The rumbling grew and grew, and finally with a great hiss and shaking bad enough to knock people off their feet the command center rose into air, it's built-in rocket engines struggling to hold something entirely unsuited to flight above ground.  The viewscreen showed that this was a timely liftoff indeed, as several explosive zerg finally made it to the defence towers and blew a gaping hole in the defensive perimeter.  As the center stabilized, they could see zerg swarming all over the compound.<br/><br/>With a slight tilt, the lumbering structure began drifting off over the zerg hordes towards the excavation site.  One of the operators also put up a countdown timer on the screen to show them how much time they had left until the craft crashed down and incinerated everything in over 10-kilometer radius.  They needed to be well gone at that time, or at least well underground.  The excavation site was only 25 kilometers away, even it might feel the effects of a blast that size.<br/><br/>The command center had just about cleared the zerg encirclement of the compound, and they could begin to spot some of the organic spires and hives that served as some kind of zerg structures, as well as the ever-pervasive Creep, that crusty slime-like substance that covered the ground where ever the zerg were present.  There were still some zerg creatures, as well as a swath of creep and buildings more or less in their way, and they could see several cracks and canyons in the ground, doubtlessly leading to the innumerable underground caves and passages this planet was dotted with.<br/><br/>One of operators suddenly turned his head, and shouted:<br/><br/>"Uh-oh, we seem to have a problem.  We've got some kind of airborne--"<br/><br/>There was a loud explosion, screeching of tearing metal and hisses and sparks from malfunctioning electronics.  The whole command deck of the structure shook violently.<br/><br/>"As I was saying, some kind of airborne zerg have just crashed into us!  Several of them, in fact!  The first ones blew apart the western quarter, which is why we're listing so badly!  I don't know how long I can keep us in air anymore.  Also... it seems that we've been boarded as well.  Registering several xeno-lifesigns near the destroyed areas, moving towards the center and this command floor!"<br/><br/>There was a hint of panic in the operator's voice.  No one could really feel comfortable with the idea of some face-to-face time with angry zerg.