Chapter 7

Tosh

Day 2, 21:29:12

Spectre Gabriel Tosh

Spectre Leader

Oasis, Mar Sara

I wrap my arm around the injured Spectres back, whose name I had forgot now, and lift him up to where he can stand. Nova begins to slowly walk toward us, but her attention is not focused on us at the moment. It is on the other Ghost, who is kneeling down bleeding heavily out of his right shoulder. His left one has old bandages on it, probably from the last attack. Once I get the Spectre up, I begin to lead us out of the abandon building. I exit the way I came in, which was through the broken window that Nova and her friend so gratefully made. We walk past the actually doorway and past the other window. I catch a glimpse of Nova before we passed the window. She had turned her attention toward us at the last seconds, but hopefully she didn't notice us leaving so abruptly. We walk a few more blocks till we reach a spot on the side of the road where there was little light. I felt like this was a good spot to let out my anger on this man.

I slam him up against the wall, his injured knee hitting it as well. He let out a loud shriek and fell toward the ground and immediately went and grasped his knee. I had the urge to wrap my fingers around his neck and let him suffer, but I needed him if I was going to more Ghost to aid us in destroying the tyrant Mengsk.

"What the hell was that for!" he says, an edge to his voice.

"I would ask the same for you." I say

He gives me a stupid look, which just makes me feel angrier toward him. "You ain't suppose to be hurting the recruits, especially Nova."

"Well how else are we supposed to get her to help us? She won't join willingly. You are the one who told me that."

"I also told you she won't be forced into something she don't want to do."

He looks away from me, but I still have my gaze set on him. He has been a stubborn Spectre, just like Dylanna, and if he kept it up he would end up like her as well. I reach for a small canister on my belt and take up toward my mouth. I take a long drag on the Terrazine inside and letting it fill me up. I feel the gas flowing through me and it feels good. Makes me feel like I can do just about anything, but I know I need to keep my intake on a schedule. I don't want the same incident happening again.

The Spectre shakes his head in disapproval. He was never one to like the Terrazine. He told me that he thought that much power could go to someone's head and corrupt them more than Mengsk. I laugh the first time he told me that.

He returns his gaze back on me. "So, where is our ride? They should be here soon."

Right as he said that our comms beeped once and a voice came over. "Tosh? You there?" Kath says.

I had almost forgotten Kath was helping out in the bridge. She had been doing better since our last encounter with Nova. She was still unable to walk, but her upper half was able to move around. She started to scare me for a while there. We had to get a Dominion surgeon to get her back together. They had to go through extensive surgery and therapy to get her in the shape she is in now. She still isn't the best. I catch her staring into space for long periods of time and sometimes it's hard to get her back to reality. Other than that, the surgeon said she should make a full physical recovery.

"Yeah, I'm here." I finally say. "Where is our ride? I am becoming impatient."

"Well, you're going to have to wait. A few Dominion battlecruisers are outside of Mar Sara as we speak. It will be tough trying to get you guys out."

I slam my fist into the wall. Why would there be more than one battlecruiser in Mar Sara air space? "Well, hurry." I pause, trying to remember the Spectres name was. "Jackson be injured. Did you send the ship out already?"

There is silence for a second. For a little while there, I thought we lost contact to the Palatine. Finally, we hear another beep. "No, it has not, but I will make sure medical personnel are on the dropship."

"Thanks Kath really appreciated it." Jackson says.

"If any other problems occur, just hit me up. I will be with you giving updates on the ships ETA to your position."

The comms fill with static then cut abruptly. I look back at Jackson and he looks back at me. We sit in silence for a good few seconds. His eyes suddenly shift to a different direction. That's when I hear it; the clanking of metal boots. Dominion Marines must be searching for us. I put out my hand for Jackson to grab, which he does instinctively.

"Come on, they are sending patrols out for us. Call Kath; tell her to send the ship to LZ #2."

He does as I ask and I pull him up, wrapping my arm around his back to help him out and lead him out of the cities limits.

