Bodark-B076

"You will hear thunder and remember me, The sky will be the color of hard crimson, And your heart, as it was then, will be on fire."

- Anna Akhmatova

Bodark-B076 is a SPARTAN-III supersoldier formerly part of Beta Company who fought During the Human-Covenant War and after in the Post War years.

During the War, Bodark was selected from among the best of Beta prior to Operation: TORPEDO where most of Beta had perished. She was selected for the 'Cat-II' program and placed into PERUN Team, a Cat-II team geared toward high speed, high value target elimination operations. Prior to the Fall of Reach, PERUN was sent on numerous missions targeting HVT's including individuals, infrastructure and military targets belonging to the Covenant and Insurrectionists.

In 2548 PERUN received a 'Smart' A.I named Shtorm. He became the team A.I for PERUN and would act as their main support and handler for the course of the War until 2555. When Reach was attacked PERUN was re-tasked from counter insurgency on Tribute and deployed planetside to support UNSC Forces on the ground.

During the Fall of Reach they saw action in the Battle of Szurdok Ridge alongside the main armored spearhead. After the appearance of the Long Night of Solace they retreated from the area and to the city of Manassas when reports came in of Covenant forces building outside the city.

After the Battle of Manassas Bodark and PERUN were evacuated from Reach aboard the UNSC Sentinel, a Stalwart-class Frigate, to Earth. From there PERUN were supposed to be deployed on several missions to try and slow the Covenant's progress in finding Eart. However prior to deploying the alarm was raised that the Covenant had found Earth. PERUN was deployed on numerous back to back operations in support of larger UNSC forces in Southern Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

Following the end of the war and despite the establishment of Spartan Branch what remained of PERUN, by now lead by Bodark, was kept under NAVSPECWAR. They were tasked with conducting sabotage operations against Covenant Remnant Groups and force assessments from 2553-2556 however all these operation came to a halt with the Battle of Requiem in 2557 and the Attack on New Phoenix.

After New Phoenix, Each member of Perun were individually re-tasked, Bodark in particular was tasked with conducting vehicular warfare war games alongside Spartan IV's to train them for the upcoming Requiem Campaign. Prior to the Requiem Campaign she was issued a new 'Smart' A.I, Kadia. The two got along easily with Kadia's more laid back and fun personality helping Bodark with reigning in her anger issues. During the Requiem Campaign Bodark was once again leading PERUN however she was also attached independently to several armored groups.

Childhood
Born on New Harmony on August 28th 2528; Svetlana Rusakov was born to a upper middle class family in the city of Tyumen. Her father was the owner of a large interplanetary shipping corporation while her mother was formerly a lawyer but she quit due to the amount of malpractice and illegal dealings her firm was involved in.

As for Svetlana herself she was quite different from other children age. She had a particular interest in mythology and its creatures both human and not from a very young age. She quite liked hearing stories about Slavic mythology and the Bodark's in particular, people who willingly became werewolf like monsters. This would however come to result in much teasing and jeering from other children. As a result she began to draw further into herself and away from others and bottling up her anger until one occasion when she knocked another student's tooth out. This lead to further social seclusion for her due to her now prominent anger management issues but also a new interest, sports. Despite her age, she exhibited impressive physical abilities both in strength and speed, taking gold medals during sporting events.

However her incident with the other student did lead to her having to attend sessions with the school counselor with little success. Due to the lack of progress she was instead sat down by her parents who would come to teach her about the importance of those close to her and that family, by blood or otherwise, was something she could always rely on and trust. This was further ingrained into her as her parents would try their hardest to spend time with her outside their jobs, from talking to studying.

This wouldn't last long, when she was eight the Battle of New Harmony had broken out as the world came under attack by the Covenant. Her parents and her were rushed to the closest space port along with other civilians. However once they reached the shuttle they realized that there was barely any space left; so they placed her on board the shuttle and told her they were going to look for more people to help. By the time Svetlana felt the shuttle lifting it was too late, the last she saw was her parents tearfully waving at her as plasma streaked above them burning the world around them. Svetlana stood frozen watching the decimated port as the shuttle broke orbit, her eyes never leaving the scorched planetside even as it vanished into the blackness of slipspace.

