Discaimer: I do not own anything to do with starcraft or Blizzard. I'm I am so so sorry this has taken so long. I'm wretched, a horrible excuse for life. I'm worthless. (goes off to commit sepuku) Ok maybe I'll hold off on the sepuku. I'm hoping I'll be able to crank some more stories out now but I can't really make any promises. Before we start I'd like to say thanks to Rainbowhawk for the stellar review, I'm glad you like it : ) And without any more ado, please read, review and enjoy!

The Evacuation of Agria

"Ow," I grabbed my head to try to prevent it from bein' split in half. Didn't really seem to do much good.

"Damn," what the hell did I drink last night? Oh right…

With a groan I got out of my bunk and headed right for the shower. The intense blasts of highly concentrated water didn't do my head any favors but it was nice not to smell like a locker room.

Once I dried off, I went to the sink and gave my face another wash before brushing my teeth. After throwing on a fresh pair of clothes, I was almost starting to feel human again. All I needed was…

The smell of it as it cheered me up almost as much as the thought of shooting Mengsk out an airlock. Coffee. It may be barely drinkable coffee but it still does the trick all right.

With a mug of the magical drink in hand I made my way to the bridge. My head still pounded a bit but it was nothin' I couldn't manage.

The doors wheezed open to reveal Matt looking over the starmap with his brow furrowed apparently he just had some sort of argument with Tychus cause they were both looking daggers at each other. I have a feelin' this is gonna be a busy day.

"What's our general status Matt?"

"We've picked up a distress call from the planet Agria. There's a colony there under attack by the Zerg." His tone of voice made it clear that he wanted nothing more than to rush there immediately.

"Your convict buddy Tychus lined up a mission retrieving another artifact. Its on a Protoss shrine-world called Monlyth."

"Why wasn't I informed about a distress signal?"

"We only received it a few minutes ago, I was about to send someone to get you sir."

I looked at the clock. Damn, it was practically noon, shipboard time. Guess I better watch it with the drinks a little.

Well if we had only gotten the signal a few minutes ago, there was still a chance we might be able to get there in time.

"Let me hear it Matt."

He nodded and pressed a button. The message was slightly garbled and filled with a decent amount of static but we could all hear it well enough.

"Any ship receiving this transmission, the Zerg are invading Agria, the Dominion abandoned us here. We're just a small farming colony, we've got to evacuate before we're overrun. If you can hear this message, please help us."

Abandoned by the Dominion huh? Yep that about fits Mengsk's MO. Tychus didn't seem to like the thought of goin' on a rescue mission and even I'll admit goin' after the artifact seemed to be a smarter choice. Money for the troops and not having to tangle with the Zerg. I'll have to talk to Tychus about this job of his but for now…

"Matt, how are the troops doin?"

"Most of them are rested up and ready for some action sir. I told them to get ready for a fight today. But some of the soldiers from Mar Sara could still use some rest so I recommend taking the troops you didn't bring with you to Mar Sara."

Smart. Let the boys who saw action on Mar Sara rest a bit more if the situation gets bad enough that I'll need backup…one thing at a time Jim

"Alright then Matt, good call. Well it looks like we've got a colony to save. How long will it take to plot a jump?"

Matt smiled a bit, "already on it sir. Just give me a few more minutes."

"Good man. How bout you Tychus? Feelin' up for a scrap today?"

He didn't seem all that happy but he nodded anyway. "Well somebody's gotta save your ass Jimmy. And who knows? Maybe some of them colonists will be willing to part with some credits in…gratitude.

Matt looked outright horrified at the prospect of taking money from colonists who just lost their home. Couldn't say I liked it either but creds don't grow on starships.

"Alright then." I walked over to a console and hit ship wide on the intercom. "Now hear this, all troops fit for combat suit up, grab your gear, plenty of ammo and get to the dropships. There's Zerg invading a colony and the Dominion ain't exactly steppin' in to help out. It's up to us boys to save those folks, we gotta get them off world as fast as we can. So prep for an escort job, this could get hairy."

I switched off ship wide and toggled it to Swann's console. "Swann, you got anything for me?"

The bags under his eyes were pretty noticeable but he seemed as upbeat as ever.

"Yeah hotshot, just finished machining a bunch of those combat shields. I'm already having our boys equip em'. Plus I'm putting the finishing touches on a little somethin' extra that you'll like."

"You're a miracle worker Swann."

"And don't you forget it cowboy. Now let me get back to work."

With that he immediately cut the link. Hopefully after we've rescued those folks he'll be able to get some sleep.

"Matt," I barked. "Get us to Agria ASAP. I want us there yesterday."

"Aye sir."

I looked around at the bustling crew all ready and willing to do their part.

"This is gonna be an interesting day."

45 minutes later.

"Receiving incoming transmission."

An image of a woman who was obviously of the scientific persuasion came up on the screen. She had rather nice green eyes hidden behind her glasses and her ebony hair tied back in a ponytail. All in all, I gotta say she was pretty cute lookin'.

"Thank you for responding so quickly commander. I'm Dr. Ariel Hanson and I represent the people of the Agria colony."

"Pleasure to meet ya doc. You can call me Jim." Her eyes widened a little bit as she realized she was talking to the "infamous bloodthirsty marauding terrorist Jim Raynor" but other than that she didn't react. "What's the situation?"

When asked about that her eyes filled up with barely repressed pain. This girl was hurtin' pretty bad.

"The zerg have overwhelmed our planetary defenses." She braced herself, "the colony is lost."

"For the past 12 hours we've been evacuating people to the nearest starport but the zerg attacks have become so intense we can't get any more through."

I watched as the screen began to show images of entire convoys being ripped apart and literally eaten alive by zerglings. Damn you Kerrigan…

"If you can guard the highway, we can start sending the remaining groups every few minutes."

I nodded at the display on the screen highlighting the path. Simple enough, in theory but it wouldn't do to worry the poor girl any more than she already was.

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

To be honest, she didn't look all that reassured. Can't say I blame her.

"I pray your right commander, the zerg are more terrible than I ever imagined."

I looked back at the images of men, women and children being devoured by the swarm. Hate to say it darlin' but this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the zerg.

I disconnected the comm and turned to Matt.

"Everyone ready to go?"

"Good to go sir, just waiting on you."

"Tell the dropships to launch as soon as I'm on board."

Matt nodded. "Yes sir, we'll stay in orbit and provide whatever support we can. We'll be watchin'."

"Good. Take care of the ship Matt," I said as I started to leave the bridge.

"Always sir."

I headed toward the hanger at a quick jog. Once there, I grabbed my rifle and nodded to my troops.

"Alright boys, let's go."