StarCraft Episode V

Introduction
StarCraft Episode V is part of the StarCraft storyline -- the history of the in the fictional universe of StarCraft. StarCraft is a real-time strategy computer game released by Blizzard Entertainment in 1998.

The StarCraft science fiction universe features three races: the renegade human Terrans, the noble cybernetic warrior Protoss, and the horrific bug-like Zerg. The storyline covers the fortunes of these three races and their leaders, fighting for dominance in a remote region of the galaxy.

StarCraft Episode V is entitled "the Iron Fist". It covers the actions of the United Earth Directorate Terrans in the Koprulu Sector.

New Recruits, Part I
Admiral DuGalle, leader of the United Earth Directorate Expeditionary Force, has ordered his Captain, freshly revived by cryostims, to establish a ground base on Braxis, a cold moon colonized by the Terran Dominion. The Captain was directly supervised by Vice Admiral Stukov, who told him that DuGalle was "rigid".

The ground forces were supposed to attack Boralis, the capital. Unfortunately, the newly-arrived troops had no access to Vespene gas, and the path to Boralis was barred by large numbers of spider mines.

The UED troops made contact with unknown Terran forces on Braxis. Their leader, Lieutenant Samir Duran, of the Confederate Resistance Forces, offered an alliance with the UED. Vice Admiral Stukov was skeptical, as Duran could have no idea who the UED was. Duran explained that he was an enemy of the Terran Dominion, and any enemy of the Dominion was a friend of his. Stukov declared the Confederate Resistance Forces the first colonial conscripts of the UED.

Duran offered Vespene gas to the UED, as well as guidance to a less-guarded pathway to Boralis. The local Terran Dominion forces were defeated, and the UED gained access to valuable data.

New Recruits, Part II
Due to the information gained from Boralis, DuGalle set his sights on more important targets - such as the shipyards of Dylar IV. Dylar had been an important Terran Confederacy world, but was overwhelmed by the Zerg. However, the Terran Dominion had reclaimed the planet, constructing a huge shipyard in orbit over it.

DuGalle took an instant dislike to Duran, believing him to be a "turncoat" to the Terran Dominion, even when Duran warned him that the Terran Dominion could respond to any attack made on it in 48 hours.

DuGalle's plan was for his Captain to lead the forces which would steal a large number of battlecruisers in drydock. A number of pilots would be dispatched to control the battlecruisers after they were stolen. The UED forces descended onto the shipyard and slowly fought their way to the battlecruisers, stealing them from the Terran Dominion. Unfortunately, as the battlecruisers moved to join the UED fleet, they were interrupted by an angry Terran Dominion General Edmund Duke. Duran's prediction of a Dominion counterattack had proved true.

Duke was surprised to face a fleet controlled by warriors who had come all the way from Earth to attack them. Nonetheless, he ordered an attack, but was defeated. After the UED victory, the defense forces of Dylar IV were impressed into the UED attack force.

Psionic Weapons
DuGalle's next action was on Tarsonis. He believed the abandoned planet housed the Psi Disruptor, a potent piece of anti-Zerg technology. It could disrupt Zerg psionic communications, throwing them into disarray. He said that while Arcturus Mengsk had searched the planet for the technology and failed to locate it, the UED's scientists were able to do so.

The psychic Lt. Duran (a Terran Ghost) suggested the Psi Disruptor was such a powerful and dangerous piece of technology that it should be destroyed before Mengsk could get his hands on it, but Stukov believed its anti-Zerg abilities would greatly assist the UED in defeating the Zerg. DuGalle, perhaps surprisingly, agreed with Duran. He ordered Duran to descend to the surface of Tarsonis to reach and destroy the Psi Disruptor.

A number of Zerg Hive Clusters stood in the way, but through careful attacks, Duran was able to destroy the Hives one by one. Doing so rendered the Zerg docile, as Duran had suspected they would. Upon reaching the Psi Disruptor, he was surprised by Terran Ghosts working for Stukov. They said that Stukov would destroy it himself, so Duran withdrew.

Toppling an Emperor
Admiral DuGalle plans a strategy meeting to attack the Terran Dominion throne world of Korhal. Because Korhal had been devastated by nuclear weapons, the Dominion does not fear using them on its own throne world. In addition, Arcturus Mengsk uses a large fleet of battlecruisers to defend the world.