By the time the shuttle, which was destined for Reach, arrived on the planet ONI agents were already waiting to extract Svetlana. However when they approached her she was still standing in place, right where she watched her parents die. When they called her name she refused to respond or even acknowledge the name, when they tried to grab her she violently lashed out and cut one of the agents across their cheek. With a look of unbridled fury in her eyes she stated Svetlana was gone, and that all that was left was Bodark, despite initial hesitation the agents decided to agree if it meant bringing her in.

Training
"They're your team, you work with 'em because you sure as shit ain't getting through this program without them, they're all the family you got left"

- Chief Petty Officer Mendez to Bodark-B076 after nearly getting into a fight with her team

Bodark, formerly Svetlana, was taken to Camp Currahee on Onyx where she met with the other candidates of Beta Company. Like other members of Beta Company Bodark held strong motivation fueled by her desire for revenge against the Covenant, however hers was distinctly more prevalent when compared to others. This was first made clear just after she had been brought to Camp Currahee. When faced with the huge armored man that she would come to know as Lieutenant Commander Ambrose she was decidedly apathetic to his presence however when told that they were being given a chance at revenge and that they could leave if they wanted, she didn't move a muscle.

The first of the constant years of tests to come began with them being loaded into a large dropship and being given large, heavy backpacks with a series of straps and clips keeping them firmly attached. As they sat in wait the order came clear as day, if they wanted to stay and fight, they needed to jump and while some hesitated Bodark didn't, she marched straight up to the large man when he called out Trainee-B076 and jumped.

Upon landing, her and the other cadets made their way back and were given a meal and then sent to their barracks as reward for their dedication. While most of the others spoke with each other, exchanging stories and names about themselves Bodark was a good deal more reserved when talking to others but their stories were at their heart very similar, most were either already orphans or were made orphans by the War and their endgame was all the same, Revenge for those they had lost. In the days after they had begun their brutal training from countless hours of PT to mind numbing theory based courses. In PT Bodark ,as a result of her previously well developed physical abilities, seemed a natural fluctuating from the front quarter to the head of the pack. The same could not be said about her theory classes where her already present anger issues made her less than stellar performance all the worse.

As the days wore on they were assigned into teams. Bodark was assigned to Team Kilo along with Jericho-B257, Arlo-B135 and Jamie-B295, Bodark was appointed team leader which while initially didn't seem bad, as the weeks drudged on Bodark would constantly push herself and teammates as far as she could as a result of her determination. This would continue right-up until they began to introduce more Combat Oriented courses. While her initial blunt force approach seemed to work her constant hard going began to wear on her teammates which lead to their performance dropping much to her ire.

Particularly in CQC training she performed somewhat above what was expected despite her less than nuanced fighting style and approach to combat. However it was here that she would meet Adrian-B143, another promising CQC combatant who actually seemed to know a fair amount about fighting however this was put to the test against Bodark's savage style of throws, pummels and locks aimed at beating the life out of opponents as quickly as possible. The two would frequently clash on the mats and while Bodark won most of the time, it became clear that her style and size wouldn't let her keep her advantage for much longer.

Broken Team
As the years of training, continued there was a marked improvement in the skill and proficiency of the trainees. Despite the progress made since their formation, Bodark grew increasingly annoyed with her team's inability to meet her standards. In one particular instance in 2541, Bodark lashed out at them after Arlo and Jericho failed to beat their respective opponents in CQC. As Bodark continued to call out their incompetence and resorted to name-calling, a fight almost broke out between her and Jericho as tensions escalated. Fortunately, the other drill sergeants took notice and forcibly separated the two before either of them could start a brawl. MCPO Mendez personally pulled her aside to reprimand her, and he made it abundantly clear that she wouldn't get through the program by herself and that they were the only family she had left. The last part in particular had a lasting effect on Bodark which would see an impact on not only her training but also her sociability with clear contempt being held by her teammates.

