its systems. The thing fell, and she interposed itself. The drone slammed down onto her, and she groaned in pain.

That had made a lot of noise.

Less than it would have made if the thing had landed. Pushing it off, Nova set it down and quickly scaled as quickly as she could up the vent. Then she burned her hand on the red hot side of the wall and nearly tumbled down again. Scrambling back up, she hissed.

Thank god for healing systems and armor.

That might have triggered an alarm. Nova needed to move.

Crawling forward on the one hand and two legs, she made her way through the system. Soon she heard voices as she neared the command deck. Looking down, she saw her target.

Serena Calabas did not look as you would expect a hardened commander. She had a curvaceous beauty that could only have come from the genetic breeding pods of the Old Families. Her hair was long and dark. However, her eyes were hard, and she was sitting at a desk. Her thoughts were equally hard and guarded, and Nova raised her gun. Or tried to, her hand was hurting, and it was cramped in here.

"Commander, we've gotten a message from the Dominion battlegroup in orbit." said a man. "They say they are following a lead to Jim Raynor."

"No, they are not," said Calabas flatly, not looking up from her paperwork.

"Are you sure?" asked the man.

"The recolonization of Mar Sara was meant to result in independence," said Serena. "I wouldn't have saved the Dominion if the people of the sector hadn't gotten some benefit. However, the recent location of Xel'naga ruins has attracted the Moebius Foundation. Now that we've turned them down, they've asked Mengsk to find occasion to take over our world."

"So what do we do?" asked the man.

"I'd love to annihilate the whole fleet, but I can't, Hector," said Serena. "That would be throwing down the gauntlet with the Terran Dominion. Something we can't afford." Her mind calculated the best way to cause massive losses to the Dominion. At the same time, she considered how to keep her men and people alive. Ultimately, Calabas concluded that it simply wasn't worth the effort.

It would cause immense casualties among civilians and leave the sector exposed. Nova found this strange. She remembered the last time she'd worked with Calabas. As well as the humiliating experience she'd been subjected to.

Nova had been sent to serve Prince Valerian. But when she'd arrived, Prince Valerian had not been in command. Every soldier and person reported directly to Calabas. She'd flatly refused to even associate with the Prince after his arrival. When he entered a room, she'd walked out. As a result, Valerian could not even be present in person for command meetings.

It had made the operations of Antiga Prime difficult, to say the least. Valerian had insisted on running what he could. Calabas had several times intervened to correct his mistakes. She'd actually communicated through him through adjutants out of sheer spite. Nova had been there to ensure Valerian didn't come to any harm as much as help.

"So we give up?" asked Hector.

"Let's just say that wishes have a way of coming true," said Serena. "I was more than prepared for this eventuality, and things are already in motion.

"Send a transmission on an open channel to the Dominion Fleet.

"Tell them:

"Commander Calabas says to go ahead."

That sounded like code. Anyone who happened to be listening in could probably take it as a signal to do something. But what?

"Yes, ma'am," said Hector.

He turned to walk out.

Nova had assassinated a lot of pirates and rebels in her life. Most despised Mengsk, or what he represented. The best of them had been idealistic, but short-sighted. Calabas, however, was neither abhorrent or incompetent. Her thoughts regarding the Dominion were simple contempt. Yet she regarded it as a nonentity.

Prince Valerian was a naive imbecile whose reign would be shortlived in her mind. Serena was glad about the fact. Her entire family had died on Tarsonis, it seemed only fair that Mengsk lost the rest of his. Arcturus Mengsk was ruthlessly competent and the man the sector needed. But he would be disposed of as soon as he was of no more use.

It was then that Nova realized Serena wasn't a rebel.

Serena Calabas had no interest in fighting Mengsk as long as he was useful to her. Which meant that as soon as the zerg were no longer a threat. This was a preemptive strike. Nova had been sent here to murder her to make the operations on Mar Sara smoother and to head off a future problem.

For the first time in a long time, Nova felt genuine hesitation.

"So, did you enjoy dodging security bots?" asked Calabas, writing some paper.

Nova froze. Calabas knew she was here. Quickly she sensed for guards and found nothing. Opening the grating, she dropped down and pointed her gun at her. "You knew I was here."

"Of course, I knew you were here," said Serena. "I had the ventilation grates bugged to tell me if anyone had entered it. Zerglings like going in through those." She paused. "I'm actually somewhat impressed and flattered.

"I knew Arcturus would sent one of his attack dogs after me. I never thought he'd send his finest hounds."

Now Nova remembered why she hated Calabas so much.

