StarCraft Episode I

StarCraft Episode I: Rebel Yell started in early December, 2499. It covers the actions of the Terrans of Mar Sara after the fall of the colony Chau Sara. In this campaign, the player takes the role of Mar Sara's magistrate.

The Infestation of Mar Sara
The technologically advanced alien fleet that had attacked Chau Sara now moved toward Mar Sara.

The Terran Confederacy staged a desperate and clumsy counterattack in order to protect Mar Sara. The alien leader introduced himself as "Executor Tassadar" and simply withdrew.

Boot Camp and Officer Training
On December 12th, 2499, in the midst of the crisis that befell Chau Sara, a new Colonial Magistrate was named for the nearby world Mar Sara, which had fallen under attack by another intelligent alien species, different from the ones who attacked Chau Sara. The Magistrate was to safeguard the colonists and keep their state of panic from escalating any further.

The PC version of StarCraft features a very simple tutorial mission. The Magistrate's Marine forces on the space platform over Mar Sara discovered and killed Zerglings while patrolling.

The Nintendo 64 version of StarCraft has a more complicated tutorial, split over two missions (the second called "Officer Training"), both of which take place on the surface of Mar Sara. A single Marine was dropped off via Dropship and found a few more Marines; they fought a number of Sons of Korhal forces scattered in the area. They received an urgent summons to a nearby Command Center that was under attack by a small Sons of Korhal force; the colonial Marines won this encounter, and also fended off a small force of rebels who arrived via Dropship. In Officer Training, the Magistrate trained a force of Marines and Firebats and had them attack a nearby Sons of Korhal base, destroying it.

Wasteland and Backwater Station
The Magistrate received orders from Edmund Duke, commander of Alpha Squadron, to relocate his core colonists to the wastelands outlying the Mar Sara Colony, which was unpopular among the colonists. The local Marshal, James Raynor, met a small group of these colonists and escorted them to the new wasteland site.

After the relocation, the Colonial Magistrate received news from Backwater Station, which the Zerg had besieged. Confederate headquarters on Tarsonis was alerted, and Duke told the Magistrate not to interfere, as he would take care of it, but Raynor knew Duke would take too long. Raynor volunteered to lead colonial troops to rescue this station (and was successful at doing so), but after destroying an infested installation, Duke arrested him.

Desperate Alliance
General Duke had no patience for the Colonial Magistrate's protests over his treatment of Raynor or his tactics. The Magistrate's adjutant prepared a report on Confederate tactics for the Magistrate, which read as follows: "Sixteen outland stations have reported sightings of the alien invaders identified as Zerg. The Confederates have arrested all standing militia forces and continue to avoid action against the Zerg. Three stations have fallen to the Zerg already. We've been unable to locate any source of military relief except... the extremist faction known as The Sons of Korhal."

Arcturus Mengsk, leader of the Sons of Korhal, made the Magistrate an offer; he would send down a number of transports to Mar Sara Colony and evacuate any survivors. Left with little choice, the Magistrate accepted Mengsk's help. He fended off the Zerg long enough for Sons of Korhal Dropships to rescue the colonists. The Confederacy responded by firing the Magistrate until they could finish an official investigation of his affiliation with the Sons of Korhal. Despite his spirited defense of the colonists against the Zerg, he had dared to ally with a terrorist group.

The Jacobs Installation
With Mar Sara almost completely overrun by the Zerg, both the Confederates and the Sons of Korhal were planning to evacuate the planet.

However, after freeing Raynor from a prison ship, Mengsk wanted the former Magistrate's assistance in raiding Mar Sara's Confederate outpost for Confederate technology. This base, Jacobs Installation, was operated by Alpha Squadron. Raynor lead the Sons of Korhal team inside where they stole an encrypted disk containing critical data. During the mission, Raynor encountered Zerg confined within. Raynor was very surprised, but Mengsk said this was not the first time he had witnessed the Confederacy experimenting with Zerg.

The interior of the base was difficult to navigate. In order to get to the sensitive areas, the Sons of Korhal team had to use transporter pads to move around.

Eventually, they make it to the main computer, which was defended by a large number of troops, including a Terran Ghost. However, with Raynor's assistance, the "terrorists" won the firefight and retrieved a number of data disks. Raynor asked for transports to await them for when they left the installation.

