Admiral DuGalle

Admiral Gerard DuGalle is a character in the StarCraft universe. He is a Terran from Earth and an Admiral in the United Earth Directorate (UED).

Admiral Gerard DuGalle, was a highly decorated United Earth Directorate (UED) Admiral. Possibly the UED's greatest military leader, he has defended Earth from it's enemies in countless battles. He and his most trusted comrade, Vice Admiral Stukov were sent as part of the UED Expeditionary Force to the Koprulu Sector after the battles of Chau Sara and Mar Sara, in order to pacify the area and bring it under UED control. DuGalle was put in charge due to his tactical expertise, and was selected unanimously by the UED Council.

DuGalle was possibly the most proficient UED leader, possessing prior experience in military conflicts, and commanded his force from the UED flagship, Aleksander. Stukov implied that DuGalle was "rigid" and did not make friends easily.

Gerard DuGalle, age 64, is a childhood friend of Alexi Stukov, who is 52 years old. Template:StarCraft

Contents

1 Admiral of the Expeditionary Force 2 Dugalle's Mistakes 3 Trivia 4 References

Admiral of the Expeditionary Force

Dugalle was entrusted with the mission of pacifying the Kropulu Sector while containing the Zerg and Protoss; to that end he was issued three Primary Objectives:

1. Conquer all of the "rogue" Terran colonies, and capture Arcturus Mengsk, the self-instated Emperor of the Terran Dominion.
2. Take control of the entire Zerg Swarm by capturing the newborn Zerg Overmind with psychics and powerful drugs.
3. Use the captured Zerg Swarm to conquer the Protoss.

Dugalle and his fleet arrived in the Koprulu Sector shortly after the death of the original Zerg Overmind. At that point, the majority of the Terran population was under Mengsk's control, and the last units of the now defunct Confederacy had been more or less integrated into Mengsk's forces.

Dugalle's first action involved the demonstration of the destructive ability of the Zerg. He released Zerg onto an unsuspecting colony to "observe" them in warfare. Stukov was appalled, but DuGalle forced him to watch, claiming that the live demonstration would instill a resolve within the Vice Admiral that recorded dissections could not.

The UED expeditionary force soon arrived at the Terran Dominion border world of Braxis. They landed forces upon the planetary surface while blockading the planet from orbit (the blockade was handled by Vice Admiral Stukov but failed to prevent the Protoss from escaping with the Uraj crystal); this assault would eventually form the cornerstone of their wildly-successful initial push into the Terran Dominion. With the assistance of a mysterious covert operations specialist named Samir Duran, who sided with the UED and offered DuGalle important information on Arcturus Mengsk's Terran Dominion and his armed forces as well as providing Vespene gas for the UED military, the expeditionary force eventually took control of the capital city Boralis. Through this initial success, UED forces were able to gain control of vital Terran Dominion intelligence assets, which assisted them as they planned their assault.

UED victories soon followed, as the UED forces took control of a fleet of battlecruisers at the Dylarian Shipyards at Dylar IV. The UED military discovered a Psi Disruptor on Tarsonis, and Duran convinced DuGalle to destroy it. This turned out to be an enormous strategic error; Stukov was forced to secretly intervene. For the time being, this action was of little immediate consequence, however, as the UED was able to then assault the Dominion capital of Augustgrad upon the planet Korhal IV. Dominion power was broken and the Emperor Mengsk was forced to flee; Directorate forces were unable to capture the Emperor, however, as DuGalle's men were ambushed by James Raynor and a small Protoss contingent, who helped Mengsk escape. A dumbfounded Dugalle then turned his attention to capturing Raynor, who had fled to Aiur.

Meanwhile, Duran began to manipulate DuGalle into believing that his Vice Admiral and good friend Alexei Stukov had betrayed him by reactivating the Psi Disruptor on Braxis. DuGalle was reluctant to believe that his friend and confidant had betrayed him, but when Alexi vanished during a battle on Aiur and reconstructed the Psi Disruptor on Braxis against DuGalle's orders, Dugalle ordered Duran to find and execute Stukov for treason. Before Stukov died, he informed Dugalle that the traitor was actually Duran, who had been infested by the Zerg. In the mayhem that followed, Duran disappeared as the Disruptor entered its self destruct sequence. An enraged DuGalle managed to save the Psi Disruptor, swore vengeance upon the Zerg, and set out to take control of the Zerg Overmind.

