Emperor's Fall: the UED conquest of Korhal

Emperor's Fall was the decisive battle of the United Earth Directorate's invasion of Korhal during the Brood War, in which the UED Expeditionary Fleet stormed the Dominion capital of Augustgrad, broke its defenses, and toppled Emperor Arcturus Mengsk. With his command center destroyed and the city fallen, Mengsk fled aboard the Dominion flagship Norad III and was intercepted in orbit by Admiral Gerard DuGalle, only for Jim Raynor and a protoss fleet to rescue him from execution at the last moment. Though Mengsk escaped, Korhal itself was conquered and became the UED's primary staging point for the remainder of their operations in the Koprulu sector.

Background#

A siege on the outskirts of Augustgrad had weakened the primary defenses of the Terran Dominion, and the United Earth Directorate Expeditionary Fleet prepared to invade the city itself to capture Emperor Arcturus Mengsk. Mengsk could not reinforce his troops, but his standing forces were substantial, and while his defenses had been weakened they remained considerable. The UED's intent was not merely to take the capital but to seize the emperor himself and end his rule over the worlds he had welded together from the ruins of the Terran Confederacy.

The assault on Augustgrad#

The UED strike team met heavy resistance as it drove into Augustgrad, but it broke the city's defenses and destroyed Mengsk's command center. With the capital fallen and his last redoubt gone, Arcturus Mengsk attempted to escape aboard the Dominion flagship Norad III. He was intercepted in orbit over Korhal by Admiral Gerard DuGalle aboard the Aleksander, and the two parleyed. Mengsk was accepting of his defeat, confident that he would in time overthrow the UED just as he had overthrown the Confederacy, but DuGalle informed him that he intended to have Mengsk and his other ranking officers executed.

Raynor's rescue and the fall of Korhal#

As the UED prepared to take Mengsk into custody, they were intercepted by an unexpected enemy. The battlecruiser Hyperion and a small protoss fleet arrived, for Commander Jim Raynor had come to save Mengsk from the UED. Both the battlecruisers and the protoss fleet were withdrawn by recall, and the flustered DuGalle, infuriated by Mengsk's escape, ordered his men to track them.

Though Mengsk had slipped away, Korhal itself remained conquered, and the UED seized the planet. They used it as their primary staging point through the rest of their operations in the Koprulu sector, until Korhal was later retaken by Mengsk with the aid of Sarah Kerrigan, a reversal that forced the UED to relocate their forces to Char.