Sorry for the long wait, had some thing going on at home.
I really don't want to make the story seem all about York, but right now he's the one with the main story arc, the others will get their turn soon.
Samus walked out of the forge, after their defeat in space, the remnants of the Protoss fleet retreated to a settlement on the northern hemisphere of the planet to regroup and rebuild. They had claimed the place was rich in resources, and it seemed to her that it really was, for buildings and military units kept appearing overnight. In less than a week the city had nearly tripled in size.
She looked at the sets of armor in her hands, the scientists at the forge had agreed to repair her armor and York's, though upgrade would have been a more suitable word. She didn't know if York would actually mind, or even care about the changes done to his suit. Ha hadn't been too talkative of late, and with Delta stuck in the ship's computer, there was no way for her to know what he was doing or thinking of.
There was a loud explosion inside a building a few feet away from her, calmly she sighed as she headed towards the racket.
"Please! Take him away!" one of the engineers said as he pushed Caboose out into the street.
"I'm sorry" Samus said, "Were there any serious damages?"
"It does not matter, just take him away, Please!"
Samus grabbed Caboose's hand and led him back towards the ship, "What did I tell you Caboose?"
"You said to sit down, stay put and to not to get in trouble" he replied obediently.
"So?"
"So I went to look for a seat, and then there was a button, I love buttons; and this really nice giant man said "You must ant push it"; so I acted like an ant and then I pushed the button"
"I think he meant you mustn't push it caboose, as in do not push it"
"Oh…that explains all the fire and explody thingys although the screams of pain seemed too fake"
Samus couldn't help but smile at his innocence. She had considered getting Caboose's suit upgraded too, but decided that leaving the kid unprotected even for the shortest amount of time would probably be the death of him.
"How's the construction coming along?" Kilowog asked as he looked up at where Taesius was guiding a group of probes in the construction of new pylons.
"The Stargate is nearly complete" the Protoss replied, "Right now I am more concerned for the city's defenses…and for your friend" he added.
"I thought you said he wasn't a danger" Kilowog frowned, "that the link wasn't strong enough"
"It was not" Taesius turned his gaze to the terran ship, "But in his current state of mind, the queen of blades may gain control if he should permit it"
"Then it won't happen, York would never allow himself to be controlled on purpose" Kilowog crossed his arms and nearly stepped on one of the small Protoss probes.
"The trouble is not the faith you have in him, but the lack of it he has for himself"
Taesius's concern troubled Kilowog, "He will be fine" the Bolivaxian said, though the words were meant more as a reassurance for himself than for Taesius, "he will" he added as he stared up at the ship.
Samus knocked on York's cabin, when there was no answer she walked in and found the soldier right where she had left him; face down on the cot, the pillow he had used to cover his ears from Delta's questions was still over his head, even though the AI had given up trying to communicate with him a couple of days ago. Instead Delta had taken it upon himself to repair every last inch of the ship that was now his body, and even went as far as to have her and Kilowog refit the ship's engine and weapon's systems with Protoss technology calming it would enhance his maneuverability and firing speed by 15%. But that had been days ago, today he had upgraded the system so that he could transition from York to the ship and vice versa in Nano seconds, an endeavor that had been cut short when York refused to accept the AI back into his mind, calming that three was a crowd and that he would only allow two people inside his head from now on…
"…and since neither I nor the queens of blades are going anywhere, you're on your own!"
Those had been his exact words, she remembered. The AI did its best not to show it, but Samus could tell he had been hurt by York's actions. Sometimes Samus would see the security camera linger a few seconds as it passed over York's quarters, other times she would catch delta running recordings of the previous battle calming to be analyzing the data to better his performance, even though the recordings were always of York's angle.
"He'll come around" She said as she put on her earpiece so that the conversation could be a private one, and not one held over a megaphone.
"I believe he fears me" Delta replied over the intercom.
"No, he's not afraid of you, he's afraid of himself" she told him softly, "I think he's afraid of hurting you, that's why he's keeping you out"
"He should not worry for my safety, I cannot be harmed by Kerrigan, and if I could I can always make a backup in the ship's systems"
"I know that, and you know that; but he doesn't"
"Perhaps if I tell him he'll…"
"No" Samus interrupted him before he could get too excited, "He needs to come to that on his own" she explained, "The more you try to pull yourself in, the harder he'll push you out. Right now all he needs is some time to himself, so he may think and figure things out"
"I found a bunny" Caboose said as he entered the bridge with a small animal on his hands, though the creature looked more like a frog than a rabbit.
"D, is that thing dangerous?" she asked, knowing that Delta had a large database he had copied from the Protoss.
"No" the AI replied, "Though the creature is most commonly used as a food source than as a pet"
That was all she needed to hear, though she knew the poor thing would probably die in an accident.
