Hyperion
Low orbit above Agria

Agria was a fringe world and one of the Dominion agricultural colonies, but it wasn't always that way. Before its colonization, Agria was a barren planet, but terraforming efforts by the first group of Terran settlers turned the planet into an lush paradise. The great biodiversity that evolved on the transformed planet also meant that it was a sanctuary for various unique species of flora and fauna, many of which became vital for research efforts in medicine. Thus, it has been a primary botanical reserve for the Terran Dominion as well as the Confederacy before it, and has since enjoyed a relatively high amount of security.

However, with the Dominion Fleet pulling its forces back to protect the core worlds of the Terran Dominion, Agria was left only with a small defense force that was grossly inadequate for even a proper holdout against the Zerg Swarm. The Swarm easily overpowered the meager orbital defenses of the planet, and was moving in for the kill. The entire planet was in full evacuation mode, but very few convoys managed to make it to the planetary starport held by Agria's defense force, as the road between the evacuation point and the starport was riddled with Zerg.

"And this is what we're gonna do," Raynor told his second-in-command and captain of the Hyperion, Matt Horner. Earlier on, the Hyperion received an open distress broadcast from a certain Dr. Ariel Hanson, who acted as the representative of Agria's colonists and detailed the situation she and the colonists were in. The Raiders seemed to be the only nearby group capable of responding, and the colonists were desperate enough to take any option. Raynor couldn't, of course, simply leave those colonists to die at the hands of the Zerg. Plus, there was a hefty credit payout for finishing the mission, which would allow them to make some much-needed arsenal upgrades.

Escort duty wasn't new to the Raiders. However, escorting machines and alien artifacts was a whole different story compared to escorting vulnerable evacuees who were very desirable targets for the Zerg. Hanson was set to give them command of a small forward base for them on the ground, but they'll have to reach the area first.

Hyperion Cantina

Over at the cantina, Shadowguard agents Eli and Umi were regaling their two new friends with stories of their missions together. Umi was quite content to simply tell, but Eli would not leave it at just that, playing up or even exaggerating Umi's contributions and feats as the ocean-haired agent tried to deny everything her partner tried to tell the two medics.

"...it was an amazing shot from almost twice the rifle's maximum effective range!" Eli said, raising her hands up for dramatic effect. "It was unbelievable. I thought she wouldn't be able to make the shot from that far because of the distance and the wind. We couldn't move any closer because there were Viking and Raven patrols between us and the garrison commander, and even if we got past all that he was also wearing a psi-screen which would mess us up. It was our only chance, and she took it."

The two medics were wide-eyed as Eli told the story, while Umi simply covered her entire face and looked away. That particular shot was the longest one on record, and not even in public Dominion or Confederate records did any soldier get close to what Umi pulled off. The honors she earned from that almost impossible shot seemed to be too much for her, though, and she wasn't able to come out of her quarters for almost a week due to all the attention.

"That's one heck of a shot," a voice said behind them. The four turned to see Jim Raynor walking towards their table, apparently overhearing the story. "We could use a sharpshooter like that."

"Sir!" Honoka and Kotori immediately stood and saluted Raynor. Eli and Umi also stood at attention, though Umi's face was pointed at the floor to attempt to hide her reddened face.

"You two," Jim continued, referring to Honoka and Kotori. "You're both up." The two medics nodded and proceeded to leave the cantina. "As for you ladies, if you wanna hop along, we could use a couple of snipers down on the ground."

"What do you say, Umi?" Eli asked. Umi cleared her throat and raised her head as her skin color went back to normal.

"It would be an honor, Commander," she said, bowing to Raynor.

"Alright, get your gear ready. You're coming in with the forward unit."

Outskirts of Larks' Crossing, Agria

The Raiders have their own Special Operations Dropship, with functional similarities to the Umojan Shadowguard dropships and differing only in appearance - both ships have dark paint jobs, but the Raider dropship also had skull decals on the stabilizer and on the sides of the cockpit. Both models are basically a modification of the G-226 medivac dropship, with its sophisticated medical equipment being replaced by communications and counter-detection gear, and its hull embedded with light-dampening material which makes it harder to visually detect despite not being outfitted with cloaking devices.

Of course, being a dropship, it still keeps the spacious transport bay, which could easily fit two siege tanks. Six people weren't a big deal, even if two of them were in giant CMC-660 heavy combat suits, which were the standard powered combat suits of Firebats. The two soldiers, Honoka, Kotori, Umi and Eli had ample breathing room as the ship entered the atmosphere with little problem and proceeded to the landing zone.

Larks' Crossing is one of the major settlements on Agria, and was the staging point of the civilian evacuation convoys. The Crossing itself was fairly secure, as was the planetary starport a few kilometers away. The main problem was the highway between the two locations, and Agria's meager security force can't spare enough troops to effectively guard the convoys against Zerg incursions.

