Narud’s office. The young, once courageous lieutenant had lost all of his confidence as 20 wraiths just took down 24 vikings and were getting closer and closer to the planet. All the laser batteries and missiles and fighters merely destroyed 4 of the wraiths. 4! If they were 20 Moebius wraiths then they would be wiped out already.

The ground defenses kept on firing. The closer the wraiths got the harder it was to dodge the projectiles. In a few seconds another 2 wraiths fail. The wreckages, just like previous destroyed wraiths, crashed onto the surface of the planet and laid there, motionless.

In his cockpit, Edward again frowned as the wraiths didn’t even bother slowing down as it engaged the planet. What the hell? Anyone with common sense would know to slow down and move parallel with the enemy fortress so it was easier to dodge. Only fools would charge head on into the base. The explosion of wraiths couldn’t do anything to enemies’ heavily fortified position. But then again no one with common sense would do what the wraiths did.

All of a sudden a signal on Edward’s computer glared. The captain knew it was the sign to retreat. He didn’t know what his commander wanted. The wraiths would be destroyed if the vikings left and the ground defenses and fighters could focus fire. Then again he didn’t really care as long as he got paid.

“Pull back boys.” Edward ordered and turned his ship around and added all power to the engine. The 32 survivors from his team did the same and left their enemy fighters and ran. The Mobius unleashed a few rounds, but then decided not to chase after them because there was a whole Dominion fleet outside the firing range.

In Narud’s office, the young lieutenant took a sign of relief as all the wraiths crushed into the planetary defenses. Some of them crushed into missile turrets and laser batteries. One of them paved a bloody way through a dozen marines. One of the wraiths even landed on top of Narud’s base. Luckily none of the wraiths exploded upon landing.

“These mercenaries are idiots.” He said, regaining his confidence and trying to cover up the shame of being so frightened before. “A pity. They’re brave and skilled, but nonetheless stupid. If all those rebels can do is this then our victory is sealed.”

Narud didn’t share his optimism. Something was off. The skills showed by the wraiths meant these ships could only be piloted by elite veterans. What kind of commander would send a group of veterans to die for no reason.

His thought went to the ship wreckage. Something was wrong. They were too evenly distributed. Also the dangerous feeling only grew stronger and stronger every second. Narud hesitantly reached into one of the wreckages with his psi energy. Now that it was closer he could feel the contents of the ship more clearly.

Mercenary styled wraiths. Cloaking engine removed. No pilot body. Computer guided system. Missiles in storage. Tactical nuke two seconds to explosion. Fractured wing…

Wait what?

Narud had no time to respond as all the wraith wreckages exploded, and thousands of Celsius degrees of heat engulfed most of the Moebius base.

Tactical nukes were powerful weapons. They could do massive amount of area damage in a short amount of time by releasing astonishing amount of heat that could destroy almost everything. Usually getting them to the enemy center without being stopped was most of the problem. Once the nukes get close to their targets, they couldn’t be stopped. This was exactly the case now.

Nuclear explosion consumed everything. Heavily armored missile turrets and ground to air batteries that could stand against battlecruiser laser batteries for hours lasted seconds before melting down. Human bodies were evaporated into absolutely nothing by the immense energy. Their CMC armor survived a few more seconds than their wearer. The entire process was painless for the human because they were long dead before they could feel any pain. Bunkers and buildings turned into metal barbecue chambers.

Narud did his best to use his energy to form a barrier around himself as the heat hit him. All around him things were reduced to basic elements. His seat. His table. His room. Men and women outside disappeared without making a voice. This was so sudden they didn’t even have the time to scream. Beside Narud the lieutenant evaporated instantly. The xel’naga ignored the lieutenant’s death and struggled to hold on, but one of the wreckages landed on top of where he was, and he was hit with the majority of the nuclear missile.

Psionic didn’t mean invincible, and Narud learned that just before his barrier broke down and his body was turned to ashes, just like the human beings he looked down upon, and his conscious returned to the void to a disappointed master….

On Helios, Warfield stared in wonder as massive explosions of blinding light destroyed the majority of the Moebius stronghold. As the smoke cleared, the once populated and beautiful planet now looked like it had went through a nuclear apocalypse. Most of the things that halted the Dominion fleet, batteries, missile turrets, bunkers and siege tanks that were ready for any type of landing forces, were melted to ashes. The few survivors were no threat to Dominion advances. There were still some vikings in the sky, but they weren’t enough without the ground support.

Now that he had watched everything unfold Warfield realized what Jean’s plans were. The girl hid nukes in the wraiths and made them appear like mercenaries on Moebius’s side and sent them in. If the Moebius were stupid then the wraiths would get to the planet safely and if they were wiser then the wraiths would make an attack. Either way the wraiths would deliver the nukes to the planet.

It was effective, but Warfield knew he could never do something like this. First he would never send his men on a suicide mission, even if his man agreed to join the mission. Second, Warfield considered himself a man with a code. He would do anything against aliens like zerg or protoss, and he might even hunt down rebels for the sake of the Dominion, but he would never use weapons of mass destruction on men.

“Send in a squad.” Warfield ordered. He knew Moebius was gone, but his experience and logic told him to be careful. On the battlefield anything could happen.

“Yes sir.”

The Dominion efficiency was inquestionable. Sure, from a certain point of view the Dominion wasn’t the nicest government, but it had a great leader and a group of patriotic men and women in service. The military was ruled with strict discipline and armed with the most advanced military. These ideas kept the relatively weak Dominion alive from the menacing swarm and the powerful protoss.

Within a few minutes after the order was given a small squad of special ops troopers was sent down to the surface of the planet within 2 medivacs.

As the transport full of elite Dominion troops flew down toward the ravaged planet below, Jean, in the Hyperion, tapped on her computer screen and opened a file.

She looked at the figure in the file and wondered if the beast survived the nuclear assault.