Hundreds of drop pods smashed into the northern side of the prison. Mercenaries poured out. A few spectres were spread out among them.

“Open fire!”

The Dominion security forces weren’t blind. As soon as the rebel fleet started bullying the orbital defenses, the ground forces were being deployed throughout the prison. Over ten thousand combatants spread out across the field. A significant amount of mobile units were ready to reinforce any spot where enemies were sighted.

Four drop pods landed in an open platform. Already a ring of marines in red was converging. Following the orders of the officer, they quickly opened fire on the metal transports.

Most of the bullets hit the hull of the drop pods. The pods themselves were designed to withstand both the hostile atmosphere and the impact of landing. It took much more than a few gauss bullets to take them out. Realizing that problem, the marines turned to the exits of the pods.

The rebels couldn’t hide forever. Even if they do, more reinforcements were on the way. Goliaths and siege tanks could turn the drop pods into metal coffins.

Just like the Dominion soldiers imagined, a mercenary marine charged out of the door with his combat shield raised, not that it mattered. The moment he stepped out, half a dozen Dominion marines fired at the same time. Hundreds of bullets ripped through the armor and the man inside.

The second marine came out. He had no choice. His gauss rifle started blasting as soon as he could. One of the Dominion marines’ combat shield wasn’t in place, and a series of bullets went through his helmet, but the rest opened fire as once. The second marine collapsed.

“Nice job, men. Show these criminals the might of the Dominion….ah!” The officer encouraged through the radio, but the next second his words turned into a scream. The marines turned around and found the man dead on the ground with a bullet in the head.

“Where did that come from...Ahhh! My head!”

Out of nowhere, an ultrasonic pulse came out and landed in the middle of the crowd of marines. Immediately, every single marine in the blast radius felt their brains exploding. They weren’t killed, but all of them lost control to their bodies. If it wasn’t for their armor they would’ve been on the ground already.

Unfortunately, standing didn’t mean anything as the mercenary marines poured out of the drop pods. The few marines unaffected by the pulse fought back, but they were quickly overwhelmed. As for the knocked out marines...it was always a pleasure to gun down targets who couldn’t shoot back.

When the last Dominion marine fell, the spectre was already gone.

All across the field Dominion forces retaliated against the invading mercenaries. As the defenders, the Dominion had heavy mech units while the mercenaries mainly had infantries.

Siege tank shells were fired at drop pods. A single shell could turn an entire drop pod into a ball of flames, killing everyone inside. Even if the shell itself missed, the impact it generated could send the mercenaries flying.

But in comparison to siege tanks, goliaths were the MVP. When the drop pods were in the air, the goliaths’ Hellfire missiles could unleash, well, hellfire upon the pods. Even after the drop pods landed, the mech’s autocannons could tear them open.

But the rebels weren’t sitting duck either. In fact, some would even say they have an advantage.

“Area 3D. Bunker.”

A string of laser batteries from one of the Minatour battlecruisers changed that.

“Area 8B. Multiple siege tanks.”

The siege tanks exploded.

“Area 49D. Dominion reinforcement.”

Three bright orange balls of energy came down from the sky and burned the crowd of marines and marauders alive. The men and women barely made out a scream before being evaporated.

The New Folsom Defensive Fleet was dead. The orbital defenses were taken out. The rebel fleet had full dominance over the skies of the prison. This allowed them to fire freely. Nuclear weapons would defeat the purpose of the rescue mission, but a carefully placed laser battery could take out Dominion heavy weaponry with ease and turn the tide of battle.

The Dominion fought bravely, but rebel forces were starting to gain a foothold. Drop pods after drop pods have converged, forming an army. A few modified drop pods deployed a dozen rebel goliaths and siege tanks, which only solidified the rebel front even more.

“Sir, should we call in the fleet now!” Once again, the Spec Ops ghost asked.

In front of him and Nova, a large screen showed the situation of the entire prison. Red dots signaling Dominion presence were gradually decreasing, replaced by blue dots representing the rebels.

“Wait. Tosh has not been sighted in the field. We can’t afford to miss.” Nova didn’t let the disappearing dots affect her judgment. Every dot represented hundreds of Dominion soldiers, and the fact that they were disappearing meant hundreds of lives were lost in just minutes.

“How do we know he’ll show his face?”

“Tosh wants to be the savior of his people. There’s no way he’s giving up the chance to be the first face they see. Keep your eyes and ears open for anyone that matches his description.”

“Yes sir, but don’t you think that’s too passive?”

“What do you suggest?”

“Tosh is not getting in the field because he doesn’t need to, but if we give him a reason…” The Specs Ops ghost looked at Nova. “if you can appear in the battlefield and show Tosh you are here, he might be willing to come down here and try to take you out.”

The Specs Ops ghost was slightly hesitated in giving that idea. Even for someone as trained as Nova, the battlefield like this was a dangerous place. A random tank shell could kill her. But the neural chip in his brain was working, and he was forced to say and do what was best for the Dominion.

The same type of chip functioned inside Nova’s brain, and the female ghost recognized this idea was good for the Dominion. Just that was enough to make her forget about the dangers.

Without another word, she stood up, grabbed onto her rifle, and walked out of the command center.

---

“Sir, the Dominion are falling back. Our forces are converging upon the inner halls that hold the prisoners. We are taking heavy losses, but we are pushing through.“

“Good.”