"I think I'll name him Church, and he'll be my bestest best friend and we'll have sleepovers and eat cookies and drink milk and a sandwich, and a cheeseburger with fries on the side and a medium coke please!" and just like that the creature was forgotten as Caboose sat waiting for some imaginary waiter to bring him his order.
Kilowog was walking the perimeter next to Taesius when they heard the first shots fired, but when they reached the source they found a Protoss zealot standing over the charred remains of a Zerg, "Any more enemies?" Taesius asked as they approached.
"Just the one, it must have been scouting" the zealot answered, "the photon cannons took care of it"
"Then it might not be long before the queen of blades comes knocking at our door" Taesius said, "We must prepare the city's defenses"
"By your order executor" the zealot bowed, "My life for Aiur" he added as he turned to leave.
A sudden noise stopped him, "The photon cannons" he said as he turned to face the machines firing at something far in to darkness.
"More Zerg?" Kilowog asked as he strained his eyes to see into the dark, but the fog of war was too thick for him to see anything beyond the city limits.
"They are coming" Taesius gave a mental shout that caught the Bolivaxian off guard, "ready yourself, the fight is upon us"
"What is going on out there?" Samus said as they looked at the lights in the distance.
"She's here!"
They all turned to find York standing at the door to the bridge, he was still wearing his civilian's clothes, his hair was messy and his beard needed a trim; but otherwise he looked well and rested "It's time for some payback" he said angrily.
"Does this mean you're…"
"Samus! Prepare for liftoff" he interrupted her, "Delta, ready the weapons!" he took his seat at the center, "Caboose! You know what to do!"
"Seatbelt!" Caboose shouted joyfully as he strapped himself in.
Kilowog used his ring to slow down the enemy Zerg, letting the photon cannons do most of the dirty work. At the front of the battlefield Taesius and his zealots were fighting the creatures head on, something that Kilowog would have preferred to do himself, but Taesius had insisted that he protect the cannons, and more importantly the pylons powering them.
"Looks like they're retreating" Kilowog shouted, "I guess the queen of blades must be running low on troops"
"On the contrary" the female voice echoing from the darkness was unmistakable, "I am just getting started" as she finished her sentence the night fell quiet.
Kilowog stood staring at the darkness wondering what the Zerg queen had hidden behind the dark fog. The movement was slow coming, a small buzz in the distance, then a rumble and then a quake until the whole ground felt as if it were about to break open. Out of the darkness emerged a stampede of ultralisk, none of them stopped at the cannon line, instead they continued to march on to the city's interior, wreaking havoc where they passed. Kilowog had to fly to get out of the way, the photon canons continued to fire at the passing enemies but it wasn't long before they were all destroyed or powered down. Somewhere on the ground he heard Taesius shout as he battled with one of the beasts, though he had been swept away by the creatures and was lost under the cloud of dust and rubble.
"Taesius!" Kilowog shouted to no avail, "Where are you?" He turned around just as the ship stopped by his side.
"Where's Taesius?" Samus asked.
"Somewhere in the battle down there!" he replied.
"And Kerrigan?" York asked.
"Haven't seen her, but she's somewhere close, I heard her a while ago"
"I'm going down there" York said as he stood and headed for the door.
"Are you crazy?" Samus frowned, "have you seen chaos down there? It'll be suicide, Kerrigan's not worth it!"
"No, but Taesius is" York answered her, "I owe it to him, after what happened…I…I won't leave him"
"York"
"Besides, I really should test the new upgrades you got for my armor" he smiled before turning and running towards his cabin. In less than a minute he was standing by the main gate adjusting the final pieces of his armor, "Don't do anything stupid" Samus said as she handed him his helmet.
"It's a little too late for that" York smirked.
"Be careful agent York" Delta said through the intercom.
"What, you mean to tell me you're not coming?" York frowned, "Whose gonna have my back in case the bitch shows up?"
"If you wish for me to come you must give the required voice command, agent York"
"Little guy's really gonna make me say it isn't he?" he smiled.
"Well, you do deserve it, and so does he" Samus crossed her arms.
"All right; Delta, I'm sorry I kept you out, please come back so we can go kick some Zerg ass!"
"Command accepted, transferring AI" Delta had barely finished speaking when the little green soldier appeared by the helmet on York's hand, "It seems the transfer protocols are working perfectly"
"Ok, this is the plan, Kilowog and I will look for Taesius and his men, meanwhile I want you to clear a path for us to the stargate, once there we will use it to evacuate as many civilians as we can, Sync?"
"Sync!" Samus replied.
"Toaster" Caboose added.
"Be careful down there" Samus said as the gate opened and the noise from the wind, engines and battle drowned most of their voices, forcing them to shout, "Please, come back in one piece" she added before kissing him softly on the cheek pushing him out before he could react to what had happened.
"Wow" he said as he fell, putting on his helmet he felt Delta invade his mind.
"let's go kick some zerg ass"
Hope you liked it, and please review, it motivates me to keep on writing.