"Dying Planet"

Agria's atmosphere should have been a breathtaking blue—

The sky above this agricultural colony had been as pure as freshly washed glass, and whenever starlight streamed through the clouds onto the surface, it painted a faint golden rim across the horizon.

But now, the shadow of the Zerg had utterly defiled that sky.

In low orbit, what seemed like countless Hive Motherships floated like rotten fruit. Their bloated shells were covered in pulsating veins as they continuously sprayed spore pods toward the surface.

Those sticky organic containers fell like a torrential rain, trailing long green flames as they pierced the atmosphere.

Even more chilling were the wrecks drifting in orbit. The former escort fleet had been torn to pieces, warship armor plates twisted and fractured, with frozen corpses occasionally visible within the exposed compartments.

The wreckage of the Space Station rotated slowly, its hull riddled with holes corroded by acid, like a rotting piece of wood eaten hollow by worms.

If one looked down at the surface, Agria should have been the model of human agricultural Civilization.

Across its vast plains, golden waves of wheat had once risen and fallen with the monsoon winds, while automated harvesters prowled through the fields like steel Kaiju.

Ranches dotted the shores of azure lakes, where genetically modified livestock grazed lazily within electronic fences. Neatly arranged orchards covered the hills, drones weaving through the vines to inspect their ripeness.

The colony's towns were not large, but they had been full of life.

Homes and shops surrounded central plazas, and children always gathered beside the fountains to play.

The scent of fresh bread drifted through the markets, holographic billboards cycled through crop prices, every community had automated medical stations and schools, and symphonies from local theaters could always be heard at dusk.

But now, that