The War Continued..
By: Predator

�Another one. Sector 7A.�
�Who�s doing this? Is there anything left?�
�Nope. The colony was completely sterilized, even the probes were destroyed before they could send us back and useful information.�

Marcus Creed fell back into his seat in the officer�s lounge. He�d just finished investigating the final shell of what had used to be a planet. For unknown reasons, Terran colonies were being decimated by a race of alien beings known as the Protoss. With only minimal contact up until this point, the Protoss was the greatest enemy not only to the Federation, but also to humanity in this sector. Creed had arrived well after they�d left though. As much as he hated to admit it, it was fortunate he had not run into the Protoss. Any novice in military intelligence could see that waging a battle against them, at least for now, would be suicide.

Creed and Colonel Hauler both knew that fact well. At least, Hauler had known it and had passed the information on the Creed. Hauler commanded Nova Squad, the �first to know� Black Ops and intelligence company in the Confederation. Creed and Hauler had developed a comfortable relationship. Hauler provided the information, location, and gear, Creed won the battles. It wasn�t spectacular, but it was highly unusual to see mixing between the sleek, smooth styles of Nova Squad with the commander of whatever grunts had been assigned to him for a particular battle. Together they had formed a force to be reckoned with, Hauler�s men providing the clandestine operations, Creed commanding his men in battle with staggering efficiency. In over 70 battles, the pair had lost a mere 700 men, a staggering number when one took into account that the average lifespan of a Marine in battle was two and a half minutes.

Recently however, this Protoss threat provided a clear and present danger for the Confederation to deal with. While avoiding and direct military combat, the Protoss ruthlessly and randomly hammered the few fringe civilian worlds. Of the original five, only one remained, and most had a guess for what would happen there.

�Guess what?�
Hauler said, sipping at his coffee. �You�ve got a new assignment. You know where?�
�No. Bet you have though.�
�Uh-huh.�
�I�m not even curious how you know these things anymore.� Creed grabbed at his own mug of coffee. Java, although synthesized, could still pack quite a wallop. He had to thank those geeks who came up with this stuff someday.

�You�re gonna be a desk jockey.�
Creed stopped, the coffee mug halfway to his mouth. �You�re kidding me.�
�I kid you not.�
�Why!?!? WHERE!?!� Creed stood, his body rigid. �Dammit I command soldiers in battle, not civilians!�
�Well, you�ll have to adjust. You�re the new Colonial Magistrate of Mar Sara.� Hauler said, saluting with his cup.

�Oh�� Creed mumbled. Colonial Magistrate meant god on one of the fringe worlds, essentially. However on Mar Sara? It was the only fringe colony that had not been destroyed by the Protoss, and now he was being sent in, probably to stop them, or to gain a small amount of information on them before he was destroyed.
�God� that�s not a desk job. I�m the last line of defense against a Protoss invasion.� Creed groaned, stretching. �Well, what do I get to start with?

�Nothing but the locals, and the army already there. Other than that, you�re on your own. Think you could stop the Protoss?�
�Maybe, but with a helluva lot more help than I�m probably gonna get. Cheers, I�m going to become a colonial god.� Creed said, lifting his mug.
�God of the Ozarks.� Hauler smiled.
�What?� Caius sat in front of his huge equipment locker, putting away his C-10 Canister Rifle and body armor.�You heard me. There�s a rumor that a new magistrate�s gonna be taking over, probably to file us all into a nice straight line for the Protoss to shoot.�
This is such BS. Ever since Chau Sara got fried, everyone�s been on the edge, and that makes sense. But now, we�re the last colony left and the Confederation is leaving us out to deal with the Protoss on our own?� Caius yanked a towel out of his locker and headed towards the already crowded showers. One of his few friends among the Ghosts, Jessie Meyers trailed behind him. She was another of the growing ranks of female Ghosts, and was probably the only person willing to shut him up when he started acting like an asshole. Jessie moved into the shower next to Caius, quickly stripping and turning the knob for her ten minutes of rationed shower water. A spray of semi-warm water hit her body as Caius reached for the knob below his showerhead.

Maybe joining Nova Squad won�t be that bad. I mean, they are the best of the best. Heck, it�d be nice to have a few more Ghosts around to talk to. There are only eight on base right now, including you and me.� Jessie said, rinsing the sweat from that day�s training from her body.
�Please, they�ll look down their noses at us like we�re retarded yokels or something.� Caius flipped the knob for his shower off, drying quickly and wrapping his towel around his waist. �Anyways, they�re not gonna be here to help, they�re probably just gonna be here to study.�
Walking towards the lockers, Caius brought his clothing out to meet him. He did this, without the aid of limbs or robotics however. Caius and Jessie, like all other Ghosts was a psionic. The proclaimed �next level� in human evolution. Some had the gift of telepathy along with telekinesis, and Caius was lucky enough to have a little of the former, just enough to work the Psi-link with his rifle.
Donning the dark blue fatigues, Caius closed his locker, annoyed. �First we hear that we�re the only colony left, then we hear that there�s a new Magistrate coming, and now Sarge is coming down on me like a ton of bricks! What the hell did I do so wrong that I deserve this?�

Jessie looked at him critically. �You�re not that stupid, are you? We all read the performance charts last week, and you scored way higher than any of us! Christ! What do people have to do, slap you in the face and tell you you�ve got a lot of untapped Psi ability?� Caius rolled his eyes. He had heard the stories from the Drill Sergeant. That if he just worked at it he could be one of the best ghosts in the military.
�It�s all BS Jess, and you know it. I don�t have super-powers just because I can do a few things better than the rest of you.� �You just don�t get it Xavier, you really don�t.� Jessie said, turning to walk away, pissed off at his stubbornness.

Caius shrugged, not really caring. Being removed from your parents when you were not even six months old and being forced into strict and rigorous training regimen did odd things to your personality. Like being an insufferable prick some of the time. As far as he was concerned however, becoming a Ghost was the most titanic piece of military crap he�s ever had to swallow. Even worse, he had to do all of it for the Confederacy, a government that was known for its malevolence and corruption.
�Maybe those rebels, the Sons of Korhal have an opening.� He mumbled. Trudging into the mess hall, he stood at the line for food. That day�s meal consisted of Turkey and random vegetables from the Agriculture fields. For a place that could get its supplies straight for the people, somehow the food still managed to be utterly horrible.


Continues...

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