During Antiga Prime, Nova had launched an unauthorized nuclear strike on zerg colonies. There had been some problems, but it had been a spectacular victory. Calabas had rewarded her with a solo mission of doing pinups and propaganda posters. A mission that Nova had been forced to endure parttime ever since.

"You've moved up in the world, haven't you?" asked Serena, putting down her pen and looking up. "From poster girl to poster girl who also kills people. All this coming from the most inept kleptocracy in the history of the sector."

"That Nova Terra died a long time ago," said Nova.

"Don't be absurd," said Calabas, clasping her hands together. "Whether you remember your old life or not, you remain the same person. You are as responsible for your actions now as you were then."

"You're one to talk," said Nova. "You called down the zerg on Antiga Prime. You knew what was going to happen then."

"I also commanded an assault on the zerg nerve center. It forced the entire swarm to draw back from their attack. By the time they'd finished eradicated Delta Squadron, they had to turn back and face us." said Calabas. "Of course, that little story has been censored by now.

"Raynor and the protoss came off too well in it.

Nova almost shot, but she needed information. She could take it from Calabas' mind in an instant, but that kind of violation was... wrong. "What are you going to do about the Dominion fleet?"

"I suppose you had the decency not to try and rip the information from my mind. So I'll humor you," said Calabas, standing up. She pressed several buttons on her desk, and an image of Mar Sara appeared in a hologram. "There are two kinds of Dominion soldiers these days. There are the Dominion soldiers who respond to crisis and launch offensives. And then there is the Moebius Corps. Glorified thugs who are integrated with the Fleet.

"Moebius Corps specializes in taking control of essential, limited resources. Terrazine, rare alloys. Generally, they land on whatever colony was unfortunate enough to discover it. They then brutalize the place, enslave the civilians, and then put them to work recovering it. They are then worked to death or 'disappear.'

"In one move, Moebius Corps removes all witnesses and people with a claim to ownership of it. In return for this, they give the Dominion exclusive access to their research. A symbiotic relationship if ever there was one." She smiled and looked at Nova. "Truly, you are a champion for humanity."

Nova had been aware that things like this happened, in theory. But she hadn't been told the details and hadn't had a chance to look them up. She was kept busy. "The Dominion has saved dozens of worlds. It is a source of order and security in a universe terrorized by aliens."

"So would the Confederacy, if it had lived long enough to see its obscene plan initiated," noted Calabas. "But no one weeps for them. Arcturus is far better than them, but that is more an inditement of the old regime than anything else."

"Get to the point," said Nova. "Or I'll use a faster solution."

"The point is that Mar Sara is far larger than the normal planet Mobius Corps ravage." scoffed Serena. "So they'll probably just enslave whoever is in the general area.

"As such, I've given an evacuation order to the nearest militia strongpoints."

Nova stared. For a moment, she blinked as she realized Calabas had finished. "That's it?"

"Of course not, I've also invited Kate Lockwell from the Dominion News Network. She's visiting one of those bases," said Serena. "Which means she'll be reporting on what happens."

It was so straightforward and naive that Nova was stunned. "You do know that they'll censor it. The best you'll get is a bit of buzz on their crimes before Mengsk spins it."

"That is the attitude of a defeatist," said Serena. "You've already given up on anything good happening, so you're content to beg for scraps."

"It's my choice to serve the Dominion!" snapped Nova, her words biting deeper than expected. That kind of reasoning was what led to the stupid rebellions that had left the terran sector exposed.

"I never said it wasn't," said Serena. "Anyway, I don't really care about outrage. What's more important is the unceremonious defeat Moebius Corps is in for."

"You don't really believe that," said Nova.

Mar Saran militia defeating a fullscale Dominion task force? Was she insane? No, Calabas's mind was calm. She knew she was being read and moved the hologram to the location of the mine. "They think we're fringe yokels, easily scattered. They are wrong.

"These are Mar Sara militia. I've had veterans of the Guild Wars training them for years. They are defending their homes, are backed into a corner, and highly motivated. Moebius Corps, meanwhile, are spineless cowards. Mercenaries who don't even have the guts to fight military targets.

"I expect we'll stalemate them and, in so doing, cause massive casualties.

"Of course, on its own, that wouldn't be enough.

"But isn't it convenient how I've been secretly working with Jim Raynor all along."

Nova scoffed. "That's not even a secret. Messageboards on the internet know you have regular contact with him. Mar Sara is a well-documented training ground for his forces."

"Of course it is," said Raynor. "But Mengsk can never admit that. He'd have to acknowledge certain other, inconvenient truths. So Mar Sara is going to have a revolution unofficially. At which point Mengsk will, unofficially, take the point not to mess with the existing system.

