Samir Duran

"I am a servant of a far greater power. A power that has slept for countless ages. And is reflected in the creature within that cell."

- Duran discusses Zeratul's discoveries on the dark moon.

Samir Duran is a mysterious being, claiming to be millennia old and having had many names over that time. Few are aware of his true nature. Sarah Kerrigan was unaware of who or what he was until shortly before the Second Great War. Zeratul only became suspicious after personally meeting Duran at the end of the. None of his former Confederate Resistance Forces comrades would have believed the truth.

Duran was active after the end of the Great War to the end of the Brood War. As a terran commando lieutenant, he joined the Confederate Resistance Forces, and subordinated the group to the UED Expeditionary Fleet. After attempting to sabotage the UED's efforts and assassinating UED Vice-Admiral Alexei Stukov, he reappeared as an infested terran serving Infested Kerrigan. He abandoned the zerg shortly before the end of the Brood War and for a time oversaw some protoss-zerg hybrid experiments on a dark moon.

Duran is knowledgeable about the zerg, and protoss technology. He speaks with a "liquid" accent and favors the C-10 rifle in combat.

Biography
Samir Duran claimed to be thirty-three years old during the.

Confederate Warrior
"Believe me, I understand hatred very well."

- Samir Duran to marine Angelina Emillian

Duran claimed to have served in Alpha Squadron before Arcturus Mengsk brought down the Terran Confederacy. Duran, sensing a shift in the power structure, assumed command of a small commando squad called the Confederate Resistance Forces that was dedicated to striking at Mengsk and his new Terran Dominion.

When the United Earth Directorate launched its first attack against the Dominion on Braxis, Duran monitored the attack before offering his services to Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov. Stukov accepted, but only because both men had the same enemy. Even though Duran had the potential to be a valuable asset, Stukov was nonetheless suspicious. This was not a deal that Admiral Gerard DuGalle approved at first glance, because in his eyes Duran was merely a "turncoat" to the Dominion.

The UED gained access to confidential Dominion information from Braxis. Duran used the information to plan an assassination attempt on Arcturus Mengsk, who was visiting Umoja at the time. He did not take part in the operation as he was required to journey to Dylar IV for the UED's attack on the Dylarian Shipyards. Instead, the failed assassination mission was led by Captain Angelina Emillian – Mengsk's former instructor.

Special Advisor to the UED
"Ah, the turncoat. I suggest that you pay keen attention to rank when you address the Captain and myself, Lieutenant Duran. Is that understood?" "Of course, Admiral." "Heh heh. You're beginning to show your age, Gerard. Give the boy some credit. He just tipped us off to a preeminent attack." "However useful he may prove to be, Alexei, he will always be a traitor in my eyes. And you know that I cannot abide a traitor."

- DuGalle and Stukov discussing Duran

The UED sought to steal Dominion battlecruisers dry-docked at the Dylarian Shipyards. During operational planning, Duran warned DuGalle that the Dominion could reinforce its outlying bases within sixteen hours. The stolen battlecruiser fleet was ready in time to defeat Dominion reinforcements led by General Edmund Duke.

Duran accompanied the UED fleet to Tarsonis. His research team located the Psi Disrupter, a lost Confederate weapon capable of disrupting zerg communication. Duran advised that it be destroyed, and DuGalle concurred; if it was captured by the Dominion, it would jeopardize the UED's plan to enslave the Second Overmind. Stukov's dissenting opinion, to use the disrupter against the zerg, was overruled.

As Duran had shown such concern over the matter, DuGalle ordered him to personally secure the disrupter. Duran's strategy of destroying surrounding hives to render surrounding the zerg dormant was successful. Duran's preparations to demolish the disrupter were interrupted by the intervention of Stukov's ghosts, who had orders to relieve Duran and take over the weapon's disassembly. Duran did not challenge them.