This is where the Raiders come in. Landing just outside the settlement, the squad of two Firebats, two Medics, and two Shadowguards scanned their immediate area before proceeding. It was a fairly short walk towards the rendezvous point, and while there were a few packs of Zerglings roaming around the area, the Firebats' heavy-duty armor – supported by the two Medics behind – shrugged off the Zerglings' sharp claws, while their Perdition flamethrowers – along with precise shots from the Shadowguards' C-20A rifles – more than easily dispatched of the attackers.

As soon as the group arrived at the settlement, preparations were immediately made. Control of the nearby base was passed on over to Raynor, and construction of a pair of Barracks was begun. They had little time to work with – there are reports of a Zerg hive cluster already infesting the area to the northeast, so it was only a matter of time before the Zerg overrun both the settlement and the starport. They had to evacuate everyone as quickly as possible.

A squad of Marines was already on the ground by the time the first convoy was assembled. Just like in Mar Sara, the evacuees were herded into armored personnel carriers, while an escort group of Agria's defense force and Raynor's Raiders would accompany the vehicle on foot. As the first APC started to take in the first group of evacuees, Honoka and Kotori decided to lighten the moment by singing.

There was an almost physical effect that was felt among the gathered crowd as the two songbirds crooned despite the lack of accompaniment: the scared and tense faces seemed to loosen up, and soft smiles started to replace them as people gently swayed along. The fear of losing their lives ebbed, and newfound hope swelled within their minds. To almost everyone, it seemed almost magical.

Eli and Umi knew better, of course, but it didn't stop them from having the same feelings as the rest. There was something to be said about psionic power, that allowed those gifted to influence those around them. While there were those who used this for ill, Honoka and Kotori demonstrated their gifts in the most pure-hearted of ways, and the two Shadowguards admired the two medics even more for it.

'It feels nice to know that psionics like these two exist,' Umi thought.

She was communicating psionically with Eli, of course. The golden-haired girl nodded discreetly. 'Do you think that we could do the same?' Eli wondered.

'I...don't know...'

'But you want to as well, don't you?'

Umi nodded. 'These two inspire me greatly...I don't know, though.'

Honoka stopped singing just then, and looked at Eli and Umi. "Do you want to join us?" she asked, extending her hand out to them. Kotori continued serenading the crowd, but was also looking at the two of them.

The two were genuinely surprised at the offer, as well as how the two somehow picked up their thoughts, and Umi started to shrink away a little until she saw Eli looking at her and smiling.

"Why not, right?" she told her blue-haired partner.

It felt like an eternity before Umi replied, but when she finally spoke, it was accompanied by a small smile that already told everyone her answer even before words came out of her mouth. "We would love to," she said, looking at Honoka and Kotori as she reached for the orange-haired girl's hand.

Eli and Umi only heard the song Honoka and Kotori were singing once before. When they started singing along, however, they synchronized almost perfectly with them, as if they've heard each word of the song a thousand times. Their voices also blended together wonderfully, and by the end of the song, everyone applauded – the civilians and the soldiers detailed to escort them felt inspired and were all filled with determination, and they were ready to face the challenge ahead. The first APC and its detachment of escorts left for the starport shortly after.

Hyperion Bridge

Up on the Hyperion, the Raiders noticed something much more interesting. Jim Raynor and Matt Horner were up on the Hyperion's bridge to observe and direct the evacuation, but based on what they see so far, it seemed like the Marines and Firebats he sent down would be unnecessary.

"Was there something else mixed in the stim or is it just me?" Jim asked with an incredulous look on his face.

"It's not the stim, sir," Matt replied with an equal expression of disbelief. "But it's not just you."

Egon Stetmann, the chief science advisor of the Raiders, entered the bridge just then. He did a quick salute, though it was unnoticed because the two commanding officers were still too focused on the monitor. "Excuse me, sir?" he asked.

"I presume you checked this out, Stetmann?" Jim asked without looking away.

"Yes, sir." He went over to the monitor as well, and it was basically the same thing he saw in his lab earlier: all the Zerg in the area were immobile and passive, as if they were all hypnotized or something. "And the cause of all that is the psionic presence at our base." The display now focused on the Raiders' base at Larks' Crossing. Specifically, it focused on the four women who were once again singing to the next batch of evacuees and their escorts as they waited for a new APC to arrive. A subscreen then appeared at the top-left, containing a holographic map of the area, with uniquely-colored areas to display psionic presence. The psionic 'blanket' was spread out across the entire area, which became more intense as it approached the epicenter of the phenomenon, which was the four singing girls they sent out below.

"It seems like...the girls are expressing what they feel psionically, and every being within this area is feeling the same way."

