Gerard DuGalle

"Heh heh. You're beginning to show your age, Gerard. Give the boy some credit."

- Alexei Stukov to Gerard DuGalle

Admiral Gerard DuGalle was a Terran from Earth and a highly dectorated Admiral in the United Earth Directorate.

DuGalle was possibly the UED's greatest military leader; he had defended the UED from its enemies in countless battles. He and his most trusted comrade, Vice Admiral Alexi Stukov were sent as part of the UED Expeditionary Force to the Koprulu Sector after the battles of Chau Sara and Mar Sara, in order to pacify the area and bring it under UED control. DuGalle was put in charge due to his tactical expertise, and was selected unanimously by the UED Council.

DuGalle was possibly the most proficient UED leader, possessing prior experience in military conflicts, and commanded his force from the UED flagship, Aleksander.

DuGalle, aged 64, is a lifelong friend of Alexi Stukov. He seems to originate from France, and is married to a woman named Helena, with whom he had children.

He is voiced by James Harper.

Background
The United Earth Directorate, having been aware of the results Doran Routhe's failed experiment to colonize new planets for Earth for some time (even when the United Powers League was still in power), decided to send an expeditionary force in the Koprulu Sector sometime during the first battles fought by Protoss, Terrans and Zerg. The expeditionary force was tasked with pacifying the sector; bringing the Terran worlds which UED regarded as "rogue colonies" under its control and containing the Zerg and Protoss. DuGalle was entrusted with the mission of commanding the expeditionary force, having three primary objectives:


 * 1) Conquer all of the "rogue" Terran colonies, and capture Arcturus Mengsk, the Emperor of the Terran Dominion.
 * 2) Take control of the entire Zerg Swarm by capturing the newborn Zerg Overmind with psychics and powerful drugs.
 * 3) Use the captured Zerg Swarm to pacify all Protoss activity within the sector.

Early Actions
DuGalle and his fleet arrived in the Koprulu Sector shortly after the death of the original Zerg Overmind. At that point, the majority of the Terran population was under Mengsk's control, and the last units of the now defunct Terran Confederacy had been more or less integrated into Mengsk's forces.

Dugalle's first action involved the demonstration of the destructive ability of the Zerg. He released a host of Zerg that had been captured by the expeditionary force for research purposes onto an unsuspecting Dominion colony to observe them in warfare, with Dugalle and Vice Admiral Stukov observing the ensuing battle from the expeditionary force's flagship Aleksander, hovering above the battlefield. Stukov was generally uninterested, but DuGalle forced him to watch how the Zerg massacred the unprepeared colonial forces, claiming that the live demonstration would instill a resolve within the Vice Admiral that recorded dissections could not. As it became clear that the colonial forces were losing the battle DuGalle was asked if he wished to intervene; he chose not to, ordering that the Aleksander be taken into orbit, abandoning the colonists to the Zerg.

Braxis
The UED expeditionary force soon arrived at the outlying Terran Dominion world of Braxis. After a battle with the Protoss, DuGalle sent troops to the surface of Braxis. These troops immediately faced more problems, being low on Vespene gas and having no intelligence of its extra deposits on the planets. However, the expeditionary force soon found help from unlikely ally, a group known as the Confederate Resistance Forces, seemingly a remnant of the Terran Confederacy's forces, led by a mysterious officer named Samir Duran. With Duran's help, DuGalle's forces were able to locate vital Vespene gas fields and succesfully attacked Braxis' capital city, Boralis, using a route suggested by Duran. Through this initial success, UED forces were able to gain control of vital Terran Dominion intelligence assets, which would form the cornerstone of their wildly-successful initial push into the Terran Dominion.

The Dylarian Shipyards
DuGalle planned an attack on the Dylarian Shipyards of Dylar IV, where a number of Dominion battlecruisers were being held in drydock. Lieutenant Duran warned him that the Dominion could quickly reinforce its outlying bases, but DuGalle was unhappy with the acquisition of Duran; he considered Duran a "turncoat."

