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Alexei Stukov - the life, death and resurrection of hero

This article is some form of biography about Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov of the UED Expeditionary Force. We are being introduced to Alexei Stukov at the beginning of Brood War. We learn to know him as a brilliant tactician and someone who is always striving to improve his skills. Alexei has been friends with Admiral DuGalle for as long as they both can remember. That’s the reason why they were sent together by the UED to the Koprulu Sector. Stukov has the rank of Vice Admiral, reason why they choose DuGalle above Stukov as Admiral is because of Stukov’s somewhat unconventional vision. However, Stukov has always been loyal to his Admiral and their friendship was ever existing. The objectives of the UED Expeditionary Force were clear: to pacify the Koprulu sector and to take control of the new Zerg Overmind.

His Life

Interesting things happened as soon as the UED landed on the planet Braxis in the first mission of the Terran campaign. The UED landed on Braxis in order to capture the primary datanet and weapons diagnostics of the Dominion. Because the landing site didn’t had any gas, you needed to expand. Upon expanding, you encountered another Terran force, however it was obvious the force wasn’t native to Braxis either. When you (in the role of Captain) approached these Terrans, one person began to speak and introduced himself. He appeared to be Lieutenant Samir Duran, who claimed to be the leader of the Confederate Resistance Forces. He thought he could be of service, by helping the UED to enter Boralis, the capital of Braxis. Stukov, who didn’t exactly know how to deal with Duran, decided to give him a chance. Although Stukov commanded you (the Captain) to give Duran full cooperation, you could already notice Stukov hecitating…

After you have succesfully taken over Boralis, DuGalle considered the mission a flawless victory. Because of that, Duran, and ofcourse you as well, have been given some credit. And from that mission on, Duran was part of the UED tactical command squad. In the following missions, the UED discovered the existence of the Psi Emitters and Disrupters. Duran was able to convince DuGalle that the Psi Disrupter had to be destroyed. Duran played it with arguments like: “If it should fall into the hands of the Dominion we could face some very serious problems.” and “you don't doubt the tenacity of your own fleet?”. DuGalle who agreed with Duran, ordered him to destroy the Psi Disruptor on Tarsonis. However Stukov, thanks to his unconventional vision, didn’t fall for the mind-games of Duran. As soon as Duran was about to destroy the Psi Disrupter, he got relieved from his command by Stukov. He was going to destroy the facility himself. Duran left, DuGalle was alread on his way to Augustgard. Neither would expect that Stukov didn’t destroy the facility.

Then it happens. In one of the following missions on Aiur, Duran and Stukov were ordered to capture the fugitives Mengsk and Raynor. Suddenly, at the end of the mission, Duran was able to attract a high number of Zerg units. How exactly he was able to attract them is still unclear, but if Stukov’s sensors weren’t malfunctioning, it appeared the Zerg didn’t want to kill Duran for some reason. They simply didn’t see him? Or were they working together? Stukov tried to warn Duran, but Duran’s radio signal seemed to be fading out. Stukov, knew what to do, and he left Aiur with the message: “Inform Admiral DuGalle that I have a personal matter to take care of...”. What did he mean? Did he suspect Duran? Did he found out something about him? Or did he simply want to enable the Psi disrupter which he didn’t destroy?

DuGalle still thought the Psi Disruptor was destroyed, as he ordered to. Yet he wondered why Stukov has come back to Braxis. Then suddenly he got a note of the fact that the Psi Disruptor has been rebuilt on Braxis. With mixed feelings, DuGalle decided to wait for Duran. As soon as Duran got back from Aiur, who has mysteriously escaped the Zerg, he instantly tried to play mind-games on DuGalle again. This time by saying things like: “I mean no offense, Admiral. But perhaps Stukov's loyalties are not as strong as you once believed.” and “I warned you Admiral! Stukov has betrayed you! He's reconstructed the Psi Disrupter in order to sabotage your mission in this sector!”. Because the odd’s were against Stukov, DuGalle knew what difficult decission he has to make. Stukov didn’t follow a direct order, therefor DuGalle ordered (with pain in his hearth) Duran to assassinate Stukov.

