A/N: I just wanna say that I added this chapter the same day as the previous one (11). so yeah... two chapter update for today. If you saw this one as the latest on notifications or somethn make sure to read the previous

Chapter 12:

Alinar opened his eyes to see the ruins all around him. The entirety of Dead Man's Mouth, to put it simply, had been destroyed. All land whether covered by grass or creep, was now on fire, charred, or burnt up. Alinar felt his shields almost failing and recharging. He couldn't help but feel thankful for the thousands of years of advanced technology the Protoss had. But the gems didn't...

Things definitely did not go as expected but atleast the Zerg colony was destroyed. Alinar could see the smoking wreckage of the Terran Battlecruiser. The gem warship was nowhere to be seen.

Alinar did the Protoss equivalent of a scoff. Typical of the gems to be so arrogant but weak that even a race centuries behind in technology could best them. Alinar looked left of the wreckage and layed his eyes on the Protoss ship wreckage. Alinar's eyes widened as he sprinted towards the wreck. There had to be atleast something salvagable.

A short distance away, a pink bubbled dissapated. The Crystal Gems, Connie, and Steven rolled out. Pearl was the first to recover.

"Steven! What are you doing here!?" she screamed.

"Saving... your... life!" said Steven.

"We were coming to assist you ma'am but when we saw ships in the sky we hurried and found you guys in trouble!" said Connie. It was true. After taking the cab, Connie used her wildlife skills she aquired from her books to track down the Zerg. However when they got there and saw ships crashing to the ground, they sprinted to see the Crystal Gems running so Steven formed a bubble shield for them.

Steven gave the 'it was her idea' look.

"Connie that was a wonderful job escorting Steven here," said Pearl. She turned to Steven ", But next time be more careful! You coud've been killed here!"

"But-" began Steven

"Nevermind that for now Steven. We need to get you out of here!" said Pearl.

"Yo but what about Alinar? Hes still here somewhere!" said Amethyst.

"But how could he have survived that?" questioned Pearl ", Hes good as dead."

"His plasma shields," said Garnet ", He may still be alive. We have to find him."

"Well where would he go?" asked Amethyst ", We gotta look!"

Everyone nodded and began the search.

"Hey guys," called Steven ", Whats that?"

Steven pointed at a large metal smoking half-house-sized cylindracl object lodged in the ground nearby.

"Hey isn't that the thing that shot from that Terran thing right?" said Amethyst.

*Hiss!

A side of the object hissed and fell open and a body fell out.

The interior of the ship was a complete wreck. The exterior was not very impressive either. Half the hull had been torn apart.

Alinar used his psi-blades to lighten up the interior. Things ranging from dead Zerg, torn creep, and broken Protoss objects littered everywhere.

What broke Alinar's heart was the remains of the Protoss on the ship. Though Protoss bodies evaporated away after death, evidence remained in the form of psionic weaponoray and clothing.

Alinar picked up a psionic sphere on the ground. It was broken in half and beyond use. Alinar pressed on in sadness.

Alinar stumbled into a room full of stasis chambers. All chambers that once held research specimens now held leftover biomass from the Zerg. All chambers used for warriors were littered with weapons and armor.

Alinar wished for something to still be of use. Anythig at all would do!

*Beep Beep!

Alinar jumped around to face the possible threat but widened his eyes.

"Its another human," said Pearl "But what is he doing here?"

"Remember the speakers," said Garnet ", He is the one from their escape pod."

Pearl looked at the giant metal cylinder in disgust. Even in the old days of Homeworld escape pods looked more appealing than whatever the thing was in front of her.

While Pearl and Garnet observed the giant escape pod, Amethyst, Steven, and Connie tended to the human passed out on the ground. To say the least, his clothing was very strange. It looked very official with a militaristic feel to it.

"Hes waking up!" yelled Connie as the man stirred. Everyone crowed around to see him wake up.

"Ugh... Commander, I don't think we should do that again," mumbled Paul as he slowly woke up. He opened his eyes to two children and three strangely covered individuals.