DuGalle and his men were successful in their attempt to capture the Zerg Overmind, partially because of the Psi Disruptor, and UED forces believed that victory was imminent. They, however, underestimated the determination of Infested Kerrigan, who tricked Jim Raynor and Fenix into destroying the Psi Disruptor and blackmailed Zeratul into slaying the reborn Overmind. With the second Overmind dead Kerrigan launched a massive offensive against Raynor's Raiders, the Terran Dominion troops and Protoss forces on Korhal IV, inflicting massive casualties to all three factions, and severely weakening the ability of these sides to interfere with her plans. In particular, the Zerg were able to kill General Edmund Duke, Arcturus Mengsk's right hand man, and Fenix, a powerful Protoss warrior and war veteran. DuGalle and his men were thus forced to ally themselves with the forces they were originally sent to capture/suppress in order to defeat the Zerg. In a combined effort, the UED forces under DuGalle, Protoss forces under the command of Artanis, and the remnants of the Dominion under the command of Mengsk assaulted one of Kerrigan's defense platforms above the planet Char at a time when Kerrigan was very vulnerable, only to be beaten back by the Zerg Swarm. DuGalle acknowledged his defeat at Kerrigan's hands, and offered the terms of surrender, but Kerrigan refused to accept them.

The remainder of DuGalle's fleet began an organized retreat from the platform; however, DuGalle realized that they would be unable to escape from the sector. As well, he was notably disturbed by the loss of his long-time friend through the treachery of Duran and the undeserved absolution of guilt that the propaganda films granted him. Alone in his cabin, he composed a final letter to his wife Helena, blaming the defeat on his pride and arrogance, and then produced a small calibre firearm, which he used to commit suicide. Shortly thereafter, Kerrigan's swarms overtook the remaining UED ships, eliminating the entire fleet. There were no survivors.

Dugalle's Mistakes

Despite his tactical brilliance, DuGalle was not very good at proposing long term strategies. In some ways he seemed reckless in his pursuit of his goals. DuGalle was also convinced that the United Earth Directorate would eventually emerge victorious, and this hubris led him to engage in several tactically-risky maneuvers:

• His first blunder was setting up a base camp on Braxis without scouting for Vespene first. This led him to accept Samir Duran into his forces with few qualms, despite his misgivings.

• DuGalle polarized the sector by refusing to deal with any outside factions besides the forces of Duran, possibly due to their initial successes and an arrogant assurance of victory. Kerrigan exploited general fear of the UED in order to build her coalition of Protoss and Terran forces.

• DuGalle underestimated the importance of the Psi Disruptor because of faulty intelligence from Duran, who understood the importance of the Psi Disruptor in controlling the Zerg swarms.

• DuGalle made no further serious attempts to pursue Mengsk after he escaped with the assistance of the Zerg, allowing Kerrigan to obtain an ally that made her objectives somewhat easier to achieve.

• He made his final blunder after Sarah Kerrigan destroyed the Psi Disruptor. His fleet possessed the unenviable task of having to occupy Korhal, Char and Braxis all at the same time for tactically sound but very different reasons. He left a planetary garrison to defend the Psi Disruptor, but clearly his preparations were not enough to stave off the Zerg invasion force. Dugalle also failed to realize that Mengsk's psi-emitters could recruit the uncontrolled and docile Zerg that had been allowed to live on Braxis, enabling Kerrigan's Swarms to regroup and destroy the Psi Disrupter. Worse, the fusion generators were located at a distance from the Psi Disruptor and were barely defended at all, and there were no back-up fusion generators to power the Disruptor in case of an emergency.

From that point on the expeditionary force was doomed. Kerrigan inevitably defeated his forces on Korhal and Char, then destroyed his fleet in a titanic battle.

Trivia

It is interesting to note that Dugalle commanded from the ship Aleksander, perhaps in reference to Alexander the Great, whose empire was defeated upon Alexander's death because their was no one alive who possessed his knowledge and skill in warfare.

References

• StarCraft homepage at Blizzard Entertainment (http://www.blizzard.com/starcraft/)
• Battle.net StarCraft Compendium (http://www.battle.net/scc/)
• Underwood, Peter, Chris Metzen and Bill Roper. StarCraft: Brood War (Manual). Irvine, Calif.: Blizzard Entertainment, 1998.