The UED forces successfully commandeered the fleet of battlecruisers from the Dylarian Shipyards. In an attempt to stop the battlecruiser fleet from falling into hands of this "unknown Terran group", a Terran Dominion fleet under the command of General Edmund Duke intercepted it. Duke demanded the UED force to surrender and ordered his fleet to engage, but his forces were defeated by the larger UED fleet. The shipyards were destroyed and the remaining Dominion forces were impressed into the UED military.

Tarsonis
Shortly afterwards the expeditionary force discovered a Psi Disrupter on the former Terran Confederacy's capital world of Tarsonis. Samir Duran convinced DuGalle to destroy it over Stukov's strenuous objections. Duran was left behind on Tarsonis with a small force as the main fleet traveled to the Dominion throne world, Korhal IV, in order to destroy the Disrupter. When Duran fought his way past Zerg forces and reached his target, Ghosts working for Stukov intervened, saying that Stukov would oversee the device's destruction. Duran did not challenge them. Stukov's Elite Guard secretly disassembled the device rather than destroy it.

Hunt for the Emperor
The UED fleet assaulted Korhal. Dominion power was broken and the Emperor Mengsk was forced to flee; Directorate forces were unable to capture the Emperor, however, as DuGalle's men were ambushed by James Raynor and a small Protoss contingent, who helped Mengsk escape. An astonished DuGalle then turned his attention to capturing Raynor, who had fled to Aiur.

The battle on Aiur was a disaster. While the UED troops defeated the rampaging Zerg and the Protoss, a large wave of Zerg appeared and distracted the UED at this critical moment; they had approached from Samir Duran's sector, but he had moved his troops out of the way. Duran deliberately ignored Stukov's attempts to warn him about the Zerg, enabling Jim Raynor and Arcturus Mengsk to escape through a Warp Gate on the planet, which then self-destructed.

Treachery
Vice Admiral Stukov left the planet with a contingent of troops to take care of a private matter. Stukov did not directly inform DuGalle of what he was doing or where he was going, leading DuGalle to believe he was abandoning the battle on Aiur. Tracking him to Braxis, DuGalle and Duran became aware of a new development ... the Psi Disrupter had been reconstructed and had been activated.

Duran told DuGalle that Stukov had betrayed him, and that he reconstructed the Disrupter in order to sabotage DuGalle's mission in the Koprulu Sector. DuGalle was reluctant to believe it, but stated that the evidence was incontrovertible. With a heavy heart he ordered Duran to enter the Disrupter and deal with the traitor.

Aware that DuGalle would send troops after him, Stukov had his men secure the Disrupter, and brought in Goliaths to help assist his infantry units in an effort to protect the Disrupter, but ultimately even this measure failed. Duran confronted Stukov, who had taken shelter in a control center within the Disrupter, and personally executed Stukov for treason. Although mortal wounded, Stukov managed to inform DuGalle that the traitor was actually Duran, who had been infested by the Zerg. In the mayhem that followed, Duran disappeared as the Disrupter entered its self destruct sequence. An enraged DuGalle managed to save the Psi Disrupter, swore vengeance upon the Zerg, and set out to take control of the Zerg Overmind.

To Chain the Beast
DuGalle and his men were successful in their attempt to capture the Zerg Overmind, partially because of the Psi Disrupter, and UED forces believed that victory was imminent. In the following period, DuGalle instituted a series of intense training exercises on the forbidding surface of the planet. With the security of the now-tamed Overmind being the linchpin of further military success in the Koprulu sector, DuGalle needed to know that the harsh environment of Char would not make this task impossible. Forces that were able to function on Char stayed and served as a garrison force. Those that couldn't "take the heat" were stationed elsewhere.

