Project Blackstone

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Project Blackstone is a Terran Dominion research project, focused on zerg and protoss research. It was led by Dr. Helek Branamoor.

Overview
Project Blackstone is comprised of scientists that were selected by Dominion Intelligence Section and approved by Arcturus Mengsk himself. Their base installation is located on an asteroid and is classified information. All communications made within the facility are monitored.

History
With the future of the Swarm uncertain, Arcturs Mengsk seized upon the opportunity to bolster his Dominion forces. He ordered that the best terran minds in the Koprulu Sector be gathered so that the secrets of the zerg and protoss could be unraveled.

Adjutant 33-27_V3.1974 went online and tested the project's systems. Shortly afterward, maintenance personnel came to visit. They went into what would become a forbidden area and were killed by a solitary zergling. The adjutant requested an additional sample, then made a separate request for additional personnel.

Shortly afterward Dr. Helek Branamoor and Major Lee Treicher disembarked at the project. Following a review of the zergling incident, Treicher ordered that the replacement maintenance personnel not go to the containment areas. The adjutant told the replacement personnel that they would be executed if they went to those areas. Major Treicher objected, but Dr. Branamoor believed this was best.

The subordinate scientists arrived. Dr. Vera Langridge was granted a higher security access than the other scientists. At least some of the scientists (such as Talise Cogan and Talen Ayers) had been kidnapped and protested their ill treatment. Ayers lodged a protest at the way he had been "recruited"&mdash;forcibly by a ghost, no less. In response, Branamoor restricted personal communication and canceled the barbeque, so they could get straight to studying larvae.

The adjutant detected a security breach, but believed it was simply caused by malfunctioning equipment. It turned out Sherman Jack's image files weren't secured. In addition, something happened to the machine shop, resulting in it taking a hole in the door.

The project later moved on to studying other strains such as zerglings, banelings and mutalisks. After a month of operations, new member Jake Ramsey arrived as an expert on the protoss. Ramsey quickly discovered and revealed to other researchers that live protoss were being experimented on.

Redell Quinton was confined to quarters on suspicion of building a distillery, after he was discovered to have massively overused the project's supply of activated carbon, and Jake Ramsey was discovered collapsed drunk in a hallway. Dr. Pamela Foster complained about being locked out of the lab, but refused to turn on Quinton, despite his previous rude treatment of her. After four days of searching failed to find the distillery, Director Branamoor ordered Major Treicher to release Quinton and conclude her investigation.

The Palomino arrived at the station carrying warhounds. Major Lee oversaw the transfer personally. Quinton, while drunk, suggested developing cloaking devices for the warhounds, as they had excessive power supplies.

Dr. Held squabbled with Winlaleah Martine, suggesting she stole his tools. Meanwhile, Dr. Martine told Ramsey about being a ghost, and what she had given up for it. She disdained him for being a "hard-shell" (non-telepath), but he was able to determine her full name, saying he "just knew it". She also mentioned that Held was destroying valuable samples.

Dr. Held made more unreasonable demands, eventually attacking Martine with a scalpel. She used her ghost abilities to beat him up and nearly kill him. Meanwhile, Quinton suggested Ramsey was in love with Martine, but Ramsey said he was interested in another person.

Dr. Daniel Rothfuss hacked into Quinton's protected research files, and noted that Quinton suggested removing security devices from the warhounds. Despite the invasion, this earned Quinton's respect.

Dr. Branamoor learned that Axiom had sent three transport ships with warhounds, but only one had made it. In addition, Mistaff IV, where the missing transports had last been seen, had fallen to the zerg.

Dr. Talise Cogan, operating on a dead overlord, felt its grief. She consulted Dr. Martine about it, but Martine said that kind of transfer wasn't possible with a dead zerg and that it had to be her imagination.

Ramsey and Martine discussed Held's mental breakdown. Ramsey wondered if Martine had picked up any warning signs. Martine marveled at his intuition, and he suggested she was more perceptive than she let on. When he demonstrated the ability to hide his thoughts from her, she suggested teaching him about psionics.

Dr. Cogan requested a transfer. Dr. Ayers was upset at Dr. Rothfuss, who had given her the information. Dr. Cogan had learned that her daughter, Ariel Hanson, was considered a traitor to the Dominion. The Dominion had abandoned Hanson's world, Agria, during the Second Great War, and no further records were found, leading Cogan to believe Hanson was dead.

Meanwhile supplies were drying up. Dr. Branamoor was reluctant to disclose the reason why.

A brawl broke out among the marines in the mess hall while Quinton watched. Dr. Treicher put an end to it by spectacularly smashing a table over one of their heads.

In the lab, Dr. Martine said that she had warned Held about indulging his "sick" desires, but she didn't care about the protoss. She was only upset at Held for wasting samples. Since Held left, the protoss specimens, especially Kaeon, had become more responsive. Martine told Ramsey to refer to Kaeon by the name Experiment #383. Ramsey was able to determine Kaeon was a member of the Khalai Caste and intensely curious, but Martine worried about him being alone in there with a protoss.

However, the operation took a turn for the worse when the station stopped receiving supplies and could not establish contact with the Dominion. Dr. Held, wanting to hoard all of the resources for his own research, then released several captive zerglings into the facility, killing all of the guards and support staff and leaving the main science team trapped. Working together, the team managed to kill the zerglings and reach Dr. Held's lab, only to find that he was killed by one of his own Protoss test subjects. Some time later, the team was rescued by Emperor Valerian Mengsk, who took over and reorganized the project.

Known Members

 * Adjutant 33-27 V3.1974 (Twitter link)
 * Talen Ayers, Xenobiologist, Senior Zerg Research (Twitter link)
 * Helek Branamoor, Chief of Research, Project Director, Omega-level access (Twitter link)
 * Talise Cogan, Xenobiologist (Twitter link)
 * Warren G. Held, Xenobiologist, Senior Protoss Researcher (Twitter link)
 * Pamela D. Foster, Chemical Engineer, Explosives Expert (Twitter link)
 * Sherman Jack, Xeno-Imaging Specialist
 * Vera Langridge, Xenobotanist, Gamma-level access (Twitter link)
 * Leah A. Martine, Xenobiologist (Twitter link)
 * Red Quinton, Chief Engineer (Twitter link)
 * Jake Ramsey, Xenoarchaeologist, Protoss Specialist (Twitter link)
 * Daniel Rothfuss, Astrophysicist (Twitter link)
 * Lee Treicher, Head of Security, Major, Gamma-level access (Twitter link)