The Captain is given a choice between destroying Mengsk's nuclear silos or his physics labs, which would prevent his battlecruisers from powering up their special weapons systems.

After this objective is achieved, the UED forces weather a desperate counterattack and then advance on Augustgrad, the capital of Korhal.

Mengsk tries to flee in the battlecruiser, the Norad III, when he is intercepted by DuGalle's own battlecruiser, the Aleksander. Mengsk prepares to surrender in exchange for his life, but DuGalle says he will arrest and publically execute Mengsk and his senior officers.

A small Protoss fleet, along with the battlecruiser Hyperion appear and open communications with Mengsk. It's Jim Raynor. Mengsk is very surprised, but Raynor tells him he is being rescued. The Protoss warp Raynor and Mengsk out of the reach of the UED. DuGalle is dumbfounded; he doesn't understand why the Protoss would harbor these men.

Rumblings of Treason
The UED follows them to Aiur, where they discover Raynor's weakly-defended command center near a "fully functional" but inactive Warp Gate. The Protoss have surrounded the Warp Gate in an effort to protect it from the Zerg, but the Zerg appear to be docile. The UED clears out a suitable home base from the Zerg who occupied it and settle in for a siege. The Captain will directly assault the Protoss, while Duran holds off the Zerg to the northeast, and Stukov and DuGalle also prevent Zerg from approaching from other directions.

The Warp Gate activates, and its powerful psionic energies awaken the Zerg, who begin to attack both the UED and the Protoss. Nonetheless, the UED slowly defeats the Protoss, even destroying Raynor's command center. Raynor and Mengsk fly away in a Terran dropship towards the Warp Gate, with the UED in hot pursuit.

Stukov detects a wave of Zerg attacking from the northeast, but Duran has moved his forces out of place. Duran claims his equipment isn't detecting the Zerg, and perhaps there is a problem with Stukov's equipment. Then he claims his communications equipment isn't working, and cuts off the transmission.

The Zerg interfere with the UED operation, allowing Mengsk and Raynor to escape. The Warp Gate then self-destructs.

Stukov tells the Captain that he must leave, as he has personal business.

The Traitor
Admiral DuGalle doesn't seem distressed by Duran's poor tactics during the battle ... he is, instead, distracted by Stukov's actions. Vice Admiral Stukov has travelled to Braxis, where he has transported the Psi Disruptor, against DuGalle's orders. The device is not yet active. Stukov is DuGalle's oldest, dearest friend, but he seems to have turned traitor. Duran diplomatically convinces DuGalle that Stukov is a traitor who rebuilt the Psi Disruptor in order to sabotage DuGalle's mission, and there is only one thing to be done. DuGalle, shaken, orders Duran to deal with Stukov.

Duran brings a small force of UED marines to the Psi Disruptor, and upon discovering that the main door is locked details three of them to breach it with a Vulture Spider landmine. Duran and his command have a contact with Stukov's marines (less than five). Once the area is secure, noncombatant UED medics arrive to treat Duran's wounded. They accompany Duran and his troops thereafter.

The marines follow Duran deeper into the installation, bantering (and killing Stukov's troops) along the way. They eventually extract information from unwilling civilians on how to find Stukov in the complex, and then kill them. They discover Goliaths (two-legged infantry fighting vehicles armed with twin missile launchers and an autocannon) in the repair bay, and are able to commandeer some of them. They also force an SCV engineer to repair the Goliaths for them.

Finally Duran confronts Vice Admiral Stukov. Duran says he's here to terminate Stukov's command, and Stukov says they both know what he's here to terminate. Duran then shoots Stukov, using a different weapon from his canister rifle, and vanishes.

As Stukov lay dying, he tells DuGalle that Duran was, in fact, the traitor. Only the Psi Disruptor could defeat the Zerg, says Stukov, but Duran tried to keep it from DuGalle. Duran allowed the Zerg to overrun the UED on Aiur, even though they had the fugitives Mengsk and Raynor in their grasp, and even now he manipulated DuGalle into killing Stukov when he activated their best hope of defeating the Zerg. Stukov even claims that Duran might be infested by the Zerg.

