Fall of Tarsonis

The Fall of Tarsonis was the climax and finale of the Rebel Yell conflict and saw the effective end of the Terran Confederacy. The Sons of Korhal overwhelmed Confederate defenses by luring the Swarm to the capital world  with psi-emitters. Despite interference by the protoss expeditionary force led by Executor Tassadar, the Sons of Korhal and zerg achieved a devastating victory.

Background
The anti-Confederate insurrection spearheaded by the Sons of Korhal gained intractable momentum after the Battle of Antiga Prime. That battle saw the defection of Alpha Squadron to the rebel cause and validated the effectiveness of the psi-emitters. Thus strengthened, Arcturus Mengsk, leader of the Sons of Korhal, planned to strike Tarsonis and destroy the heart of Confederate power. He kept the exact nature of the plan secret from subordinates such as Sarah Kerrigan and Jim Raynor.

Rebel Invasion
Breaking through Tarsonis' orbital defenses was delegated to General Edmund Duke and Alpha Squadron. Duke was intimately familiar with the defenses. Three orbital platforms served as staging points for the Confederate military and Duke proposed a strike on the central platform. This would cause enough confusion to allow a small force to break through to the surface. The rebels secured the platform after defeating defending Delta and Omega Squadron forces.

Descent to Tarsonis
A Sons of Korhal force led by Sarah Kerrigan and Jim Raynor descended to the surface, destroying war factories operated by Nova Squadron, Delta Squadron and Omega Squadron. They received reinforcements from General Duke, whose own forces also set up psi-emitters. Confederate General Ledbetter coordinated the Confederate response, but they were defeated. Heavy fighting also took place between the Sons of Korhal and the Confederate military in the streets of Tarsonis City.

Alien Invasion
"He just set off the emitters. He called the Zerg here! Dammit! He and Mengsk didn't even give the Confederates a chance to surrender! The Zerg are coming here, and this bastard is the one who rolled out the welcome mat!"

- Michael Liberty talking about Edmund Duke to Alpha Squadron marines

The active psi-emitters drew the zerg to the planet and began overrunning the surprised Confederates and rebels on the surface. Tassadar's expeditionary force arrived in pursuit of the zerg sooner than Mengsk expected. The protoss were interested in only fighting the zerg, but automatically were treated as hostile and fired upon by the Confederates.

The protoss efforts against the zerg alarmed Mengsk. The rebel leader feared the Confederates would escape while the zerg were diverted. Mengsk ordered Sarah Kerrigan to defend the zerg hives at from the protoss over the objections of Kerrigan and Jim Raynor. Fighting in the city degenerated into a four-way melee between the rebels, Confederates, zerg, and protoss. The rebels eventually forced the protoss to withdraw but were in turn overrun by the zerg. Kerrigan was lost after requests for support and retrieval by the rebel fleet were ignored, much to the horror of Raynor and several followers.

Evacuation
As Mengsk ordered the rebel fleet to withdraw, Raynor and reporter Michael Liberty disobeyed orders and commandeered a dropship to New Gettysburg. On the ground political affiliations were discarded as terran troops banded together in a desperate fight against the zerg while the protoss forces began to withdraw from the city. The pair retrieved a number of soldiers and refugees before being forced to lift. Despite the retrieval team's efforts, Kerrigan was not among the rescued. The dropship rendezvoused with the battlecruiser Thunder Child before departing from Tarsonis.

The zerg continued to attack the Confederacy and protoss in order to protect their prize before departing for Char.

Aftermath
The end of the Confederacy followed quickly after the fall of Tarsonis. On the rebel side, Jim Raynor led Raynor's Rangers and others disenchanted with Mengsk or the rebels in a break from the Sons of Korhal. These outcasts escaped Tarsonis after fighting the Sons of Korhal.

The Sons of Korhal moved to fill the vacuum left by the Confederacy. As the victorious rebels received the allegiance of many former-Confederate worlds Arcturus Mengsk proclaimed the formation of the Terran Dominion, with Korhal as the new capital world.