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====The Investigation of Altara==== |
====The Investigation of Altara==== |
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| + | Back on Altara, Terra worked with [[Talen Holt|Agent X72341R]], a specialist in stealth mind-reading, and secretly a [[spectre]]. He hadn't found any evidence that the UED had been present. |
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| + | As the two split up and investigated further, Terra found herself the target of telepathic taunts; X72341R was able to [[cloak]] in a manner which prevented Terra from detecting him. Working with Kelerchian, whose minor psionic powers enabled him to find other psychics, they tried to find this hidden foe. Terra was attacked by a cloaked X72341R, but when she turned the tables, the spectre fled. They found X72341R at the door, looking beat up. They also stumbled across a strange-acting orphan girl, [[Lila]], who told them that the attack had been performed by spectres and "Shadowblade". |
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| + | They brought Lila as a witness to the dropships at Oasis. Hauler told Terra the girl might have been brain-panned. Evidence of the zerg attack was covered up, but the refinery could not be salvaged.<ref name="SC:G:Spectres"/> |
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====The Battle for Augustgrad==== |
====The Battle for Augustgrad==== |
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Revision as of 23:49, 3 January 2012
- The name of this article is based on conjecture.
The Spectre Rebellion was a covert battle between Project Shadowblade and the Terran Dominion.[1]
Background
Jackson Hauler
During the time of the Terran Confederacy, a man with powerful psionic powers was taken to the Ghost Academy. The "brain-panning" didn't "take" due to his high PI rating of 8.5. The Program wanted to eliminate them. However, he managed to escape.
He murdered an enlisted man named Jackson Hauler and took his name and place. His psionic memory-altering abilities, plus some forgery, made this simple. Hauler eventually became an officer and rose to lead Nova Squadron. In this position, he kept his psionic abilities a secret. Following Mengsk's Uprising, Hauler proved his loyalty and usefulness to the Terran Dominion.
In 2501, the Dominion discovered a planet, Demon's Fair, with Tal'darim protoss ruins and a strange gas, terrazine, which enhanced psionic potential. Hauler put himself on a "secret assignment", which allowed him to disappear and play the role of Cole Bennett, a scientist assigned to the secret project, Shadowblade. The project was led by General Horace Warfield.
Bennett experimented on himself. Reports on what happened next vary. According to some, Bennett was driven mad by the gas and killed most of the team members. Warfield only barely managed to escape. The other team members were all in jail (three of them) or dead. According to Hauler, the Dominion grew frightened of the project and tried to eliminate it. Hauler faked Bennett's death and escaped. Eventually Hauler returned to lead Nova Squadron, but was left feeling a desire for revenge against the Dominion.[1]
The Ghost Academy
Gabriel Tosh was a hard-line Terran Dominion supporter, and also a psychic. Prior to 2501 he joined the Ghost Academy and became the leader of Team Blue, a training team.
His team took part in the Battle of Shi. Other former Team Blue members included Delta Emblock, Nova Terra, Kath Toom and Lio Travski. During the battle, Terra unleashed a mind blast, catching Toom. This changed him physically (causing his eyes to become mostly milky white) but mostly mentally. He could no longer be sensed by other psychics unless he wished to, his mind could not be read, and he was immune to memory wipes.
Tosh's forbidden romantic relationship with Terra was severed, and this, along with the circumstances of the battle, turned him bitterly against the Dominion. Tosh took up a relationship with Toom instead. Together they discovered that her father had not leaked information on Sector 9, a secret project, as the government believed. However, he committed suicide.
Fearing he would be killed for his secret, Tosh either escaped or faked his death in one of his first missions. His existence was kept secret from even Arcturus Mengsk, but still people tried to kill him. After escaping from the Ghost Academy, Travski used his abilities to save Tosh's life several times.
Meanwhile, the Academy AI, "Sparky", flew out of control. Travski was "killed", but due to his technopathic abilities, his mind persisted in cyberspace. Travski kept his fate secret from most of his former friends.
Another Ghost Academy inmate was Colin Phash, a young boy, and son of former Senator Corbin Phash. The elder Phash unleashed critical commentary on the Academy, which had taken custody of his son, along with renegade reporter Michael Liberty. Phash eventually arranged for his son to escape. The Phashes took shelter in the Umojan Protectorate.[1]
The Alliance
While outside the Academy, Tosh learned of Shadowblade. He met a man whose brother was at New Folsom Prison. The prisoner had been brain-panned, but it didn't "take" (due to terrazine exposure), but the prisoner kept this secret. Tosh spent months looking for terrazine until he discovered it on Altara.
A few weeks later he met Cole Bennett. Bennett knew of Sector 9 and Colin Phash. They hatched an arrangement with the Umojan Protectorate. With the Protectorate's technology, information stolen from Sector 9 and their stolen Gehenna Station, a cloaked battle platform, they would unleash attacks against the Dominion with terrazine-modified terrans—spectres.
