The Teacher is a StarCraft II short story written by Matthew Maxwell, designed to tie-in with Heart of the Swarm. It focuses on the hydralisk. The story was later collected in StarCraft II: War Stories.
Description[]
A Dominion scientist has cracked the secret of the Swarm's control over the Zerg, and is ready to turn the creatures against their former masters. But when the Dominion military takes a firm hand over this dangerous new weapon, who will end up controlling who?
Dr. Loew wants to tame the Zerg to save Terran lives. All past efforts to subjugate the Swarm have yielded nothing short of catastrophe, which is why Dr. Loew is pursuing a slightly . . . different approach. But when the Dominion takes an interest in her research, Loew realizes that the Zerg may not be the only monsters she's dealing with.
Synopsis[]
Science[]
Dr. Sandra Loew demonstrated "The Tamed", a zerg project, to Terran Dominion observers. The Tamed were hydralisks cut off from the Zerg Swarm and under her control. She showed test subject "Dennis" following her commands without the use of drugs.
She was challenged by Colonel Garr, who claimed that Project Black Flag, a similar project had failed. In anger, Loew unleashed Dennis at Garr and his men, who considered ordering Dennis killed. He revealed that he was impressed by Dennis after all. Loew went on to explain that the "Somnus" system would instantly kill any Tamed that went out of control.
Garr, deciding that the Tamed had moved beyond pilot project status, contacted Emperor Arcturus Mengsk himself, which surprised Loew. Mengsk was mainly interested in killing the Queen of Blades, but was happy with the notion of taking control of the Zerg Swarm away from her.
As Loew fed Dennis, she noticed a brief error in his pathogenic prionic organism (PPO) controls, but it vanished.
War[]
Three weeks later, The Tamed practiced with the "Lost Wolves" platoon, clearing a mock mining installation—Loew had expected the Tamed to be tested against the zerg instead—when Garr dropped in. He told Loew that the Tamed would be tested at Thys, a vespene mining colony which was under attack by the zerg. He also said, over her objections, that if the colonists had a problem with the Dominion they would be treated as traitors and wiped out by the Tamed too.
At Thys, the zerg initially ignored the Tamed, which were used primarily against airborne mutalisks. During the battle half the Tamed were killed, but the Dominion and Tamed won.
Garr and his security detail gathered the counselors and scientists, then told Loew to take the facility and kill anyone who got in the way. Loew instead unleashed the Tamed against the Dominion troops. Garr and his security detail were killed, along with the counselors and Dominion scientists. Loew let the transports escape.
The Lost Wolves arrived at the scene, confused by the carnage. Loew admitted what she had done, then activated Somnus. It didn't work, and she realized she had lost control of the Tamed, and indeed wasn't sure how long ago that had occurred. The Tamed attacked, wiping out the Lost Wolves.
Loew fled, with the hydralisks in hot pursuit. At one point, the Tamed stopped, except for Dennis, who caught and killed her.
On Char, the Queen of Blades watched the battle through her minions. She had used the Tamed as an opportunity, in order to wipe out high-ranking Dominion officials and even a "pretender queen", Loew. Kerrigan sadistically allowed Loew to run for a while before getting killed.
Characters[]
- Dr. Sandra Loew
Supporting[]
- "Dennis", a hydralisk
- Garr, a Dominion officer
- Sarah Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades
Minor[]
- Harris, Garr's assistant
- Arcturus Mengsk
Organizations[]
References[]
- Maxwell, Matthew. "The Teacher" (February 20, 2013). Blizzard Entertainment. The Teacher. Accessed from Blizzard Short Stories Hub on 2021-08-16.