As a result she formally resigned from leadership of the team in the days after the incident leaving Jericho to take the leader position. While bewildered by her actions the rest of her team was still wary until they had noticed the extent of her withdrawal. She would no longer push them at all preferring to push herself alone and at the same time she had almost stopped speaking to anyone.

In one particular incident after she had successfully beaten her opponent, Adrian-B143, he made a remark about not being surprised that a family would be happy to be rid of a monster like Bodark. At that moment Bodark leapt back into the sparring area and began to beat, bruise and nearly break Adrian's bones until she was forcefully restrained by instructors but by then he was unconscious and bleeding substantially. However in the aftermath the other candidates visibly avoided her only exacerbating her seclusion.

Eventually this began to be detrimental to the team as a whole as they began to lag behind even in basic trials like Ring the Bell which lead to her being taken for a Psychological Evaluation. It was here she was made aware of what exactly she had done and why her team had reacted the way they did. She had been unaware or unwilling to entertain the idea that others weren't as willing to push themselves to and past the brink as she was. She was so aloof to this she didn't realize that she had begun to push them away with her extra training, harsh reprimands for failure and uncompromising attitude. When they finally 'left', she was left confused and alone, when the realization became clear that it was her fault she was determined to not lose the closest thing she had to family.

Reconciliation
The next day in the barracks she had approached them and to their confusion she seemed uncomfortable, but after a moment she finally spoke. To their surprise she apologized for her behavior and promised to try and make up for it. While Arlo was skeptical and Jericho tenuously accepted her apology, the first to actually forgive her was Jamie who despite her initial distaste for Bodark did realize the benefits of pushing themselves to and past their limits.

In the days after, Bodark's attitude towards her teammates had drastically changed, no doubt due to her realization in her evaluation. She had decided to not only stop holding her team to her expectations but also stopped dragging them along to her extra training, having felt she had been the source of enough tension between them.

Over the next few months Bodark's consistent, although not always successful, attempts at being more of a team player did go a ways to improving relations with her team with Jericho eventually beginning to trust her and Arlo, with some prodding, doing the same while Jamie had forgiven her only a day later and would go on to become Bodark's first true friend. As the years trudged on however, she did improve her relationship with her team. Joining in conversations, making the occasional quip or joke and even laughing more openly with them. Over the years she started calling them her friends and eventually even family.

Scarred Mind
However while she did improve her relationship with her teammates Bodark did have a slew of her own issues which as the years progressed, especially in her teens, became more exacerbated. Namely of these were her continued attempts to distance herself from her past. While others had at best fleeting memories of their past and some even tried to hold on to their memories, Bodark actively tried to detach herself from them. Which started when she had begun to use Bodark as her real name as opposed to Svetlana, further attempts included dying her hair silver and speaking English more and more as opposed to Russian. This was not lost on Instructors or Psychologists who while initially worried it would lead to further issues in her combat effectiveness were proven wrong as her performance only seemed to get better.

Focusing the Anger
Despite the concerns about her mental state she continued to push herself alone and sometimes the others would willingly tag along and try to keep up. She would go further and further namely in her CQC training where she spent extra time training and learning several different fighting styles in order to clean up her less than coordinated style which others were beginning to exploit. While she would at times attempt to mix the styles she often found little to no success until in her last two years where she found some success in doing so.

Outside the Combat Training and PT courses she had also found a particular fondness and interest in Vehicular Warfare in the last few years. Bodark showed uncharacteristic levels of interest in the classes and their focus on how to identify weaknesses and flaws in Covenant vehicles and how to exploit them to take them out among other courses such as vehicle operation and maintenance. Her skill became apparent in practical training where she would land her shots with surprising accuracy in all listed weak points and she would even go so far as to find new ways to defeat the vehicles in her spare time. This dedication, along with her obvious skill, earned her a place in advanced sessions dealing with utilizing the environment to their advantage and how to utilize a range of vehicles to work together seamlessly. The training and learning about these tactics would occur alongside wider scale classes of advanced offensive and defensive driving and ambush tactics.