His Death

And so be it. Duran entered the Psi Disrupter facility and soon he found Stukov. Stukov, not being surprised by Duran’s appearance, knew what Duran was going to do: “Lieutenant Duran. I'm not surprised. We both know exactly what it is that you're here to terminate. Get on with it.”. Duran shot… DuGalle, who had followed every step from above, immediately commanded Duran to report himself. There followed no reply, it seemed like Duran had vanished. However, Stukov wasn’t dead yet. He breathed heavily and was still able to speak a bit. He managed to inform DuGalle about Duran’s betrayel. Then all of sudden DuGalle realised that the Psi Disrupter is perhaps more important than he thought. He ordered the remaining Marines to maintain the facility at all costs. But it was too late for one man, Stukov is dead. Or is he? In the cinematic following the Terran campaign there is a closed coffin being shot into space. Was a dead Stukov really lying in there? Or was it more some sort of military code that had to be executed?

His Resurrection?

As you might have guessed, this is not the end of our friend Stukov. After his space burial, he has been sighted by three Kimeran Space Pirates in a Confederate Science Facility, infested. This mission is available for play only by downloading the official Blizzard map Deception.scx (For more information about this map scroll down). During the mission, the Pirates suddenly see Stukov appearing and dissappearing. They can’t reach him, Stukov is dropped by a Dropship on a part of the map you can’t get without a Dropship. All that one of the Space Pirates says is: “That... That can't be...”. After that the Space Pirates continue with their mission. The Space Pirates also stumble upon a couple of amazing Data files which were stored inside the Science Facility. A few examples: “Offspring of Infested Humans”, “Zerg/Human Genome Manipulation”, “Utilizing Dragoon Technology For Human Reconstruction“ and “Human Mental Faculties in Zerg/Human Hybridization Experiments”. It seems like some interesting experiments were going on in that Science Facility. Could the Confederacy have resurrected Stukov with these experiments? It is a possibility, and the legend continues…

Everybody thought the Nintendo 64 version of StarCraft was nothing more but a (bad) port from the PC game. While that is true for the biggest part, there is one little difference. After finishing all the campaign’s, another bonus mission is unlocked. This mission goes by the name of Resurrection IV. For a walkthrough of this mission head over to: http://www.infoceptor.com/article/ressurection.shtml. In this mission Raynor and Taldarin (a Protoss hero who has lived for several millenia, he even fought alongside the mighty Adun), are about to deinfest Stukov. Somehow, Artanis and his Protoss have found out about the revival of Stukov. Artanis explains Stukov’s revival: “As you are well aware, Admiral Stukov was infested by the Zerg Cerebrate Kaloth. The Cerebrate's cells regenerated Stukov's own, bringing him back to life. Now he lords over his own secret Brood.”. It appears the Zerg have regenerated Stukov. Was this Cerebrate Kaloth not connected with the Zerg, and did it answer to another master? Could the Brood perhaps be a part of the secret Confederate experiments? If not, then what was Stukov doing in the Confederate Science Facility? Could it have been only some sort of easter egg?

There are quite a few people who think this can’t be true, that Stukov is dead and none of this ever took place. However the two missions (Deception and Resurrection IV) are both official, which means created by Blizzard, and that only is evidence enough to consider this StarCraft canon. If that still isn’t enough evidence for you, there is also a picture of Infested Stukov. It is drawn by Samwise, an official Blizzard artist:

I wrote this article to inform every StarCraft fan. This is not common knowledge yet, but that’s hopefully about to be changed. It is true, Stukov is alive, the evidence is there. You can believe it or not, but if you still don’t believe in it, don’t be surprised if he suddenly shows up in StarCraft 2. You’ve seen the facts!

Deception is an official Blizzard map of the month from the year 2000. You can download it here: http://www.battle.net/scc/OS/motm2000.shtml or a more direct link here: http://ftp.blizzard.com/pub/starcraft/Maps/motm/deception.zip (472 kb).