Svetlana Karishenikov

Svetlana

Svetlana is an Asanii lieutenant commander who feels duty-bound to involve herself in the civil war on her homeworld, Gledig and in so doing attracts the interest of Alysha Forrest.

Appearance and Personality

Svetlana is an Asanii, with fawn-brown skin and black hair, the right eye darkened by a comma-shaped mark across the eyelid and brow.. She is naturally odd-eyed (heterochromia), with a dark blue right eye and a gold left eye. While initially in Fleet, she wore her hair long and drawn severely back from her face, generally braided, and used an eye film to color the gold eye blue, in part because people found it difficult to look her in the eye and kept shifting from looking at one eye to the other.

When she abandoned her post with Fleet and joined the Pro-Accords, Svetlana removed the blue film from her gold left eye and cut her hair off at chin length such that her hair fell forward to cover her blue right eye.

Svetlana's voice is a soprano.

Biography

Svetlana grew up in the outwild on Gledig, daughter of Breana and Roman Karishenikov. Her family lived on a steading in the outwild; the nearest settlement was Dunli, ten minutes from Addery, where she attended a one-room schoolhouse.

Svetlana grew up amidst terrorist warfare between the Secessionists and Pro-Accords, "dodging bombs since [she] was old enough to walk." She witnessed her aunt killed by stepping on a land mine as a child; she also has a living uncle.

As a child, Svetlana was close to her cousin Carey, with whom she played games in the outwild, including "being a rock," which later became a survival tactic.

A cease-fire was announced between the warring factions when Svetlana was eleven, and a treaty when she was twenty. Svetlana had always dreamed of Fleet, and when she felt that her world was stable and had the possibility of peace, she felt that she could enlist without it being an abandonment of her people. When the pirate raids started again and factional hostilities ramped up into open violence, her family hid this information from her, wanting her to pursue her career and stay safe in Fleet.

Svetlana's Fleet record was stellar; she rose quickly to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and her commendations were "numerous and glowing."

Family

• Mother: Breana Karishenikov
• Father: Roman Karishenikov
• Cousin: Carey

Timeline

"The first cease-fire came when I turned eleven... and there was a treaty when I was twenty. We thought it was over!"

The timeline suggested by Sword of the Alliance:

• Svet is born in 439 BA.
• She left Gledig when she was 20 years old, after the treaty (which would make her old, for a cadet). That would be 459 BA.
• Assuming some prior schooling that counted toward her Academe requirements, she would have finished the Academe in 3 years: 462 BA.
• Ensign, at 23 years of age. (462 BA)
• Lieutenant at 24 years. (463 BA)
• Lieutenant Commander at 26 years old, when she meets Alysha on Gledig. (465 BA)

Recent History

When Svetlana discovered what had happened to her homeworld, she chose to remain there--"go to ground"--rather than report back in with her commanding officer, a serious offense even in the comparatively casual Fleet. She joined the underground Pro-Accord faction, inducted by her cousin Carey, where she rapidly fell afoul of another Pro-Accord, Owen, a human who thought that she (and Fleet in general) was spoiled and soft. She settled things by fighting him hand-to-hand with a knife. (Fortunately, Owen was known for being more tolerated than liked.)

Svetlana, in Fleet and on Gledig

Maire, the Pro-Accord leader, was also initially dubious about Svetlana, but was willing to give her a chance; Svetlana was chosen as one of those to infiltrate the governor's mansion during Governor Kerenkev's talks with the Fleet representatives: Alysha Forrest, Taylitha Basil, Laelkii Takara Lifeweave, and Alastar Virgil.

Before that mission began, however, Svetlana encountered Dylan Brushnie in the Gledig graveyard. She immediately recognized him as the Secessionist leader. They spoke together of the losses on Gledig, on her belief that Fleet would come and his that Fleet would never come, on loss, and on grief. Svetlana was distinctly attracted to Dylan, but understood that acting on it would be foolish if not impossible.

Before attending the dinner at the governor's mansion in disguise, Svetlana turned the film on her left eye transparent, revealing her natural gold, and cut her hair off at chin-length, with the hair on the right side hiding her blue eye, effectively disguising her.

Despite her disguise, while posing as a guard at the governor's dinner, Alysha Forrest (who had, as a secondary mission on Gledig, been sent to find her) recognized her, as did Dylan, who was himself there posing as a waiter. When the terrorist faction of Secessionists bombed the dinner, Svetlana escorted Alysha, Taylitha, Laelkii, and Alastar to safety. Though Carey wanted the Fleet personnel confined, Svetlana convinced him to allow her to take them elsewhere, and brought them to her parents' house, where Alysha covered for her by explaining that she was "assigned to the area," detached to Alysha. She and Alysha then discuss the situation on Gledig, the nature of the civil war, the conflict between Svetlana's duty to Fleet and duty to her homeworld, and what it means to pay attention to what's important. After, Svetlana had another talk with Laelkii, who noted that Alysha has "her wing stretched way out" for Svetlana, and that she has a habit of protecting those who she sees in need of it, and those who she likes.