Revolution
In the chaos of the Zerg invasion of Mar Sara, the Sons of Korhal escaped with the data disks. They traveled to a secret staging area on the second moon of Antiga Prime.

Thirteen hours after the Sons of Korhal left Mar Sara, Protoss warships took up orbit around it and unleashed a massive planetary bombardment, extinguishing all life.

At the staging area, Jim Raynor spoke to the former Colonial Magistrate of Mar Sara, who had been named a Commander in the Sons of Korhal. Raynor said that headquarters had begun analyzing the data on the disks retrieved from the Jacobs Installation.

Arcturus Mengsk and his second in command, Lieutenant Sarah Kerrigan, reported, but were not present in the same location as Jim Raynor and the Commander. Mengsk believed the efforts of the Sons of Korhal had weakened the grip of the Terran Confederacy on the fringe worlds.

Kerrigan said that on the planet, the colonists were ready to rebel against the Confederacy. However, the Terran Confederacy had become aware of this and had sent Alpha Squadron, under the command of General Edmund Duke, to stop it. Kerrigan was sent to the surface first, as a scout, and would deal with Duke's officers.

As Raynor traveled towards his objective, he met up with Kerrigan. A telepath, Kerrigan could read his thoughts, calling him a pig.

Getting down to business, Kerrigan led Raynor to the Antiga Prime Colony. It was surrounded by Alpha Squadron troops, and worse, was overseen by a Confederate officer within its Command Center. The Sons of Korhal fought their way past the Confederates, and Kerrigan slipped into the Command Center, assassinated the Confederate officer, and turned the base over to the Antigans. With the assistance of the Antigans, Raynor and Kerrigan cleared the area around the Antigan base of Confederate forces.

Unfortunately, the main Alpha Squadron base was across a large body of water, and they were planning an attack. The rebels used Wraith space fighters and dropships in order to launch their own attack. The rebels got the drop on the Confederates, defeating them in battle.

The Downing of Norad II
Later, the Norad II, flagship of General Duke, was badly damaged from Zerg Scourges (kamikaze air monsters) and other Zerg minions, who had arrived at the planet for unknown reasons.

Norad II
The flagship crashed inside a small crater that the Zerg had completely surrounded and colonized. Duke made an uncoded priority one distress call, asking for immediate backup. Mengsk was quite happy with this turn of events.

Mengsk told Jim Raynor to rescue Duke, a decidedly unpopular idea among Raynor and Kerrigan. Mengsk said that an entire colony should not have to suffer because of Duke's cold-heartedness, and a Confederate general could make a powerful ally. Raynor and Kerrigan still disagreed, but Mengsk had the authority to order them to do it, so they reluctantly did as they were told.

The derelict ship was surrounded, preventing Alpha Squadron from rescuing their General. They accepted the offer of help from the Sons of Korhal and teamed up in order to fight their way past the Zerg.

The Sons of Korhal reached the ship and spoke to Duke. Raynor insulted Duke, but Mengsk intervened. He told Duke that the Confederacy was falling apart due to internal revolts and attacks from the Zerg, and he offered to let Duke join the Sons of Korhal. Duke refused, saying he was a general, but Mengsk retorted that he had no army and that he would give Duke a position in Mengsk's cabinet. Duke accepted the deal.

The Trump Card
The Sons of Korhal decrypted the data disk -- it contained the designs for a psi-emitter. This device could amplify the psionic energy produced by a psychic Terran (e.g. a Terran Ghost operative such as Sarah Kerrigan) and attract the Zerg to it.

With the defection of Alpha Squadron, an enormous loss to the Confederacy, a large Delta Squadron strike force was sent to blockade the planet. This force, while not as well-trained as Alpha Squadron was, was much larger. The combined Sons of Korhal and Alpha Squadron force could not hope to defeat them. Instead, Mengsk resorted to trickery, ordering Sarah Kerrigan to infiltrate the Confederate base camp and activate the psi-emitter, even though she didn't think anyone deserved to have the Zerg unleashed on them. The Zerg descended upon the unsuspecting Confederate forces and annihilated them, allowing the Sons of Korhal to escape.

The Protoss fleet then arrived and incinerated the planet.

Biting the Bullet

 * Main article: Biting the Bullet

A disabled mission on the StarCraft game CD occured after these events, in which Raynor and Duke rescued the colonists from a force of Zerg and received assistance from Tassadar.

