Part 2
Soviet Involvement => Open / Close
Soviet Involvement
As the machines and Soviet troops smoothly disembarked on the northern shores of Östertörn, everything seemed to be going according to plan. The Mechanical Units were following their protocol, while the Soviet troops had set up defensive camps near the hovercraft landing zones. The teens had heard rumors circulating about strange machines emerging in the northern regions of Östertörn, possibly presenting a new and unknown threat. Driven by a call for help, they decided to investigate an outpost established by the Resistance in the outskirts of the Marshlands. Upon arrival, the teens quickly discovered that the machines were not of Swedish origin. Instead, they were Soviet-built, suggesting that the Soviets had adopted a more active, hands-on approach after the failure of the EMP device to take out FNIX at FOA 53 earlier. This led to the Soviets sending troops and machinery to Östertörn.
Meanwhile, Captain Bolshakov’s company, Mechanical Detachment Alpha, was planning to reach Underground Station C and travel deep into the bunker by train. If their plan was successful, Bolshakov’s Mechanical Specialist Programmers would be able to reach and eliminate the hostile code from all Swedish machines, rendering them inert and under their control. As dawn broke, the company still hadn’t arrived at Underground Station C when they received an unexpected message from a Soviet agent named Red Worm requesting a meet-up. Captain Bolshakov seemed disturbed by the message and insisted on being the one to attend the meeting. Captain Tereshkova agreed to let him go but assigned six of her own exoskeleton soldiers and three Mechanical Units to accompany him.
Upon his return, Bolshakov reported that the Swedish machines had already set an ambush for them, resulting in Red Worm’s death. The six soldiers valiantly fought to protect Bolshakov, but tragically all perished. Bolshakov himself was shot in the left arm, but fortunately, his injury was not serious. That evening, Captain Tatiana stepped out into the forest to relieve herself when she heard a voice. It was distinctly inhuman yet filled with emotion, emanating from a small machine - a Tick. To her shock, the machine told her that Bolshakov was responsible for the brutal murder of Agent Red Worm and the six soldiers. Then the little machine self destructed.
Struggling to believe what she had heard, Tatiana decided to follow the coordinates given by the little machine, hoping to return before dawn. Her journey led her to Ramboda Kulle, where she discovered irrefutable evidence that her soldiers had not fallen in battle against Swedish machines, but had all been ruthlessly shot in the back at point-blank range by Lynx machines. In the midst of the devastation, she found Agent Red Worm’s lifeless body in the cabin, his death not caused by any machine, but by a single gunshot wound to his head. Tatiana was left with no doubt that this was the work of a human being, a killer among their ranks. And she knew exactly who that killer was - Bolshakov.
Suddenly it all fell into place why the Soviet machines were malfunctioning. Could Bolshakov also have meddled with the code of the Soviet Machines? Initially, they worked flawlessly when they departed the Soviet Union. However, over time, they began to exhibit bizarre behavior, moving in circles, and killing everything including humans. But why? Determined to confront him, Tatiana prepared herself for a difficult conversation, one that could change the course of their mission forever. The stakes were high, and the situation was dire, but Tatiana knew that it was time to face the truth head-on. Upon her return to camp, Tatiana was met with a grisly scene: all of her soldiers had been ruthlessly murdered. Treacherous Captain Bolshakov had turned on them and left them to die, and continued on towards Underground Station C with his own soldiers and Mechanical Units.
Traveling alone, Tatiana wasted no time in catching up to him. As she arrived at the underground station C, she quickly descended the exposed stairs to the platform and confronted Bolshakov, who was standing alone by the train. Pointing her gun at him, she demanded answers. Bolshakov claimed that everything he had done was for the Motherland, and that he wanted to overthrow the Soviet government using the FNIX code. But as Tatiana was angrily responding to him, it became clear to him that she would not play along, he grabbed his chance and fired a shot. She managed to dodge, but was hit just below her left knee. In pain, Tatiana blindly fired her weapon at Bolshakov, and heard a satisfying grunt in response. As she struggled to stand back up, she saw the train beginning to move away, disappearing quickly into the distance. All she had left was the long train track stretching out before her and a gunshot wound in her leg, bleeding and causing her to pass out on the unforgiving concrete.
Note 6 (photo underground station C
Here we can still find Tatiana’s blood leading up to the stairs before she passed out.
