Belly of the Beast

Belly of the Beast is a StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty mission. Completing it in place of the mission "Shatter the Sky" prevents the zerg from using nydus worms in the mission "All In".

Background
The terrans suffered heavy casualties gaining a foothold on Char, and needed to attack the primary hive before being overwhelmed by the zerg. There was enough time for one secondary attack to weaken the zerg's defenses. General Horace Warfield suggested crippling zerg air support, but it was Tychus Findlay's proposal to cripple the near the primary hive that Raynor acted upon.

Raynor had previous experience in the tunnels. He opted to bring a close-knit team consisting of himself, Tychus Findlay, Rory Swann, and Egon Stetmann, to deploy the seismic charges and flood the tunnels with lava. Warfield's offer of elite Dominion troops was declined as too unwieldy. However, the general suggested linking up with troops trapped underground during the initial landing; he would relay their positions to the strike team.

Neither Swann or Stetmann were enthusiastic about field work. Swann carried the charges.

The Mission
The team went underground to plant a charge at each of three targeted fissures. The planted charge took some time to arm. The zerg converged from nydus worms, and the terrans defended the charge and escaped just before the detonation.

Further in, the tunnels were being used as an infested terran nesting area. Clearing the narrow tunnels of the numerous infested was the only way to advance. The infested were joined by ultralisks in attacking the second charge, but the Raiders once again ensured a successful detonation and escaped.

The final fissure was in the middle of a nest overseen by a very large. The Raiders first suspected its presence by the way eggs in their path began hatching when they approached. The queen revealed itself only when the final charge was placed, and began manually hatching surrounding eggs. The queen was killed to prevent it from destroying the charge while the terrans fled.

The Raiders fled back to the surface as the tunnels flooded with lava.

Aftermath
The nydus network was crippled around the primary hive, and the terrans prepared to attack. Assembly of the xel'naga device was completed and it was delivered to the front for deployment.

Gameplay
The player gets control of only the 4 heroes: They may save trapped Dominion troops later into the mission.
 * Jim Raynor (Marine, with Radar and Penetrator Round skill)
 * Tychus Findlay (Marine, with Shredder Grenade skill)
 * Rory Swann (Marauder, with his "Flaming Betty")
 * Egon Stetmann (Medic, with Selfix Armor and Heal)

If a hero dies, they simply fall to the ground for 20 seconds. The number of "deaths" are counted in the score screen.

The objective of the mission is to go through zerg-filled tunnels, plant and protect an explosive at the final location. During their journey, the Raiders may meet obstacles such as banelings, nydus worms unleashing units such as swarmlings, spine crawlers, massive swarms of infested terrans, infestors, aberrations, an omegalisk, ultralisks, and a powerful  with 3000 hit points, more powerful attacks, egg pop and shockwave abilities.

Trivia
After the dies in the penultimate part of the mission, Egon Stetmann confirms that "She's dead, Jim". This is a reference to Dr. McCoy and James T. Kirk in Star Trek TOS.

If the marines under attack by the omegalisk are killed, one will say "no way man! Game over man! Game over!" This is a line form Aliens II and also a cheat code in the original StarCraft.