Another chapter done and ready to go, however this is just part one of this last section of the Agria arc, I don't want to make the chapter exceed 5000 words or I'll be pushing it and with what I have planned it will clear that threshold by a landslide. Don't worry through part 2 will come around in a couple of days, I'm typing it out as you read this, but it will be worth the long wait as this is the moment where our hybrid trio will meet the first face familiar to all of us~. m

Also I made a change of names: (Chapter 26 Thomas - Tom (Like in his original debut in ch.25)) I can be such a clutz sometimes.

Now get ready to for a wild ride between perspective.

Chapter 28: Colony Lost (pt.1)

Thirty minutes have passed since Ariel sent out the distress call, but so far no one has responded making every passing minute feel like an eternity of agony for her. The zerg are so close to taking the entire planet and slaughtering her people wholesale and the only thing that she can do is just to sit here and wait for anything. Her heart races as fast as the seconds that tick by, she wants to do something else to keep her mind off this but she can't even concentrate to do so.

"A human vessel is detected in the planet's orbit, human designation confirmed. It is hailing us." Her adjutant's sudden report pulls her out of her thoughts causing her to look over to the main monitor.

"Bring them up." In excited anticipation she orders the ai. The screen then displays a grizzled man with black hair and a matching trim downed beard. "Thank you so much for responding to our distress signal. I'm Dr. Ariel Hanson and I represent the people of the Agria colony." She quickly greets herself in the calmest tone possible.

"Pleasure to meet you doc, you can call me Jim. What's the situation?" The man named Jim asks after introducing himself.

"The Zerg have overwhelmed our planetary defenses. The colony is lost. For the past twelve hours we've been evacuating people to the nearest starport. But the zerg attacks have become so intense we can't get anymore through." Her voice began to show fear as she explained her colony's situation. "If you can guard the highway we can start sending the remaining groups every few minutes."

"Don't worry doc, we'll get your folks through to that starport safe and sound."

"I pray you're right, commander. The zerg are more terrible than I ever imagined." She temporarily cut the connection with Jim and gives out a big sigh of relief as she slumps down on her chair, feeling a large and heavy weight lift right off her chest. But she can't fully relax just yet, there's still a lot of work to do, at least she has a lot of help now.

It's time that she notifies the others.

Hunk stood tall at the barricade like a statue as he surveys the quiet land in front of him, making sure that any colonist stragglers can get through safely while any zerg creatures do not, but so far nothing has really came in so far. As far as the solider knows they've ceased all evacuation efforts hours ago due to the severity of the attacks which does worry him quite a bit though he wouldn't want to show it. This was made worse with the eerie silence of the street as of late which doesn't give the marauder anything to keep his mind off of it, but the hope of Ariel pulling a miracle out of her hat keeps him standing for any future aggressors.

"Huh? I think I see some guys over there." Tom calls out pointing towards a small group of soldiers which appear to be pair of firebats along with a pair of medics.

"Are they ours?" Hunk asks.

"I don't remember any of them firebats being stationed with us." They watch as the group make their way up the street incinerating a couple of newly revealed zerglings before their comms units buzz to life.

"To everyone defending the colony, we finally have some help with evacuating the civilians, we will continue the evacuation shortly." Ariel's voice sounds off with its news bringing much needed relief to the entire group.

"You heard the lady, lets welcome our new friends because they're gonna get us outta here!" Hunk raises a gauntlet up with a joyous announcement which causes the other soldiers to cheer in response to this great news as their newfound allies continue to make their way towards them.

May's eyes calmly scan the cargo room for anything she can focus on, but so far she only sees the silent worry of her fellow colonists despite most of them, mainly the children, being asleep. But despite the calmness in her eyes even she feels the fear that is prevalent among everyone else. She looks over to see that both Isaac and Isabel are asleep as well, she had her time to sleep earlier and decided to be a lookout for the family while they rest, especially for the father, they certainly deserve it. The girl lays next to the redhead with her head on the man's shoulder resting as peacefully as if nothing is happening. This brought May a sense of comfort as despite the invasion going on outside it all felt calm here with the two sleeping people. It was like she is part of a family again, she had always wanted to make one herself but her previously reclusive demeaner combined with a lack of an opportunity and bad luck kept her from doing so, but the only reason why she has this now is because of the death of her dearest friend. She wished that Maria were still here to give her that dose of confidence she needs.

With her free hand she gently brushes the girl's hair, letting the sense of comfort travel through her. The girl really deserves better than all of this, if only things were different.