Duran participated in planning the UED assault on Korhal, the Dominion throne world. He suggested destroying a large cluster of missile silos on the outskirts of Augustgrad, the capital city, to disable the defender's core nuclear capabilities. The UED subsequently captured Augustgrad. Emperor Mengsk escaped capture with the aid of Raynor's Raiders, and a small protoss fleet.

The Turncoat
The UED pursued Mengsk and his rescuers to to Aiur, where the fugitives prepared to escape through the warp gate. The UED's quarry were entrenched in a large protoss base, surrounded by nesting, but apparently passive, zerg.

While one UED force struck for the gate and the fugitives, Stukov and Duran were assigned to guard the flanks and prevent potential interference by the zerg. As the main attack neared its objective, the warp gate activated and incited the zerg. Duran's forces were out of position as a large zerg force swept in from the northeast. He claimed not to detect the enemy force, and claimed communications difficulties prevented him from receiving Stukov's frantic warnings. The ensuing chaos allowed Jim Raynor and Mengsk to escape through the gate in a dropship. The gate subsequently self-destructed.

Stukov took an unauthorized leave of absence to Braxis as the operation on Aiur concluded. DuGalle and Duran tracked him there and found the vice-admiral had secretly had the psi disrupter reassembled, in contravention of previous orders. Duran convinced Admiral DuGalle that Stukov was acting treacherously, and was authorized by the aggrieved admiral to find and execute the vice admiral. Duran and a marine strike force entered the disruptor and broke through the Stukov's Elite Guard to confront the vice admiral.

Duran shot Stukov and disappeared to activate the disruptor's self-destruct. A dying Stukov convinced DuGalle that the psi disruptor was critical to defeating the zerg and that Duran was the real traitor, and possibly infested. So alerted, the UED quickly shut down the self-destruct.

Infestation
"Remember that Duran is still out there somewhere. I'd venture a guess that his treachery has only just begun."

- DuGalle to the Captain over Char

Duran escaped to join the zerg. The UED used the disrupter to severely weaken the zerg and claim the second Overmind on Char. As the UED claimed victory, Duran appeared to introduce DuGalle to Sarah Kerrigan. He made no effort to hide his infested status.

Kerrigan and Duran traveled to Tarsonis, where Duran interrupted a conversation between her, Raynor, and Fenix to inform Kerrigan that the psi disrupter's signal had reached them on Tarsonis and shattered the unity of her Broods.

Aboard the Hyperion, in orbit around Moria, Duran and Kerrigan discussed whether Raynor, Fenix, and Mengsk suspected them of anything. Kerrigan said they must suspect something, but preferred working with her rather than with the UED.

The Swarm traveled to Korhal and assaulted the UED forces there along with Raynor's Raiders and Fenix's troops. After the main UED base was destroyed, Kerrigan decided to eradicate her allies. Duran suggested the strategy of attacking while her allies were resting, allowing them to whittle down their defenses with relative ease. The ploy was successful. After the destruction of Duke's and Fenix's bases, they returned to Tarsonis to rest.

Two days later, the UED, intent on forcing Kerrigan's hand, tested out their control of the Overmind by sending hundreds of zerg to Tarsonis. As they began attacking their outposts, Duran informed her of the situation and rallied her forces. Kerrigan's forces secured their perimeter when Duran noticed a small UED encampment which protected a number of scientists. Kerrigan said the "scientists" were helping the UED command these Renegade Zerg at such a great distance from the Overmind; they had to be eliminated. Kerrigan's zerg took the fight to the UED Slave Brood hive clusters and the scientists, destroying them.

Duran then accompanied Kerrigan to Shakuras to kidnap Raszagal. Kerrigan did not reveal her interest in Raszagal to Duran, however. Duran informed her that the pylon clusters were generating some sort of electromagnetic field that prevented their flyers from maneuvering. Duran suggested staging a diversion and claiming Raszagal during the confusion, namely causing a surge within the pylon clusters adjacent to the outpost of Talematros, causing it's power grids to overload. The resulting explosion will be the perfect cover for retrieving Raszagal. Kerrigan agreed, calling Duran's scheme "Clean, simple, devious." A cerebrate provided cover for Duran as he infiltrated the pylon clusters, set the charges, and ignited them.

