Disclaimer: I don't own Starcraft or any of their related products, characters or plots, they are all own by Blizzard Activision

Enjoy and as always R&R

Chapter 1: Close, but not Yet.

Battlecruiser Hyperion , Tarsonis Orbit above New Gettysburg.

The battle raged around the retreating cruiser as Adam Greyson sat at the controls of his dropship, he sighed, simply glad to be above the chaos, but then he heard a voice on the comms link that made his blood turn to ice in his veins.

You've got to be kidding me, Kerrigan is still down there?! He thought instinctively reaching to wrap his hands around the controls of the ship, orders or not, to hell with Mengsk.

That backstabbing bastard! We're not pawns in a chess game. His inner voice was driving him forward onto a path he wasn't sure he could follow. He'd never gone against orders before, but had never witnessed something so horrific. Training didn't prepare you to watch your friends get slaughtered by a Zerg horde, nothing will.

The whine of the engines powering up simply told him he was doing the right thing. Before he had the chance to go solo on a daring rescue mission, however a voice from behind him commanded.

"Hey, if you want to prove your worth to my unit now is the time, come on ,Kid." Captain James "Jim" Raynor says while clad in his modified CMC 300 armor alongside three other Marines with the emblem on the Rangers on their shoulders as they entered on the shuttle.

"Now go, go ,go"

Simply nodding to follow what was now seeming an authorized rescue mission ,he continues to power up the engines and tries to take off, and suddenly the doors of the hangar began to close off

"Go faster, Mengsk seems to have prepared for me to stay here, closing the door" Raynor warns to the rather young pilot on the cockpit ,Greyson had to agree with him, as he opened a channel to the bridge of the Hyperion.

"Mengsk you will not get away with this." He said rather bluntly, hoping that at least someone up there actually cared for their team on the ground,

"Kid, you got the right thing to say, but please don't be that corny" Raynor jokes with him to take a bit of pressure off as the other marines began to laugh with their captain

"Now go Sarah's location following her demand for evac"

Greyson simply nodded, not in the mood to joke back with his commanding officer, as he set the dropship in motion, with a thrust into the engines closing in the near closed door making it out close, sending it hurling down into the atmosphere, when the ground became visible, all he could see was the charred remains of the city, and an endless wave of Zerg closing in every place

Talk about a baptism of, Zerg. Greyson's inner voice quipped as he neared Kerrigan's last known location, was she even still alive? That was a thought he couldn't stomach. Someone of her skill, grace and beauty couldn't- You god damn idiot, Greyson. This isn't the time to think like that, focus on actually helping Sarah and not just dreaming about it, like if you were a stupid kid with a crush!

Pushing those thoughts away, he simply focused on getting the team close enough to reach her, scanning the last known location of her call until he caught a glimpse of Kerrigan herself and of the hundreds of Zerg that is approaching.

"Found Sarah, if you're going to get her out, now is the time!" He said opening the boarding ramp, allowing Raynor's team to make the jump.

"Go on, people , fire hell on the Zerg!" Raynor orders to his team that start to fire their rifles towards the aliens killing Zerglings and Hydralisks by the dozens.

Sarah Kerrigan was hoping to die right here with a bang ,hundreds of Zerg closing in her position, her rifle without ammunition, while suddenly several Zerg die over fire of from rifles that comes behind her as she watches three marines with the Rangers emblem on their shoulders as her shoulders sag with relief watching Raynor in front of them.

"Jim, Jim, you can't resist to play the Knight in shining armor, do you?" Kerrigan teases him with a tight tense tone of voice that contrast with her message

"You know me Darlin', when my girl is in trouble ,i jump to the rescue" Raynor's voice module speaks to her while the Marines keep shooting the approaching Zerg.

"Now ..we should leave, because if we not ,the Zerg will have six corpses instead of one"

"Got it ,Jim ..ughhhh!" Kerrigan's last phrase is interrupted for a Hydralisk sneak on them as one of its scythes slashed through her suit and draw blood from her back as Raynor watches the scenario in slow motion and grabs the Ghost in pain and ran to the shuttle and orders the only now remaining Marine to cover their back and the mentioned Hydralisk retreats as well.

Turning back to see Raynor and Kerrigan had made it onboard brought some relief to Adam Greyson's fraying nerves, but reflecting on those feelings would have to wait as he guided the dropship up into the air, dodging the attacks of the ever relentless Horde, while Raynor places Kerrigan is the medstation of the dropship to start treating the large cuts on her back while Kerrigan groans.

"Really Jim, you had to pick the only pilot in the fleet with a crush on me, well i guess that would make his job more focused?"

Adam all the all way back on the cockpit start to blush heavily but keeps his mind on the take off from the hot bed of the Zerg while Raynor says

"He does, odd he already was powering up the dropship when i got to the hangar?"

Upon hearing this over the Comms, Adam replied "I've never disobeyed an order before, but I would for you, Kerrigan. Read my mind later! Now isn't the time for games!"

He said attempting to hide behind a facade of mere words, knowing that she could sense his every thought being a telepath, however rendered him mute right after he said it. What is wrong with you? Came that inner voice again.

"I can focus in Mengsk's betrayal on me or in the searing pain on my back, do you want that, or i can focus in your mind again!" Kerrigan's voice appears strong from the medstation, while Raynor chuckles at the discussion

Adam blushes once again and tries to distract himself for the discussion as he notices a beeping light on the comn "Captain, a comn alarm ,do we listen to it?"