"Attention all colonist!" The loud and sudden announcement of who she believes is Thyme over the intercom startles her and begins to stir the other two out of their slumber. "We will resume evacuation within a few minutes, gather up your belongings and be ready to depart soon."

"Wait, what did he say?" Isaac asks with a groggy voice as he begins to wake up.

"What's going on?" Isabel asks in a similar manner letting out a yawn in the process.

"He just said that the evacuation is going to continue." Her slightly joy-filled response resonated with the rest of the family causing them to fully wake up almost instantly.

"Wait, are you serious?" Hazel green eyes meet with ruby red as May looks down to Isabel.

"I am, we're actually getting out of here!"

"But why, didn't she stop the evacuation earlier?"

"I've known Ariel for a good while now, she wouldn't take a risk like this, not without good reason." Isaac answers.

"So, what are you implying?" Even May is curious about this statement.

"It means that she must've had help, at least enough help to continue this evacuation."

"Like who?"

"Mabey pirates or mercenaries." His tone suddenly sounded a bit concerned but the woman understood why. Within his career as a militiaman Isaac had encountered many types of people out in the frontier ranging from outlaw groups to mercenaries often hired to kill him due to his rather notorious reputation in the field. She decides to put a hand on his shoulder and gives a soft smile.

"Think about it Isaac, would a group of mercenaries come all the way out here in the middle of a zerg invasion just to cause some trouble with us?" He just stares into her eyes before giving a smile back at her. If there is anything that she knows he likes, it's being reassured about something.

"We should go check things out, see who's helping us then." She and Isabel agree with the man's sentiment and begin to follow him towards the door passing the crowds of people that are all franticly getting ready for their departure.

She watches as Isaac opens the door in front of him, the sight that is revealed to them truly brings hope to their spirits: in front of them is a transport currently being loaded with its batch of civilians. Further down the road they can all see a barracks along with SCVs building additional supply depots, on the road itself there is a small vanguard of soldiers comprising of a couple of firebats with corresponding medics accompanied by a contingent of four marines and counting. These troopers look far better equipped and battle ready than their colonial counterpart with some sort of large shield equipped to their arms, she has seen once before while traveling to Agria, a marine can survive surprisingly long with this shield equipped especially with medic support. This shows that whoever is helping them must be well funded and isn't holding back anything which brings a little more comfort to the redhead.

"Do you know this group." She gestures to Isaac for an answer.

"No, I've never seen that insignia before, could be a newer group."

"Then that means that they might not have a grudge against you." Isabel joins in with a happier tone to her voice.

"Hopefully, you never know." He still seems skeptical as to the nature of these mercenaries, that's something May can't get rid of.

"But doesn't this still mean that we're actually getting out of here, that we are all going to survive this?" The two adults look down to their daughter, her eyes and voice filled with hope which in turn gives May and Isaac hope as well.

"Definitely looks like it, lets gather our stuff and be ready for our turn, it won't be long at this rate." The family turns back to the building to begin gathering their own belongs to be prepared like the rest while at the same time the transport begins to set off to bring it's cargo to their destination.

10 Minutes later

Within an abandoned building near the edge of the town Janusar stands guard at the front door surveying the surrounding area for any potential threats. Throughout the hours he had guarded this house and its occupant, Ares, inside making sure to keep his own powers in check since he had learned back on the station that the zerg are attracted to strong psionic emanations. He can't risk attracting any nearby creatures to their location as if they begin to attack they might draw more attention to them which can prove to be deadly under current conditions.

That posses the same for his younger sibling that currently resides in a room within the structure. The child is currently bouncing a ball he found inside, hoping to distract him from everything outside, and yet his eyes look empty and cold with his mind distant from his own.

The hybrid can tell that his brother is distraught from his separation from the terran girl, but he had to do it for his sake, only he and Cronos can protect him from the claws of the zerg. They could barely protect him back on the trail and they nearly lost one of their own if it wasn't for Ares helping them, he just can't see them defending him as they are now. That's just concerning this invasion, he heard news that the entire sector is being invaded, and then there's the Protoss who's advance weaponry can prove much of a threat to them as he had saw briefly and they could reside anywhere for all he knows. It is too much of a risk to leave Ares alone anywhere.

But right now, he needs to hear any news regarding about what his zerg-equivalent currently still out in the wilderness can give.

"Cronos, do you hear me?" Janusar calls out.

"I do brother." Cronos' voice responds.

"I need to know the state of this planet and if you found a way off it."