Duran soon discovered that Raszagal was captured so as to provide Zeratul and his brethren the incentive to kill the new Overmind for them. After this was done, Duran informed Kerrigan that with the Overmind and its cerebrates destroyed, all of the zerg in the sector had reverted to her direct control. In addition, the remnants of the UED fleet had fled the planet (although he had no idea how many functional ships they still possessed), and the zerg had finished relocating Kerrigan's primary hive clusters to Char Aleph. However, Zeratul and his brethren were able to bypass their defenses and steal Raszagal away from them. They had regrouped with a number of protoss survivors on the surface of Char and would be capable of dimensional recall to Shakuras within thirty minutes. Kerrigan had all of her Broods mobilized and sent to the surface of Char. During this time, Duran had disappeared.

The Mystery Deepens
"This creature is the completion of a cycle. It's role in the cosmic order was preordained when the stars were young. Behold the culmination of your history." "All I behold is an abomination." "Your violence, young prodigal, is typical. As is your inablility to comprehend the greater scheme of things. You can destroy all of the specimens here. It will do you no good. For I have seeded the Hybrid on many, many worlds. You will never find them all before they awaken... And when they do... your universe will be changed... forever."

- Duran and Zeratul on the dark moon Duran traveled to a dark moon where he and a team of Clandestine Mercenaries worked on a protoss/zerg hybridization project at the behest of a "far higher power".

Duran would refer to the hybrid as the "completion of a cycle, a reference to the life cycle of the xel'naga, in which the long-lived but not immortal race would regenerate itself by modifying two species with purity of form and essence to naturally over eons evolve into a new incarnation of the xel'naga. According to the preserver Zamara, however, Samir Duran's experiments are a "perversion", and if his attempts "unify" the species become successful, it will result in "a monstrous and powerful perversion of both protoss and zerg will be set loose upon the universe, and all that [the protoss and terran] know and cherish will fall in their wake".

Zeratul discovered the project when investigating the source of protoss energy signatures on the dark moon. Duran himself uncloaked in front of a stasis cell holding a successful specimen and spoke to Zeratul. From the manner in which Duran replied to Zeratul, claiming to be many millennia old (and having had many names over these millennia) and serving "a far greater power", Duran's background became even more enigmatic. Duran, referring to the hybrid, said it was a "completion of a cycle. Its role in the cosmic order was preordained when the stars were young", Zeratul destroyed the creature and the facility.

Legacy
During the years after the Brood War, Kerrigan learned something of Duran's activities. His position as consort was briefly taken by Ethan Stewart.

Game Unit
"I know how you like to use that bad boy."

- Angelina Emillian comments on Duran's tastes in combat.

Samir Duran is represented by a terran ghost unit. He has all the basic ghost abilities and also carries his powerful canister rifle.

During the zerg campaign, Duran becomes represented in-game by a new unit, called Infested Duran. He has more hit points and a zerg carapace (although it's not very obvious). In addition, he possesses the zerg's ability to slowly regenerate health over time. He still uses a canister rifle, however, and the method by which his Consume ability functions is obviously a technological device, as it makes a "high-tech sound" (the same sound as Lockdown) when he consumes a zerg, somehow feeding its biological energy into the device. Furthermore, he retains the ability to cloak and cast Lockdown. His voice changes to that of an infested terran. He is also shown in the unit window as a color-coded wireframe identical to his previous form, making him the only zerg unit represented as such. Curiously, Infested Duran is the only unit to be upgraded with weapon and armor upgrades from separate factions: zerg Carapace upgrades will improve Duran's armor, but it is terran Infantry Weapons upgrades that improve the power of his weaponry. This makes him one of the most unique units in the game.

Duran also has a unique death sound that is in the game data, but not implemented.

Quotes

 * See: Samir Duran Quotations