Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Voshkod Characters

Emet-Selch Garlean
"When you kill one, it is a tragedy; when you kill a million, it is a statistic."

-Attributed to Emet-Selch Garlean

The General Secretary, and later Premier, of the Voshkod from 1922 V.C. to his mysterious death in 1958 V.C., Emet-Selch Garlean was an iron-willed leader of the Voshkod, most responsible for the character of the Union. A close advisor to Oelde himself, Emet wheeled his way into power after Oelde's death in 1922 V.C., and immediately upon gaining power transformed the fledgling Voshkod into a full-fledged command economy rather than following Oelde's New Economic Policy reformation, a move that lead to the Holodomor, a massive famine which may have lead to as many as seven million deaths. He used this centralization of power to dogmatically enforce his exacting, yet ever-changing ideology onto the government and people of Eorzea, eventually leading to the Great Purge of 1936-1938, in which nearly a million people were executed and almost a million more died in labor camps.

During the late 1930s, with the famine and purges have lead to a great deal of internal and external pressure and great ill-will toward the Union combined with general military buildup and reform in Eorzea, Emet and his advisors were increasingly convinced that one or more Eorzean power would invade the Union, and began to prep their forces for a defensive operation.

Anatoly Cherdenko
"I'm escaping to the one place that hasn't been corrupted by capitalism... SPACE!"

-Cherdenko's final message to Lunafreya

The Premier who took over after Emet's death. Premier CHerdenko is an enigma that seemingly came out of nowhere, infamous for being very secretive of his past and his absolute hatred of psychics, with countless theories abounding on who he is, from his grand entrance as the new Premier to his death.

Cherdenko fate would finally come when faced off against Lunafreya and Manning before trying to flee to outer space using a secret launch facility, a crew of loyal cosmonauts, and his personal Gagarin X spacesuit. But before he could board his shuttle he was shot in the head by a sniper and immediately fell dead. The fate of his cosmonauts, who did escaped, is unknown.

Though there is one crazy theory, built from the mad ravings of his associate Zelinsky and whispers between his late generals Krukov and Reznov, is that he, alongside the other three, came from another timeline where the omega branch continued working for the Union after Emets death under its new Premier, with theories considering the late Alexander Romanov to have been that Premier, while secretly undermining them as Yuri, its leader, began forming his secret army. Eventually leading a massive coup led to Yuri with his "Epsilon" army conquering Gaiaterra with only Cherdenko and co only escaping by using a time machine in the ruins of an Alliance lab to go back in time. This theory is also linked to the mysterious disappearance of Einstein and gives an explanation for his somewhat random purging and irrational hatred of psychics.

Dr. Gregor Zelinsky
"Nothing is as it should be!"

-Dr. Zelinsky, in a secured broadcast to Field Marshall Bingham

Dr. Gregor Zelinsky was one of the Motherland's brightest. His father, a top party official, made it imperative that his child be of service to the state with his clear intellect. While in university, young Gregor is said to have stumbled on the works of a missing physicist named Einstein and went to work utilizing the science that the Allies had tried to commandeer against them.

Of course, that is what is said on paper. Despite strange wordings from Cherdenko that can be interpreted as a code for threats of death hanging over his head, Zelinsky many times let slip strange saying, often ranting about how he and Cherdenko had changed time, and eventually, after constant checkups, he was thrown into an insane asylum for delusions. Where he still yells to anyone who would listen to him that Cherdenko killed Einstein or that Lurensia would still be a part of the Voshkod.

Nikolai Krukov
"You see Commander, while you were hiding behind the barricades of Tenebrae, our enemy was thrusting deeply into the Motherland's tender nether regions."

-Krukov, rather detailed, explanation of an Aquilan ambush

General Krukov was shown to be highly skilled as a field officer, and was a difficult opponent for any commander. Egotistic, dramatic and cruel, he wasted no opportunity to remind friends and foes of his glorious victories. Despite this, he is a true Soviet patriot. Nevertheless, he often made the mistake of underestimating his enemies, and had shown to be unwilling to recognize any superior abilities of his peers, opponents and subordinates.