"There's nothing good to report for either one, the attacks here are getting more severe with each passing hour with their ferocity to match, causing even the likes of me to grow exhausted by them. There's also the problem with the zerg's air patrols becoming more frequent and greater with their members which makes using the transport the terrans are using useless." Janusar mentally growls at this news, they only learned of the shuttles just recently but by that time the evacuation ceased due to the attacks on the transports. Combined with the threat of the flyers above they are essentially trapped here unless things change.

"There has to be a way out." He begins to search through the towns edge and starts shifting through the colonist's mind in a desperate attempt to find anything new that came about.

'So, what are we going to do?'

'I hope I've gotten everything.' None of their thoughts ceased his fears as nothing of importance was discover within their minds which only adds to his frustration, until he came upon one.

'I can't believe we're getting out of here! I need to hurry before I'm late!' He wondered as to why this human was so excited, what has changed for this tone to be so positive? He begun to search through more minds to figure this out.

'I don't know who these guys are, but as long as they are here to help, I'm not complaining.' This piqued his curiosity, who is here to help them?

He floats up to the roof of a nearby building and begun to survey the area for this third party. The first thing that caught his attention was a large group of soldiers at the center of the street which is comprised of nearly two dozen marines accompanied by a few firebats, medics, and some new bulky soldiers in black armor that resemble the terran Hunk. This is by far the largest force that he had ever seen making the security force on the science station look puny by comparison and they are nothing like the ones defending this colony. Wanting to understand the reason why they are hear he quickly checks one of their minds for information.

'Can they send that second transport through already? I'm itching to kill some more zerg.' He isn't surprised by this notion knowing human nature, but it doesn't present the answers he needs. He proceeds to read the mind of another marine.

'I'd rather be fighting the good fight against the Dominion, but it's Raynor's orders I guess.' Raynor? He doesn't recognize that name, as to be expected, but he needs some more information.

'Once we finish this mission, I'm gonna get a drink back at the ship, I've heard that the bartender has that good Umojian stuff in the back.' An image was shown of a large battlecruiser that belongs to these soldiers, which hangs over the planet, and it's one big enough for them to stow away on.

He figures that these terrans wouldn't take kindly to their intrusion, but he wouldn't take this risk if there was a better way to escape.

"Cronos, return to us, we may have our salvation." He watches now as the transport moves out to its destination while the soldiers which are now accompanied by a few SCVs follow close behind.

Raynor watches as the group of his soldiers carefully escort the civilian transport down the path, picking off the small zerg hit squads that attempt to attack them. When they arrive at the sight of their first bunker where a few marines are now stationed at one of his SCVs splits off from the group to go make repairs on the moderately damaged structure. He can't afford to lose these bunkers or else it will become more difficult to defend the convoy later on. An overlord quickly flies above the group and begins to rain creep from its underside and in front of them hoping to slow their advance, but before it could make much progress a barrage of bullets from the rather large marine group began to rip through the creature's armor. Despite the creature's large size it fell to the combined fire of the marines disintegrating into a heap of red gore which falls harmlessly onto the transport.

Another SCV pulls out ahead to the second bunker site near the starport, however it's to build a new one as it was destroyed before they could save it the first time around. A small group of marines then split off to guard the mech. The building was interrupted when a group of zerglings and roaches begun to attack the site causing Raynor to have a larger chunk of his force to split off to reinforce the area. The hostile attack group was swiftly dealt with by the combine might of marine and marauder fire with the former taking out the zerglings while the latter batter the armor of the roaches until they were rendered lifeless. It quickly began to run back up to the main group which is now ahead after seeing through with the construction and garrisoning of the bunker.

By the time they were getting near the starport a small flock of mutalisks swoop in from behind where the least amount of the his forces are located, with the bulk of it being at the front, and begun to attack the transport completely ignoring the colonial guards.

"The zerg are attacking the transport, lets rock!" One of the marine guards said before they engage the flock. However, the flock's size was large enough to overpower the initial guards as their glave wurms quickly dispatched all but the last one. He was saved when Raynor's marines from the main group intercept the flock and shot every muta down, barely saving him and the transport.

The barely intact transport makes it smoothly up the ramp and stops next to the hercules shuttle. It's rear ramp opens down letting the twenty passengers exit the vehicle as hastily as possible with some almost getting trampled by their fellows. After the marine guard follow the colonist inside the hercules Raynor pulls his forces back out of the starport to head back towards the town.

Near the first bend of the street the main force is meet with a small group of fresh troops that came from the two barracks back at the base increasing their number by four marines, two firebats, and a medic. Considering that he has time before the next transport sets off he orders his troops to go into the wilderness through the opening in the cliffs to search for any zerg forces that could have hidden themselves within the trees and farmlands that could pose the problem in the future, and possibly find any more sample's for Stetmann's research.