The Sons of Korhal evacuated in time, and the Protoss arrived to destroy the infestation (along with all other life on the surface of the planet).

The Big Push
Arcturus Mengsk called a meeting to order aboard his command ship, the Hyperion. The time for the final strike on the Confederates was close at hand, but Tarsonis, the capital world, was heavily defended.

General Edmund Duke said that he had defended Tarsonis in over thirty major battles, and therefore knew its defenses inside and out. There were three major orbital platforms that served as staging areas for the Confederate fleet. By striking the central platform, they could allow a small force to slip through to Tarsonis itself. The platforms were defended by Delta Squadron and Omega Squadron, which Duke claimed were no match for his Alpha Squadron.

Duke helped the Sons of Korhal lay siege to the Confederate homeworld of Tarsonis, defeating the forces defending the platform.

Duke announced that he had planted a psi-emitter, which was kept secret until the last minute from Kerrigan and Raynor.

Operation Silent Scream

 * Main article: Operation Silent Scream

A disabled mission on the StarCraft CD occured at this time, in which the Sons of Korhal descended to the surface of Tarsonis. At the end, Duke plants the psi emitters. This line was moved to The Big Push.

New Gettysburg
The Zerg were attracted to the planet and, overrunning the Confederacy's best defenses, proceeded to lay waste to Tarsonis's major cities and industrial centers.

The Protoss followed with a fleet of several dozen warships, heading to engage the primary Zerg Hive.

Arcturus Mengsk gave unexpected orders: if the Protoss engaged the Zerg, the Confederates might escape. He ordered Kerrigan to take a strike force to engage the Protoss, while Jim Raynor and General Duke remained on the command ship. This angered Raynor - not only had the Zerg devastated Tarsonis, killing all of its people, but now Kerrigan was being sent down to the planet without any backup. Lt. Kerrigan replied that she couldn't back out now, and that Mengsk knew what he was doing, but Raynor wondered if she was about to become a martyr.

Raynor contacted Kerrigan with his objections as she reached the New Gettysburg space platform - he knew that she had been involved in experiments with Zerg and that Mengsk had rescued her - but Kerrigan replied that she was a Ghost and could tell that the Protoss were here to wipe out everyone on the planet, not just the Zerg. While successful in her task, Kerrigan also questioned Mengsk's morals and strategy, but said she believed he would come around.

After Kerrigan defeated the Protoss, the Zerg attacked, overwhelming her forces. She called for backup, but Mengsk ordered a retreat from Tarsonis. This outraged Raynor.

The Hammer Falls
As the Sons of Korhal left, breaking contact with the ground forces, Protoss and Zerg forces battled across the core continent of Tarsonis.

An angry Jim Raynor announced that he was leaving the Sons of Korhal, and that the Commander should come with him. Arcturus Mengsk contacted them, claiming that still had a job to do, and that they'd sown the seeds of a new Empire. Raynor cut him off, however.

Mengsk replied that it was a mistake to cross him, as he had sacrificed too much to let his plans fall apart. "You mean like you sacrificed Kerrigan?" retorted Raynor. Mengsk began to rave: "I will not be stopped. Not by you, or the Confederates, or the Protoss or anyone! I will rule this sector or see it burnt to ashes around me." Raynor cut off communication with Mengsk again.

General Duke successfully activated the Ion Cannon, Tarsonis's primary defensive weapon, situated on a space platform, which prevented any attempt by Raynor's militia to escape Tarsonis until it was destroyed by Raynor's forces.

The Escape
Raynor realized that he had fallen in love with Kerrigan, so he took his rebel group, Raynor's Raiders, away from Tarsonis, to seek justice on her behalf and on behalf of others who had been sacrificed to satisfy Mengsk's goals. He traveled to the Dylarian Shipyards in order to acquire transport for his crew. There he was attacked by General Edmund Duke in the flagship Hyperion, but won the battle, stealing the flagship.

The Inauguration
In the aftermath of his victory over the Terran Confederacy, the Sons of Korhal became the Terran Dominion, and General Mengsk crowned himself Emperor. Moria and Umoja united under Dominion rule.

His inauguration speech was delivered during the ending video. StarCraft- The Inauguration (Double-click for larger video) w8mmX9IjkhI