Chapter Summaries

Leon negotiated a cloning contract with Terra Ko, while Kaminoan scientists collected samples from Mullen and Leon investigated the facility. After Ada Wang warned him about nearby Chaos activity, an unknown presence appeared to influence a Kaminoan researcher’s genetic data.

• Leon offered Terra Ko a 30-million-Credit deposit and agreed to provide basic Spartan samples in exchange for a cloning contract.
• Terra Ko arranged for Kaminoan technicians to collect Mullen’s blood, skin cells, and other samples while Leon’s team observed their advanced equipment.
• Leon scanned his suite, found no surveillance devices, and used a quantum link to report to Ada Wang that the undersea facilities included hidden clone cultivation centers.
• Ada Wang warned Leon that Chaos forces were active nearby and said the Thousand Wounds Sons had sent ships to help defend Kamino.
• A Kaminoan researcher heard an unexplained whisper, then found an unfamiliar genetic sequence rearranging itself on his laboratory screen.

A Kaminoan researcher detected a malevolent presence and reported a threat to Kamino, while an unknown corruption spread through an undersea cloning facility. Leon and his allies set out to meet the Prime Minister and investigate as David and Lucy sought reinforcements.

• A Kaminoan researcher resisted an entity's temptations, destroyed his laboratory, and alerted Kamino's Prime Minister to a possible threat.
• Terra Ko arrived with Clone guards and told Leon that thirty-seven incubation tanks had gone offline and their cultivation fluid had become a living substance.
• Leon ordered David and Lucy to return to the Auspicious Vessel, report the contamination, and contact the Thousand Wounds Sons for support.
• Leon, Chirrut, and Terra Ko headed by elevator to meet the Kaminoan Prime Minister.

The chapter surveyed the populations, economies, and Astartes Legions of several universes governed by the Primarchs. It ended by noting that Dorn's circumstances were more complicated because he was the first Primarch to enter a political marriage.

• Guilliman's Universe 01 grew into a wealthy, self-sufficient region with over two hundred billion people and four million Ultramarines.
• Sanguinius governed Universe 02 with a smaller population and an elite Blood Angels Legion, while Pandora became a carefully restored Garden World.
• Atlas rebuilt the near-collapsed Universe 03, where Lion's Dark Angels became unmatched melee fighters but often fought recklessly.
• Horus governed Universes 04 and 05, using the World War Z universe to train recruits and the Netherworld universe to advance technology.
• Magnus and Dorn governed Universes 06 and 07; Magnus's Thousand Sons remained few in number, and Dorn was the first Primarch to enter a political marriage.

The chapter recounted the political impact of Dorn and Aoyi Lothrian’s wedding, then followed Dorn as he refused to risk having a child while Chaos remained a threat. Sui Yang blessed Aoyi and reviewed the Empire’s expanding spiritual realms and the populations, governors, and forces across its universes, concluding that the Empire was not yet ready to launch a true counterattack.

• Dorn and Aoyi Lothrian married, and their union helped prompt the Empire to pass the Subhuman Rights Act, granting citizenship to intelligent races reproductively compatible with humans.
• Dorn presented Sui Yang with a report showing that their child would produce powerful Warp fluctuations, and he and Aoyi agreed to postpone having children until the Chaos threat was ended.
• Sui Yang respected Dorn’s decision and used his Psychic Power to bless Aoyi, strengthening her body, will, and lifespan.
• After the couple left, Sui Yang considered how the thoughts of the Empire’s people fed Heaven and Hell, which had grown into vast dimensions under his control.
• Sui Yang assessed the Empire’s population and military presence across its expanding universes and decided that it still lacked the strength for a full counterattack.

After Universe 17 stabilized, Sui Yang opened Space Gate 18 to begin exploring a new universe. Reconnaissance units found a seemingly safe, human-habitable desert world, and Custodes and scouts crossed the gate as construction vehicles waited to establish a frontline base.

• The Imperium's forces grew to more than twenty million Astartes across its universes, while Universe 17's military operations declined as the territory stabilized.
• Sui Yang ordered Apu and Melissa to tell Constantine to prepare the Custodes and reconnaissance forces for Space Gate 18.
• Sui Yang used his blood to activate the gate, and a 6 km × 6 km portal opened in the relic area.
• Cerberus, Hunter-Killers, Terminators, and other expendable units crossed first and sent environmental readings back to technicians.
• Technicians confirmed the far side was a human-habitable desert planet with stable conditions and no detected threats.
• The Custodes and reconnaissance forces crossed the gate, while hovering trucks carrying construction materials arrived for a planned frontline base.