As the group make their way through the foliage a small pack of zerglings led by a hydralisk emerge from the ground for an ambush but they were quickly dispatched by a hail of bullets and fire before they move on. They soon come across another zerg cocoon that looks almost identical to the previous one they collected near the starport being guarded by a single hydralisk, but once they got near it more zerglings burst from the ground to reinforce their serpentine kin, but they were only to get a few strikes on the leading firebats in before getting burnt alive while the hydralisk could only pick off a single firebat before getting gunned down. His troops collect the cocoon and searched further down for any more things to find. They come upon a small abandoned settlement which has some resource pallets that the locals have left behind in the rush which he takes to fuel his production of units.

"What the?" He was started when his forces see something run through the trees, it was large and monstrous with its colors matching the foliage making it barely visible to them all despite its size.

"Commander, another convoy will be heading out soon." Ariel notifies the man causing him to start pulling his troops back to the street to continue with the evacuation. Whatever was in that forest will have to wait, he has a mission to accomplish.

Janusar sits in the shadows of the building as he senses his brother making his way towards him. Throughout the duration of his wait he's been monitoring the thoughts of the terrans to keep up on the news about the evacuation, and so far he had gain the news that they have successfully escort the second transport. As weak as the race is they are surprising resilient and cooperative when facing a grave threat, no wonder they have survive as they did, especially against the zerg. He looks to the trees as he hears heavy rustling behind him and soon the familiar hulking form of Cronos breaks through.

"Good to see you brother, are you clear?" Janusar greets his zerg-sided brother.

"Yes, I am, my camouflage was able hide me from the zerg's gaze. I did come across a terran army, but they didn't follow me." Cronos replies. "But there's something off here."

"What is it?"

"The last zerg attacks I fought off were coordinated, like something was leading them, and they were trying to tire me out with numerous hit and run tactics. They would've partly succeeded if it wasn't for me consuming them."

The news is concerning to Janusar, a mind leading these creatures for this attack, he had heard of the scientists back at the science station talking about this aspect of the zerg but only briefly. He had theorized in the past that their psionic link with each other was inherited from this trait along with their shared DNA, but the thing that concerns him is what's leading this swarm, it has to be powerful to be able to lead so many individuals at once. With his limited knowledge it could be anything, is it a dedicated creature or structure, is it even on this planet? He cannot be sure, but right now such an idea is not important, he needs to find a way off the planet.

"Have you found a way to escape?"

"Unfortunately, no, there's still the problem of getting a ship to use. Last that I've heard all but one of the transports at the starport have taken off, and I doubt that the terrans guarding it will let us through peacefully." He and Cronos could easily tear through any unit the humans could throw at them with minimal damage on their end thanks to their armor, but Ares doesn't have the same privilege, he can't risk any injury to the young hybrid because as weak as the soldiers are their weaponry combined with their numbers can dish out a lot of damage that could gravely injure Ares extremely quickly. "For now, we must wait for a better opportunity and hope that the zerg don't make an assault to here."

Oh boy, things are getting a bit spicy, now lets get to the important bits.

First off we're going to something I've haven't done in a while: reacting to comments. Now let's go:

Guest: My my, you're a gracious one with the reviews (Assuming you're the same person), well I'll react to each review with a segment.

1) Only time will tell with how Sira's mind will cope with her separation from Ares, for now their paths will have to stay diverged as the war rages on.

2) I'm glad you noticed that tidbit, I just figured that with how the hybrids were always isolated in one spot, with Ares in his room and Janusar and Cronos in their pods, they would never have the chance to encounter any live zerg on the station. I've always been annoyed whenever I watch or read something and a character that had no prior experience with the subject matter just somehow knows something despite not having any confirmed encounters with it beforehand. That's just lazy writing and it always irks my sense of disbelief in the fictional world.

Now with the trivia of the day:

The first automobile in the United States was built over 200 years ago. In 1804, Philadelphia ordered a steam-dredge from Oliver Evans, inventor of the high-pressure steam engine and other technology. Evans' shop was a mile and a half from the Schuylkill River, so he mounted one of his engines within the dredge-scow and ran the scow on rollers by steam to the river, making this device the first American automobile. When he reached the river Evans substituted a paddle for the rollers and steamed away to Philadelphia, also making this device one of the first steamboats. (allfunandgames . ca)

Everything starts from somewhere, such as how this story was an idea in my head around junior year of high school, and it was a completely different story from what we've got now. But that tale is for another time.

Now with all that done I hope you all have a great day or night wherever you may be, and stay safe out there!