"Augh!" screamed Paul.

"What? Whats wrong?" asked Amethyst.

Paul continued to scream pushing himself away from the gems. He got to his feet and shakily, whipped out two bulky looking revolvers and aimed it at them.

"You won't take me!" threatened Paul.

"Woah Woah no need for violence," said Amethyst.

"I don't know what you're thinking but to think I'd trust you after you attack my fleet and try to board my ship?" questioned Paul.

"Listen we aren't those gems, whatever they did to you," said Pearl as she tried to approach the Terran.

*Bang!

Pearl jumped back as Paul shat the ground in front of her. She formed her spear along with the rest of the gems pulling out their weapons. Even Connie.

"Wait!" yelled Steven who ran in front of Paul. He faced the gems holding his hands out.

"Theres no need to hurt him!" said Steven ", Hes just scared!"

"What the? Kid I don't know what these aliens have done to your head but we gotta get you back to our own territory!"

"No you don't understand!" said Steven.

*Screech!

Everyone turned to see a still alive zergling come running at them. Paul directed his aim and unloaded a barrage of bullets into the zergling effectively killing it.

"Zerg lifeform!?" said Paul as he reloaded ", What are they doing here!?"

"Well the thing is-," began Steven.

"Foolish Terran!"

"AH!" screamed Paul as he caught sight of the brood mother.

"Do you know what your stunts have cost me?" said Niadra " Your battlecruiser just destroyed almost the entirety of my hive cluster!"

Paul shakily pointed both guns at Niadra. He really wished to not die.

"You will pay for this!" said Niadra as a swarm of zerglings appeared behind her.

The Crystal Gems appeared by Paul with their weapons ready. Though Paul was confusd by the gem's seemingly sudden stand by his side, he did not protest.

"Gems?" questioned Niadra ", You too will pay for this! It was your ship that shot down my vessel!"

The gems gave her a look of confusion.

"Your warship damaged my vessel! We had no choice but to land the Protoss ship here!" said Niadra ",Prepare to die!"

The Zerglings slowly walked forward.

"Oh I don't like this," said Amethhyst.

The Gems were exhausted from the previous battle. From the looks of it, even with Steven and Connie here, there was still a large army in front of them.

"Their numbers are a lot smaller," said Garnet ", We... we can still win this."

Even she sounded unsure.

"Aw hell no," said Paul as he ran back towards his escape pod.

Everyone was suprised to see violent blue energy tear through the front of the zergling ranks. They looked to the side to see Alinar. Except this time he was not alone. Two other Protoss warriors were with him. Both wearing more elagant clothing and armor but bore no blades. One warrior seemed crippled and heavily leaned on Alinar. Also, another unknown peice of Protoss technology hovered the ground and followed Alinar in the form of a glowing orb contained by machinery.

The second one stood in front of Alinar with its hands cast in front of it glowing with blue energy.

"You should have destroyed all the stasis chambers," said a feminine voice.

"Orsagi. Can you contact the rest of the Khalai?" asked Alinar.

"I'm afraid not Alinar. Being stuck in the damaged stasis chamber for such a long time as taken its tole on Atara and I... I'm sorry... I'm incapable of contact.," said Orsagi.

"It it is true Alinar," said another feminine voice ", Though the zerg failed to find our hidden chamber, we have been hurt badly."

Atara was right. She and Orsagi looked very unhealthy. Their armor was intact but malfunctioning in multiple places. The light in both their eyes were fading and Alinar could feel their energy wavering. Though Orsagi stood menacingly facing the Zerg, her poor condition and her recently casted Psi-storm took a lot out of her.

"Protoss..."said Niadra in rage ",You will all die!"

The Zerg continued to slowly walk forward.

"Alinar what do we do?" yelled Amethyst as the Crystal Gems ran over to his position.

"Working with Terrans and...Gems?" said Orsagi with disgust ",What is this heresy!?"

"High Templar there is no time to explain but they are our only allies if we are to survive. If we do then I will tell you all afterwards," said Alinar.