In their last four years Kilo had gone from a embattled, detached and conflicted team to one of the closer teams in the Company. For Bodark especially she became far more sociable although this only extended into her immediate team as she exhibited her old silent, intimidating and serious demeanor when interacting with other cadets.

Graduation
After several years of training the Spartans of Beta Company underwent their augmentation procedures on the UNSC Hopeful as part of their Graduation. After the augmentations Bodark and her team all woke to their greatly increased size, speed and strength. However, this growth spurt did lead to several days of rehabilitation for the Spartans to adapt to their newfound capabilities. Following their rehab, the teams were put into competition for Top Honors to find the true standouts from among the Company.

Bodark's team performed well in Marksmanship and Cyber Warfare as well as in Demolitions thanks to her teammates. In team based exercises however her team was outplayed by others as. When it came to the CQC courses, Bodark was the one to shine among her squad. She quickly rose through the ladder as many expected, displaying her newfound mastery in several fighting styles and Spartan CQC. As a result by the time she had neared the top her progression had slowed as she went against other well trained CQC Specialists in the Company. However it was not until the final five that she found herself fighting Adrian-B143, the same person who was nearly beaten to death in a blind fit of rage at Bodark's hands, the difference this time was that there were no restrictions and no one to stop her.

The Fight
Squaring off, Bodark and Adrian circled one another, each sizing up their opponent until Bodark made the first strike. The two traded blow after blow across each others bodies, their swift movements interrupted with flurries of kicks, punches and attempted locks. For a brief moment Adrian seemed to have the upper hand as he used his smaller stature to strike Bodark, but as he continued Bodark, for the first time, successfully managed to let her now well trained and practiced combat methods merge with her old, savage way of fighting and used it to savagely beat Adrian into submission but with a level of control she had never had before being restrained by instructors before she went too far.

Bodark would go onto take 2nd in Top Honors in the CQC field as she was able to successfully include her old rage fueled savagery into existing forms which took form mainly in her last match. B312 had managed to match and even outwitting throughout their fight but near the matches end he fought far more reservedly and opted for well placed hits. While Bodark tried several times to take him out with her more aggressive attacks which culminated in him taking advantage of one such attack to deliver the final knockout.

She did manage to take Top Honors in the Vehicular Warfare field with her vast knowledge of design flaws and weakpoints in Covenant Vehicles as well as her skill in driving, maintaining and destroying UNSC vehicles which made her stand head and shoulders above her peers in the final tests for Top Honors in the field.

Operation: CARTWHEEL
Just as their Graduation ended Kilo along with the rest of Beta Company were being assembled for their first mission, their target was a Covenant Base on a far away moon. As preparations continued the anxiousness ran high through the Company including Kilo and Bodark.

The mission kicked off with Beta being deployed via SOEIV's to surprise the Covenant forces. Kilo was deployed two clicks north of the facility along with two other teams and was tasked with targeting the Garage and Armory in support of the teams targeting the Comms Relay and the main force targeting the Supply Depot. Bodark along with Jericho and Arlo had landed around the target area but Jamie was off course by half a click and had landed near a large rock formation overlooking the base. After blowing a hole in the wall near the Garage, Bodark took point in covering Jericho while he hacked the doors to get them in.

Once they had broken in Bodark finally got a first hand view of the source of her years of pain and anger. There were Grunts, Jackals and a few Elites trying to get the vehicles moving. While Arlo and Jericho took cover near the entrance after sealing it, Bodark opted for a different approach firing off rounds from her grenade launcher to disable the vehicles as she weaved between cover and closed the gap to dispatch several Grunts and Jackals with her knife as they tried to get to the vehicles, she also killed a couple of Elites with well placed shot into the gun carriage of a Wraith before a massive door slammed down in front of her.