Known for his brutal and rash arrogance during the war it should be noted that prior to the removing of Einstein, Krukov was seen as a patriot. The Soviet military leader regarded Cherdenko's plan with little faith but still agreed politely to go. When Zelinsky forbade him to touch anything the General did not respond violently and even listened to the advice of the doctor. While addressing Dasha, he was kind and polite. It is highly possible that Krukov's insolence was affected with the fact Cherdenko became Premier and that the Soviet Union had a new enemy

Georgi Reznov
"..."

-...

Dasha Fedorovich
"..."

-...

Dasha Fedorovich was born to a low-level functionary of the state, a man without ambition whose only goal was to provide for his family. He worked as the manager of quotas handed down on high from Limsa Lominsa, and did his job proudly. He had no yearning for glory or wealth because he knew that a Voshkod citizen proudly served in whatever way they could. His wife, managing the house, always beamed with pride when it was announced the factory had again met quotas. It was one night after this announcement was again given that Dasha Fedorovich was conceived.

Joining the Young Pioneer Corps as soon as she was of age, Dasha had a natural talent for old communications equipment. She listened to the broadcasts all the way from Limsa Lominsa when the reception was good enough, and could even hear the transmissions from the Voshkod satellites on the best nights. Noting her abilities, her father used what few contacts he had to secure her a place in Tomsk Polytechnic University. Studying broadcasting and communications, Dasha excelled in advanced radio communications and maintenance. She also grew beautiful, and many of her fellow students dreamed of courting her. To their dismay, she had gained her father's devotion to the State and only the State.

When Cherdenko took power, he put out a call for only the Union's best specialists to serve as his new administration. Tomsk only needed to send him Dasha's transcripts. Impressed, Cherdenko immediately found a place for her as the field communications officer for his leading generals, though she was still too young to properly joined and thus work under veteran officer Zofia. She again excelled, the more advanced military systems of the Union posing a little challenge to her skills. Now she could listen to the satellites whenever she wanted, and hear the radio broadcasts of the entire world. An amazing sound indeed.

When the war started, she felt pride in giving the Union's generals their daily intelligence reports, supporting the war in her own small way like her father, still toiling in his factory. Then the Protectorate attacked. The sweeping advance across Mor Dhona worried Dasha, and she secretly informed her father of the Protectorate movements. Her father thanked her, but tried to calmly reassure her that everything would be fine. "I have quotas to meet," he would say. "I can't work from a refugee camp." Her mother would say similar things; "You know your father, can't even make tea on his own."

Dasha tried to quiet the doubts in her head, but one day the morning reports came in. Irkutsk had been attacked by Protectorate raiding parties. They had destroyed the historic districts and assaulted the factories. Quickly she contacted the local commissariat. Her mother had survived, as at that time Emperor Yoshiro was more focused on destroying the hearts and wills of the Voshkod people. He managed to succeed. Dasha's father died defending the factory he had labored in for so long. The only effects on his body were a stopwatch, and a picture of his daughter graduating from military training.

The Union's generals tried to console their vital comms officer, but she brushed them aside. "He died for the State," she would say, a harsh edge barely kept out of her voice. "He died for socialism."

That was why, when Cherdenko betrayed the Voshkod people, Dasha became furious. The leaders of the Union betrayed what she had worked for, what her father had worked for, and what all the People had worked for. She, under Zofia's approval, quickly set up communications between Lunafreya and the Allies, facilitating rapid communication and cooperation between the two. When she heard the confirmation that Cherdenko was killed it was reported that she personally walk to the aftermath of the battle to find his corpse, and supposedly spit and/or kicked it when she found it, and danced for joy when she returned home.

Now, Dasha serves under Lunafreaya. The fact that a true believer in socialism is in power, not a pretender like Cherdenko, has heartened Dasha somewhat. Her mother now lives with her in Limsa Lominsa, and they have paid a visit to her father's grave as often as they both can. She has been offered positions out of the military, but always declines. Dasha was raised to serve the state. Her father would turn in his grave if she stopped now. And she hopes to become a proper communications officer once Zofia retires.