The Empire established a fortified outpost beyond Space Gate 18, but Sui Yang remained wary despite normal reconnaissance reports. Anomalous data prompted Chris Redfield to end Leon S. Kennedy’s vacation and summon him to the Investigation Department.

• Constantin led the Custodes and Reconnaissance Forces in securing the unfamiliar desert world as Engineering Department machines rapidly built a frontline base.
• Gao Zan deployed the Flame Salamanders' Third Company and Auxilia to defend the growing base while the company fleet prepared to arrive.
• Sui Yang reviewed the stable preliminary survey, warned Apu to keep Constantin on high alert, and ordered the Investigation Department to operate at full capacity.
• During the Labor Day celebrations in New Accra City, Chris Redfield contacted Leon S. Kennedy and reported abnormal data from Space Gate 18.
• Leon agreed to end his vacation and report for duty after Ada Wang fell back asleep.

Leon received orders to investigate Universe 18, where the Intelligence Department had warned of Zerg threatening human existence. He reunited with Mike and Chris at headquarters, and the chapter ended as Chris briefed them on the advanced civilization and military activity beyond the Space Gate.

• Leon reviewed a briefing about Universe 18, its energy-rich crystals, and the hostile species reported there.
• Leon prepared for the mission, left home after promising Ada they would register their marriage when he returned, and traveled to headquarters.
• Leon met Mike Monadi in the parking garage, and they discussed their families and Leon's plans to marry Ada.
• Chris Redfield led Leon and Mike to a departing maglev train and showed them reconnaissance images of the world beyond Space Gate 18.
• Chris explained that the planet's human civilization had advanced interstellar technology, then reported that the Intelligence Department had warned of Zerg posing an extreme threat to human existence.

Leon and Mike infiltrated a militarized city and uncovered evidence of a recent uprising and brutal government crackdown. After entering under optical camouflage, they witnessed soldiers arresting a starving mother and her young son during curfew.

• Mike analyzed the city's defenses and, with Leon, identified signs of a recent uprising and executions of striking miners.
• Leon and Mike landed at an abandoned mine, activated their camouflage cloaks, and approached the city while recording its defenses and battle damage.
• Leon and Mike evaded a searchlight and a patrol, then slipped through the city's guarded entrance.
• Leon and Mike saw propaganda branding Jim Raynor a terrorist and curfew notices threatening anyone on the streets.
• Leon and Mike moved toward a disturbance and watched soldiers detain a mother and her son for breaking curfew to seek food.

Leon and Mike followed a prisoner transport to Deadwater Base, where they uncovered mass detention, human experimentation, and a vast military supply depot serving the regime. After identifying the base as the region’s command center, they requested an immediate orbital assault and unification operation.

• Mike wanted to launch an orbital strike after seeing a starving child and imprisoned civilians, but Leon persuaded him to locate the prisoners first.
• Leon and Mike followed the transport from the city to Deadwater Base, passing signs of a recent uprising and widespread executions.
• Inside a warehouse, they found hundreds of civilians caged and prisoners subjected to medical experiments.
• They discovered a huge stockpile of weapons, Power Armor, and supplies while civilians starved, then identified the base as a military logistics and command hub.
• Leon sent their intelligence to Chris and requested an orbital assault by the Flame Salamanders and an immediate unification operation with the Custodes.

Chris, Leon, Mike, the Helljumpers, and the Flame Salamanders launched a devastating assault on Deadwater Base and routed its forces. Leon and Mike accompanied a Flame Salamanders squad to rescue civilians held in a warehouse, where the squad killed the researchers and terrified the captives.

• Chris ordered Leon and Mike to retreat as missiles struck Deadwater Base, destroying its defenses and disrupting its communications.
• Drop Pods delivered Flame Salamanders and Helljumpers, who overwhelmed the base soldiers while Chris’s Special Operations Group picked off officers.
• A Flame Salamanders squad recruited Leon and Mike to help rescue civilians and advanced with them to the warehouse.
• The squad killed the two guards, broke into the warehouse, and found dozens of caged civilians, including children marked by blood draws.
• The Flame Salamanders captain ordered his squad to kill the researchers barehanded, and the execution caused the frightened civilians to scream and weep.

After rescuing civilians at Deadwater Base, Leon and Mike identified a suspicious town on Mar Sara as a possible hideout for Jim Raynor and set out with Flame Salamander support to investigate. Meanwhile, Sui Yang recognized the newly discovered universe as StarCraft.

