SC2 story... PART2: THE BROOD WAR

THE EVALUATION OF AIUR:
Tassadar's brave sacrifice had destroyed the Overmind, but countless rampaging zerg remained on Aiur and would surely overrun the surviving protoss. Zeratul offered sanctuary on Shakuras, the adopted home of the dark templar. Although the decision was difficult, Executor Artanis and the surviving members of the shattered Conclave agreed that their first duty was to save as many lives as possible.

Jim Raynor's forces and the protoss cut a path through the zerg to reach an ancient xel'naga warp gate, the relic of an earlier age. Using the gate, Zeratul opened a connection to a second gate on Shakuras. During the battle, Raynor and some of the protoss were cut off, but Artanis and Zeratul led many other protoss through the gate to safety on Shakuras.

To their horror, they found that the zerg were following them through the gate. The evacuees joined forces with their dark brethren and fought the invasion. Meanwhile, Raynor's forces and a handful of protoss chose to remain on Aiur and shut down its warp gate, ensuring that no further zerg reinforcements could reach Shakuras. With no means of escape, this brave band seemed doomed.


UNLIKELY ALLIES:
Sorrowfully the dark templar led their visitors to meet Raszagal, the ancient matriarch who ruled Shakuras. The protoss' first priority was to battle the spreading zerg infestation of Shakuras. Raszagal declared that a xel'naga temple on Shakuras could cleanse the planet, but its activation required two crystals--the Khalis and the Uraj--that had been lost long ago.

Kerrigan arrived unexpectedly and told the wary protoss that with the Overmind slain, she was no longer the merciless killer she had been. However, the surviving cerebrates had merged to create a new Overmind that would soon control the Swarm and transform Kerrigan back into the Overmind's pawn.

Kerrigan offered to help retrieve the Khalis and Uraj, and Raszagal accepted, overriding the objections of Artanis and Zeratul. The protoss heroes and Kerrigan departed for the planet Braxis, where they secured the Uraj. In the process they encountered an unfamiliar terran force identifying itself as the United Earth Directorate (UED). Ordered to surrender, the protoss refused and eluded capture.

Their next destination was Char, where the protoss located the Khalis, dangerously near the developing Overmind. Pitting themselves against the zerg and the young Overmind, Kerrigan and the protoss retrieved Khalis and returned to Shakuras.


TRAGEDY ON SHAKURAS:
There they found that some of the Aiur evacuees had turned against their dark templar allies. Already in the midst of a crisis, Raszagal was in no mood to negotiate and ordered the dark templar to vanquish the dissenters. Zeratul found the command troubling, but he and his allies obeyed. As the traitors' resistance crumbled, the dark templar demanded that the rebel leader surrender. He refused, claiming that the other protoss were doomed and Raszagal was hiding a loathsome secret.

Before the traitor could explain his accusation, Kerrigan and her zerg minions slew him. Zeratul angrily ordered Kerrigan to leave Shakuras. She left willingly, telling him that their alliance had already achieved her goal. The cerebrates had refused to follow her leadership, and now with the dark templar's assistance, they were all but destroyed.

The zerg would overwhelm Shakuras unless the protoss unleashed the xel'naga temple's power. Thus, the desperate protoss carried out their plan despite knowing that they were further aiding Kerrigan by doing so. Artanis and Zeratul carried the crystals to the temple's summit, channeled the temple's vast energies, and obliterated all zerg on Shakuras.


DISCOVERY OF THE PSI DISRUPTER:
For some time the UED had kept a close watch over the terran colonies in the Koprulu sector. With the discovery of the protoss and zerg, the Directorate's ruling council decided it was time to reestablish control over their distant cousins.

The UED dispatched an expeditionary fleet led by Admiral DuGalle. His orders were to overthrow the Terran Dominion and capture the young Overmind. First, with the assistance of Samir Duran and his Confederate resistance forces, the UED fleet secured the planet Braxis as a staging point. Vice Admiral Stukov, DuGalle's tactical advisor, recruited Duran's group into the UED.

Next, DuGalle launched a surprise attack on the Dylarian shipyards, commandeering many of the Dominion's battlecruisers docked there. Dominion reinforcements arrived, led by General Edmund Duke, but they were outgunned and ultimately retreated. The triumphant UED laid waste to the shipyards and conscripted the remaining Dylarian defenders.

UED forces learned of a mysterious weapon on the planet Tarsonis: the psi disrupter, which could block zerg communications. If the Dominion secured the weapon, the UED would be unable to use the zerg as planned. Thus, Duran recommended destroying the weapon, and DuGalle agreed despite Stukov's objections.

Duran and other UED forces captured the psi disrupter, but several UED ghosts quickly arrived and announced that Stukov had ordered them to dismantle the device. Duran had little choice but to relinquish the weapon.


