Alexei Stukov

"Protoss Commander, I am Admiral Alexei Stukov of the United Earth Directorate. We are here to take control of the Terran Dominion and all of its outlying colonies. You are in direct violation of Terran space and have openly attacked Terran troops. Lower your shields and power down your weapons systems. The UED will be taking custody of your ships and whatever spoils you have garnered from this planet."

- Stukov confronts the protoss over Braxis' space platform

Alexei Stukov (also spelled Alexi Stukov) is a human from Earth. He was a vice admiral in the United Earth Directorate (UED).

Stukov was murdered in tragic circumstances, then mysteriously revived as an infested terran by the zerg to make use of him for their own deeds. He was later rescued by Jim Raynor and the protoss, who used a nanotech serum to turn him back to normal.

Stukov was a ghost. Stukov enjoys smoking and vodka, and speaks with a Russian accent.

Early Service
Stukov grew up on Earth, rising through the ranks of the United Powers League alongside his friend Gerard DuGalle. Both men were competitive throughout their youths and constantly played at getting the best of one another. Unlike DuGalle however, Stukov spent most of his military career in top-secret research rather than in actual combat, constantly striving to push the limit of conventional technology and physical theory to increase the effectiveness of UPL troops in warfare. His views on the subject were considered "unconventional."

Despite research taking up most of his time, Stukov was not completely unfamiliar with combat, his awards showing this. He won the Crux de Valor with combat tags and for his involvement in the quelling of the Ishanti Uprising, three Bronze Gammadons. Family matters were not unfamiliar to him either, fathering four children.

A New Enemy
The discovery of alien species in the Koprulu Sector changed the UPL's stance to their wayward colonies along with its own power structure. Now serving the United Earth Directorate, Stukov was appointed as second-in-command of an expeditionary force to bring the Koprulu Sector and its inhabitants under UED control. Serving under Admiral DuGalle, Stukov departed Earth for the galactic fringe.

Shortly after arriving in the sector, Stukov and DuGalle witnessed a demonstration of the zerg attacking the base of a Terran Dominion colony. DuGalle had released the zerg onto an unsuspecting colony to "observe" them in warfare. Stukov was indifferent, claiming to know "all about the zerg" from seeing tapes "a hundred times" but DuGalle forced him to watch, claiming that the live demonstration would instill a resolve within the Vice Admiral that recorded dissections could not. In this he was correct, Stukov resolving to go "all the way."

First Strike
Stukov tried to blockade Braxis when the protoss visited, for reasons unknown to him. The protoss were able to penetrate the blockade, and eventually Stukov had to give up the chase.

Later, Stukov ordered a Captain of the UED fleet, newly awakened from cryogenic hibernation, to assault Braxis and take control of its capital city of Boralis within two standard hours. Unfortunately, the attacking forces were hampered by a lack of vespene gas. When the UED met the Confederate Resistance Forces, its commander, Lieutenant Samir Duran offered his services and skills in return for amnesty. Stukov was initially suspicious, but when Duran said that he could show an alternate route that leads to the rear of Boralis, Stukov accepted his aid – "Very well, Lieutenant. Consider yourself and your men the first colonial conscripts of the United Earth Directorate."

The Iron Fist
"Ah, General Duke. I expected your forces to arrive sooner. You should know that we represent not one of your rag-tag peasant Militias, but the combined might of the United Earth Directorate."

- Alexei Stukov greets General Duke as battle brews.

Stukov accompanied the UED fleet when it attacked the Dylarian Shipyards. Duran warned him and DuGalle of the impending Dominion counterstrike. The UED forces stole the shipyard's battlecruisers and escaped.

When a Confederate Psi Disrupter was discovered on Tarsonis, Duran convinced DuGalle of the need to destroy the device. Stukov however, believed the Disrupter to be a useful tool to the UED and sent his personal guard to relieve Duran after he had secured it. Without telling DuGalle, he had the Disrupter secretly dismantled, transported to Braxis, and reassembled.

While the UED pursued James Raynor and Arcturus Mengsk to Aiur in their campaign against the Terran Dominion, Stukov became increasingly perturbed at the increasing number of allies that Mengsk was able to bring to bear against them. When a massive wave of zerg attacked the UED just in time to allow Mengsk to escape their grasp once again, Stukov was horrified. Not only had Raynor and the protoss joined forces with the Terran Dominion, but the seemingly mindless zerg had done so as well.

When the Vice Admiral realized that Duran had moved his forces out of place so as to allow the zerg to pass, Stukov finally grasped that their inconspicuous ally had not only been playing them from the start, but likely had been infested by the zerg as well. With this new revelation, Stukov immediately fled back to Braxis, where he activated the Psi Disrupter.

Patriot's Blood
"I mean no offense, Admiral. But perhaps Stukov's loyalties are not as strong as you once believed."

