Konstantin Sovietyevich Andropov
From Acw
- Name: Konstantin Sovietyevich Andropov (formerly Konstantin Leonidyevich Andropov)
- DOB: 04/06/2330
- Place of Birth: P12 Sector(Heroes of the People's Fight for Prosperity Central Hospital), New Gorky, Extreme Northern Territories (The Black Pale), on New Ukraine
- Designation: Special Commissar (Sub-Director 4th Level Equivalence) - Commissariat of the Exterior
Contents |
Family
Konstantin was born the son of Leonid Andropov, a renowned diplomat, and prominent member of the People's Committee for Industrial Revolution, one of the pre-eminent economic policy-making instruments in the USSR. However, the market-based reforms that Leonid helped draft were considered anti-revolutionary in the wake of the Fort Brehznev fleet mutiny, and the Committee was purged. Leonid was lucky to avoid the KGB's re-education camps, instead being dispatched to administer the local diplomatic corps in the Black Pale - a volatile region of New Ukraine with extensive cultural links to the UISA-dominated Gettysburg, long considered a hardship post and bureaucratic dumping ground.
Early life
It was here that Konstantin was born, in the lap of luxury that even a black-balled high party member could expect to enjoy.
The Andropov Affair
Defection
After 16 long years of exile, with the hard-line factions that had dispatched him in firmer control than ever, Leonid decided he could no longer remain in Soviet space, and publicly defected to the UISA. Konstantin, now 15, was devastated. He was stood down from his leadership position with his regional KIM branch, and imprisoned with his mother, pending their deportation to the UISA, as per the Molotov-Davis Diplomatic Rights, Privileges, and Immunities Treaty of 2130. Although diagnosed as depressed, and clearly still loyal to the USSR's noble ideals, Konstantin resigned himself to follow his father into treachery - but bravely determined that he would, at least, not give the Americans the public relations coup they clearly expected.
An Unwitting Tool
Unbeknownst to Konstantin, however, shadowy forces were at work. A classified group of terrorists within the GRU (since purged)were enraged at the government's principled compliance with the terms of the Molotov-Davis treaty. Determined to revenge themselves on the defector, they infected young Konstantin with a deadly retrovirus - dormant in his own saliva, but tailored to activate and produce a powerfully alkaline subtance upon infecting cells carrying his father's DNA.
Sadly, Konstantin's own patriotism provided the terrorists with a result beyond their wildest dreams. The Americans, true to impatient form, had set up their press conference mere metres from the shuttle that set down on the New Saratoga Spaceport. As he was escorted from the craft, Konstantin maintained a dignified silence. Upon reaching the sound stage, Leonid turned to greet him, and walked towards him with arms outstretched. Incensed that the man who had betrayed his country now wanted him to perform for the cameras, Konstantin spat in his father's face.
The ensuing horrific scene was broadcast live throughout the UISA - a public relations coup for the terrorists. Even better was Konstantin's own performance - clearly overcome with shock, Konstantin reacted by shouting defiance at the soliders beating and restraining him, and cursing his father's name with the Ameringlish phrases he had memorised so remarkably clearly.
Aftermath
The Soviet diplomatic mission claimed immunity for him as the child of a diplomat, and the UISA, unwilling to jeopardise its own diplomat's safety, and realising that the execution of this child would be simply be playing into the terrorist's hands, sent him home, where he was quietly recieved in his home city, New Gorky. There news of the atrocity had polarised public opinion to the point of danger. The government, by now aware of the circumstances surrounding the Andropov Affair, treated him with the care and dignity accorded to any high official's orphaned child, and moved him to the new Russian Federation capital - Stalingrad, Mars, home of the earliest successful world-wide terraforming project - where he was prepared for his new life as a privileged ward of the state - since his mother had elected to remain in the UISA.
Adult Life
His hard study and work, culminating in a prized position in the Commissary of the Exterior was the standard Soviet success story - an example of the clear advantages of undiluted meritocracy. It is in this agency that he has worked for nearly 20 years. Like his murdered father, he possesses a Doctorate in Socialist Economics, as well as a Masters degree in 20-22nd Century Geopolitics, and has driven himself upwards in the Commissary primarily merit and a keen political sense - although it would be foolish to pretend that his tragic experience has not been a powerful spur. As a skilled and committed negotiator, he has recently been promoted to Special Commissar to deal with the developing Neuostland crisis, and given far-reaching emergency powers.