"This will also give me a convenient pretense to keep my draft laws in place. A lot of the newcomers object to the militarized nature of this society. A little massacre by glorified pirates will do more and make my point.

"Thus why I leaked information on the Xel'Naga temple."

Leaked? Had she... planned this? "You leaked it?"

"Of course I did," said Serena. "This showdown was inevitable anyway, so I might as well have it on my terms. And if Mengsk wasn't going to break our deal, there would be no harm, no foul."

"And what about the people who die there?" asked Nova. "How are you any different from Mengsk now?!"

Serena didn't look remotely affected. She had a gun pointed at her, so why was she not even worried. Nova scanned her, but Serena spoke. "You act as if your precious Dominion aren't the ones putting a gun in their mouths. As for how I'm different, what's my alternative? Stand defiantly and declare open rebellion against the Dominion? Even I can't fight the entire Dominion Fleet. And if I could, I still wouldn't.

"Kerrigan is still a problem.

"This truce with Arcturus needs to remain in action until she makes her move.

"...Why are you here, anyway?"

Nova was surprised at the question and reminded of the answer. "To kill you."

"But why are you here to kill me?" asked Serena.

Nova paused. "It's nothing personal. The Emperor has given an order-"

"Is that it? Are you a mindless automaton making pre-programmed one-liners?" asked Serena. "Who are you, Nova Terra? What are your goals, and why do you want them? Do you even have any character traits beyond obedient and pretty?"

"I am a Ghost of the Dominion." snapped Nova. "I don't need more of an identity than that."

"So, you approve of what the Moebius Corps does, then?" asked Serena.

"No, but-" began Nova.

"Then how can you call yourself a Ghost of the Dominion?" asked Serena. "When you embody a concept, you accept everything that concept entails. You haven't shed your personal responsibility because the Dominion mind-wiped you.

"Turning up your nose at brutality you enable without question, does not make you a good person. It makes you a hypocrite."

"And I suppose you are." said Nova.

"Of course not," said Serena. I helped call the zerg down on Antiga Prime. Yes, I was terrified, naive, and in a terrible situation, but that didn't make it right. I had a chance to stop Arcturus before things got to that point, and I did not take it.

"But I'm trying to make the best of a bad situation.

"What are you trying to do, Nova?"

There was no more point in having this conversation. Nova had her orders, and she wasn't going to disobey them. Not just because one of the people she was sent to kill was a good person. Good people died in the Koprolu Sector. "The same thing."

She fired.

The shot went through the air and struck Serena in the left breast. Yet there was a flash of blue energy, and the shot bounced off. Before Nova could move, energy shot out of the walls and struck Nova. Her entire body was forced to a ridged posture. Her gun fell from her hands as she was levitated into the air. Her hands were forced behind her back, as her shields were drained.

"Oh, I forgot to mention that I learned a thing or two about protoss energy shields while on Aiur," said Serena. "And their security systems for holding psychics. Combine it with terran technology and you have an excellent security system for my office.

"It was a snappy one-liner, though." She pressed a button on her desk. Nova tried to speak, but she was completely frozen in place.

"I'm curious, though, how many people have you saved over your life?" asked Serena, typing at her console. "I mean, you've been making headshots, destroying pirate groups and all that for years. Very impressive.

"But how many people have you, personally, by your direct actions, saved."

Nova...

Nova was having trouble thinking of any. She guessed she had saved a few Dominion marines. And the people she had killed had prevented later deaths.

"Now, how does that number compare to Arcturus?" asked Serena.

Emperor Arcturus had commanded the evacuation and protection of numerous worlds. His actions had led to many being saved, that was why she served him.

But who was she to condemn him? Hadn't Mengsk done far more than her to help people? But she was helping him by removing his political enemies. But was Nova sure that killing them was the only way? Maybe if she hadn't been killing them, Mengsk would have needed to negotiate.

Had Nova actually been helping the situation? Or just making it worse?

The answer became irrelevant as Serena Calbas drew out a pistol and put it to Nova's gut. "Have fun stewing in that in hell, blondie."

There was a vicious gunshot, and Nova screamed as the energy dissipated. She fell to the ground, feeling her entire body go numb. As she fell, Serena moved past her body as the door opened.

"Commander Calabas, are you alright?" asked a guard.

"Yes, fine, thank you," said Serena. "Prepare the troops for battle." She glanced back to Nova, as her vision began to fail. "Send the ghost to the desert."

Everything went black.