Raynor thinks about it and nods towards the pilot "Alright, but if it Mengsk cut him off at the first second"

Adam nods and presses the common as a garbled message is shown through the common system of the dropship

"Wrangl..Agen… M…. Kelerchian from the Ghost ..gram , i ..have target X41822N ..requ...evacuation"

Hearing the second evac, Adam checks its out ,he ask formally "Captain, Lieutenant ,this is a Confederate request, shall we answer it?"

Raynor answers him after Kerrigan whispered something on his ear while treating her "No matter the loyalties ,we don't leave people to the Zerg , Pilot, besides Sarah has a particular feeling about this target"

The fact that Kerrigan was thinking that boosted Greyson's confidence, but it also made him say "What's that supposed to mean? I don't understand telepaths"

"Kid, don't try it, only Telepaths understand telepaths and go" Raynor orders him before dodging a hit from Kerrigan after the comment.

"Save it, you two. You want me to fly us to that Evac, I will but what's the catch? You're both combat ineffective back there."

"Just what you are thinking , Adam, time to go out and prove that you can do it without the ship" Kerrigan answers him while their flying towards the call. The sudden realisation of what she meant dawned on him, as his inner voice rang out within his head. Now's your chance to show Sarah you've got what it takes. You want revenge for what the Zerg did to her? It's time to go mess with them!

"...Yes revenge is nice, but don't forget your objective ,get them fast and out, we come here to answer of evac , not killing Zerg"

"I know I will focus on that"

"And do not focus on your crush!" Kerrigan's loud voice interrupts him as him approaches to the evac point

"Ahh..Darlin' ,we sorely need to teach you social skills" Raynor remarks as his girl uses her usual bluntness with the young pilot.

Nearing the zone, Greyson hastily set the ship to land on autopilot, as he snatched the combat suit from behind his chair, throwing it on as he made a dash for the exit. Knowing his sidearms would be next to useless against the sheer number of enemies he was about to face, he equipped himself with a spare rifle and unlocked the hatch.

Within seconds a Hydralisk rose up in front of him. Rage filled the young pilot as he'd seen what they could do, the fact that Sarah had been hurt by one only made him more determined to take it down as he fired a burst before diving into a roll, catching the hulking beast with it's guard down, when he came up he was underneath the creature, unable to get an accurate shot with his rifle, forcing him to opt for one of his handguns, as he whipped it up, firing at point blank range to its brains blowing them up with the explosive round prepared as he moves on to seek the people to evac

He could see a shield bubbling in the near vicinity as he spotted who he assumed to be Kelerchian, alongside a teenage girl. They were on the verge of being surrounded, but the shield still holding on provided Greyson with a glimmer of hope that he'd be able to help them, as he darted through, blowing another Hydralisk's brain out in the process.

"You called for an Evac, I'm the guy who's getting you out of this mess, are you two hurt at all?" He asked, addressing no one in particular, as he continued to hold off the incoming Swarm

"Agent Kelerchian, Wrangler extraordinaire, we need evac soon, no matter the course, my mission is to get this girl off planet now" The Confederate Wrangler said with his gruff voice looking grim in the outlook of the situation

Greyson nodded as the shield began to fail, he knew that they couldn't stay where they were much longer.

"I'll see to it, but that raises a question, my team has been betrayed and left for dead, where the hell do we go from here?" He wondered, pausing to catch his breath, before his heart sank at the sight of the shield faded completely.

"Time to go!" He said turning to run back in the direction of the dropship, his two accomplices in tow, engaging what enemies they could despite their slowly draining strength and guns that were running dry.

"Captain, I've found who sent the message, headed back to you now, do me a favour and get the ship ready, it's going to be close, but I think we can make it."

He informed above the sound of the battle around them, not daring to look back as the chaos threatened to engulf the retreating trio. That's one for the Terrans and for you Kerrigan. Those bastards will think twice before trying this again. He thought feeling somewhat happier than he had been several minutes ago.

The welcoming sight of his ship and Raynor at the boarding ramp spurred him on, they made it inside as he unleashed a volley of spikes from one of the mounted guns, shredding a Zergling swarm which until that point had practically been clipping the team's heels.

"Kid, fire up the engines, we're done here!" Raynor commanded, as he gave him a slight smile of approval, leaving Greyson to carry out the order. The dropship shuddered as he nearly flung himself into his chair, taking the controls before he'd even sat down, his breathing panicked and his heart racing.

Raynor opens a restricted open channel to the Rangers "Rangers, Mengsk finally got mad with power, every one go the meeting point with all our resources and refugees in the Battlecruiser Thunder Child , Now!"

Adam goes into his pilot chair to seek the coordinates of the Battlecruiser letting out a long sigh as he finally began to calm down, deciding to let the autopilot fly them out of the combat zone, as he fell back overcome by a sudden wave of exhaustion. There isn't much anyone can say that will ease my mind right now, this is insane! he thought before everything around him faded into darkness, the mental stress of the sudden mission to rescue Kerrigan and the second Evac finally taking it's hold as he fell into unconsciousness.

Author's Note: And here it is my new attempt to Starcraft fanfiction, i always wanted to do this idea, and i am finally getting to do, and let me tell you this is not a oneshot, this start in the End of the Starcraft Episode 1 and will go probably until Legacy of the Void, so i hope you enjoy and please constructive reviews and opinions

Thanks

Andrigno