Orsagi and Atara looked on and assessed the weapons and capabilities of their "allies". The Dominion Terran had two revolvers, the two children had a shield and sword, and the gems were exhausted with melee weapons. Meanwhile the army in front of them was large and approaching.

Orasagi and Atara locked eyes with one another. After a good few seconds Atara turned to Alinar.

"Alinar, brave Zealot warrior, I'm sorry but there will not be time to talk afterwards," said Atara.

"What do mean?" asked Alinar

"I suggest you take these...allies to safety Alinar," said Orsagi as she channeled energy into her hands.

"No... you do not have to! We can work together and beat this," said Alinar.

"Alinar! Please! you have seen the enemy and you know there is no other way!" said Atara.

Alinar thought furiously for a moment.

"Become one with the Khala," said Alinar as he motioned for everyone to leave the premise. The sentry following him.

"What? Why are we leaving?" asked Connie as they were running away. ", They're still there!"

"The fusing to form an Archon is not one that we should interfere with," said Alinar.

Steven gasped with star eyes.

"Another fusion?" he asked.

"Not exactly," said Garnet.

Orsagi and Atara stood side by side holding hands. Otara on the left and Atara on the right. With their free hand, a strong psionic current surged out and soon both Protoss were covered in a glowing blue aura.

"We strike as one..." said Orsagi and Atara in union ",For Aiur!"

The energy now became solid as both bodies dissapeared in to a giant ball of energy. All the zerg screeched and roared in the presesnce.

"POWER...OVERWHELMING!"

"Whoa..." said Steven. The Crystal gems stumbled back as they could practically feel the power radiating off the new being.

In a bright flash, a new giant being appeared. Steven's look of awe multiplied by 10. The Cystal Gems instead, stared in horror.

The new being was literally a head, chest peice armor, arms, and pure energy holding it together.

"Kill the archon!" yelled Niadra. The Zerg swarmed forward at the archon.

"ERADICATE!" The archon threw a hand forward and immense energy surged from its palm obliterating everything in its path. Zerglings evaporated and screeched in pain as the entire ground was levatated. In an instant, a third of the entire zergling army was evaporated.

"S-s-s-such power!" stuttered Pearl. She could feel reality, time, and space warping around the being.

"Come on guys we gotta help it!" said Amethyst.

"No," said Alinar

"What do you mean no?" asked Amethyst

Garnet responded ", We'll only get in the way."

Amethyst was about to respond but stopped when she saw the archon wave its hands again.

"ANNIHILATE!"

If the Crystal Gems thought Orsagi's psi-storm was deadly, the newly born archon's psi storm was twice the ferocity tearing through zerg like paper and destroying everything in its path.

The archon raised both arms and channeled energy.

"VAPORIZE!"

Everywhere in the Zerg ranks energy out of the air lashed out and blew up everything.

After the explosions stopped, the only beings left of the zerg were Niadra and a handful of zerg.

"You will not live to see another rotation of this planet!" said the archon.

Niadra seemed she was about to fall into a fit of rage.

"You have not won yet! Fall before the swarm!"

Everyone stumbled as the ground shook. Out of the ground, an enourmous zerg unburrowed.

"Brutalisk!" shouted Alinar.

The brutalisk lunged forward and brought its two limbs down on the archon. It struggled against the plasma shields creating sparks but quickly broke through. The archon used both hands to hold back one but the other peirced right through its chest.

The Crytal gems cringed as the archon let out a blood curling scream. It let loose a blast of energy at the brutalisk who screeched in pain but otherwise seemed unharmed.

"Yesss! Kill it!" said Niadra. With the remaining zerglings present, she commanded them to form into banelings and charge the archon.

"What? How is it loosing!?" said Amethyst.

"Too much energy used to destroy the zerg," said Alinar ",There isn't enough power left!"

Alinar was right and the archon itself knew it. It let loose another blood curling scream as the banelings blew their acid

"YOU WILL NOT SUCCEED!" yelled the archon.

