Fanfic/Sudden Contact comprises three separate fanfiction works with multiple chapters. Below are recaps of those chapters. Be cautious, as spoilers will be unmarked.
open/close all folders
Sudden Contact
- Chapter 1: Interception — In the terran-occupied Sara system of the Koprulu Sector, the crew of the salvage vessel Lady Lou are investigating a derelict alien structure resembling a tuning fork (actually a Mass Relay). Amidst their analysis of the object, the salvage ship is suddenly overshadowed by an enormous alien spacecraft. The ship, belonging to the protoss, opens fire on the Lady Lou after the crew provokes it, obliterating it. Only crewmember Joeyray, who was investigating the relay up close in a smaller shuttle, survives when the protoss vessel is warped out of the system by the Mass Relay, rendered active from the altercation. His relief is cut short when three smaller protoss vessels that detached from the main ship careen out of control and plow into the shuttle at full speed, killing Joeyray.
- Chapter 2: First Contact — On the opposite end of the relay, a turian convoy under the command of General Adrien Victus are doing a routine patrol when the protoss ships are unexpectedly ejected from the relay, which the turians call "Relay 118". Due to a misunderstanding, the turian ships open fire on the protoss, and are almost immediately overwhelmed by the more powerful protoss counteroffensive. Victus' ship, the Relentless, suffers heavy damage and he orders the crew to evacuate via escape pods while he remains behind, intending to ram the Relentless into the protoss mothership. He fails, and Victus is critically wounded by a retaliatory strike and is rendered unconscious. Before the protoss can finish the Relentless, both it and the protoss are dragged back through Relay 118 and into the Koprulu Sector.
- Chapter 3: The Good Admiral — Billions of light years from the Koprulu Sector, Vice Admiral Alexei Stukov of the United Powers League (UPL) learns of the existence of the alien forces through video feed recovered from spy drones scouting the sector. After having two technicians who helped deliver this information killed to cover it up, Stukov quickly relays the discovery to his closest friend, Admiral Gerard Du Galle. The two begin making longterm plans to deal with the threat level this revelation presents.
- Chapter 4: Aliens and Critters — On Mar Sara, one of the two habitable worlds in the Sara system, Marshal Jim Raynor investigates the appearance of an unknown alien creature that was run over by locals Buck and Allen. The alien is an insectoid, spike-covered creature, and before Raynor can make anything of this discovery, he is called by Jack Harper, the planet's newly elected magistrate. Harper has been alerted to the appearance of a ship of unknown origin crash landing in the wastelands near the settlement of Blackwater Station, and instructs Raynor to investigate it. Raynor finds the ship, revealed to be one of the escape crafts from the Relentless. He meets the sole survivor, a turian soldier. The turian is hostile towards Raynor, who is unable to talk him down due to the language barrier. Before the standoff can escalate, the pair is suddenly attacked by a large, snake-like creature with mantis-like forelimbs. Raynor and the turian work together to kill the creature, a zerg hydralisk, but the turian is injured. Raynor alerts Magistrate Harper to his discovery, and Harper sends in a shuttle to retrieve Raynor and the injured turian.
- Chapter 5: The Conclave's Decree — Concurrent to Raynor's discovery on Mar Sara, the protoss forces, comprising the Expeditionary Fleet under the command of Executor Tassadar, emerge in the system. The protoss are currently in the midst of a brutal conflict with the zerg, who are revealed to have been slowly infesting both Mar Sara and its sister world, Chau Sara, unbeknownst to its terran inhabitants. Under orders from Judicator Aldaris, Tassadar leads a massive offensive against the zerg forces on both worlds, with both the terran natives and the turians who survived the destruction of the Relentless caught in the crossfire. Tassadar himself joins the ground assault on Chau Sara. After intense fighting, Tassadar orders that Chau Sara be orbitally bombarded to ensure all zerg organisms on the planet are exterminated. Suddenly, a second turian force arrives in the system through Relay 118 and begins attacking the Expeditionary Fleet. Tassadar orders a retaliation, vowing not to have a single enemy ship escape.
