Hi, sorry it took so long, hopefully next one will be up sooner.

The inside of the ship was dark, and with the sun setting, there wasn't much light entering through the windows. The group walked up to the bridge, "Looks stable enough" York said as they entered, "No equipment seems to be missing or broken" He walked up to the pilot's chair and turned it around.

"D, do you see what I see?"

"It seems to be a U.N.S.C. soldier" Delta, replied.

"Is he alive?" Samus asked as they stared at the man in blue armor before them.

"According to his armor's internal computer, his pulse and breathing are normal, but there seems to be no brain activity" Delta answered her.

"Yawn" the blue armored man stretched his arms, "Oh, Hello"

"There must be an error with his helmet's readings" Delta replied.

"Don't be silly, helmets can't read!" the blue man smiled, "They don't have eyes" he added.

"I'm Agent York, are you the pilot of this ship?"

"No, I just came here after the explosion" the blue man replied, "The others were sent to the future" he added in a whisper.

"The future?" York frowned.

"Yes, you see Church was facing forward, and the other guys where in front of him, but I was to the side, that's why I was sent here"

"I think the helmet wasn't all that wrong" York whispered to the others then looked back at him, "What's your name soldier?"

"Private Michael J. Caboose" the blue soldier replied, "But my friends call me Caboose…and the lady from the radio calls me Roger…it's like a nickname"

"Uh…ok, Caboose it is" York replied, then looked towards the others, "Ok, time to see if we can get this baby up and running"

"I hate babies" Caboose added before running to join the others.

The group spent the next few hours fixing torn cables and welding broken pieces, the ship was for the most part intact, with the only problem being the ignition. When they found the crew's quarters they decided to take a rest for the night. They felt safe inside the ship, but it was always better to be prepared, so Kilowog took the first watch of the night.

York had the last watch; he'd been staring out of the observation deck when the sky begun to lighten as sunrise approached, "how long was it?" he asked.

"The night lasted 10.5 hours" Delta replied as he appeared, illuminating the room with his green light.

"Do you think we'll be able to find our way back?" York asked, "From what we've learned from the others, they're not even from our same galaxy, so either they are very lost…"

"…or we are" Delta finished his sentence, "I am sorry Agent York, but that calculation is too large for me to…"

"Looks like I finally found a problem too big for you" York smiled.

"Yes well, the universe is infinite" the AI said.

It seemed to York that wasn't so much a reply, but more of an excuse for not being able to complete the calculations. The small figured looked up behind him then disappeared, "You have company" the Ai's voice came from inside his head.

"What are you thinking?" Samus said as she sat down next to him.

"Home" York said then turned to look at her, she looked so different without her armor on, she looked beautiful.

"You miss it?" Samus asked as she crossed her arms over her knees.

"Not really, I don't have anything to go back to" he paused, "Except the army" he added. By now the sun was visible in the horizon, "I feel like it's my duty to go back, but the truth is that I don't really want to"

"You don't have to" Samus replied as she stood up, "You've got skill, you could be a bounty hunter or a mercenary" York smiled but didn't say anything, "I could always use a partner" she added as she walked away, "Right now I feel like I could use the help".

It wasn't more than an hour or so before everyone was up and about, Taesius explained to them that his race doesn't eat, but instead feeds from the light energy of the sun, but said he had seen Terran soldiers hunt for a creature called Karak to use as a food source. Finding the bird-like creatures and hunting one down had not been hard for Kilowog, who had their breakfast killed, cleaned and cooked in little time.

"Ship repairs are almost done" York said as he cleaned grease off his hands, "Just need to connect the ignition coil and we'll be good to go" he stopped and stared at the group, "Which brings us to our next problem; there isn't much fuel, we won't be able to get very far"

"We need only to travel to the mother ship in orbit above us" Taesius replied, "Once there, I may be able to get you transports and supplies"

"Then we're set" York smiled, "time to get back to…" suddenly the ground began to shake, "Delta! Report?"

"Sensors do not detect a seismic event; it would seem the source of the quake is situated above ground" the little green hologram replied.

Suddenly York remembered the creature that had attacked them the night before, "Taesius ! is it the…?"

"Zerg!" Taesius's mental shout showed the urgency of the situation, York turned to where Taesius was looking and he was filled with dread. Above them, where the mountains sank in to the valley there was an army unlike anything he had ever seen. Thousands of creatures ranging in size and shape came running, crawling, jumping and flying at them, at the center a woman stood pointing straight at them.

"The queen of Blades" he heard Taesius say inside his head.

"Kilowog! You and Taesius protect the ship, Samus be ready to launch" York was surprised how everyone quickly obeyed his orders, "Come on Caboose, I'll need your help with the ignition coil"

"Ok, I'll help with the intention foil!" Caboose said as he followed him into the ship.

Kilowog stood before the ship and created a green barrier between them and the coming enemies, "Better hurry" he said through his comm device which had now been set to the same frequency as the other's, "I don't know how long we'll be able to hold them back!"

"Just a couple of minutes" York said as he worked, using Deltra's glow as a light source "Caboose! Hand me that wrench!"

"Here you go" the blue soldier did as he was told.

"That's a screwdriver" York said angrily.

"Ok, this one!" Caboose replied happily.

"That is a spoon" York clentched his teeth.

"Oh…how about this one?"

"That's the screwdriver again!" York shouted.

"You're mean"

"Caboose, I believe Agent York would like for you to give him the tool next to your right hand" Delta said in his ever so calm voice.

"Then why didn't he just say so!" Caboose handed York the wrench then turned to Delta, "Are you a leprechaun?... Oh! can I have a wish?"