When she regained consciousness, with her leg badly shot, Tatiana managed to get outside and trudged up the hill, hoping to find a way to make things right. At the top, she was met by a larger, almost human-like machine. She asked it to destroy the computers in the bunker to stop Bolshakov from taking control of the code, but it lacked the necessary firepower.
The machine then surprised her by mentioning that her country did have the power, and offered to reconnect her with her Soviet contact. Tatiana hesitated, but eventually touched the machine’s outstretched hand, establishing a connection almost instantly.
On hearing her call sign and order, Tatiana’s contact knew what he needed to do. This was the last resort and Tatiana just whispered, “Send it!”
"Note 7" Are we invaded by the Soviets?
Unknown. We’re getting conflicting messages!
-
It appears the Swedes are receiving assistance from the legitimate Soviet Forces, who aim to access and deactivate the FNIX AI. However, lurking within their ranks is a private Soviet military group called “The Golden Faction,” driven by hidden agendas. Instead of simply disabling the AI, they’re intent on capturing its technology and code to exploit for their own power, potentially even resurrecting a full-fledged Communist regime. (Source: IlessthanthreeHind)
This might also explain why the Soviets had so many of their own machines so quickly, they must have been monitoring the development of the Swedish machines for years, and creating machines of their own. -
Tatiana sincerely holds the belief that their presence on the Archipelago Idyll is aimed at aiding the Swedes. The deployment of the Low Yield Nuke wasn’t an expression of Soviet aggression; rather, it was a desperate measure to safeguard the Soviet Motherland from being forcibly taken over by Bolshakov’s troops.
-
Long before, we learned from Sergei Kuznetsov, Lieutenant of the Soviet Navy cruiser Druzhnyy, that the Soviet Navy has been monitoring the situation in Sweden and together with NATO were offering assistance in stopping the machine invasion. At present, the intention behind asserting control over the area remains ambiguous, whether it’s aimed at invasion or establishing a controlled and secure zone.
-
In Marja’s 6th newsletter, Phillip, a survivor, recounts to her that the bombed bunker was supposedly a covert Soviet installation - “a hidden one.” However, the accuracy of this claim remains uncertain. It could merely be conjecture that there was a Soviet presence in the bunker and that this presence was the reason for nuclear targeting by someone “who did not like that”.
It is clear that Philip does not know that a Soviet officer (Tatiana) sent the nuke. Phillip does not provide any verifying evidence for his claim. Without more to go on, it appears more likely that if the Soviets had indeed a hidden underground HQ, they occupied a pre-existing Swedish bunker. -
In Marja’s 6th newsletter, we learn of a survivor named Phillip who told her, that the nuked bunker was a secret Soviet Bunker. “A hidden one.” We don’t know if this is true. It is more plausible that the soviets occupied the existing Swedish Bunker.
-
In Marja’s 10th newsletter, we again learn that Sweden is not at war with the Soviet Union, and that the resistance did not fight against the Soviets in Boo town.
Quote Marja, “…now we know what happened in Boo Town. The good news is that apparently we’re not at war with the Soviets”.
Nuclear Blast Aftermath => Open / Close
Nuclear Blast Aftermath
The dark blue sky hung ominously overhead; Tatiana’s gunshot wound continued to bleed. The pain was unbearable, and she knew she had to do something before it was too late. But as she glanced up at the sky, she saw a mushroom cloud starting to form. She realized she might not survive this, even if she managed to stop the bleeding.
To her surprise, Tatiana woke up later, still alive. She owed her life to a machine that had taken her to safety and replaced her broken leg with a mechanical one that began at the knee. She marveled at the precision of the machine, impressed at how adeptly it had carried out the delicate operation.
As she looked through her binoculars, Tatiana could see the massive crater that the tactical nuke had left in its wake. It looked surreal, like something out of a nightmare. She had created that crater, but she had also saved her own country from disaster. However, the consequences of her actions weighed heavily on her mind. Perhaps in her effort to save her people, she had only made things worse for the inhabitants she had been sent to protect.
Determined to set things right, Tatiana knew she had to act quickly. The Mechanical Units needed to be reprogrammed back to the friendly code to behave as intended, attacking only machines and never humans. Perhaps even the Swedish survivors would be willing to help, once they understood that this was not what anyone had wanted when they had first arrived on Östertörn.