Lunafreya Nox Flueret
"..."

-...

On a snowy day in 1969 V.C., Cherdenko, Premier of the Voshkod, passed on a series of notes from his desk to be enacted immediately. Rations were cut, purges were ordered, and men were to be airbrushed out of photographs. At at the bottom of the page, almost unnoticeable, was an edict banning the game of Chess within the confines of the Voshkod.

On the same day, a girl was born whose life, and the course of the nation would be greatly affected by this ruling.

No reason was given for the ban, though officials charged with justifying the move had little shortage of justifications; the game was clearly counterrevolutionary, focusing as it did on sacrificing minor pieces and protecting representations of royalty, nobility, and clergy. However, the move did not come without considerable resistance. Chess was extremely popular in the Voshkod, a country that had produced such chess masters as Peter Romanovsky and Kira Zvorykina. In particular, the game was popular with officers in the Red Army. However, Cherdenko refused to reverse the decision. In order to try and appease his officers, Cherdenko ordered a minor functionary to come up with a replacement game. With no experience whatsoever in game design, the aide put together a game inspired by the marching formations of parades in Red Square, with two players maneuvering blocks of four squares in different shapes, from the powerful I-formation to the versatile T-formation, down the field at one another in an attempt to push their opponent off the field, and by completing a row the opponent will remove his opponent's row of block and push them back, up to four columns deep if they use the I formation. He called it Formation.

The game was a smashing success to the point that other nations adopted the game. But due to translation errors, it was renamed Tetris.

During the 1971 V.C. Youth Formation Championship, a young girl named Lunafreya Nox Flueret made her debut. A prodigy among prodigies, Lunafreya cleaned house, winning every game by a considerable margin and claiming the grand prize, a chance to play against the then-champion, Mikhail Botvinnik. She then caught the attention of the Red Army organizers of the event by beating Botvinnik in eighteen moves despite never drawing a line piece.

Following her victory, Lunafreya gained fame across the Voshkod. Graduating from Formation to more complicated Aselia-style strategic war games, Lunafreya qualified early for the Red Army's officer training academies; she also took considerable interest in political studies and cross-trained as a political commissar and a Spetnaz. She was quickly jumped to the strategic command stream, and saw action in the proxy conflicts that Voshkod was in the Cold War, though her command decisions were frequently overruled from above due to political pressure. Though her most infamous mission would be Operation "Tunguska", an event that would lead to her hatred of psychics. A covert operation in investigating the town of Tunguska, who had not only stopped contributing to the Union but also managed to have the police and army sent to discipline them joining the village, where she and her team uncover a cult of Nurgle deeply rooted in the village, and in the ensuing battle she was the sole survivor as she wiped out the village by overloading the desolator generators.

Following the war, Lunafreya was used as a scapegoat for Voshkod defeats in northern Poland, a theatre she did not even serve in ("Precisely!", said witness Nikolai Krukov). She was eventually "kicked upstairs" to Tenebrae, where she occupied herself by organizing the parades and drilling the local garrison, producing regiment after regiment of crack Conscripts, but went unrecognized for her efforts for almost a decade. That is, until the Battle of Tenebrae, where she promptly organized such an effective defense of the city that she caught the eye of the Voshkod High Command and was once again hailed as a hero of the Voshkod.

Under her command, she rallied the Voshkod defense against the Valyrians before being transferred to fight the Tulamides, grinding them to a halt in (insert). Convinced that the war needed to end before the Voshkod ran out of men and materials to defend itself, she engaged in delaying tactics on a massive scale that tried both the enemy's patience and their supply reserves. Adored by her troops and colleagues, it wasn't long before she once again ran into political difficulties. First, she was confronted with Nikolai Krukov and Georgi Reznov during the Battle of Hill 7757, a confrontation that ended in their unfortunate deaths. Less than a year later, her rising popularity led Premier Cherdenko to come to the conclusion that she was attempting a coup and responded with an assassination attempt. After Cherdenko's defeat in the Revolt, Lunafreya took over the role of Premier, suing for peace with the Aquilans.