“Another thing, sir.” The mercenary officer in the field looked at a body beside him. It was a spectre, and its head was blasted open. “One of your men is dead, sir.”

Tosh realized the officer wasn’t talking about some random mercenary. The only reason he would call him would be because it was a spectre that was killed. More likely, the spectre is not killed by a blind grenade or a random siege tank shell.

“He was taken out by a shot in the head, sir.”

“Nova.” Tosh immediately connected the dots. Nova knew he would come here and one of his spectres was just sniped. Normal ghosts couldn’t kill spectres with such an overwhelming advantage. “She’s provoking me.” He smirked. “A big mistake.” He grabbed onto his rifle and walked out of the bridge.

It was likely a trap, but neither Jean nor Viper stopped him. Viper didn’t stop him because she didn’t care. Jean didn’t say anything because she knew Tosh wouldn’t listen.

That’s the problem with the psionically enhanced. They were used to be the ones with overwhelming power. The knowledge of being able to kill almost anyone they wanted to made them arrogant. Was Tosh really stupid enough to think this was anything but a trap? That man was an elite covert operative who has fought in more battles than Jean could imagine. If Jean could see it, so could he.

But Tosh still went? Why? He went because he was confident he was strong enough to kill Nova and keep himself unscratched.

What else could Jean do?

Tosh was on the ground. Viper was controlling the attack. Instead of aimlessly worrying about something she couldn’t control, Jean turned her attention to the New Folsom Defensive Fleet, or at least the former New Folsom Defensive Fleet.

The Gorgon and 14 Minotaurs were hers now. Through the malware she installed, Jean could see everyone on it was dead. If the lack of oxygen didn’t kill the men, the radiation Jean let into the hulls of the ship did.

At this point all Jean needed to do was make a few modifications to the ships and install a Warden AI, and she would find herself with an entire fleet to work with.

Unfortunately, this was not something she could do right now.

Yes, Jean knew this was a trap by the Dominion. In fact she doubted if any player in this field honestly thought this was not a trap. Nova. Tosh. But all of them were willing to jump into this trap because they believed they could come out on top in the end.

Jean didn’t know what Nova’s card was, but she was fairly certain whatever it was, it could make the orbit of the planet a deadly place. That was not where she wanted to keep fifteen ships that could be turned to her personal fleet but were currently defenseless.

Fortunately, she made a discreet change to the ships’ warp drives. They were programmed to jump to a set of coordinates she entered.

She tapped a set of numbers into her computer, and the next second the fifteen metal tombs disappeared.

---

On the ground.

“This is Nova. Tosh is in the field! Spring the trap now!”

“Yes sir.”

The Specs Ops ghost agent complied. The sound of guns firing in the background of Nova’s radio explained to him how Nova knew that.

All across the prison, hundreds of figures emerged from underground covers. They were mostly infantry units like marines, marauders, medics, and ghosts, but anyone who knew who these units also knew they were not to be messed with.

They were soldiers of the Dominion Special Forces.

If a list was to be made about the strengths of different Dominion forces, then Dominion Special Forces would be on the top, along with Mengsk’s personal guards.

Special forces soldiers were recruited from already established armed forces. Scouts. Officers. Lower leveled special forces. Even commanders’ personal guards. They already had the experience, skill, and training when they first joined.

To complement the software, Dominion engineers equipped them with the best hardware and technology across the sector. Everything about them, whether it was armors, weapons, or other equipment, were the peak of terran technology.

Just look at the elite marines. The gauss rifles of elite marines held twice the punch of standard marine gauss rifles. Their armor could hold off half a dozen banelings before showing the first sign of falling apart. Apart from the basics, they had enhanced stim packs, capable of not only greatly enhancing the speed, strength, and reflexes of the users but also quickening their cellular regeneration, and laser targeting systems, which provided the elite marines with detection and warned them of enemy presence. A single elite marine could crush half a dozen standard Dominion marines without even endangering himself.

Not to mention the marauder commandos, elite medics, and Specs Ops ghosts. A couple strike goliath towered over the slightly shorter infantry soldiers.

There were only a couple hundred Special forces here, but they were enough.

As soon as they appeared, the Special forces opened fire.

“Take these bastards out!” One of the mercenary officers who saw the Special forces didn’t think anything of it. As far as he could tell they were just a group of random Dominion soldiers, and he had hundreds of mercenaries and two spectres by his side.

That changed as soon as the two sides opened fire.

Dominion elite marines positioned their combat shields at a degree so they provided maximum protection without stopping them from firing. Mercenary rounds hit their combat shields and were stopped. The impact they carried, weakened by the shield and the armor, barely made the elite marines buckle. A few shots went by the shields, but the armors took care of that.

The elite marines retaliated, and mercenary marines were mowed down like a grass field in front of a lawnmower. Their armor shattered like paper in front of the modified gauss rifles.

The two spectres the mercenaries relied on failed the trust placed on them. In fact, they were among the first casualties. Five Spec Ops ghosts turned the two assassins into two headless bodies.

The officer that spoke never had a chance to realize how dumb he was. A railgun from a marauder commando went through the marine in front of him, went through him, and dropped another marauder before collapsing.

Within just minutes, that squad of over two hundred mercenaries was taken out. The Special Forces didn’t lose a single man.

This was going to be a difficult fight.