The temple was quiet no longer.

Now it echoed to agonized screams and the stuttering roar of flamethrowers. The bengalaas had fled, hiding in the brush as monstrous shadows passed by.

The temple was at war

                                                     •      •      •

A third wave of zerglings hurled themselves at the two bunkers on top of the ramp, and the firebats inside burned them all down. Piles of flaming zergling corpses lay heaped in front of the bunkers, where the ravening monsters had literally climbed on each other’s dead bodies to reach their target. I smiled grimly as the last zergling fell away down the ramp, shrieking and thrashing as fire covered its body. Even as it died, streams of infantry poured down the ramp and headed towards the direction the ‘lings had come from. The attack force charged up the southern-most ramp and right away they were on creep. Guns began blazing at the hatchery that sat just behind the ramp. One marine died as a massive spike thrust up through his body, then sank back into the ground.

"Heindricks! Get that sunken!"

"Ja, commander!"

Heindricks’ squad of firebats moved towards the sunken colony and began to flame it. Through my helmetcam link I saw another hatchery and a lair. This was a pretty substantial base.

Wait . . . a lair usually meant hydralisks, and I didn’t see any present.

"Commander? There’s three or four big, spiky things coming straight for us! I’ve . . . I’ve never seen these before! They’re burrowing into the GGGGAAAARRRGgghhh . . .

A line of spikes rippled through the ground and tore into Sergeant Robinson, lifting him off his feet in an explosion of gore. His shredded body hung on the spikes for a moment before they sank back into the creep

"Fall back! FALL BACK!!"

Another five marines and three ‘bats were killed by these new horrors before the survivors made it down the ramp. I ordered two SCVs to build missile turrets on my ramp in preparation for attack by burrowed enemies. These must be evolved from the hydralisk strain; that was why I had seen no hydras defending the Zerg colony. But escalation was not unanticipated, and I had some cards up my sleeve as well.

The giant gears of my newly-built factory ground to a halt momentarily, and the first siege tank rolled off the assembly line.

The lurkers had been even more effective defenders than the Cerebrate had thought. The terrans had retreated all the way back into their base, and the Cerebrate took the opportunity to plant two new hatcheries, one at the resource node just below its ramp and the other on the mesa to the east. With three bases and four hatcheries it was easily outresourcing its opponent, and had probably twice his production capacity. It pondered its next move. Should it continue to expand or pressure the terrans with another attack? After much deliberation, it chose combat. A group of 16 hydralisks and lurkers moved towards the terran ramp.

"Enemy sighted, targeting . . . locked! Firing!"

The first hydralisk up the ramp took two tank shells in the chest and exploded instantly. Marines began to fire from the bunkers as lurkers and hydralisks charged forward. The lurkers burrowed rapidly, but the turrets rapid-scan software detected their position and fed targeting data to the tanks and marines. The lurkers were dying quickly, but over a dozen hydralisks were pounding our bunkers, and they would not hold up much longer. As the first bunker sagged and crumpled the marines inside fled away from the ramp. The hydralisks eagerly gave chase; and ran at full speed into a pair of S.P.I.D.E.R. mines. All but four were killed instantly, and my tanks quickly destroyed the survivors. Two lurkers fled the carnage and made it back to the protection of the Zerg base. The Zerg had mutated a new hatchery below their ramp, but I was still confident. Even this new strain couldn’t stand up to my tanks, that was apparent. My new firepower would end the battle quickly. I leaned back contentedly in my chair. For the first time in a long while, I felt good.

                                                     •      •      •

The terrans had acquired siege tanks. That was not good. The Cerebrate pondered the situation. With siege tanks available, it thought that the human commander would try to drop in it’s main base. There was no indication that the enemy had developed air units, or knew about the Cerebrates second and third clusters.

And wasn’t that too bad.

. . . .

"Ready to move, Commander!"

"All right," I said. "Go!"

Six tanks and twelve Goliath combat walkers moved out of my second base. I didn’t think the Zerg had any defenses capable of absorbing the kind of punishment these mechs could dish out. They would simply siege up at the Zerg base entrance and kill everything, leaving me to finish the Zerg off at my leisure.

It was time to end the war.

The Cerebrate’s orders flashed at the speed of thought across the area to the islands east and west of the terran base. Both had been mutating nothing but mutalisks once they had enough drones to mine. A dozen of the monstrous, bat-like creatures flew from each cluster, eager for battle. With any luck whatsoever, this would be a crippling blow, from which the humans could never recover.

                                                     •      •      •

The marines left in my base camp were nervous. 90 percent of our military had just left, leaving little besides the fixed defenses. Suddenly, blips began to show up on their radar.

"What the . . ."

"Mutas!! Look out!"

The mutalisks flew over my defensive turrets, ripping them apart with only a few volleys. The bladed Wurms ricocheted into the midst of the ten defending marines, causing havoc. Sudden grunts came over the com as my soldiers applied their stimpacks, then wild laughter mixed with the stuttering whine of overclocked guns. A few mutas were shot down, but it was too little, too late. I watched in horror as the monsters slaughtered my defenders. A marine went staggering backwards with three wurms in his side, barely able to hold his gun straight as the stim began to wear off. A fourth shot hit him clean in the throat and he fell to the ground, a pool of red spreading around him.

The attack force was already coming back. I just needed another minute! But that minute was the one I didn’t have. Just as the walkers reached the ramp in front of base, the last marine stumbled back against my command center and was beheaded by a close range hit to the collarbone. One group of mutalisks turned towards the group of SCVs mining minerals, and the other raced towards my factories and the single starport I had brought online. The sound of SCV armor splintering, mixed with ghastly screams, reached me even through the armored plating of my CC. An SCV blasted past my viewplate, trying to escape the slaughter, and a mutalisk shot its fuel tank. The miner barely had time to scream before he was engulfed in a fireball. The destruction of my buildings was better. At least buildings don’t scream.

Only five SCVs remained when the Goliaths came into range. A devastating volley of missiles tore into one of the Mutalisks, sending one down in flames. The survivors fled, leaving me sitting in my damaged command center amid the wreckage of my base.

                                                     •      •      •

The attack had been even more successful then the Cerebrate had thought. The humans had been dealt a powerful blow, and had abandoned all thought of an offensive for now. This was perfect. With the humans confining themselves to their bases, this entire area would become a single Great Hive Cluster, and when they tried to fight back, the might of the Swarm would crush them. The Cerebrates minions stirred into action, and dozens of drones scurried towards the various resource nodes as the humans started to pick up the pieces of their shattered base.