A student of politics as well as war, Lunafreya has thus far focused her time on reform, attempting, with some difficulty, to eliminate the corruption and nepotism that dominates the Voshkod government unchecked due to the war and lack of concern paid by previous rulers. She frequently spends long nights in her office and is rumored to sleep there more often than not to stay by the phones. Living a famously spartan lifestyle, about the only luxury she allows herself is chocolate, a habit picked up in Hill 7757. It is joked by Voshkod citizens that the chocolate ration each week is directly proportional to the amount of stress the Premier has experienced.

Oleg Vodnik
"..."

-...

When 18-year-old Oleg Vodnik, a pure Voshkod was first conscripted into the Voshkod Army in 1989 V.C., no one, least of all Oleg himself, would have expected that the young conscript and third son of a factory worker would one day rise to the top position in his country's armed forces. Less disciplined than others conscripted into the army and with a bigger mouth than most, Oleg's superiors were quick to develop a poor impression of him. At the end of his brief training, as he was due to be shipped to the front, a clerical error saw him transferred to an armored regiment, rather than the infantry division he should have joined, something that probably saved his life.

As the gunner for one of the thousands of Qilins, Oleg found that he was a surprisingly good shot with the Qilin's main guns, claiming dozens of kills and developing a growing affinity with the contraption called a "tank". As the war progressed, Oleg found himself promoted up the ranks until he had command of his own tank, and then a tank platoon. It was in the last year of the war that the then 26-year-old Lieutenant Oleg Vodnik first met a young officer who went by the name of Lunafreya Nox Flueret in Aselia; the two quickly became friends. By the end of the war, Oleg had the rank of captain and command of an armored company, as well as a growing reputation to his name. During the inter-war period, Oleg was able to advance to the rank of major, and by the start of the (insert war), colonel. Successes on the battlefield saw to it that Oleg had attained the rank of general by the war's end.

Following the war, Premier Lunafreya successfully managed to get Oleg promoted once again, this time to the overall chief of the armed forces, replacing Lunafreya herself. Lunafreya has various reasons for this; without much support from the powers that be in the state, the Premier has a tenuous hold on power, something not helped by the reforms she is attempting to implement. To this end, the appointment of Oleg to his post was as much for his own tactical and strategic ability as to provide her with a dependable and powerful ally, one who had control over the military; Oleg is one of the people Lunafreya feels she can trust, and has already proven himself when, just a week he was promoted, he led the army defeat Aleksandr’s coup, being a crucial piece of the civil war by preventing Aleksandr’s forces from taking key locations and defending the civilians from his genocidal strikes. The aftermath of which have prove he is crucial to any potential power struggles that might break out in Limsa Lominsa in the future.

Nikita Ivanovich Aleksandr
"..."

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Little is known about the illusive man with the gas mask. According to legend, he was once a highly gifted but unstable child prodigy raised in a cadre school who attained his doctor's degree in engineering at 18. His talent didn't go unnoticed by the Union military which offered him a position in the Advanced Weapons Research & Development Corps, one of the most secretive but insufficiently funded units that existed since the Czar era.

Tasked with the development of new protection systems and sensor equipment, Aleksandr seized his grand opportunity when Cherdenko visited the facility in the Ural Mountains in 1961 V.C. After a grandiose rhetorical introduction, young Cherdenko presented him with his pet project, the prototype of a revolutionary directed energy weapon based on the theories of (insert Ascalia/Equivalent of Nikola Tesla), the legendary Ascalian inventor whose eccentric quirks Aleksandr would consciously invoke for his own image. The Premier was impressed, promoted him on the spot, and authorized the R&D Corps to sign its own blank cheques.

A decade later, Aleksandr, now a General, is in full control of the Corps, having turned it into an exclusive, borderline cult-like organization with its own military wing, the infamous Gorizont Division, a horde of nigh-inhuman warriors blindly obedient and forever loyal to him. His glorious victory against a small FIA detachment that attacked his hidden research complex in Kurmuk provided proof of his military genius as well, making him the candidate of choice when it came to leading his action in Elysea's Conflict a few years later.