DuGalle is convinced by this emotional scene and tries to locate Duran, but he has vanished. Then the computer announces that the Psi Disruptor's power core has been set to overload. DuGalle believes that is Duran's work, and asks Stukov's troops to join him. Together they will go to the override terminal and prevent the device from self-destructing.

The computer detects a breach into the installation and multiple Zerg signals within the Psi Disruptor, and a marine comments that they have a major infestation problem. DuGalle sees this as evidence that Duran really is infested. The invading Zerg would present a considerable obstacle to overriding the self-destruct.

The troops fight their way past the Zerg, at one point taking over the internal security autocannons and using them to shred the invaders. However, they are faced with a wave of Zerg near the core computer. The UED troops win a hard-fought victory and manually override the overloading power core.

DuGalle announces a great victory. He will activate the Psi Disruptor, keep it running around the clock, and will also leave a force to defend it. He cannot leave too many soldiers there, though, as his mission requires him to travel to Char to claim the Zerg Overmind itself.

Chaining the Beast
As their forces near Char, the UED notices that the Zerg Swarm is in disarray, thanks to the effects of the Psi Disruptor, which disrupts Zerg communications. Nonetheless, there are so many Zerg on Char that, if the Psi Disruptor had not been activated, there would have been no hope of victory.

Three Zerg Cerebrates were able to resist the effects of the Psi Disruptor enough to keep their Broods functional. The UED's plan was to carve a path through the Zerg to the Overmind, then have their scientists inject it with powerful drugs to pacify it.

Unfortunately, they immediately ran into a problem. Each of the Zerg Cerebrates had a special ability. The first could inject its defenses with energy, keeping them effectively invincible, while the other two did not immediately reveal their powers.

The UED cut a path to the first Cerebrate, killing it. It did not reincarnate, probably due to the effects of the Psi Disruptor. (The young Overmind had demonstrated the ability to reincarnate Cerebrates on Shakuras.) The death of the Cerebrate rendered its entire Brood docile.

The Terrans heard a very loud tortured roar ... it sounded like an Ultralisk, but this was no ordinary Ultralisk. It was the Torrasque. This powerful version of the Ultralisk charged into the UED's current territory and inflicted large casualties before sustained artillery fire brought it down.

Then it attacked again! This Cerebrate, surrounded by multiple Ultralisk Caverns, could reincarnate the Torrasque repeatedly, despite the effects of the Psi Disruptor.

The third Cerebrate was surrounded by Infested Command Centers, and would create Infested Terrans in order to defend itself.

However, the disarray in the Zerg forces created vulnerabilities in the defense. The UED was able to carve a path to the last Cerebrate and kill it, rendering all the Zerg defending the Overmind docile (and preventing the reincarnation of the Torrasque).

After that, several scientists moved up to the Overmind and injected it with a powerful drug called Neurostim that would render it docile and vulnerable to the effects of psionics. As the UED set about putting the Overmind under the control of its psychics, they received unwanted visitors ... Infested Kerrigan and Samir Duran.

Duran introduced Kerrigan, who informed DuGalle that she had made alliances with people opposed to the UED's presence in the sector. DuGalle told her his Psi Disruptor could defeat her, but Kerrigan responded that it wouldn't last forever. She also said that Stukov was twice the man that DuGalle ever was, and that she was glad he saved her the trouble of killing him. Then she and Duran made a hasty retreat, with some of Kerrigan's Zerg covering her escape.

Calling Home
The UED created a victory report which was sent back to Earth. It was deliberately full of inaccuracies and outright lies. According to the report, the Zerg were planning on invading Earth, but the highly trained UED troops easily defeated them. Alexei Stukov was killed on Char by the Zerg and was buried in space... which, of course, did not closely resemble the truth.

Aftermath
Admiral Gerard DuGalle was now a very strong player in the Koprulu Sector, having defeated the Terran Dominion and taking control of the majority of the Zerg. However, he was in a weak strategic position, being forced to defend Braxis, Char and Korhal simultaneously. He did not have the support of Vice Admiral Stukov anymore, either, but as Samir Duran had been revealed to be a traitor (and possibly infested), he was no longer hampered by his deceptive advice.


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