Author's Note: Before we begin, there's something I should make pretty clear: I haven't read a lot of the books, although I intend to get into those as soon as possible. The ones I have read don't mention Umoja except in passing in one of them. That said, I have looked up as much as I can on it on Starcraft Wiki. But I may very well make mistakes regarding canon. If I do, please tell me. But, at the end of the day, this is FANfiction, so I will depart from the canon in some places regarding Umoja.

One thing I'm going to do is make Umoja have a more powerful military than is canon. That's required for the plot, but I will do my best to capture the 'higher tech' and 'more stealth' nature of the Umojan Military, over numbers and offensive power, but this is the Starcraft universe, and even Umoja would need to put together a fleet of some sort.

This story starts, within the Starcraft II "timeline" after "Media Blitz", but before the rest of the game is concluded.

Starcraft and all related stuff belongs to Blizzard Entertainment, etc, etc. I own all OCs and the planet Tarkan IV. Anything else you don't recognize in the future, I also own.

Starcraft II: Rise of Umoja

By Enilas

Chapter 1: Initial Stages

Aboard the Umojan Battlecruiser Sundown

High Orbit over Umoja

"...slanderous attacks against the throne are baseless and irresponsible." Arcturus Mengsk's voice came through the television. The Voice was the same voice that had once pulled so many into the reality warping bubble he seemed to carry around with him. But now that bubble seemed to be gone.

"Sir," Kate Lockwell began "Do you still stand by the sentiment that selfless devotion to the people is the basis of your rule?"

"Well of course." The Emperor leaned in towards the crowd of reporters a bit. "I was called upon to serve the greater interest of humanity. Personal power was never my goal."

Lockwell held up a recorder. "Then how would you characterize this statement?" She clicked it on.

"I will not be stopped," the voice was clearly that of Arcturus Mengsk, "Not by you, or the Confederates or the Protoss or anyone! I will rule this sector or see it burnt to ashes around me."

The camera switched back to Mengsk as the assembled reporters began to murmur all around.

"Off." The lights in the command office of Captain Mark Farrel, Umojan Protectorate Navy, went back on, and the television switched to a map of the Koprulu Sector. Farrel turned to command staff. "We've all seen that footage. Every news organization in the Protectorate has been running that press conference nearly non-stop. We've have already gotten reports of massive rioting on the streets of Korhal itself, not to mention the other Dominion core worlds. The situation on the Fringe Worlds is even worse. There are whole scale revolutions on a few of them. Including, this world." The map zoomed in on a planet near the loose and sometimes ill-defined border between Dominion and Umojan space.

"Tarkan IV." Along the side of the screen, various statistics like population and average temperature began listing. "The local population has launched a massive uprising against the Dominion, and have captured the planetary capital, New Denver. However, the local elements of the Dominion Fleet have enforced a blockade of the planet, and the planet's southern Continent remains under firm Dominion control. At the moment, the rebels are holding their own, but they have also requested military aid from the Protectorate, and wish to join the Protectorate outright."

"I assume, Sir," Farrel's second, Commander Luke West, began, "that the fact that you're briefing us on this is a sign that the Ruling Council has agreed to give that aid?"

"You would be correct." Farrel replied. "Frankly, I think there might well have been a call for Minister Jorgensen's resignation if he hadn't agreed." Most of the assembled command staff found themselves agreeing with the Captain's analysis. The people of the Protectorate had been practically calling for a direct attack on Mengsk's palace itself, so furious had they been at the revelation of his genocide on Tarsonis.

Captain Farrel nodded to Lieutenant Commander Sarah Vergnier, the Sundown's tactical officer. Vergnier nodded and clicked a few buttons. The screen zoomed in more, to the western coast Tarkan IV's northern Continent.

