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.

Physical Stats

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, with one dark blue eye and one gold. While initially in Fleet, she wore her hair long and drawn severely back from her face, 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.

History and Family

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."

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.)

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.

Svetlana with Dylan's scarf.

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."

Trivia

• very good at hand-to-hand and weapons combat

Body Language

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