Daniel

Day 3, 06:29:57

Dominion Ghost Daniel Torrovois

124th Marine Division

On board the Corrina

I sit at the corner of the couch in the living room of my home. The holocaster shows the recent news, but the volume is off. My father sits a few feet away on a recliner messing with some gadget he must have found on the streets. My younger brother is on the floor in front of the holocaster playing with a toy we bought for him not to long ago. He stops what he is doing to let out a rough cough. My mother comes in with a glass with a pinkish liquid. She told me it was medicine for my brother and that I shouldn't use it. I never tried; I was just curious. I take a glimpse at the window to see what time of day it was. It was usually hard to tell what time it was in our house usually because most of our clocks didn't tell the correct time. I look back at my dad to see if he has done anything new, which he hasn't. He looks back at me and has a shocked look on his face.

"What's up Dan? Why are you staring at me?" He says.

"Just seeing what you're doing over there. What is that thing anyway?" My mother begins to slowly feed my brother the medicine. I am still looking at object in my father's hands.

"I haven't really found that out, to be honest. It was in the street when I picked it up and though it might be of use to us. So far, it doesn't seem like it does much."

I walk toward the window and open it. I needed some fresh air. Right when I opened it, I heard a whistle from below. I looked down and saw a few of my friends. They waved me to follow them. I look back at my family to see if they were paying attention. They weren't, but I feel like I had to inform them of where I was going; don't need them to worry about me.

"Yes, you can go." My father said without looking my direction. I was stunned that he knew what I was thinking, but I always forgot he was a Psionic.

I climb out of the window and prepare for my climb down. I was always glad we were on the third floor of our apartment. It made climbing down less worrisome for me. I begin lowering myself down toward the second floor and grabbed a hold of the window seal. My fingertips were barely holding on, but I wasn't worried about falling. I had done this dozens of times. I lower myself some more until I was close enough to the ground to where I could just drop down. I land right next to my friend Trevor, who gives a smug look.

"You're going to kill yourself doing crazy shit like that one day." He said sarcastically.

I laughed a little. "Hasn't happened yet, so I am not afraid of it. So, what are we planning on doing this late at night?"

He points in a certain direction and I know immediately know where he wants to go. He wants us to mess around with the police force here again. It's not like they really care. They are usually laid back and some of them actually like us.

We began our trek toward the station. It was only 12 blocks from where I lived, so we didn't have to go far. About 9 blocks in we hear gun fire, and it wasn't small arms. This was Dominion Gauss rifles blaring and it was in the direction away from where we were going.

I turned my head in the direction of the noise and stood there for a second. I could hear whispers in my head telling me to head back home, and help them. But who?

"Dan, everything alright? If you are worried about what's happening over there, you shouldn't, probably just the police attempting to break up a drug deal or something stupid." But it already worried me to much now.

"Hey, I am going to head back. I have to check on my family, make sure the fighting is near them." I dash back toward my apartment before they had a chance to change my mind, but I wouldn't have stayed with them either way. I knew my family was in trouble. I could just feel it.

I reach my apartment faster than I expected and when I did, I was in complete shock. There was a Dominion dropship a few feet above our complex. No, why would they be here? I start my dash through the lobby and strait for the stairs. I didn't want to use the elevator; they were slow and usually were broken, so trying to use them could be pointless.

I climbed the stairs three at a time trying to reduce the time it took to get to my families room. I got to the floor and began running toward our room. It was 322, but I used the stairs that would get me closer to the room. I stop when I see the door open wide. I didn't see, at first, that the door was ripped off its hinges. I begin to slowly walk in.

Immediately, I see my father lying on the floor, blood pooling around him. I stand in shock. This couldn't be happening. Not to me. I start toward my brother's room. Big mistake. A Dominion marine stands at the foot of his bed. My mother sits next to my brother and the marine has his rifle trained on her.

"Please, we didn't know anything about it. I promise." My mother pleads. Her eyes reach mine and they grow when she sees who it is. The gun clicks and fires 3 shots; all hitting my mother. I clasped my hands over my mouth to stop from screaming. He fires another shot this time hitting my brother. I could tell they were dead because there movement stopped when the bullets struck them. The marine turns toward me and shows a toothy grin. He grabs me by the collar of my shirt and lifts me to where I am eye level with him.