STUKOV'S DEFIANCE:
The UED fleet headed to the planet Korhal IV, capital of the Dominion. Attacking Korhal's capital city, Augustgrad, DuGalle's fleet eventually surrounded the remainder of Mengsk's forces. UED forces prepared to take the deposed emperor into custody, but Jim Raynor arrived in Mengsk's old battlecruiser, the Hyperion, along with a small protoss fleet. Moments later, Raynor, his protoss allies, and Mengsk had escaped, and the UED fleet was in hot pursuit.

The UED tracked Raynor and Mengsk to Aiur, where the fugitives activated a warp gate in preparation for an escape. The gate's energies incited the surrounding zerg to attack, and to Stukov's shock, Duran's forces moved out of position, leaving UED forces on the planet open to attack by the Swarm. Unable to hold off the zerg and recapture Mengsk at the same time, Stukov withdrew his forces to rejoin the fleet. Stukov himself abruptly departed for Braxis.

DuGalle was puzzled to hear that Raynor and Mengsk had escaped, and Stukov had abandoned the battle on Aiur. When the UED detected a psi disrupter on Braxis, Duran concluded that Stukov had rebuilt the Tarsonis device to sabotage the UED's goals. Unable to deny the evidence, DuGalle ordered Duran to find and kill Stukov.

Duran shot Stukov and then slipped away. Mortally wounded, Stukov told DuGalle that Duran was the real traitor and had likely been infested by the zerg. Duran had allowed Mengsk and Raynor to escape. Furthermore, Duran had suggested destroying the psi disrupter, which Stukov had reassembled because he was certain it was critical to saving humanity from the zerg.

Stukov's message convinced DuGalle, who established a garrison on Braxis before he led the UED fleet to Char. UED forces overcame the young Overmind's defenses and administered powerful neurostims so that the UED could control the Overmind.


CONTROLLING THE SWARM:
As the drugs started taking effect, Duran and the Queen of Blades suddenly appeared in the UED's midst. Kerrigan introduced herself as the leader of the zerg. It was clear that Duran was indeed infested. DuGalle threatened to disrupt her control over the zerg with the psi disrupter, but Kerrigan said that she intended to destroy the weapon. She thanked DuGalle for executing Stukov and departed.

Establishing a base on Char, the UED took control of the Overmind's minions, who made up the vast majority of the Swarm. This control gave the UED a decisive advantage over Kerrigan, for the psi disrupter prevented her from controlling zerg that were not yet under the young Overmind's control.

She contacted Shakuras and convinced Jim Raynor and the protoss to rescue the remains of the Dominion fleet from the UED. Raynor and the protoss remained distrustful, but she informed them that controlling the zerg was only the first step in the Directorate's plan. Earth would inevitably lock down the whole sector.

Furthermore, Kerrigan claimed that she bore Mengsk no ill will. She needed Mengsk's psi emitters to reclaim additional zerg minions, destroy the psi disrupter, and vanquish the Directorate fleet. In return, she offered to help Mengsk reclaim Korhal IV. With no acceptable alternatives, Mengsk agreed. Kerrigan's plan worked perfectly, and she destroyed the psi disrupter.


BREAKING ALLIANCES:
Kerrigan honored her side of the bargain, bolstering the ranks of her zerg minions and helping Mengsk retake Korhal from the UED. Then, without warning, she sent her zerg against the Dominion and protoss encampments. General Duke fell in battle, but Kerrigan spared Mengsk's life because she wanted to savor his suffering as he watched her ascend to power. As for Jim Raynor, he escaped, swearing that one day he would kill her.

Next Kerrigan had Raszagal kidnapped and taken to Char. Predictably Zeratul tracked down the protoss matriarch and demanded her safe return. Kerrigan proposed a trade: if Zeratul and his compatriots destroyed the young Overmind, Kerrigan would permit Raszagal to return to her people. Because the Overmind was indisputably the protoss' enemy as well as Kerrigan's, Zeratul reluctantly agreed.

Only after he and his compatriots had destroyed the Overmind did Zeratul learn that Kerrigan had long ago enslaved and corrupted the dark templar's matriarch. The Queen of Blades had brilliantly outmaneuvered the protoss. With the Overmind and its cerebrates dead, all zerg in the Koprulu sector reverted to Kerrigan's control.

Yet the dark templar refused to give up. They stole Raszagal from the zerg, but Kerrigan's minions surrounded Zeratul's base before the dark templar could escape with their matriarch. As Kerrigan and her minions drew near, Zeratul mortally wounded Raszagal rather than let her be recaptured. In her last moments, Raszagal thanked him for freeing her from Kerrigan's influence. Kerrigan decided to spare Zeratul's life rather than allow him the peace of death. Ravaged by grief and guilt, Zeratul vowed that he would avenge Raszagal.