Once a friendless loner, Aleksandr now enjoys the company of the most extravagant circles of Voshkod society with all the associated decadence and lewdness. He is a man with two faces: While most people only know him as the brilliant, magnificent 'scientist general' with the iconic gas mask, only a select few people had ever seen the raving, highly unstable, and largely wretched personality that hid behind it, until his coup showed everyone his true face. Those who have seen his true self would attest that, if given the authority, he would waste no time exterminating much of Eorzea's population for his own amusement.

But following the use of the Pandora by the Republic his mask began to slip. Starting with his mad rant to his forces on his intent to wipe out Eorzea by any means necessary, leading to Lunafreya herself forbidding him and his forces to access their vacuum imploders. And following the war more of his horrid crimes came to light, from unethical experiments on civilian populations to murdering surrounding soldiers, mostly thanks to general Orlov, Lunafreya finally came down and personally stripped Aleksandr of his rank and intend on sending him to the gulag as he proved to be an unhinged maniac.

This event had Aleksandr finally showing who he really is, and how smart he was. As he immediately responded with a coup, intent on becoming the new Premier, where he revealed that he was secretly making his own army in the event the Voshkod turned on him, all of which wielded experimental weapons he made, and also had thousands of Desolators rockets and an Iron Sky Array hidden under his base, intending on launching them to completely eradicate his nation, with him becoming the new ruler of his cult. Though some of his forces defected when he revealed his coup, most notably his replacement Thancred Waters and commando Aranea and Chitzkoi, though they had unwillingly served him at the start due to Aleksandr holding onto her control codes.

What happened next was the bloodiest civil war the Voshkod had, only overshadowed by the bloody revolution that led to Emet's rise, as the entire Voshkod military, with the support of their allies, faced Aleksandr's army of super soldiers. With Lunafreya herself joining the battle in her custom-made tesla suit, and uttered the famous phrase.

"I will have Aleksandr's head on a plate or see him burn with our nation!"

Eventually, the battle would end beneath Aleksandr's lab. As he fought against Lunafreya, Orlov, and Fran in his personal battle walker until the trio managed to destroy the Walkers generator, forcing Aleksandr to fight Orlov in his personal tesla suit while Lunafreya and Fran went further into the facility to shut off the rockets.

What came would be a brilliant showcase of "David vs Goliath" as Orlov, armed with nothing but his personal knife, fought against Aleksandr, who towered over him with his suit which was equipped with a giant axe and a cyclotronic machine gun. As the veteran Spetsnaz easily outmaneuvers the giant brute and cuts at his suits weaknesses, bleeding and slowing Aleksandr. Until Orlov, tired from the previous battle, got grabbed by Aleksandr and thrown into a wall, breaking the man's bones and supposedly killing him, but by that time he was too late. As Orlov had given Lunafreya and Fran enough time to stop the rocket and set off the base self-destruct.

Enrage that his plan has failed Aleksandr chased Lunafreya, intending to escape, or failing that making sure she dies with him. But before he could grab her the wounded Orlov had grabbed him from behind and stabbed at a vital part of his suit completely immobilizing him but ensuring that Orlov was trapped too. Causing them to plummet into a vat of Desolator Defoliant, Aleksandr screamed in rage as Orlov laughed.

Yet, thanks to his suit, Aleksandr had survived, though all that did was prolong his agony. As when Lunafreya had found him he was barely breathing, his body paralyzed as he was slowly decomposing, and all he could do was try to raise a bony arm in defiance and trying to utter a curse through his ruined throat before Lunafreya blew open his head with her cyclotronic pistol.

Aleksandr's remains were then burnt and buried, unmarked, somewhere in the barren waste of Mor Dhona. With his protege Thancred Waters, after months of examination, became the new leader of the reformed Gorizont Division.

Unfortunately, even with their leader's death and his base destruction, a large number of Aleksandr’s army still lives, renaming themselves the Shock Division, who now conducts brutal raids among the populace and military for a chance to access the superweapons and avenge their late leader.