"Last one guys." He says

He lifts me all the way to the entrance of my apartment room and throws me to the ground in the hall way of the complex, knocking the breath right out of me. I feel the cold steel of the barrel on my head. I close my eyes and hope for the worst, but right when I do, I feel a growing power within me. It feels like nothing I have experienced before. Maybe I could try to use this power to help me escape.

"Any last words, kid?" one of the marines said. I didn't say a thing, just let my mind enter his and starting doing what Psionics did best. I had always known I was a Psionic, my father told me before I truly had a grip on what was wrong with me.

I hear the screams from the marine as the barrel is removed from my head. The other marines noticed what was happening and that's when they knew who I was.

"Flick, kill the bastard!" one of them said. I hear the sound of guns clicking bullets into their chambers and knew I was a good as dead

I jolt awake and suddenly regret it. My vision goes blurry and a splitting headache hits me. I feel a hand on my chest pushing me back down and I don't try to stop it. I lay back on whatever I am laying on and blink rapidly trying to refocus my eyes.

"Daniel its ok, you're fine now. Just relax." A voice tells me. It sounds soft and feminine, probably Nova.

My eyes begin to finally refocus and I catch a glimpse of Nova staring down at me; a smile on her face like she is happy to see me. My splitting headache doesn't go away and now I feel queasy.

"What… What's going on? Where am I?" But right when I ask the question, I already knew where we were. "How long have I been out?" I hear shuffling from behind and when he comes into vision, I know exactly where I am.

"Ah, you're awake Daniel, that's good to know. Right now, you are in the medical bay of the Corrina, and you have been out for…" He checks the time on his holopad. "8 or so hours now."

"What? What happened to me?" I glance at my shoulders and notice they are tightly wrapped with fresh new gauss on them. That's when the flood of memories comes back. The mission, me and Nova stuck in Oasis together, the incident before I passed out, all comes back so fast it makes my headache that much more painful.

"Your status was critical when we found you and Nova. You had almost bled out in front of us. Luckily we had stopped the bleeding just before you died of blood loss. We have you hooked up to a blood pump so we can get you at a stable amount to have you roam the ship."

"How much blood did I lose?"

He stands there silently before answering my question. "Around 60 percent… But I wouldn't worry too much. We are hoping we can get blood levels back to a normal level by your next mission."

Worry! I almost died of blood loss and you tell me not to worry! I wanted to say that but instead I say the other thing that is on my mind. "And how long do we have until our next mission?"

Nova stares at me, now. Her eyes are a light blue and seem almost right for her. It makes her seem like she is the perfect human, and she is. "Next mission is in 2 days. I will try to keep you informed and updated." She looks up at the doctor that is standing across from her. "Could you leave for just a few seconds? I need to speak with him in private."

He nods and leaves the room. We sit in silence for a while before I decide I need to break it. "Nova, about what I said… about what we said on Oasis."

"Stop, I don't want to talk about that here and now. When I feel like we are in a more private room, we can discuss stuff like that." She pauses before continuing. "What I wanted to discuss now was about who we faced back on Mar Sara."

I give her a strange look, but she avoids her eyes from my gaze. "They were a group called the Spectres. Their intent is to bring down Mengsk and his tyrant government." She takes a deep breath and then continues. "They are practically super Ghosts. The reason for this is because they use a drug called Terrazine, which enhances their Psionic powers and makes them a much more difficult foe to face." I hear someone tapping on the door.

"I will tell you more later. It seems as though I have run out of time." She gets up and walks to the door. I had so many questions for her, but she had already gotten up to leave. After that, all I hear is the door open and close; leaving me here in the silence of the room, alone.

I would to thank you guys again for reading my series. As always, I will be posting every week, as I promised (Or at least I think I promised). Feel free to leave a review telling me if you liked it or need some improvement because I always read them, good or bad. I apologies again if my last chapter came out late, I had though I uploaded and noticed that I didn't even put it into a file on the website. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will write to you next time.