A FAR GREATER POWER:
As Zeratul and his people left Char, they detected protoss power signatures on an uncharted moon nearby. Zeratul and several other protoss investigated and found that someone had been using gene splicing to create hybrids with mixed zerg and protoss DNA.

In at least one case, the attempt had proven successful. Staring the abomination in horror, Zeratul was surprised when a male terran suddenly uncloaked in front of the stasis cell. The terran introduced himself as Samir Duran.

Zeratul recognized the name and asked if Kerrigan had instigated the hybridization project. Duran denied the accusation and said that he served a far greater power. The zerg-protoss hybrid were the last step in a vast cycle that was approaching its end. Scattered on a thousand different worlds, the hybrid would presently awaken, and the universe would change forever. Deeply troubled, Zeratul and the other protoss returned to their ship and continued on their way to Shakuras.


KERRIGAN'S ASCENSION:
The Queen of Blades soon faced another threat, and she was not pleased to discover that Duran had inconveniently disappeared. Apparently Arcturus Mengsk had called in a few favors and scraped together a new fleet. Artanis had also warped into the area with a fleet of protoss ships from Shakuras. Last but not least, Admiral DuGalle was stubbornly determined to defeat the woman who had masterminded Stukov's death.

Kerrigan taught the three fleets better than to underestimate the Swarm. Facing imminent defeat, Mengsk and Artanis were forced to withdraw from the battle. At last it became clear that the UED fleet could not hope to succeed where the other two fleets had failed. DuGalle offered to surrender if Kerrigan would spare the lives of his soldiers. The Queen of Blades, however, had no interest in taking prisoners. Instead, she told DuGalle to turn his ships in the direction of Earth and flee. She would give him a reasonable head start before she sent the Swarm after him.

DuGalle and his battered ships obeyed, for they had no other choice. Onboard the flagship Aleksander, DuGalle composed a last letter to his wife. His mission was a failure. The zerg remained untamed; the colony worlds, unconquered. His pride had killed Stukov and brought the Directorate fleet to this desperate pass.

The admiral killed himself not long before Kerrigan's forces overtook the UED fleet and devastated it. Not one Directorate ship reached Earth to report the events that had taken place in the Koprulu sector.


AFTERMATH:
The Queen of Blades did not become complacent in the wake of her victory. She kept watch over the Swarm from her core hive on Char. The Brood War left her the dominant force in Koprulu sector. The initial explosive expansion of the zerg has been replaced with a foreboding silence for four years, but no scouting expeditions to Swarm-controlled worlds have lived to tell what they saw there.

Thus, outsiders can only speculate about what she has been doing--or what she has been seeking--these past four years. Many believe that the zerg are building their strength and engineering new organisms before going on the offensive again. Some contend that Kerrigan is staying her hand due to some small shred of humanity buried deep inside the creature she has become. Those who have encountered her savage fury know this to be merely wishful thinking.


ON THE TERRAN FRONT:
Mengsk and his forces have regrouped on Korhal IV. His first order of business was to rebuild the Terran Dominion. In Kerrigan he had found a new target for revenge, and he'd always been happier with a goal to work toward anyway. The Dominion has since become the most powerful force among the terran factions, having taken over many of the original Confederate worlds.

The Kel-Morian Combine and the Umojan Protectorate have been preparing for the inevitable war with either the zerg or Mengsk. The UED task force was almost completely destroyed in Brood War; only a few isolated pockets of survivors remain hidden in the Koprulu sector.

Jim Raynor has led a resistance movement against the Dominion, but that has been a losing battle. Arcturus Mengsk has used his greatest weapons--the media and propaganda--to marginalize Jim's efforts. Raynor seems to be losing faith, drinking heavily and haunted by the ghosts of his past. He has never forgiven himself for letting Kerrigan be taken by the zerg.


REINTEGRATION OF THE PROTOSS RACE:
The protoss evacuees from Aiur have been struggling to recover from the loss of their home planet while finding ways to mesh their society with that of the dark templar who call Shakuras home. The transition has been difficult for both sides, and the name of Raszagal has been invoked more than once to keep the peace.

The old Conclave has been swept away, and in its absence many protoss have begun looking to their ancient tribal affiliations for leadership and a sense of identity. With the protoss people working together as they did in ancient times and studying the xel'naga technology on Shakuras, the protoss have made many technological developments for continuing the war with the zerg. Memories of Raszagal have plagued Zeratul, who was further disturbed by his encounter with Samir Duran and the zerg-protoss hybrid Duran had apparently been creating. Shortly after bidding Raynor farewell on Shakuras, Zeratul departed the planet, and he has not been heard from in years. To this day he seeks to understand what Duran and the hybrid he was creating might portend. Lately he has uncovered something that may be related to the xel'naga, creators of both protoss and zerg, and he seeks new clues to unravel the mystery.