Unknown to her Jericho and Arlo were keeping up as best they could trying to make sure she didn't get herself killed in her anger, picking off hiding targets which she had missed. After a good deal of reprimand from Jericho as they checked their section of the Garage they set to work. While Arlo set about planting the charges around the Garage they were interrupted by the sounds of Covenant forces trying to break in from the outside. Bodark was sent outside to flank them from the east entrance while Jericho struggled to keep them locked out.

She rounded the structure and spotted the group trying to break in, a lance of three Minors and one Brute supported by a trio of Jackals, she successfully attacked them with a combination of grenades and slashes from her knife. As she turned to meet the next she was nearly knocked back by an attempted kick to her chest which she met with grabbing the foot and redirecting it into the Minor behind her, knocking it back, and then breaking the foot. Not wanting to waste anymore time and get back to her team she finished them off with a burst to their skulls with her MA5K.

However as she turned to leave she was blind sided by the Brute which has leapt at her, throwing her backwards, she quickly recovered and stood to meet the Brute, dodging several blind punches thrown by the brute as she relentlessly beat and slashed it. Suddenly it lashed out with a loud howl and struck back out in surprising speed throwing Bodark at the sealed garage doors with a thud. Feeling her anger come back full force Bodark threw her knife into the charging brutes knee and then grabbed its head and beat it repeatedly into the garage door before it managed to kick off but Bodark was ready to meet it. As it lashed out with another blind punch she grabbed the brutes arm and flipped him into an arm bar as she suffocated the brute with her legs while its body flailed uselessly. She stood from the corpse and made her way to grab her rifle and rejoin the team she was surprised by a lone Elite with a sword but before she could respond it was sent to the floor by a sniper round fired by none other than Jamie some ways away in the rock formation to their north.

A few minutes later Jericho and Arlo exited the Garage due to Arlo making some mistakes in placing the charges due to the constant enemy fire and Jericho no longer being able to keep the Covenant locked out. As they withdrew toward their Calypso Exfiltration Craft, with Jamie guiding them out of the base and picking off patrols in their way, Bodark was met with a degree of reprimand from all her teammates, even Jamie. But after she joined them boarding the craft, the charges detonating in the distance, the chain reaction destroying the whole garage, they did commend her for giving them time to complete the objective.

While her teammates talked with the rest of the company about all their team had done she opted for her usual quiet and uncaring demeanor but it was broken by the occasional snort or lighthearted eye roll much to the surprise of others. It was there, along with her team, listening to them chat and even taking the plunge to chat a little herself, her story about the Brute being a particular one asked about although no story quite outshone Cody-B042's of having finally proved himself in combat.

She felt at home, for the first time in a long time she felt truly at home, the anger and the pain were there, they always would be, but for that one night she felt some semblance of calm. Even in the infirmary when she was being checked for concussive damage along with Jamie due to her rough drop, Jericho and Arlo made a point to check on them and when Jericho and Arlo were in Bodark and Jamie returned the favor. This was her family and she knew that now better than ever.

Selection and Reassignment
A week after Operation: CARTWHEEL, Bodark and her team were resting after another day of training. However their rest was interrupted as an Officer entered the barracks and began to call out a series of names, including those of Bodark and Jamie, before announcing that the named individuals were being permanently assigned to a special mission from Lieutenant Commander Ambrose.

As the officer departed, Bodark felt a creeping dread at being torn away from her newly-found family - only for it to be interrupted by Jericho and Arlo who, noticing her behavior and the similar behavior of Jamie, decided to cheer them up. Together they began to reminisce about the experiences they shared over the years, Bodark and Jamie joining in when their own experiences were brought up, sharing stories until there was only ten minutes left before their departure.

After packing her gear, however, Bodark would find that her teammates had one last surprise for her. When she turned to them she was presented with a section of metal, cut out from one of their bed frames, with the letter ‘K’ carved into it, her teammates having made each line with each one of their knives.

Grateful at the token she insisted on doing the same for the rest of her team before she left. Before gathering her bags to leave, Bodark took the chance to gather her teammates into a hug, which they returned in full force as they shared their final words before she and Jamie were ushered outside by the Officer from before.