Tosh began kidnapping ghosts and introducing them to terrazine, transforming them into spectres. By 2503 Shadowblade had 24 of them, including himself.
Bennett and Tosh's spectres planned to capture Arcturus Mengsk. Liberty would record his confession to crimes, after which he would be done away with. Bennett would meet with other powerful leaders, but believed he would come out on top due to his mind-influencing powers. He would become the next leader of the Dominion.
Bennett didn't bargain in good faith. He intended to let Tosh take the fall after what would happen to the Dominion. He would then rule with an iron fist. Tosh believed the spectres would protect the new Dominion's rule and enforce peace instead.[1]
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Prelude
Project Shadowblade began a secret campaign of attacks to weaken the Dominion from the cloaked Gehenna Station. The station generally traveled in a straight line, with the spectres making attacks from short-range from the station.
The survivors tended to be "brain-panned" in a manner similar to neural resocialization. UNN referred to these attacks as UED attacks. There were rumors of a station which could not be picked up by scans. Renegade reporter Michael Liberty was picking up on the story, but Mengsk was blocking him, for the moment. Mengsk realized his regular channels had been compromised and would make tackling the secret threat a priority.
A ghost named Kath Toom was sent to investigate rumors of UED terrorist activity near Oasis, Altara, although her orders were in fact fakes created by Travski. Several kilometers from Oasis, Toom discovered a modified refinery sitting over a big rift and mine. She was attacked by a mysterious attacker, a spectre named Dylanna Okyl, who beat her up and captured her. Toom was whisked away to Gehenna Station for spectre conversion. Tosh intended to reunite Team Blue.
Wrangler Malcolm Kelerchian was dispatched to collect Toom. He learned that Mengsk had not sent the order for Toom to investigate Altara.[1]
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Course of the War
Battle of Altara
Nova Squadron, based out of the Palatine, and Nova Terra, a powerful ghost, were dispatched to Altara in order to rescue Kelerchian. A swarm of zerg reached the distress site first.
Terra convinced Hauler to place her on Altara before the rest of Nova Squadron. He told her she had an hour.
Terra discovered the zerg landing on a strange green rift and collected some of the gas leaking out of it to analyze it. She made it to the now-destroyed refinery. As she continued to scout the zerg, Grizzlies carrying Nova Squadron troops landed early. These troops were led by Lt. Chet Ward, a veteran officer, but with little experience fighting the zerg. He grudgingly followed Terra's advice, but believed the terrans had the advantage of surprise.
Roaches and zerglings emerged from the ground and attacked the marines. Terra instructed Ward to send his men to a high point and create a crossfire on her signal. Terra baited the zerg into the crossfire. Ward was then told to retreat to rocky terrain near the Grizzlies, in the hopes the zerg could not burrow there.
Meanwhile Terra located the November and discovered the injured Kelerchian within. The ship's gun was still working. Unfortunately, her request for medical evacuation was interrupted by mutalisks attacking the marines. Hauler sent heavy reinforcements, but made rescuing the wrangler the top priority.
The marines were cut off from the Grizzlies by banelings and mutalisks. Terra flew the November over to them and used the ship's guns to take out mutalisks. After she got out, a hydralisk ripped her mask off. Terra was now exposed to the strange gas. Terra helped the marines out of their current predicaments, but their retreat was then cut off by hydralisks. Terra used her powers to blow open part of the rift as the marines finally made it to the Grizzlies. Ward had been unwilling to abandon her, despite his misgivings, but Terra reminded him that she knew his secrets, and if she failed, those secrets would die with her.
Terra finished off the zerg attack with a massive mind blast.[1]
The Investigation of Altara
Back on Altara, Terra worked with Agent X72341R, a specialist in stealth mind-reading, and secretly a spectre. He hadn't found any evidence that the UED had been present.
As the two split up and investigated further, Terra found herself the target of telepathic taunts; X72341R was able to cloak in a manner which prevented Terra from detecting him. Working with Kelerchian, whose minor psionic powers enabled him to find other psychics, they tried to find this hidden foe. Terra was attacked by a cloaked X72341R, but when she turned the tables, the spectre fled. They found X72341R at the door, looking beat up. They also stumbled across a strange-acting orphan girl, Lila, who told them that the attack had been performed by spectres and "Shadowblade".
They brought Lila as a witness to the dropships at Oasis. Hauler told Terra the girl might have been brain-panned. Evidence of the zerg attack was covered up, but the refinery could not be salvaged.[1]
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The Battle for Augustgrad
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The Battle of Gehenna Station
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References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Kenyon, Nate. (September 27, 2011). StarCraft: Ghost: Spectres. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). ISBN 978-1439-10938-0.
 StarCraft: Ghost Franchise |
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| The next article in this series is Covert Missions. |