After Alysha and Alastar returned to the ship, Svetlana went with Taylitha and Laelkii to the Pro-Accord base. Maire was unhappy with the presence of the Fleet members, but allowed them to stay and help; Svetlana and Taylitha were tasked with mine inventory. When taking in the fresh air (and doing some incidental scouting) later, they encountered Dylan Brushnie again, who invited them to lunch at Cafe Oumphorus to discuss things with a semi-neutral party present. The lunch was interrupted by Gavin Medearin's terrorists attacking the restaurant, and then, after Dylan, Taylitha, and Svetlana had split up, abducting Svetlana.

Unbenownst to Dylan Brushnie, Langorn, who had been secretly in charge of the violent terrorist faction of the Secessionists, had arranged for Svetlana's abduction and given the okay for her torture at the hands of Gavin Medearin." Medearin bound her and used implied physical and sexual threat, but his primary form of coercion was to threaten the slow deaths of her mother, father, and uncle. Under that threat, Svetlana broke, and revealed the location of the Pro-Accord base.

When Dylan discovered what had happened, he went to free Svetlana, and he affirmed to her that he would nevertheless carry out the attack on her faction's base made possible by her interrogation. Despite this, the two shared an intimate moment together, and ultimately he left her free to go.

While scouting around the Pro-Accord base, Taylitha and Laelkii regained contact with Svetlana and met up again; after the base was deliberately collapsed by Maire, Svetlana brought them to a safehouse in Daleth. She told Carey the truth as she knew it: that she had revealed the location of the base, and that she had not done so under physical torture (though Laelkii contested the point)."

When Alysha Forrest arrived to deal with the pirates, and to deal with Governor Kerenkev and Representative Brad Courtland, Svetlana was among the throng at the courtyard with Laelkii and Taylitha, and witnessed the confessions of Kerenkev and Courtland as to their interference and corruption that had nearly destroyed Gledig." She also witnessed Alysha Forrest's duel with Dylan Brushnie that brought the conflict to an end. As someone somewhat familiar with swordplay, she helped explain what was going on to Felsha Rennagan and Darya Darteriov, aboard the Stardancer shuttle (and streaming the live feed).

Svetlana with Dylan's scarf.

After, Svetlana encountered Dylan again, after the funereal services for those dead in the pirate raid and the civil war. He told her that there was no future for him, as there was too much blood on his hands, and that the best thing for him to do was to "remove himself." Svetlana pleaded with him not to do it, and he promised her to think about it, and that he would leave her a sign either way so she wouldn't have to wonder (as he had had to wonder about his sisters).

Svetlana discovered that Alysha Forrest had spoken on her behalf to Admiral Maegan Laphylinrii, and that she was able to be reinstated in Fleet, albeit as a lieutenant rather than a lieutentant commander. She would be picked up by the UAV Sunweaver for her reassignment.

Before leaving the planet, Svetlana went again to the graveyard where she had first met Dylan, and found his sword driven into the earth, and his red scarf wrapped around it. Svetlana took the scarf with her.

Quotes

• "We weren't there. Well, let me tell you something, sir. I am. I'm here. I'm not going to watch all these innocents tear themselves to shreds over their fears. I want that more than Fleet. I have to, or I would never have joined."

• “I was so happy when I thought I could leave. I thought… I’d been through so much. And here was this place I could go to make sure no one ever had to go through those things again. I’d finally be able to help.”

Quotes and Observations by Others

• Laelkii’s face had grown tender and her smile decidedly lopsided. She shook her head. “Starchild,” she said, “you are after my captain’s own heart.”

--Laelkii Takara Lifeweave

Trivia

• Called herself "Lana" on her first meeting with Dylan Brushnie, when she was hiding who she was.
• Made up constellations for Gledig: the Captain, the Balance, the Laughing Thing, the Warrior, the Starship.
• Svetlana is excellent at hand-to-hand and armed combat, and "devoured" the training sessions at Fleet Academe, even those with old human Marines who had volunteered to pulp the advanced cadets. She prefers hand-to-hand and fighting with a knife for reasons that she herself cannot quite articulate, but partly because swordplay is a romantic's game and she is used to fighting for her life, and partly because she was a country girl well separated from "Core affectations." Some of the aforesaid marines gave her "amendments" that had made the art more palatable to her.
• When Svetlana was a child, before the fighting got bad, she and her family rooted for their provincial fencing champion at the world piste.
• She is good enough to hack Pad records.

Body Language

• Has a noticeably straight-backed, upright physical demeanor and alert mien, noticed as such by both Alysha Forrest and Dylan Brushnie.

Story Appearances

Sword of the Alliance (Fiction)