Everyone felt a spike of energy in the air. Alinar widened his eyes as he realized what the archon was attemting. He sent a message to the sentry. Witha few beeps, a large blue shield grew and enveloped everyone.

"BRACE!" yelled Alinar.

"WE BECOME ONE WITH THE KHALA!"

The energy of the archon increased intensity by tenfold now enveloping both itself and the brutalisk. The brutalisk roared and stabbed its arm deeper into the archon. The archon roared and with a powerful surge, let loose an explosion of pure fury and ferocity. Everyone looking was blinded.

When the light died down, the Crystal Gems stared at the destruction.

"Such power..." said Connie.

Everything, even the ground, within the radius of the explosion was just... gone. The only thing left was a fading archon.

"No...," said Alinar as he sprinted towards the psionic warrior.

The archon fell to the ground with a grunt. Cracks rapidly formed on its armor and body and the energy holding it together continued to fade.

"No... You cannot die yet!" said Alinar. He kneeled before the enourmous body and held his hands out channeling psionic energy into the Archon.

"No, Alinar it will nto be enough. I'm sorry but I could not let the zerg succeed," said the Archon.

"This cannot be!" roared Alinar ", I had just found hope. Orsagi and Atara, I was finally not alone! Ever since the enemy gem tore my nerve cord, I just felt so alone. I was ripped from the Khala and never to return. I could not call for our brethren! I was helpless defeated! I had to rely on the help of Terrans and Gems! When I fought the Zerg, I no longer had the comfort of other zealots but only gems that I could never connect with."

Alinar punched the ground.

"When I found Orsagi and Atara, I had felt hope. Hope that fate would have a better future for me! One where I would be lifted out of this terrible isolation! When their sacrifice came, you were born. I still had hope that I could still find comfort in another Protoss but now you will leave me too!"

Alinar's shoulders dropped in sadness. The archon spoke.

"Alinar, what is this nonsense? You are a warrior!"

"One that has been stripped of everything!"

"No Alinar. They may have taken your connection to the Khala and your comfort from our people, but they will never take your title and identity as Protoss! First-Born of the gods!" The armor of the archon cracked even more", We are an ancient and powerful people that have made our mark through the stars. You are a warrior! You will do the same. You will find a way to survive, you will find a way to contact our people, but most importantly, you make the gem who did this to you suffer. Suffer for such a crime commited and to show the gems the might and fury of the First Born!"

Alinar looked the archon in its eyes. Both coming to an understanding. Alinar knew what must be done. He did not know how but he did know what. Meanwhile the archon's energy dissapated and its armor crumbled.

"You can do it. You are...Protoss...warrior..." muttered the archon as it dissolved into the wind.

Alinar stood up and didn't move for a good while. He walked to the Crystal gems. None of them said anything out of shock, respect, or simply fear.

Steven broke the silence ", Is she..."

"One with the Khala,"said Alinar ",Now come, we must make sure the Zerg are done."

Alinar took the lead and everyone else followed.

Connie stumbled and caught up with the Protoss.

"Um... sir?" said Connie.

"My name is Alinar,"

"Alinar... right...listen um... I didn't know what your situation was before and I'm... I'm sorry." said Connie.

"What is done is done. We must focus on the problems to come." said Alinar.

"Will you be alright though?" asked Connie.

"Yeah man, that seemed really rough for you," said Amethyst who caught up.

"I will be fine. I am a Zealot. I... will survive," said Alinar "Now come, I beleive a human expression is ' I do not have all of the day to work."

"Right. lets fix up this mess," said Pearl forcing a smile.

Alinar continued walking but stopped after only ten feet.

"That... is a terran drop pod?" inquired Alinar.

*BOOM!

"Get down!"

"Steven!"

As the smoke cleared, the Crystal Gems crouched in Steven's personal bubble.

"Wha- wheres Alinar?" yelled Steven.

"There!" pointed Garnet.

Alinar's body had landed forty feet away. His plasma shield shone and faded.