Further confirming that all of it was real and not some elaborate hoax or system malfunction were the reports of the Raiders' soldiers on the ground: most of them reported that the few Zerg that were in the convoy's path seemed to be completely pacified while the four girls sang, not even snarling at the convoys as they passed. Even as the singing stopped – temporarily, for the girls to take a break and catch their breath while the next convoy was assembled – the Zerg were extremely slow to return to their usual vicious selves, and most of the time, they were either killed before they could take action or pacified again when the singing started anew.

It was nothing short of miraculous, even for those who knew. Throughout the entire evacuation, zero convoys were lost. For most of the escorts on the ground, zero shots needed to be as the last colony ship took off, Zerg flyers spent no effort in even trying to chase the ship down before it pierced through to outer space. It was only when the Raiders left the planet as well that the Zerg went back to normal and resumed infesting the planet – only this time, there were no living Terrans left for them. By then, of course, the Hyperion had already made a warp jump to a different location.

Hyperion Cantina

Over at the cantina, the four girls were the toast of the entire ship. No casualties, Agrian or Raider, were sustained, and for that the Raiders received a very hefty bonus on top of the contract reward. As a bonus, Dr. Hanson agreed to join the Raiders as a part of the laboratory crew, thereby giving a much-needed boost to the group's research capabilities. Along with the increased funding for equipment, it would go a long way in getting them prepared for the battles ahead with a few extra cards up their sleeves.

Speaking of which, the four girls were now much more than a pair of Shadowguards and a pair of Medics, or even singers. They were a weapon more powerful than any gun: a way to win against the Dominion without having to pull a trigger. They were hope incarnate.

Something that everyone living in the shadow of the Dominion gravely needed.

"That was really amazing," Kotori said, as she and the other girls hung around in Eli and Umi's quarter some time later. "What we did back there, I mean."

"It was," Eli agreed. "Who would've thought that our singing could have that kind of effect..."

"We can make big changes with this!" Honoka realized. "With our voice, we can make the Dominion a better place, we can bring peace without anyone having to lose their lives...!"

"It was still strange, though..." Umi observed, having recovered from the embarrassment that she got from all the praise earlier. "I've heard of artists who could psionically influence an audience during their performances, but never on the scale that we did..."

"Maybe it's because it's four of us?" Honoka wondered.

"Maybe," Eli said. "Anyway, we should get some sleep for now. We'll be deploying somewhere else soon, right?"

Kotori nodded in reply as she and Honoka stood. "See you later, Eli-chan, Umi-chan!" As the two made their exits, Eli sat next to Umi.

"You didn't ask them to stay and sleep over?" she teased, flustering Umi and making her bury her face in her pillow.

"Again with that?" she said in a muffled voice.

"The bunk should be able to fit you three together, right?" Eli giggled as she returned to her own bed. Before lying down, she flipped open a small night light on the bedside desk and powered off the room lights.

Just as she was about to fall asleep, though, Umi psionically switched the light off. Eli yelped as near-total darkness enveloped the quarter, and she quickly stood up and opened the room lights. Umi was looking at her with no small amount of amusement, while Eli only pouted at her as she flipped the night light back on.

Despite all of her deployments and deep-space trips, Eli never really got over her fear of the dark.

Unknown Location

While the Zerg had descended upon Agria, it wasn't the only target of the Swarm at that time, nor was it the planet the Queen of Blades was personally looking for. She and her personal leviathan were systems away, headed for a moon which formerly belonged to the now-dead Protoss Empire.

Even that far away, however, she felt the psionic echo from the now-former Dominion fringe world. It made her feel oddly well and relaxed. With her focus being on the mission at hand, though, she took it as a sign of victory, and the rest of the Swarm also felt the same good feeling.

Of course, Kerrigan wasn't the only psionic who directly felt that faint presence. Within the maturing chrysalis in the mutation chamber, Nico Yazawa sensed it in her mind as well...and, somehow, a part of herself - the few shreds of humanity that she still possessed - felt like she recognized it. She felt...a different kind of warmth than the one of her organic prison, and...hope...

'Hope...' Once again, she was slipping into unconsciousness. She was unsure if she would still remember that hope when she fully awakens. But for that moment in time, she felt like there was someone, somewhere, trying to reach out to her. She had to hold onto her humanity even as her entire being was slowly torn apart and woven into something different. She had to remember when she awakens once again, somehow. And she had to try reaching out, whenever she could. 'Mama...soon, I'll...' Now wasn't the time, though, so she kept her thoughts to herself as her consciousness started drifting away again.

A/N: So, there we go. I'm finding some writing steam again after a bit of floundering about aimlessly and being mostly unproductive.

Does this seem to be a cheap cop-out so far, though? Miraculous psi shenanigans and the power of love and friendship cause universal peace! Nah, there's gonna be some action, worry not. It can't always be sunshine and rainbows. But that's for another chapter.

For another chapter as well: Nico's formal (re)appearance. Stay tuned.