• The Flame Salamanders calmed the rescued children with food, water, and toys, then prepared to evacuate the civilians.
• Three Thunderhawk Gunships arrived, and Apothecaries examined and evacuated the civilians while the battle at Deadwater Base ended.
• Mike and Leon reviewed the strategic map and noticed a remote Mar Sara town with military equipment, heavy tanks, and no Terran Dominion garrison.
• Leon and Mike suspected the town was Jim Raynor's hideout, contacted their superiors, and secured support from Gao Zan's Flame Salamanders.
• Leon, Mike, and six Flame Salamanders flew toward the town aboard a Thunderhawk Assault Craft.
• Sui Yang reviewed intelligence from the other universe and identified it as StarCraft.

Sui Yang ordered preparations to secure Mar Sara and protect its civilians as the Imperium expanded into the StarCraft universe. Leon and Mike reached Joeyray's Bar, where they encountered a wary crowd and a burly man seated at the counter.

• Sui Yang identified the Imperium's arrival in the StarCraft universe as occurring after 2502 and judged its existing forces sufficient to begin operations.
• Sui Yang ordered Apu and Melissa to build a New City at the Universe 18 Frontline Base to shelter Mar Sara's refugees.
• Sui Yang dispatched Athena and the Greek Demigods to counter Psychic Power threats in Universe 18.
• Leon and Mike traveled with six Flame Salamanders to a remote Mar Sara settlement while searching for Jim Raynor.
• The locals scattered and hid when the Flame Salamanders arrived, and Leon and Mike followed fresh footprints to Joeyray's Bar.
• Leon and Mike entered the bar and drew the attention of the bartender, the patrons, and a burly man at the counter.

Leon and Mike met Jim Raynor in a frontier bar and revealed that they served the Imperium of Man, which had attacked the Terran Dominion on Mar Sara. After showing Raynor the Imperium’s power and its care for rescued civilians, they sought his cooperation in unifying the star system and universe.

• Leon disarmed the bartender while Mike aimed his pistols at the armed patrons, and a Flame Salamanders warrior forced everyone else out of the bar.
• Jim Raynor watched a report showing that an unidentified force had overrun most of Mar Sara and attacked the Terran Dominion.
• Mike introduced himself and Leon to Raynor, and Leon said they came from the Imperium of Man in another universe.
• Leon and Mike showed Raynor images of their Emperor and powerful warriors, prompting Raynor to question whether their Emperor was like Mengsk.
• Leon asked Raynor to cooperate with the Imperium’s plan to unify the star system and universe.
• Mike showed Raynor the refugee camp and its medical care, housing, and aid for civilians rescued from Mar Sara.

Leon and Mike joined forces with Jim Raynor and his Raiders to clear Dominion remnants from Mar Sara and evacuate civilians. After Tychus Findlay joined the uneasy alliance, they attacked a settlement, defeated its defenders, and opened the starport transports, leaving the frightened civilians facing the Flame Salamanders.

• Leon proposed a trial mission to clear Dominion remnants and establish civilian evacuation routes, and Jim Raynor agreed to work with Leon, Mike, and the Flame Salamanders.
• Tychus Findlay arrived in a prison suit, claimed he had escaped Dominion custody, and joined Raynor's mission despite intelligence warning that he might be a spy.
• Leon and Mike planned to expose Tychus at the Space Gate and use Imperium technology to remove his armor without triggering its safeguards.
• Raynor's Raiders and the Flame Salamanders traveled to a Dominion-held settlement where officials were evacuating themselves while soldiers barred civilians from the transports.
• The Flame Salamanders and Raynor's Raiders attacked the settlement as Leon and Mike infiltrated the command center and eliminated its senior officers.
• Mike unlocked the transports and announced the civilian evacuation, prompting the crowd to rush toward the starport and then freeze at the sight of the Flame Salamanders killing Dominion soldiers.

The Flame Salamanders and Mike evacuated civilians while Jim Raynor and Raynor's Raiders witnessed their power and followed Leon to the hidden base and its Space Gate. After seeing Athena arrive with Greek Demigods, Tychus was exposed as Arcturus Mengsk's spy, and Athena compelled him to tell the truth.

• The Flame Salamanders calmed the civilians, kept local elites from cutting the evacuation line, and continued directing people aboard transports.
• Jim Raynor and Raynor's Raiders arrived, saw the aftermath of the Salamanders' battle, and agreed to accompany Leon's forces.
• The transports carried Raynor's group through orbit and into a concealed base, where they saw the colossal Space Gate and learned it could shield communications.
• Raynor's Raiders landed at the base and encountered Clone Soldiers, mechanical Terminators, and Athena leading a hundred Greek Demigods.
• Leon identified Tychus as Arcturus Mengsk's spy, and Athena enveloped the group in Radiant Light and ordered Tychus to tell the truth.