"Step away from that civilian Protoss! I don't know what deal you struck with those gems but I will not tolerate Dominion people being taken by aliens!"

There another forty feet away in the opposite direction stood a large, metal, bulky, red, humanoid figure. Instead of a head, there was a round helmet. The orange visors lifted up to reveal Paul.

Paul held a bulky smoking rocket launcher on his shoulder. He holstered it onto his back and equipped a standard C-14 Impaler Gauss rifle.

"As for you gems!" said Paul as he aimed the gun at them ", I appreciate the stand by me but I'm afraid I'll have to liberate a few fellow Terrans. Now hand the kids over."

"Hand us over? Who do you think you are!?" said Connie.

"Yeah come on man weren't we just on the same side," said Amethyst.

"Why is he aiming at us?" said Steven with a worried face.

"Hes confused," said Garnet ", We need to reason with him."

"Foolish Terran! You do not know what you are doing," said Alinar

"Oh I know just what I am doing! Saving this- Ack!"

Alinar's sentry beeped and directed it's phase disruptor beam at the CMC battle armor.

Paul's hud system beeped red as the beam continued to damage his armor.

Alinar commanded the beam to stop so he could face the terran himself. With a roar Alinar charged the Terran and swung his blades.

Paul yelped and sidestepped out of the way but not without the psionic blade cutting clean a part of his shoulder armor leaving the internal frame vulnerable.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" said Pearl.

Everyone agreed but for some reason no one took a step forward.

Paul unloaded rounds into Alinar's damaged shields. However, the shield did not break as Alinar's sentry streamed energy into his shield generators.

Suddenly, Paul screamed as a spine pierced through his armor. Alinar felt the same happen to his shield but was otherwise unharmed.

"Terrans and Protoss! You will pay for what you have done! The Swarm will not fall here! Destroy all Protoss!"

Paul winced as he pulled out the spines from his armor. He dropped his empty gauss rifle and pulled out his two revolvers. One aimed at Alinar and the other at Niadra.

Alinar opened both palms crackling with psionic energy aimed at the other two. He was not at the level of a high templar but he could still do considerable damage.

Niadra just gave a death stare ready to fire off more spines at either.

A three-way battle was about to begin.

"WAIT!"

Steven ran into the middle of their triangle and held his hands out.

"Steven!" called the Crystal Gems.

"Get back here! You could get seriously hurt!" yelled Pearl.

"Young Steven! You must not get in the way of this battle!"

"Little boy! This is crazy! What are you doing!?"

"Terran civilian! This does not concern you! My Queen does not enjoy harming "innocents" as she put it."

"Why do you have to fight each other?" said Steven.

"Steven. You do not understand. This is a war between our peoples"said Alinar

"You heard what the alien said. Terrans like us don't take too kindly to our worlds being burned."said Paul

"Your world had been infested with Zerg! It had to be purged!"said Alinar

" Chau Sara had billions on it! You could have let us fight the Zerg ourselves and go burn them yourselves!"

"Your efforts against the Swarm are the reason your extinction is needed for the Swarm's survival!" said Niadra.

"Please Stop!" said Steven ", I know you've had past conflicts but can't we all just sit down and talk it out please?"

"NO!" yelled all three.

"For the Swarm!"

"Hail to the Dominion!"

"En Taro Artanis!"

Steven formed a bubble in fear as all three seemed to be about to attack.

*flash

In a bright light, the Crystal Gems place now stood the towering form of Alexandrite.

The giant gem towered over the three puny fighters.

"There has been ENOUGH killing today! I don't care what but If Steven says to sit down and talk it out, you will sit down and talk it out!"

Zerg, Terran, and Protoss all stared at the giant form of Alexandrite. Niadra had lost her swarm, Paul only had a damaged suit of CMC armor on him left, and Alinar was tired and alone again. Still, they hesitated.

"NOW!" yelled Alexandrite forming all three weapons at once.

Immediately, guns were dropped, psionic energy was dispersed, and spines were retracted.

To Be Continued...

A/N: okay