- Chapter 6: Rangers Roll — Back on Mar Sara, the terrans are not yet aware of the alien assault occurring on Chau Sara. Raynor meets with Magistrate Harper to update him on the situation, and Harper chooses to relay it to his associate, Oleg Petrovksy. Petrovsky is the current leader of Cerberus, a Confederate black ops group that Harper himself once led prior to becoming magistrate. Petrovsky, who is on Chau Sara, relays what has happened on the planet and that the system is being put on high alert, with a Confederate force under the command of General Edmund Duke currently en route to Mar Sara to impose a lockdown. Petrovsky is surprised to learn that Harper and Raynor have a living turian in custody, but is forced to cut contact as the situation on his end worsens. Harper then receives a call saying that Blackwater Station is under siege from the zerg. Raynor, to Harper's surprise, manages to rally a militia from a number of townsfolk due to his positive reputation, and he leads an assault against Blackwater to reclaim the settlement. While they manage to hold their own for a while, the terrans soon begin to fall under threat of being overwhelmed by the zerg, but are fortunately saved by the timely arrival of General Duke and Alpha Squadron.
- Chapter 7: The Hunger of the Swarm — The zerg assault on the Sara system is revealed to be led by the cerebrate Daggoth, who is directing the swarm from the faraway world of Char. The Overmind, the zerg's guiding intelligence, has taken an interest in the sudden appearance of the turians, and directs Daggoth to a survivor of the Relentless. Daggoth has a queen infest the turian with the Hyper-Evolutionary Virus, converting the soldier to the swarm and feeding all of his memories to Daggoth. Through these memories, Daggoth learns about the Citadel Council, its associate species, and the coordinates to multiple occupied worlds. Determined to add the genetic diversity of the Citadel races to the zerg, the Overmind eagerly instructs Daggoth to redirect a majority of the swarm into Citadel space and mobilize an invasion.
- Chapter 8: Lost Amid Strangers — General Victus awakens aboard the wreckage of the Relentless, critically wounded. A group of terran soldiers storm in and surround him, among them Sarah Kerrigan. Using her psionic powers, Kerrigan is able to communicate with Victus, and the two soon develop a friendship. Upon recovering, Victus is introduced to Kerrigan's superior, Arcturus Mengsk of the anti-Confederacy group Sons of Korhal. Victus is initially reluctant to reveal anything about him or his people to Mengsk, but soon agrees with Kerrigan's urging and Mengsk's promise of sharing information about his people as well.
- Chapter 9: Warzone — In Mar Sara City, the capital of Mar Sara, Raynor and General Duke meet with Magistrate Harper to discuss how to deal with the still rampant zerg and, now, the protoss. Despite his earlier assistance, Duke quickly offends Raynor and Harper with his haughty demeanor and are disgruntled when he insists Mar Sara be put on lockdown to ensure that the events taking place in the system do not spread. While reluctant to work for the Confederacy, Raynor agrees to lend his forces in further assaults against the invaders. When going to check on the turian survivor, whom Raynor has nicknamed "Beaky", he discovers that he has fled. While he is willing to go out and look for him, Harper insists that Raynor focus on the zerg and that the turian is of no concern, to which he reluctantly agrees. Raynor and his men, the Raiders, join in a ground assault against the zerg, and are quickly overwhelmed and most of the team is killed. Raynor calls for assistance, and is told that the site will be bombarded with nuclear weaponry after he and his team are safely extracted. Contact is cut before Raynor can ask the Confederate forces when the nukes will be dropped, forcing Raynor and what little remains of his squad to find shelter. They make their way to a nearby chasm, but only Raynor survives the drop down. In the chasm, he finds Beaky attempting to contact his people with a makeshift radio transmitter. As the pair await possible death, the protoss fleet suddenly arrives. Led by Tassadar, the protoss announce their intention to destroy Mar Sara to prevent the zerg from spreading, giving the terrans the opportunity to evacuate first. Furious at being ordered around by aliens, General Duke threatens the protoss, who coldly respond that they will not differentiate between zerg and terran when they begin their assault.
- Chapter 10: As the World Watched — From Earth, Stukov and Du Galle continue to observe the events in the Sara system. By this point, they are under scrutiny from the United Powers League (UPL), Earth's police state, regarding the nature of their discovery. They make plans to broadcast the full truth of what is occurring in the Koprulu Sector.
- Chapter 11: Zero Hour — With the arrival of the protoss, Duke's initial plan to nuke Mar Sara has been thwarted and the terrans instead focus all their efforts on evacuating the planet. Raynor and Beaky are able to contact Magistrate Harper, who sends a dropship in the retrieve them and bring them back to the main city.
- 'Chapter 12: Council and Korhal —
Sudden Supremacy
Sudden Terminus