Flame Salamanders escorted civilians and Rebel Alliance soldiers through the collapsing streets of Mar Sara City toward the spaceport while fighting the overwhelming Zerg invasion. The evacuation continued under fleet cover as the Salamanders held the desert perimeter, but elite Zerg units began to pressure their defensive line.

• Two Flame Salamanders rescued civilians and Rebel Alliance soldiers from a damaged shelter after eliminating the Zerg outside.
• The Salamanders escorted the survivors through battle-scarred streets and explained that Mar Sara City could not be held as more Zerg descended.
• The group reached the spaceport, where transports evacuated survivors while ground troops and vehicles defended the perimeter.
• Flying Zerg attacked the spaceport, but Flame Salamander escort ships and Dominion aircraft cleared a path for the transports to depart.
• More than three hundred Flame Salamanders held a defensive line in the desert and received ammunition from Drop Pods as they fought the Zerg.
• Elite Zerg units arrived and began to overwhelm the Flame Salamanders' defensive line.

The Flame Salamanders fought an overwhelming Zerg swarm on the Creep-covered desert, holding their ground until Sarah Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades, arrived. She shattered their assault and seized a squad captain, declaring that their genes would advance Zerg evolution.

• The Zerg ambushed the Flame Salamanders with Lurkers erupting from the Creep as the main swarm and Flying Mantises attacked.
• The Flame Salamanders suffered heavy casualties, and fallen warriors overloaded their armor reactors to destroy nearby Zerg.
• Drop Pods delivered ammunition and energy cells, allowing the surviving Salamanders to form a circular defense and hold back the swarm.
• Sarah Kerrigan crashed onto the battlefield, and the Salamanders identified her as the Queen of Blades.
• Kerrigan's Psychic Barrier deflected their ranged fire, and her psychic attacks and bone wings devastated the charging Salamanders.
• Kerrigan lifted a squad captain with Psychic Power and declared that the Salamanders' genes would become a cornerstone of Zerg evolution.

Athena arrived on Mar Sara and drove back the Zerg after rescuing the Flame Salamanders from the Queen of Blades. She spared Sarah Kerrigan on the Emperor’s orders and forced the Zerg to flee, leaving the wider conflict only beginning.

• The Queen of Blades knocked out the Flame Salamanders’ captain and had Worker Xenomorphs prepare to drag him away.
• Athena appeared, blasted the Creep from the battlefield, and ordered the surviving Flame Salamanders to evacuate.
• The Queen of Blades unleashed a Psionic Storm, but Athena blocked it and wounded her with the War Spear, forcing her to sever her left wing.
• Athena’s golden power destroyed tens of thousands of Zerg, while she chose not to kill the Queen of Blades because the Emperor wanted her alive.
• Athena warned the Zerg to leave humanity’s territory and destroyed a Leviathan biological warship as the Queen of Blades ordered a retreat.

New City and the Imperium’s Frontline Base settled into operation as the Imperium mourned its casualties from the Zerg battle. At a strategic meeting, Leon and Gao Zan agreed to prepare for war against the Queen of Blades, leaving Jim Raynor torn over Sarah Kerrigan’s fate.

• New City provided Mar Sara’s refugees with housing, food, jobs, and public services while Atlas expanded the Frontline Base and repaired the damaged Fleet.
• Athena and more than a hundred Greek Demigods held a memorial for the fallen Flame Salamanders, Helljumpers, and Auxilia, while local civilians’ souls remained outside the Emperor’s protection.
• Jim Raynor questioned Gao Zan about the Zerg that had killed Flame Salamanders, and Gao Zan identified the attacker as the Queen of Blades, Sarah Kerrigan.
• Tychus warned Raynor that Sarah was beyond saving, while Leon proposed using her as a research target to draw out higher-dimensional beings.
• Gao Zan pledged the Flame Salamanders’ Third Company and Fleet to the campaign against the Zerg, and Raynor remained silent as the meeting set the course for war.

Gao Zan received a distress call from Dr. Ariel Hanson, who reported that Agria Colony was facing a Zerg attack and tens of thousands of civilians were trapped. He ordered the Flame Salamanders to launch a rescue mission, and the fleet prepared to jump to Agria.

• Vulkan contacted Gao Zan, reviewed the Third Company's condition, and warned that the Zerg threat was still growing.
• A communications officer received an emergency distress signal from Agria Colony and established a live connection with Dr. Ariel Hanson.
• Dr. Hanson reported that Zerg forces had breached the colony's defenses, 70% of its security personnel were lost, and more than sixty thousand civilians remained trapped.
• Gao Zan promised to reach Agria within thirty minutes and told Dr. Hanson to hold the routes to the spaceports.
• Gao Zan ordered the flagship formation to prepare for battle and jump to Agria while the remaining forces maintained Mar Sara's defenses.