Wow, that little zergling really is behaved o-o.
"Yep, he only bit me once while like this, and that time I sort of had it coming since I bugged him a little too much."
Not surprising, you know if it wasn't for the fact that it's a giant killer space bug, I would've made it my guard dog.
"Heeeey he's my pet, get your own."
Whatever -_-, now let's get going.
Chapter 25: Imminent Threat
It has been a busy week for Ariel, from working with the politics of the colony, having to cover for Isaac and his family, and having to lead the cleaning efforts of the entire colony. To say that she was stressed by all of this is an understatement as she hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep as she should. She looks around at the messy colony, workers coming and going as they continue to clean up the mess that the storm had left behind, and after taking the sight in she rubs her forehead in exhaustion.
"Ariel, I've got something to tell you." Thyme comes in.
"Not now Thyme, I'm a little busy keeping the colony together." Ariel answered, clearly annoyed by this.
"I'm sorry, but this can't wait, it's urgent." Though her fatigue kept her from noticing it there was a hint of fear in his voice.
"Is it another storm?"
"I wish it was." The dread in his voice finally caught her full attention as she snaps out of her irritation.
"What do you mean?"
"The zerg, they're here in the system."
"Have these reports been confirmed?" Her heart begins to beat faster in fear.
"They have, it is estimated that they'll be here within the hour." Her blood freezes in its place the moment the last word was spoken. She thought that they were safe from the zerg menace due to their distance away from the other planets.
"We need to evacuate the colonist now!" A dominion dropship suddenly flies over them and into the atmosphere. They watch as it was soon followed by more dropships following suit and disappearing into the clouds. This is when she finally realizes what is going on.
"Those bastards, they're abandoning us." Despite her previous displeasure with the Dominion the situation presented to her still shook her to the core.
"What the hell do you mean we're leaving!?" A loud and rather displeased voice was heard from behind a nearby building. The two scientists rushed over to investigate the situation. They hide behind the side of the house and peak from behind to get a better view as to what is going on.
In front of them lays a landed dropship with its ramp down, at the top of it stands three marines with the middle one looking like the leader with his bright gold insignia on his chest plate. At the bottom is a group comprising of only a single marine and marauder standing in complete opposition of the ones on top.
"They're orders from the very top, all Dominion forces are to pull back to defend the core worlds. Now get on the ship." The Sergeant responds in a cruel tone.
"And leave these civies to the Zerg? No damn way!" The voice which now is confirmed to be from the marauder retorts.
"This is an absolute order solider now get on the ship!" The sergeant's voice began to lose its cruel calmness as he begins to lose his patience.
"And what if I don't?" The rebel lifts up his weapons causing everyone else to instantly take aim at him and his companion. They hold at a standstill for a good half a minute or so before the leader broke the silence.
"Leave 'em, the zerg can have them." His subordinates lower their weapons and walk into the ship with him while the ramp lifts. The ship begins to launch right after, slowly lifting high up into the air before darting off in the same direction as the others, being one of the last ships to leave Agria to its fate.
"So, what now?" The marine asks him in a heavy country accent.
"I guess we find the person in charge and help them from there." He shrugs his shoulders and was going to move out when Ariel steps out from cover to the fright of Thyme.
"That would be me, I'm Ariel Hanson, chief medical scientist and leader of the colony."
"So, you're the head honcho. Well I'm Hunk, your friendly neighborhood marauder, at your service." He bows as much as his bulky armor can allow. "This is my friend Tom."
"Hello there miss." He just waves a hand at her as a greeting.
"I'm truly grateful that you stayed, but we have a lot to do."
"Just say the word."
"Alright, I want you two to set up a small barricade to the south entrance of the town, if any survivors come in through there let them through."
"Got it boss, let's get going." He and the marine go off to complete their objective before Ariel turns to Thyme.
"I need you to set up defenses across the town to hold off any early aggression, we cannot afford to lose this town until everyone here is off-world. I'll go and notify the entire colony and set up a distress call."
"Will do ma'am." The male scientist runs off to complete his task leaving Ariel alone in the yard where the ship once was.
"Alright time to do my part, but first." She begins to rush towards her science center while taking a phone out of her lab coat pocket. She dials a series of numbers on the device and puts it up to her ear. "He's not going to like this."
It's a peaceful day at Isabel's little home, aside from the hybrids currently training since daybreak again, everything as been calm for the girl.
She would be enjoying the serenity of the world if it wasn't for the fact that she and her father have to clean up the mess in their sizeable farmland left behind by the storm, there's debris of trees and puddles of mud filling in spots where their crops used to be. Prior to the storm it was going to look like a bountiful harvest this season and so they would have plenty of the native porsh plants to use in their meals, but to their dismay most of it is now unusable. Instead now she's picking up whatever scraps of their crops are left for them to use, shifting through the mud for any intact porsh plants. Her father meanwhile is picking up the debris consisting of tree parts and unusable porsh plants.