Before the nuclear incident, Commander Makarova, overseeing Operation Red Eye, was confronted with the challenge of addressing Captain Bolshakov’s apparent incompetence. Bolshakov’s initial reports during the inception of First Viper had led command to believe that our Mechanical Units would surpass the capabilities of the Swedish machines. Nevertheless, reality had proven otherwise.
While at the time it was unbeknownst to Captain Tatiana Tereshkova that Commander Makarova, like Captain Bolshakov, was also aligned with the Golden Faction, she had attempted but failed to find an opportunity after the nuclear incident to explain to Commander Makarova that Captain Bolshakov harbored secret plans to harness FNIX’s power to overthrow the Soviet government, prompting her intervention. Consequently, Tatiana instantly became an enemy of the Golden Faction.
Makarova must have concluded that Captain Tereshkova knew their secret and was determined to stop her from foiling their plans. To achieve this, she tasked Pavel Morozov with the mission to locate and apprehend Tereshkova. However, despite Morozov’s persistent efforts, he faced significant challenges, as Tatiana was consistently shielded by a military Hunter. This allowed Tatiana to evade capture each time, slipping away while the Hunter kept Morozov occupied, thus leaving her current whereabouts unknown.
Like Morozov, Aamiina, a civilian team-leader of the Ostervik resistance, also observed the female Soviet soldier with a metal leg, who was always accompanied by a Military Hunter and even seemed to converse with it. Unbeknownst to Aamiina, this soldier was Captain Tatiana Tereshkova who Morozov was supposed to apprehend. Tatiana, however, who had just learned that the name of her machine companion was FNIX, spotted the four civilian wannabe soldiers observing her. She hoped she could make contact with them to share information. Meanwhile, intrigued by the soldier’s constant note-taking, Aamiina pondered the potential insights hidden within Tatiana’s journal. She forged a plan to steal it, but tragedy struck as two of her team members, Måts and Mila, lost their lives in the attempt. Aamiina and Tim narrowly escaped, but their mission failed, leaving them empty-handed without the journal.
In response to the nuclear incident, Commander Makarova dispatched scouts to investigate the affected area and provide a detailed report. To their astonishment, the scouts discovered a Soviet Captain’s insignia adorned with a bloody fingerprint on a tree trunk at the outskirts of the nuclear blast zone, appearing deliberately placed. Interpreting this discovery as compelling evidence, the scouts reached the hopeful conclusion that Captain Bolshakov - their hero - had somehow managed to survive the bomb.
Meanwhile, Soviet scientist Pankratij Egorov had uncovered the semi-active state of the machines through meticulous observation of a Hunter during the night until it powered up, exposing a hidden power module. However, during this daring reconnaissance, the Hunter spotted him, compelling Egorov to flee for his life. He ran from the Hagaboda Research Lab with the relentless machine in hot pursuit. Seeking refuge in an old shack for the night, he pondered his next move and thought up a strategy to safely return to the research lab.
Commander Makarova discovered both Egorov and the captured Hunter missing and found disconcerting notes from Egorov, revealing a troubling revelation. The machines, it seemed, were intentionally allowing themselves to be captured. Despite scientists believing that all power sources had been removed, the machines covertly reactivated when unobserved, scanning Soviet documents to gather Soviet data and theories. Commander Makarova postulated from Egorov’s notes that some of the captured FNIX machines might exhibit signs of sentience and intelligence.
Armed with this unsettling knowledge, Commander Makarova became determined to locate her missing scientist. Despite the unconventional nature of Egorov’s ideas, she acknowledged the possibility of their validity, recognizing the need for further research.
Note 8
Makarova might be misinterpreting Egorov’s notes, thinking that individual Swedish machines are evolving towards sentience. The Soviets appear uninformed about FNIX’s transformation into a sentient AI, leading them to neglect the possibility that the captured hunter might be under FNIX’s control, rather than facing autonomous sentient machines. FNIX probably possesses the ability to assume direct command of any machine at any given moment.
Makarova was aware that removing the hostile machines from this area and staking claim to it, as originally planned might entail a more challenging battle than anticipated. FNIX’s machines were unrelenting! She required heavy reinforcements to maintain this position. When they embarked on this mission, the “Golden Faction” was in the process of acquiring the Firebird machines, which were still under development by the Soviet government at the time. While waiting for the Firebird reinforcements, Makarova had no choice but to issue an evacuation order for Hagaboda.