"Caboose, I don't…"

"I wish York could be a real boy! …Oh, and a bicycle"

Kilowog had been forced to raise his barrier so that he could fight the flying shrimp that where attacking from the air, meanwhile Taesius was battling the ground units with his energy blades. "How are things coming along York?"

"Almost done, Samus get ready to start the ship"

"Roger that" Samus replied.

"What?" Caboose asked.

"Never mind"

York and Caboose were now running through the ship, "I'm going to go help Kilowog and Taesius, Caboose you go with Samus and help her…" York stopped mid-sentence, "You know what, just go and put your seatbelt on" he said as he pointed which way he should go, "And try not to touch anything"

York jumped out of the ship and begun shooting at the enemy, by now Kilowog and Taesius had been overrun but not defeated, "Try to make your way back to the ship!" he shouted as he shot a creature in the head. Taesius had no trouble making his way through the horde of Zergs, but York saw Kilowog fall after he was tackled by an Ultralisk. Shooting at everything that moved York ran towards the green lantern and helped him up, "You're injured".

"I can walk" Kilowog said as he begun to limp across the battlefield.

"We're almost there!" York shouted when he saw Taesius, fighting the creatures to keep them from entering the ship, "I can see the door!"

York felt a flash of pain as he fell to his knees, Kilowog didn't see him go down he knew, for the green lantern kept limping towards the ship. There was another flash of pain and the next thing he knew he was lying face up on the ground staring at the woman he had seen before. "Q…Queen of blades" he managed to say.

"I see my reputation precedes me" the woman said as she placed a foot on his chest, "You have killed many of my children she said as she caressed one of the creatures by her side, "For that you will pay" She pressed forward with her heel. York didn't know exactly from where, but he was sure he was losing blood, a lot of blood.

"Tell me human, what is your name?" the Zerg woman asked as she lowered her gaze and pulled him up to stare at him face to face. "You won't speak?" she said as she slowly removed his helmet, "No matter, I'll know everything soon enough" slowly she put her finger upon his bad eye. He couldn't see her nail upon it, but he could feel as she forced it between his eyelids and pierced into the useless globe inside, "Soon you will be one of us" she smiled.

Panic filled his mind as he struggled to pull free of her hold but it was of no use, she wasn't just on top of him, she was also inside him. He could feel something slithering from her finger to his eye. A worm he thought, as he felt it move inside though it felt softer, almost liquid and warm. Slowly he fell limp before her, the fight in him was gone, and he didn't know if it was because of the blood loss or whatever it was that she was doing to him, but to tell the truth, he didn't really care anymore.

"Do not give up" he heard a voice say.

"Who…who's there?" he thought he'd said the words out loud, but he had just thought them.

"Do not give up Agent York" he recognized the voice as Delta's, "You can still get out of this alive, my calculations show that…"

"You are mine now" he heard a second voice inside his head, "You serve only me now, I am your queen"

"My queen" York repeated obediently.

"Your consciousness still remains" Delta's voice persisted, "It is merely being manipulated by a psychoactive substance in her…"

"Shut up!" his queen's voice demanded "how can you have two minds? How can you resist?"

"I am not a mind, not entirely" Delta replied.

"He is mine now" his queen's voice sounded more and more angry.

"I'm afraid I cannot allow you to continue"

Suddenly he felt as her queen attacked the insubordinate AI, he didn't know how, but he could feel the pain that his queen was inflicting on Delta. At first York felt like he should help, but there was nothing he could do, it was the AI's own fault for speaking against the queen, for speaking against his queen.

"Please York, I will not be able to help you much longer" Delta's voice sounded strange to him.

"Help me?" he thought, it was the AI that was being tortured, why would he need help, he was just a humble servant to his queen; he needed no help.

"You have to fight York" the AI's voice sounded so different to him, why did it sound so different?

At last York realized why, the AI…Delta, he was in pain, he was suffering, and he was sad. Delta had never let an emotion show in his voice, he had proved that he could feel something similar to emotions, but never actually shown it with such intensity.

"Delta!" York shouted as he grabbed hold of Kerrigan's hand, for that was her true name he knew, "Leave Delta alone!" he pulled her hand away from him and stood before her, his eye trickling with blood.

In her face he could see her shock at being disobeyed, at being refused. Quickly he reached for his helmet then activated the speed unit in his boot before she could have time to react, "Samus! Start lift off!" he said through the comm channel.

"But…"

"Just do it!" York shouted as he ran through a maze of enemy Zergs.

The ship slowly started to lift off; turning towards their destination once it was several feet above ground and away from enemy attacks.

"Delta! Are you there?" York asked, "I'm going to need you to run some calculations ok?" he waited but there was no reply, "I'm sorry little buddy" he said as he neared his position, "Guess I'll have to do this the old fashioned way" He ran up the back of an Ultralisk until he reached the head, bent his feet and with a powerful push flew into the air, breaking the Zerg's skull in the process.

At first he rose faster than he would have believed, but as he neared the ship his velocity lowered and just as he was about to start falling a green baseball mitt caught him in the air and pulled him in. That was the last thing he remembered before passing out.

Once in orbit Samus set the ship in autopilot then ran up to Kilowog and Taesius who were carrying York up to the bridge, "How is he?" she asked, but could tell the answer from their grim faces.

"He needs medical attention" Kilowog replied, "Soon"

"The mother ship should not be far" Taesius said, "Our biology is different, but my people will do what they can to help him"

"Freelancer Agent York" Kerrigan said as she looked up in to the sky, "You cannot run for we are now connected, now and forever" She sat down on top of a brood lord, "you will be mine, you will be my King of blades"

Hope you liked it, if you did please review, it motivates me to keep writing and helps me get better at it. Constructive criticism is always welcome.