In her arms right now are about half a dozen of red spheres that are about double the size of a fist that she's barely keeping in her arms as it is. Just as she was going to return to the balcony to put them in the basket on the table, she was barely able to spot something sticking out of the wet dirt, it was another porsh plant and it looks intact. She wants to pick it up but her arms are full and since her dad also has his hand full with his duty he can't help either. She kicks it to feel that it was stuck deep in the mud. Not wanting to make a second trip for this one plant she focuses her mind on the plant in an attempt to pule it out of the ground with her mind.
At first it was difficult for her as the crop refuses to budge out of the mucky ground, but with a few more tries she was able to free it from its muddy prison and into the air. She lets some of the mud drip off before gently settling it down on top of the ones she holds.
Her feet sink into the ground with every step she starts to head back to the balcony to put down her cargo. Out of the corner of her eye she sees her father walking back as well showing that he's done with his task as well.
After traversing the muddy farmland and setting their crop on the table she sits on the edge of the balcony in the shade, wiping the sweat off her forehead as she looks at their ruined field. With it being the size of their entire house she was surprised that they finished it so quickly, though maybe it all felt quick since they were so focused on finishing their tasks.
"Here you go." Isaac presents her with a glass of water which she immediately takes as she just noticed how dry her mouth was. She chugs down the water greedily to satisfy her thirst only to start choking on it seconds later. Her father immediately comes to her aid as he puts a hand on her back as she starts coughing.
"Gah! Ack! Ah! Haa!" She eventually clears her throat of the obstruction with one last deep breath. "Gaaah! That was a bad idea. Hehe." She takes another breath as to further clear her throat.
"Isabel, what am I going to do with you." He asks jokingly.
"I don't know, what are you going to do?" She replies in kind while rolling her eyes and elbowing her father's arm.
she notices her father starting to space out into the sky, however his eyes almost look dull, she had seen him like this before and it was whenever he's starting to worry about something. To distract him from whatever he's thinking about she puts her head on his shoulder and puts her hand over his, feeling his skin that is grizzled from both the mud and the history behind him. Though this put the man at ease she could still hear his nervous and heavy breathing.
"Dad, are you alright?"
"I am, don't worry." His voice however says otherwise.
"Stop lying, I know you are, what are you worried about?" A sense of seriousness comes over her voice as she continues. "Please tell me, I want to help." She turns her head so that her eyes look up to the man's face. Isaac soon gives in to the sight of his daughter's pleading eyes and gives out a long winded breath.
"I'm just worried."
"About what?"
"About when I'm gone, about when you're alone. I've sheltered you from the world for so long I don't know how well you'll do without me." A tear begins to form in his eye as his breath becomes less stable, but he holds himself together while wiping the tear away. "I just don't know."
"I'm sure I would find a way, I'm a Kalalski, we don't stay down for long."
'But you haven't seen the galaxy like I did, there's so many threats out there that you're just not ready for, one wrong move and you're done, no getting back up for you even if you tried. I've seen a lot of people that I knew die out there because they made such a mistake or were just plain unlucky. I don't want you to be one of them."
"I know I haven't seen a lot but again, I'll find a way. But you shouldn't think so much about the future or you'll start forgetting that you're in the present, and if you're so afraid of it then why not deal with it?" This gets her father's attention; his eyes widen a bit at the rather wise words of his daughter. "I never thought about the future too much or else I lose focus on the projects I'm working on, and the caring parents I was so lucky to have." He begins to smile at her words as a small but comforting sense of relief fills his being.
"Wow, you're starting to sound like your mother."
"I guess just thinking a lot runs in the family." She lets out a chuckle before the two look back up to the peaceful sky, watching the white clouds lazily float high above as they went to destinations unknown. "Though, I think I won't be alone after you're gone." His eye was raised to this.
"What do you mean?"
"You know why."
"But why him?"
"Because I can relate to him, we've been through such similar lives, and I know what he wants because it's what I also want: companionship." Isaac seemed to be hit a little hard by this statement and looked down in shame. "Not that you or May are not enough, but I just want someone who could understand me, you know what I mean. I just think that if I hang around him enough, I could be able to have someone to lean on if things get too rough."
"What about his brothers?"
"Sure, they are quite intimidating and they give off quite the creepy aura, but they don't seem to be too aggressive, maybe if I can get along with Ares then maybe I could get along with them." Her voice sounded a little unsure at the last bit but she's still sure about it.
"That seems a little far-fetched."
"Still gotta try. We should just enjoy this sight together."
"Yeah, we should." They went back to surveying the clouds going about their day in peace.
This quiet moment was abruptly ended when Isaac's phone began to ring behind them causing him to quickly get up to answer it. He looks down at the screen and a face turns into that of confusion.
"Ariel? Why is she calling me now?" He taps the screen to answer the call. "What is it Ariel?" Isabel watches as her father listen's in. "What, why?" Seconds later his face turns into one of dread. "What? Oh my god. Ok, I'll get everyone, please don't leave without us." Another second passed before he hanged up, his hands visibly shaking and breath becoming audible again, causing her to start to become worried again.
"Dad, what's wrong?" She worriedly asks as she grasps his hand with both of her own.