During Commander Makarova’s wait for reinforcements, Captain Tereshkova had found refuge in a FNIX port. There, after successfully hacking into Soviet communications, she intercepted a message from the “Golden Faction,” which stated that the requested Firebirds had departed from Kabarga Camp and were expected to arrive at the Hagaboda docks within six hours.
Note 9 (The Golden Faction)
The Golden Faction who are they?
-
They are likely a Private Military Company (PMC) who are having alternate goals than the legitemate Soviet troops, and are driven by hidden agendas. Instead of simply disabling the AI, they’re intent on capturing its technology and code to exploit for their own power, to resurrect a fully operational Communist regime.The lore indicates that the TGF were working on Operation Red Eye for at least a couple of years.
-
From Bolshakov’s actions and statements to Tatiana, we can conclude that he is aligned with the TGF.
-
From Commander Makarova’s notes #02:
A retreat back to the Motherland without them [control over FNIX] would destroy all the work the Golden Faction has done the last couple of years and is not on the table.It seems that Commander Makarova is also aligned with the Faction. -
I can only hope that our faction has been successful in gaining access to this new machine and can send them to support us without the government being the wiser.
During Commander Makarova’s wait for reinforcements, Captain Tatiana Tereshkova, who had been taking refuge in a FNIX port for some time now, felt trapped by the black walls surrounding her. The place seemed like to a prison, prompting her to ponder whether she had unwittingly become a prisoner of FNIX herself.
Within the confines of the outpost, Tatiana maintained a routine of regularly checking messages on a Soviet computer. This computer had been ingeniously hacked into Soviet military communications, serving as a crucial source of vital intelligence.
Tatiana remembered when the Soviet Government had started working on the Firebirds, envisioning them as machines of destruction and death. Yet, amidst the black walls surrounding her, her thoughts were as much consumed by strategizing how to incapacitate the Firebirds as they were by her current predicament. “I need to get my priorities straight,” she thought, and stepped outside for a stroll and a breath of fresh air.
Meanwhile, somewhere on Östertörn, the teens found themselves suddenly confronted by an enormous flying machine with Soviet markings. After successfully bringing it down, they discovered a tracking device attached to the wreckage. It became evident that the device had been transmitting data to a set of coordinates on the North Coast.
Soon after, a voice crackled over the walkie-talkie, introducing herself as Mona Johnsson from the Tylöveden Resistance. She asked if the teens would be willing to investigate the coordinates’ origin. Agreeing, the teens set out, eventually arriving at a FNIX port. To their astonishment, they discovered a Soviet computer within the hidden FNIX port, indicating that someone had been spying on the Soviets.
Upon accessing the Soviet computer, they learned that additional Firebirds were scheduled to arrive from Camp Kabarga once beacons were deployed to guide them. With Mona unable to intervene in time, the responsibility fell upon the teens to dismantle or destroy the Soviet beacons.
Under the cover of dark skies, the teens executed their mission with precision, demolishing the Soviet beacons at the Hagaboda Docks. In the aftermath of Operation Red Eye’s failure, Makarova’s troops found themselves incapable of reclaiming the territory.
Hagaboda had slipped further into the eerie silence of a ghost town, its streets echoing emptiness. Amidst the desolation, only the Soviet Lynx machines still patrolled the empty streets. The resistance members Mona and her sister Anna Johnsson had remained on post, steadfast in their resolve of “Death to the machines!”
Here ends the synopsis of the key story events so far; waiting to see where the story will lead us next.
Resources…
To Return to top Click here.
For Russian Doll’s Lore Click here
For Survivor Notes Click here.
For Signs of a Resistance Lore Click here.
For War Figurine Notes Click here.
Other important lore resources
Generation Zero story timeline (Aesyle)
NPC monologues & dialogues (Aesyle)
New monologues & dialogues (Therese - Pontus)
New monologues & dialogues (Mona)
Tatiana’s Lore found in Death from Above
Extended Synopsis of Key Story Events - part 1
FOA: Försvarets forskningsanstalt (Defence Research Institute)
(I needed to make a second part, because I exceeded the permitted number of characters (32000) per page.)