"Tarkan IV is a mining world, and rich in both mineral resources and Vespene Gas. Thats one of the main reasons the Dominion wants to keep as firm a grip on it as possible. Fortunately for us, the Dominion is stretched...rather thin, at the moment. Between fighting the Zerg and suppressing riots on the core worlds, it doesn't have much to spare for a world like Tarkan IV. Official inteligence estimates say that there are no more than 11 Battlecruisers, along with full squadrons of Wraiths and other support vessels, of course, stationed there. It has been determined that twenty of our Battlecruisers, under the command of Admiral Davidson, will be sent to Tarkan IV, first to lift the blockade, and then eliminate all Dominion military presence on the planet. Which brings us to the region I've put up on the screen. It is sparsely populated, but it has the highest concentration of Vespene Geysers on the planet. The Dominion have only one foothold on the northern Continent, centered here." The map centered on a settlement on the coast. "The town is called Nyven. Once the Dominion fleet over the planet, has been defeated or forced lower, the task of taking Nyven and gaining control of the Vespene supply along the coast has been given to us and the Thunderfist. Our land forces will deploy here-" she pointed on the map with a laser pointer, "some forty-miles south of the town and the Thunderfist's forces will deploy some thirty miles north. They'll have to move through some slightly rougher terrain, but we're all going to face fierce resistance from the enemy."

"What about the locals?" West asked. "What kind of support can we expect from them?"

Vergnier answered "Not only will they provide us with supplied and intel about the Dominion forces and the local terrain, but their ground forces will join ours in the fight. Their access to heavy equipment is limited to what they could steal from the Dominion forces when the rebellion began, but they have plenty of C-14 rifles and marine power armor suits. Though I understand most of those are a few years obsolete. Most of their heavy equipment is being kept to guard the large population centers, so they're they're basically going to be providing regular Marines to supplement our marine complements."

"I'm skeptical about their overall ability in combat." Colonel Mathias Goldberg, the man in charge of the Sundown's ground forces, interjected. "I won't deny they clearly have spirit, and they certainly accomplished a lot in their initial uprising, but rising up against unprepared Dominion garrisons is not the same as charging straight into the teeth of entrenched Dominion forces. As untrained as they are, as a whole, it would be suicide."

"I'm not sure we're going to be able to stop them from doing that. They weren't that fond of their Dominion Overlords before and the Emitter Broadcast only pushed them over the edge. They're pretty damn fervent." Farrel replied.

"Mabye, but I be as good as pulling the trigger myself if I let them charge an entrenched force of professional veterans. We can train them as we go and use them for rear area defense, but until then, we can't use them for frontal operations. Mabye the occasional raid, and definitely build them up in skirmishes, but I'm not going to just throw them at the enemy in their current state. Or let them charge in half-cocked."

"You're the expert when it comes to ground campaigns, so I'll take your word for it." Farrel said.

"Vergnier, what are we looking at in terms of the Dominion naval forces when we enter orbit?"

"Well, as I said, intel estimates no more than 11 Battlecruisers and associated warships. More likely its going to be in the neighborhood of nine, but planning for worst case scenarios is what the UIS does best."

"All of the Battlecruisers are definitely going to be of the new Minotaur class. Its basically a souped-up Behemoth class. Nothing particularly new. They're all equipped with two full squadrons of Wraiths. Their commander is Admiral James Theisman." A picture of the Admiral in question hit the screen. He was an elderly man, balding, with heavy jowls.

"He was an Admiral under the Confederacy and simply carried on with the Dominion by default. He's not known for any great strategic moves or anything. He's a good administrator and a competent combat commander, but nothing to write home about."

Farrel nodded. "Alright. I want all sections running simulations of what we expect – worst case scenarios first, and working from there. Admiral Davidson hasn't set a launch date, but it's going to be soon. The rebels may have a handle on things now, but its tenuous, at best. If we can establish firm hold over the planet and its High Orbit, then there's not much the Dominion can do about it but launch a full scale offensive. I don't think they'll have the available resources to bother. At least not until the current situation with the Zerg ends."

"Alright. Get to work." Farrel finished.

A/N: And here's my story. This story will continue on past the end of Wings of Liberty, and will no doubt end up totally ignoring whatever is planned for Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void.

Raynor and Co. will definitely show up later on, as will de-infested Kerrigan. Micheal Liberty will show up as well. The Hybrids, however, will not show up at all.

Frankly, I've never known what to do with the Hybrids, in any of my various plot ideas. Because, I don't know what Blizzard has planned for them, and, even more, I have no idea where I could fit them in the plots I have in mind. So we're just going to pretend that the whole 'Prophecy' arc never happened, and that Zeratul never showed up on the Hyperion. And that Hybrids don't exist at all. If this bothers you...well, I'm sorry, I can't do much about that.

Please review.