Zinoviya Marilova

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"Apologies. I'm not from around here, as by now should be obvious! Would any of you care to fill me in on what's going on?" ~ Marilova introduces herself to Riva Geller and Nathan Epstein.

Introduction

Zinoviya Marilova is a former Mecharussian Space Marine captain, attached to the Third Aerofleet. She is most notable for being one of the three remaining survivors of the Lenin Affair (the others being Visarion Tokarev and Vsevolod Berdan), an unwitting martyr of the Popular Front through Varfolomei Kaffarov's Remember Zina Movement and the equally-oblivious foundation of Project Echidna – which would go on to produce the Novaya Chthonians. Ever the optimist in her heyday, she was always the one to follow protocol even in the midst of extreme danger, and many soldiers in her regiment looked up to her as a paragon of stalwart resilience.

Background

One of the main characters of the Alternative Canon, Marilova's life takes a stranger and altogether darker turn during the Lenin Affair: she was captured on Scatach Prime by troops of the Imperium of Sidhae and savagely tortured by then-Judicatrix Serena Romana and her disciples Halko and Olhon. The purpose of this was to use her as a testbed for the Imperial Avatar Project, Serena implanting the personality of long-deceased lover Zenobia Marylove into her. The experience left her a broken, withdrawn wreck, and Spetsnaz commander Colonel Victor Golovkin conspired with Cybermancer Dima Ratnik to hide her from the authorities – who Golovkin believed wanted to terminate her as a potential spy, an act he viewed as unjust.

Golovkin would look after Marilova for the six months that followed the Lenin Affair, during which time he had to hide her from her father – General Anton Marilov – and the Secretariat of Internal Security. Unfortunately, his efforts eventually came to nothing, as both found out shortly before the Sixteen July conspiracy, and Marilov nearly ordered the Nevskiy Prospekt Hotel in Sunikagrad, where Serena and the rest of an Imperial delegation were staying, to be destroyed before being stopped by the Supreme Leader. Indeed, Marilova briefly grew to loathe Golovkin and even attempted to kill him with a stolen Mi-64 Shershen gunship, but the two made peace with each other, and Marylove with Serena.

Golovkin was also able to persuade General Elena Trotskaya, the overarching authority over the intelligence services, to commute what would have been a death sentence for the Marilovs to dishonourable discharge and a free ticket to leave the Home Dimension should they desire to do so. Trotskaya allowed Marilova and her father to surreptitiously leave aboard an 11F50 Pegas prototype interdimensional shuttle. The teleportation drive from the 'stolen' Pegas would later be harvested and fitted aboard her future personal starship, the Spokoystviye.

In the Late Altcanon, Marilova has become the dominant persona and largely reverts back to her good-natured, pre-torture state, with Marylove becoming dormant. She does, however, retain an attitude of having no gods and no masters over the long period of time that she spends alone with her father until his death in 2164 and beyond. By this stage an experienced interdimensional gun-for-hire, with plenty of missions for both the Imperium and the Mechanocracy under her belt, she has made a considerable fortune through using her expertise as a military officer to her own great advantage, more than able to get out of a difficult situation through blade, firearm or even simply talking her opponent down.

In 2166, Marilova had a less-than-friendly encounter with the Skargh Zun'lok on a distant desert planet. The two engaged in combat for almost twelve hours straight, taking pot-shots at each other with little luck. Even when they forwent their sniper rifles and fought each other hand-to-hand, both fighters were so equally-matched that neither could get the advantage on the other. Eventually, they called a truce for the night and joined each other for rest.

After getting to know each other – Zun'lok having escaped from a slave ship and killed the mercenaries sent to recover him – Marilova took pity on the Skargh and invited him to join her on her journeys, an offer he accepted for lack of anywhere else to go. Though it took a while for them to warm up to each other, she disgusted by his anthropophagic eating habits and he utterly baffled by the Mechanocratic Ideology, her lack of appetite and abnormally-high libido (the latter two caused by a mild hysteriat addiction, a relic from her tortured past), they eventually got used to the other's quirks and have since become friends for life.

Personality

Marilova, as of 2172.

Marilova was always known throughout the Third Aerofleet for her optimism and willingness to abide by military code, even in the worst possible scenario. She also gained a reputation for being something of a wisecrack, always having something to say to lighten the mood in a tense situation. As a result, she was well-liked by both her subordinates and her superiors: Generals Pyotr Shuvalov and later Arseniy Duskin in particular expressed admiration for the stoical Marilova. After her disappearance and the revelations surrounding her torture-rape came to light, those same soldiers would go on to form the core of Kaffarov's support in the Remember Zina Movement, and later of Trotskaya's during the Six-Day Purge.

Marilova is known for having an interest in warships, being delighted to have been able to board the MSS Kliment Voroshilov supercarrier. It was this interest that led her to join the Aerofleet rather than the Red Army in her father's footsteps, and also to join the fateful interdimensional expedition aboard the Vladimir Lenin. She is also a surprisingly-competent pilot, having practiced extensively in VR training simulators intended for marine fighter pilots.

Notable appearances

• Marilova's debut is in Access Violation. She also plays a prominent role in A Blood Debt, but will be absent from Flight of the Polunochnaya.
• Marilova is to make a cameo appearance alongside Berdan and Yuri Lavochkin in a planned remaster of To Struggle in the Way of Allah.