Human admirals Alexei Stukov and Gerard DuGalle of the United Earth Directorate arrived in the Koprulu sector with a mighty force. Their mission was appallingly direct: assert control over the terrans, and reunite divided humankind. Taking stock of the chaos in the sector, Stukov and DuGalle allied themselves with the remnants of the Confederacy (led by Samir Duran) and set about deposing Emperor Mengsk.
UED forces attempted to commandeer Dominion battlecruisers at the Dylarian Shipyards, where they bested Mengsk’s General, Edmund Duke. At Duran’s suggestion, they descended to the old capital of Tarsonis to recover a Psi Disrupter, a Confederate device that would disrupt the psionic signals of the zerg. Duran and DuGalle wanted the disrupter destroyed to prevent Mengsk from using it, but Stukov thought it would be valuable against the zerg, so he hid it.
Fresh from their accomplishment, the UED invaded Korhal, capital world of the Dominion. Before the domineering UED fleet could take Mengsk into custody, the battlecruiser Hyperion rescued the emperor. Jim Raynor (and the protoss accompanying him) saved Mengsk at Kerrigan’s behest, in the hopes that they could use his fleet against the UED, whose forces threatened the entire sector.
The UED caught up to the allies near Aiur, but a force of zerg swarmed them, and Stukov noticed that Samir Duran’s forces were conspicuously unavailable for defense. Suspicious, the admiral abandoned the fight. Without backup, the UED forces were savaged, and Raynor, Mengsk and the protoss escaped to Shakuras through Aiur’s warp gate.
Suspecting his comrade of treachery, DuGalle sent Duran to capture Stukov – but, when DuGalle arrived on the planet Braxis, he found the admiral dying near the psi-disrupter. According to Stukov, Duran was the true traitor – he had shot Stukov and set the disrupter to explode. Terrified that Duran was zerg-infested, DuGalle and his men salvaged the disrupter, and the remaining UED fleet changed targets to strike at the zerg.
Though the battle was hard-fought, the disrupter was a massive success – the UED sparked confusion among the zerg and sedated the new Overmind with drugs and psionics. Flush with victory, they claimed the Overmind for Earth.