Yevgeny Romanovich Orlov
"You maniac! You'll kill us both!"

"You didn't hear me Aleksandr? I did not come here to win, I came here to kill you!"

-Last exchange between Aleksandr and Orlov, before they plunged to their deaths

Born during the Garlean collapse, Orlov lived a troubled childhood in a changing country. With his parents struggling against poverty, he spent what little free time he had in patriotic youth clubs, learning to follow orders and operate rifles at a young age. This alone kept him from slipping into crime, changing his life for the better.

As a result, a military career became the most obvious choice which Orlov quickly started to pursue once he reached the right age. His vigor, determination, and sense of duty opened his way into Voshkod's famed airborne troops and later the special forces, where he endured his trial-by-fire during the infamous attack on Limsa Lominsa Garlean Airport by a group of radical ultranationalists led by Chaos afffilated Vladimir Makarov in 2003 V.C.: Having been deployed to the scene after airport security and FSB response forces failed to stop the terrorists, Orlov's Spetsnaz group made short work of them, dealing a fatal blow to the brief uprising of extremist forces against the Voshkod government at the time.

Many years later, when Eorzea found itself revitalized by the presidency of Lunafreya, Orlov's famed Tula Division was part of the expeditionary army sent to protect the Union's new territories in Hyboria, providing security in the Umbutu border region. During that time, the General, long known for his occasional gripes with high command due to their lack of understanding of the real frontline situation, suffered a humiliating series of defeats at the hands of a resurgent MLA.

The Voshkod economy subsequently fell into a grave recession after the loss of Hyboria while the leadership placed the blame on the Republic. Orlov was gravely disappointed by this turn of events, having no personal issues with the Republic. Begrudgingly, he still accepted his orders while at the same time vowing to himself that he would only support the war effort for as long as his own conscience could bear the consequences.

All that finally came to head when he had witnessed the horrors inflicted by Aleksandr’s Gorizont Division. Finally confronts Lunafreya, who was his squad leader/mentor in the past, about Aleksandr's madness and demanding her that she stops him. And when she had publicly stripped Aleksandr of his rank Orlov sighed in relief, thankful that Lunafreya had a heart, unlike Cherdenko, thinking that the issue was over. But then Aleksandr's coup came.

Enraged by Aleksandr's pride, willing to destroy his own nation if he didn't get what he wanted, he personally joined Lunafreya, alongside his second in command Fran, when she stormed Aleksandr's base. And sacrificed himself by facing Aleksandr, who is wearing his personal tesla suit, with only his knife. And while he managed to wound Aleksandr, particularly his pride, he would ultimately be incapacitated as Aleksandr throws him into a wall, breaking almost every bone in his body. Yet he gave Lunafreya and Fran enough time to stop his missiles and set the self-destruct, essentially destroying Aleksandr's plan.

His final moments would be managing to grab onto Aleksandr, despite his injuries, and pin him down as the lair collapsed, laughing as he and Aleksandr fell to their death, knowing that he won.

By the time the recovery team had drained the Defoliant vat Aleksandr and Orlov fell into they could only find a barely alive Aleksandr and Orlov's blackened bones.

Orlov was posthumously given a medal of honor and his remains would be buried in the rebuilt Limsa Lominsa park, alongside Zhukov, with a statue built of them in memory of their deeds. With his former second-in-command, close friend, and new general Fran naming the Orlov Airfortress after him years later.

Leonid Vasilyevich Zhukov
"..."

-...

Born in the mid 1970s V.C., Leonid Zhukov had already established his reputation as a competent military man in Chechnya and Georgia long before Lunafreya seized the opportunity to wrestle control away from Cherdenko in (insert date). The charismatic Premier knew that "Father Leonid" enjoyed great popular respect, but also that he was a pragmatic realist who never bought much into the profuse promises of politicians. Nevertheless, Lunafreya always tried to maintain a facade of superficial friendship towards the General, hoping that it would secure him the loyalty of the Voshkod Army throughout the much-acclaimed "war on corruption" in the early years of her presidency.

