Michael Liberty

"I'm Michael Daniel Liberty. Call this my most important, perhaps final, report. Call this my manifesto. Call this what you will. I'm just here to tell you what really happened. I'm here to set the record straight. I'm here to tell you the truth."

- Liberty presenting his manifesto

Michael Daniel Liberty is the main character in StarCraft: Liberty's Crusade. He is a Tarsonian Universal News Network investigative reporter (he is both a writer and television announcer). He hates it when his editor-in-chief Handy Anderson calls him "Mickey" ... or "Mike".

Liberty is described as being "of normal height and proportions, if a little lanky." He has dirty blonde hair that is spattered with lighter striations of grey which is swept back in a ponytail to cover a bald spot. Has a liking for cigarettes.

Dangerous Occupation
Liberty's life is threatened by political interests (such as the Old Families) involved in illegal dumping activities. In order to keep him alive, Anderson arranges for him to be "embedded" on the Norad II, the command ship of Alpha Squadron commander General Edmund Duke (who is referred to as "Colonel" for much of the novel). His assistant during these events was Lieutenant Emily Swallow.

He ses the aftermath of the destruction of Chau Sara and bears witness to the Protoss nearly attack Duke's fleet at Mar Sara and then flee, but when he made insightful observations (such as demanding Duke tell him where he learned the name "Protoss", and why would the Protoss concentrate attack on parts of the world that were not settled by humans) Duke threw him off the bridge; from that point on, none of Liberty's reports were published without significant editing (his report on Chau Sara included none of his speculations).

Once on Mar Sara, Liberty makes contact with Marshal Jim Raynor and Sons of Korhal operative Sarah Kerrigan. He switches badges with a reporter and friend of his, Rourke, to get better news stories and unwittingly escapes death. During a skirmish with the Zerg, he is aghast to find that his assistant, Swallow, has died. After Raynor is arrested by General Duke, Liberty becomes loosely affiliated with the Sons of Korhal, and promises to work with Arcturus Mengsk, its leader, and "make him look good". In return, Mengsk helps him rescue his friend Raynor from Duke's prison ship.

Present for most of the important events of StarCraft Episode I, he witnesses Mengsk abandoning Kerrigan to the Zerg. He escapes and uses his media influence against Mengsk (refusing to become his propagandist when given an enticing offer); his true reports on the actions of the Confederates and the new Terran Dominion became his manifesto.

Liberty makes cameos in StarCraft: Uprising, StarCraft: Queen of Blades and StarCraft Ghost: Nova. In Uprising, he reports on the Sons of Korhal attack on the Ghost Academy, in Queen of Blades, he reports on Raynor's seizing of the Hyperion and called him "the hero of Antiga Prime" and in Nova a false report in his name was made.

Reports
In many of his cameos, Liberty made mainly true reports on political events. He reported on the Sons of Korhal attack on the Ghost Academy on Tarsonis, as well as the actions of Jim Raynor attacking the shipyards of Dylar IV.

The False Report
Unfortunately for Liberty, UNN became little more than a propaganda mouthpiece for the Terran Confederacy. Liberty missed the opportunity to report on the destruction of Chau Sara after sparking an argument with Edmund Duke on the bridge of the Norad II. The Confederates released small bits of "non-news" emphasizing the heroism of the Confederates and the "cowardice" of the Protoss.

Liberty's broadcasts were either "lost" or "creatively edited" until they often said the exact opposite of what Liberty had intended; indeed, the reports now said whatever the Confederacy wanted them to say.

Arcturus Mengsk showed him a flat-screen report of an idealized version of Michael Liberty, which appeared as the Confederates panicked. The fake Liberty claimed that he had just escaped from the Sons of Korhal, who had captured him on Mar Sara shortly before the world was burned by the Protoss. He also claimed that Mengsk released "poisonous" mind control drugs on the populace of Antiga Prime, killing some and mutating others into strange shapes. He also claimed that a Sons of Korhal saboteur released a "virulent toxin" onto the Norad II, causing it to crash. Some soldiers, including Duke, became "mentally reprogrammed zombies" for the purpose of harming Confederate morale, while others were killed by Mengsk's Zerg "allies", however, there was no need to worry because the Confederates had blockaded the planet and the "terrorists should be destroyed in a few days". Mengsk mocked the report for because they obviously "laid it on thick".

Mengsk said he preferred to use holograms because they were harder to fake. Liberty was so angry he no longer wanted anything to do with the Confederacy.

Quotes
''   Before the war, things were different. Hell, back then, we were just making our daily living, doing our jobs, drawing our paychecks, and stabbing our fellow men and women in the back. We had no idea how bad things would get. We were fat and happy like maggots on a dead animal. There was enough sporadic violence -- rebellions and revolutions and balky colonial governments -- to keep the military going, but not enough to really threaten the lifestyles we had grown accustomed to. We were, in retrospect, fat and sassy.''

''   And if a real war broke out, well, it was the military's worry. The marines' worry. Not ours.''

   -- The Liberty Manifesto

''Zerg allies? Who's writing that crap?'' Liberty reacts to the false report made in his name.