- Samir Duran to Gerard DuGalle

DuGalle was livid, especially since Duran was goading him. He ordered Duran to execute Stukov for treason against the UED, a task Duran gladly accepted. Stukov's personal forces resisted the UED, but eventually Duran located Stukov and shot him, possibly with a small pistol. Duran promptly vanished.

With his dying breath, Stukov told Admiral DuGalle that Duran had been manipulating him from the beginning, was almost certainly infested by the zerg and may have been for a long time. Stukov's last words were punctuated when the outer walls of the Psi Disrupter were breached by a massive wave of zerg, triggering alarms and possibly setting off the Disrupter self-destruct sequence. At DuGalle's request the remainder of Stukov's personal forces assisted the UED forces in their efforts to recapture the Psi Disrupter from the zerg.

Legacies
The Vice-admiral's ignominious fate was hidden by UED propaganda, which claimed Stukov had died in the "final valiant assault on Char" against the zerg. His body was then, supposedly, buried in space.

DuGalle took Stukov's death personally realizing the short-sightedness caused by his pride directly led to the death of his friend. Kerrigan would pick at the wound, taunting DuGalle after the UED victory on Char by declaring that Stukov was "twice the man you are."

Reanimation
"Now you will taste the vengeance of the New Swarm. Destroy them!!!!"

- Stukov defies Taldarin and Jim Raynor

Stukov's death, however, was temporary. He was resurrected and infested by the zerg cerebrate Kaloth as an experiment in creating infested human leaders. His infestation gave the zerg some knowledge of the United Earth Directorate.

The Kimeran Pirates raided a Terran Confederacy installation. According to the stolen data, the Confederates were studying how to revive terrans using zerg reanimation techniques. One subject of these experiments was an infested terran named Morik, who had maintained some of his sanity. When the Pirates left, taking Morik with them, they were followed by cloaked Wraiths...

Stukov hired mercenaries to destroy enemies who had conveniently settled on the same dark planet, including the Kimeran Pirates. The Kimerans were mostly or completely wiped out by Stukov's mercenaries. Eventually, Stukov gained control of a zerg brood and moved to Braxis. The protoss discovered them quickly, while Stukov was still maturing into the role. His weakness was reflected by poor efficiency in the zerg; the suicidal infested terrans were much less potent. Nonetheless, Stukov could rely on a large zerg and renegade terran force. The terran component was not wholly reliable; doubts about Stukov's sanity pushed many toward leaving the infested terran's service.

The protoss developed a nanite serum to reverse Stukov's infestation. Assaulting Braxis and delivering the serum was entrusted to a small joint terran and protoss force led by Jim Raynor and Taldarin, an old dragoon. Raynor, an old protoss ally, joined the operation at Artanis' request. Once on the surface, Raynor and Taldarin were joined by terran troops defecting from Stukov, including a Skullder pilot. Additional help came by freeing Stukov's protoss prisoners.

Stukov was cornered and captured after heavy fighting. The serum freed Stukov from the zerg long enough to escape with Raynor and Taldarin. Stukov lamented the serum's effects.

The protoss burned Braxis' surface from orbit. Stukov was later imprisoned by Emil Narud and the Terran Dominion at Skygeirr Station. He escaped and contacted Sarah Kerrigan, seeking revenge.

StarCraft
Alexei Stukov appeared briefly as an invincible enemy game unit in Patriot's Blood and appeared again (infested, also invincible and belonging to an enemy force) in Deception and Resurrection IV post-resurrection. He can be briefly controlled by the player in the latter, in which he has the same abilities as the standard ghost except for the nuclear launch ability.

The Infested Stukov game unit is identical, except for the name, and is treated as a terran unit for game purposes. In Resurrection IV, the unit is simply called "Alexi Stukov" (both before and after the de-infestation).

In all of his forms, the Stukov unit has the same quote set as the standard ghost.

StarCraft II
Stukov's infested form appears as an achievement icon and campaign portrait for Heart of the Swarm.

He will also appear in "Heart of the Swarm" missions.

Blizzard Entertainment Comments on Infested Stukov
Blizzard Entertainment employee Andy Chambers stated that Infested Stukov was an experiment by the zerg.

Former employee Bill Roper also commented on the Stukov storyline, saying he hoped it would continue to be pursued.

Blizzard Entertainment posted random "StarCraft Trivia" question-ads on the Battle.net interface during 2000-2001, such as: "How many sons does Stukov have?" or "Who was infested and brought back to life"?.

The Nintendo 64 version of StarCraft has also been referred as "semi-canonical" and Blizzard is only including bits from it.

Stukov did not appear in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty as the zerg component was complicated enough, but it was mentioned that his story hooks may be leveraged later, if Blizzard can figure out the "right way" to do so. At BlizzCon 2011 when discussing StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, during the lore panel Chris Metzen asked Brian Kindregan about the possibility of Stukov appearing the campaign.