During the Brotherhood incident in 2002 V.C., Zhukov won his most lauded victory when his 20th Army moved in to reclaim a city under Brotherhood control With the strategic city secured, the brief but vicious conflict began to wind down and the town was forced to cede the eastern territories to the Union.

But then, Zhukov's finest hour ended tragically when his 20-year-old son Valery, himself a soldier sent to (insert) as part of his first real deployment, died a pointless death in one of the war's last skirmishes. With his only offspring dead, Zhukov's lineage had come to an abrupt end which threw the General into a deep emotional depression. His bitter cynicism only grew bigger as the years went by until he reached the point where he'd often try to drown his grief in alcohol.

It is unknown whether Premier Lunafreya ever learned of this issue but as it stands, General Zhukov remains in command of the 20th Army which is currently recovering from its heavy losses during the invasion of the Be-Ne-Lux countries. And then Aleksandr Coup came.

Aleksandr's betrayal was the breaking point for Zhukov. For his fellow countrymen to betray their people over petty reasons had made the already bitter general lose all hope in the world. And thus he fought in the war on the front lines with reckless abandon, hoping to at least die serving his country. Though he did his best to make sure his soldiers don't die for his actions and left enough information so that his successor, Lyse Hext, can take command once he leaves.

He would finally get the death he wanted at the closing end of the war. As his forces was tasked with destroying the generator keeping Iron Curtain barrier around Aleksandr’s base up, and due to the fierceness of Aleksandr's forces and his array of Blackout Nodes, Zhukov had used himself as the beacon for a concentrated Vacuum Imploder strike on the generator. Holding off waves of Aleksandrs soldiers, thank to terrain advantage, with nothing but an array of conventional guns to protect the beacon. And by the time his Division got a lock Zhukov was slumped on the beacon, broken and bloodied, yet smiling, knowing that he saved his nation and he would reunite with Valery, and died just seconds before the missiles made impact.

For his courage and sacrifice, Zhukov was posthumously given a medal of honor and his remains, in this case a superdense core of his body and the surrounding area, would be buried in the rebuilt Limsa Lominsa park, alongside Orlov, with a statue built of them in memory of their deeds. With Lyse christening the Zhukov War Zeppelin after him.

Boris Bikov
"There is nothing I cannot do!"

- Boris' motto.

"No, I can't do that."

- Boris' response when issued a direct order.

During the Great Voshkod-Aquilan War, Boris was one of the few conscripts promoted to the commando training program. According to Voshkod propaganda, he made upwards of 1,000 kills throughout the GVAW, before being crippled and forced to retire by Captain Rocket while guarding Von Braun, leaving his daughter Natasha to take his place. Armed with the inaccurate but reliable ADK-45 assault rifle, he was a feared opponent in close-quarters combat and even at longer ranges. During the Talvisota, the Winter War, Boris and his fellow conscripts were tasked with an assault on a Finish mortar bunker.

The squad got pinned down in a crater by a lone sniper which made it impossible to advance, so in despair, the Commissar requested air support. Three Yaks from the 21st Fighter Squadron arrived to support their comrades. However, they were unable to spot either the sniper or the mortar bunker. The commissar lit a marking flare and tossed it, but it fell too short and was in fact too close to the squad itself. No one in the squad dared to move out from the safety of the large crater when suddenly a single shot broke the silence of the woods.

Aghast, the squad realized that the commissar had been shot and the unseen sniper had them in his sight. Medviev cried for his mommy when the second bullet ripped through the woods. Boris lay as still as possible in his winter jacket. Knowing his weeping comrades in their red parade greatcoats were far more exposed, he waited out the three following bullets.

Now it was time for action, for the sharpshooter would be reloading and the Yaks were closing in. Boris reconnoitered the view from the crater. It was all skies except for a lone hilltop, and that was the position of the white-dressed death! Boris lunged himself out of the crater, firing a whole clip as he ran, picked up the flare, and threw it into the bunker. The three fighters made their second run over the forest, but this time with a marked target.

The mission was successful, and Voshkod High Command saw the potential in precision airstrikes marked by commandos.