Defeat
Unfortunatly, DuGalle, had underestimated the determination of Infested Kerrigan, who tricked Jim Raynor, Arcturus Mengsk, and Fenix into helping her destroy the Psi Disrupter. She then launched a massive offensive against the UED forces on Korhal IV. The UED attempted to boost their numbers with their enslaved Zerg, but they had more trouble controlling the Zerg than anticipated. Kerrigan defeated these "renegade" Zerg and drove the UED from Korhal. Now aware of the serious threat Kerrigan posed to his reign, DuGalle launched the enslaved Zerg against Kerrigan's base of operations on Tarsonis. The UED was still having problems controlling the Overmind, and so DuGalle sent a special team of UED scientists to help direct the attack. However, Kerrigan's forces killed these scientists and defeated his forces. Kerrigan, after gathering secret allies, attacked Char itself. By this time, the UED's control over the Overmind had vastly improved. Nevertheless, Kerrigan's Zerg broke through the UED's defenses and reached the Overmind. Zeratul, having been blackmailed by Kerrigan, then slew the reborn Overmind. With the second Overmind dead, Kerrigan took control of all the Zerg in the sector. In a last bid for victory, DuGalle made a desperate attack against Kerrigan's forces on a defense platform over Char when she was in a weak position. Protoss forces under the command of Artanis and the remnants of the Dominion under the command of Mengsk assaulted the platform at the same time. However all three forces were defeated by the Zerg Swarm. DuGalle acknowledged his defeat at Kerrigan's hands, and offered the terms of surrender, but Kerrigan refused to accept them.

The remainder of DuGalle's fleet began an organized retreat from the platform; however, DuGalle realized that they would be unable to escape from the sector. As well, he was notably disturbed by the loss of his long-time friend through the treachery of Duran and the undeserved absolution of guilt that the propaganda films granted him. Alone in his cabin, he composed a final letter to his wife Helena, blaming his own pride and arrogance for both the UED's defeat and the death of Alexei Stukov. He then produced a small caliber firearm and shot himself in the head. Kerrigan's swarms overtook the remaining UED ships shortly thereafter, eliminating the entire fleet. There were no survivors. While it is unknown whether or not his final message reached Earth, DuGalle seemed to think that the news of the UED's defeat would, despite his knowledge of their impending slaughter by the Zerg.

DuGalle's Mistakes
Despite his tactical brilliance, DuGalle was not very good at proposing long term strategies. In some ways he seemed reckless in his pursuit of his goals. DuGalle was also convinced that the United Earth Directorate would eventually emerge victorious, and this hubris led him to engage in several tactically-risky maneuvers:


 * His first blunder was setting up a base camp on Braxis without scouting for Vespene first. This led him to accept Samir Duran into his forces with few qualms, despite his misgivings.


 * DuGalle polarized the sector by refusing to deal with any outside factions besides the forces of Duran, possibly due to their initial successes and an arrogant assurance of victory. Kerrigan exploited general fear of the UED in order to build her coalition of Protoss and Terran forces.


 * DuGalle underestimated the importance of the Psi Disrupter because of faulty intelligence from Duran, who understood the importance of the Psi Disrupter in controlling the Zerg swarms.


 * DuGalle made no further serious attempts to pursue Mengsk after he escaped with the assistance of the Zerg, allowing Kerrigan to obtain an ally that made her objectives somewhat easier to achieve.


 * He made his final blunder after Sarah Kerrigan destroyed the Psi Disrupter. His fleet possessed the unenviable task of having to occupy Korhal, Char and Braxis all at the same time for tactically sound but very different reasons. He left a planetary garrison to defend the Psi Disrupter, but clearly his preparations were not enough to stave off the Zerg invasion force. DuGalle also failed to realize that Mengsk's psi-emitters could recruit the uncontrolled and docile Zerg that had been allowed to live on Braxis, enabling Kerrigan's Swarms to regroup and destroy the Psi Disrupter. Worse, the fusion generators were located at a distance from the Psi Disrupter and were barely defended at all, and there were no back-up fusion generators to power the Disrupter in case of an emergency.

From that point on the expeditionary force was doomed. Kerrigan inevitably defeated his forces on Korhal and Char, then destroyed his fleet in a titanic battle.

Trivia
It is interesting to note that DuGalle commanded from the ship Aleksander, perhaps in reference to Alexander the Great, whose empire was defeated upon Alexander's death because there was no one alive who possessed his knowledge and skill in warfare. In addition, he has never been seen occupying a StarCraft unit in the game, although an unfinished version is available using some special StarEdit mods.