The Goliath walker tumbled to the ground as the Zerg Hydralisks took out it's left leg. The pilot swore as the machine hit the barren soil of Mar Sara, and winced as the plasteel from the canopy fell on him. He struggled to undo the restraints holding him in place, and managed to free himself of all but one when a shadow flooded the cockpit. The pilot stopped what he was doing, and looked up slowly, a look of pure terror written on his face.
The Zergling swarm passed over the ruined war machine, and all that was left of the man was a battered, bloody corpse.
From the bunkers situated high above the badlands of Mar Sara; Confederate Marines rained lead death down upon the titanic Zerg attack Brood, but with little effect. The living tide of alien creatures continued to push the Terran forces back, forcing the humans to retreat behind the walls of the base. Vulture hoverbikes raced across the main walls of the base, laying down spider mines in the vain hopes that they would force the Zerg back. Siege tanks, situated just inside the base, lobbed Siege rounds out of the giant shock cannon mounted inside their rear gun port. Further in, the Confederate forces raced frantically back and forth as they tried to evacuate as much equipment and personnel as they could while still trying to fortify the base.
Missile turrets spewed out missile after missile as Zerg Mutalisks and Guardians tried to exploit the one visible weakness of the fortress like base. Terran Wraith fighters soared from one dogfight to another, their belly mounted cannons spewing out energy upon the living tide of Zerg bellow. And at the spaceport, well within the human lines, drop ships were loaded with as much cargo and troops as possible.
For a moment, to the untrained eye, it looked like the Confederate forces were pushing back the living ocean of insectoid Zerg, proving that Terran brute force and technology had crushed yet another enemy. Then the Zerg swarm crashed against the base's main wall, biting, clawing and screeching as they tried to reach the defenders above. Mammoth Ultralisks plodded into the fray and began ramming the walls with all of the strength they could muster, the giant scythe blades sparking as they connected with the titanium wall. Hydralisks opened their shoulder sacs and let loose volley after volley of tiny carbon spines. Marines fell from the wall.
The bunkers, once successful at holding back the nightmarish army, began to catch fire, and several popped open like overripe fruit. Marines poured out, running towards the interior of the base, which was beginning to fall apart. Mutalisks and Guardians pressed the missile defense line, and the Terran structures began to collapse in explosive clouds.
Wraiths spiraled overhead and crashed into the base walls, weakening them even more. It would only be a matter of time. The bulbous Command Center and the Barracks begin rising above the base. The commanders, naturally cowards at heart, were abandoning the troops under their command. The Starport however, exploded in a gigantic explosion that leveled many of the surrounding supply depots, and slaughtered the troops waiting for evac.
The wall fell soon after the Science Facility fell from the sky, it's repulsor lift engines destroy from attacking Mutalisks. The Zerg wasted no time; they leapt into the opening and never gave the scattered Terrans time to recover. Zerglings chased down any marines and Firebats they found, ripping the armored power suits open and feasting on the pink flesh inside. Smoke rose slowly above the ruined base. Many of the Confederate structures were on fire as Ultralisks and Hydralisks continued to destroy the buildings within the base. The Command Center, once slowly drifting upwards, was forced down to the ground, and then a fate worse than death awaited them. A Zerg queen, a spider like creature, came gliding in from far behind the main line of the alien army and stopped above the half crushed Terran building.
The creature spotted an opening in the titanium shell, and drove in. The screams of unarmored technicians and engineers rose out of the building, and were immediately silenced. Slimy growth began to reach out of the collapsed sections, grasping ruined soil and support beams, while a beating muscle began to construct itself inside the command chamber at the top of the Command Center. The queen reappeared, and glided off. Mutalisks surrounded the unnatural place, watching silently as muscles began pulsing underneath the metal skin, and the massive heart began beating rhythmically as it finished connecting the arteries and digestion chambers together.
The last of the Marines emptied their last clips into a Zergling squad and drove into an abandoned Machine Shop add-on for the Factory that had been there only scant minutes before. Now all that was left of the war machine maker was a pile of rubble, in which a thick carpet of purple crust was encroaching upon. Inside the close spaces of the shop, other survivors huddled together, many clutching small firearms or pipes. The Marines shoved many of the civilians aside, and headed for the deeper, safer parts of the shop. The last bastion of humanity on Mar Sara, surrounded by near mythical amounts of Zerg warriors, had fallen. It would only be a matter of time till Zerg scouts would enter the Machine Shop and purge it of all Terran life. Or worse, the Infested Terrans at the Command Center would toss their bodies against the small building and explode, tearing the place apart in the process.
In space, three battlecruisers hung over the spoiled world. Even from this distance many onboard could see the faded purple of the Zerg's nutrient carpet, the Creep. And for those not racing about, trying to prep the cruisers for immediate departure, could easily see the Zerg armies at minimal magnification.
The Sons of Korhal powered up their ships' engines, and left the system and the ruined world behind them…