"We need to get out of here."
"Why?"
"The Zerg, they're here." Her heart drops in utter shock to the news and her once calm breath starts to become ragged. "We need to get moving now, gather up whatever you can carry now! I'll go get May."
"O-okay." Despite stuttering in her attempts to move she eventually runs off into their house alongside her father, both dreading for the upcoming future.
Sparks fly as Janusar holds a ball of psionic energy the size of his own head-crest in his hands, keeping its potent energy contained in a cage of his own will for the past few hours, a feat that is easy for the hybrid to do. That is the opposite for his brother, Ares, who is currently struggling with maintaining his orb that is only the size of a basketball which shows the power distance between the two. Despite this, he is rather pleased with this result as his last trial left a lot to be desired. At this rate the smaller sibling will be able to hold a vast amount of power at once for a much longer time by the weeks end.
"You're doing good Ares, a vast improvement from our last session. You can rest for the time being." Janusar instructed his pupil causing both himself and Ares to dissipate their energy spheres with the latter letting out a small sigh of relief. For a second the two pause and stood there before the protoss-like hybrid spoke again. "You may spend your time as you please, just be back by the hour for our next session." This gave his brother a sense of relief as he looks back to the house in anticipation to interact with Isabel.
Just as he was about to approach the door the one for the garage started to open, and after a loud series of motorized machinery ended a loud roar was heard from inside. A large four wheeled vehicles emerged from the room and stopped just as it was turning leaving both him and his brothers rather confused as to what is happening. Isabel soon exits along with her father and they are both carrying a single bag each which they quickly put into the back of the car after May opened the trunk door. The girl turned and immediately runs towards Ares with an extremely fearful look.
"Isabel what's going on?" Ares asks.
"The Zerg, they're invading." Isabel's response sends a ping of shock throughout his body before Janusar chimes in.
"Why are they here?"
"I don't know, we thought we would be safe from them with our immense distance from the rest of the conflict. It doesn't make sense for them to be here." She grasps her forehead in was her fear gets worse. "It's like Tarsonis all over again." Her voice weakens to the utter worry of the young boy, and he can feel it. "You need to come with us, the Zerg will tear you apart if they find you."
"We can hide in the caves below and wait out the invasion, I doubt the rest of your kind would take kindly to us." His response brings a hint of dismay to Ares, but he holds firm to his ideals.
"You can't, they'll scour the entire world and they'll leave nothing left, you hiding will only delay the inevitable." She protested.
"She's right." They all move their attention to Isaac who is approaching them with a rather grim expression. "We witnessed what they did to Tarsonis, so many people died, not even the elite of the military were able to stop them. They overwhelmed the planet in a matter of hours and out of the over 2 billion people who lived there only a few thousand escaped, including us. You won't survive here no matter what you do." His grim voice only accentuates the dire nature of this situation and his experience with the aliens had made Janusar think about what to do.
"Cronos, come to me." He calls out to his brother who is currently on patrol.
"On my way." Cronos responds.
Though they just met these terrans, the usually distrustful hybrid took his word as to the danger the Zerg possess. He had heard only stories about the creatures while on board the science vessel that they were born in, but he had never actually encountered any of them so his knowledge of them is limited. After some further deliberation he arrives to a solution.
"Ares, go with them." This took his younger sibling off guard as he looks at him with confusion.
"But what about-"
"We'll catch up, but your safety is our highest priority and if it means entrusting these terrans with it, then so be it. Now go." He watches as Ares does as he is told and goes off into the car with the rest of the family. His brother looks from the back seat with worried eyes as they move to the trail but he gives a reassured nod before they move further down the trail.
He suddenly hears the sounds of rustling foliage from behind him and turns around to see his zerg-like brother trampling through the shrubbery.
After he meets up with him, they give a mutual nod and were about to go when they see a bright light in the distant sky falling from the clouds leaving a trail of smoke behind. Following right behind it are dozens of smaller objects barreling towards the ground, a sight they quickly concluded to be the vanguard of the invasion.
"Let's go." Together the two hybrids follow the trail for their brother hoping that they can stay ahead of the Zerg.
"I'm thinking of getting a hydralisk now."
Ok, now I believe you're just pushing it, it was a hassle just getting that zergling tamed.
"Hey, I'll find a way just as I always do."
And yet we're both still live, guess I should count myself lucky. Time for the trivia of the day then.
In 2018, $139.6 billion worth of American agricultural products were exported around the world. The United States sells more food and fiber to world markets than we import, creating a positive agricultural trade balance. (www. Fb . org)
I know that farming isn't my strong suit, my place is that of an artist and writer.
"You're still a beginner though."
I'm well aware, this story is just the beginning for me, a vanguard for what is to come in my career. It serves as a hobby as well as the opportunity to expand and tone my narrative abilities, that's why the constructive criticism from my audience is so important to me.
"Only the strongest of metals are forged from the hottest of forges."
Exactly! Now with that out of the way I hope you all have a great day or night wherever you may reside in and stay safe.
"And thank you for taking your time to read this story. See you arouuund." ^ ^