Boris Konev

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Captain Konev (800 UC (2 NIC / 491 IC / 3600 CE))
Gender:	Male
Affiliation:	Dominion of Fezzan
Occupation:	Merchant, diplomat (briefly)
Status:	Alive (801 UC (3 NIC / 492 IC / 3601 CE))
Played by:	Yasuhara Yoshito

Boris Konev (Japanese: ボリス・コーネフ) was a Fezzani merchant who captained the ship Berezka and later The Undutiness, and had briefly served as a secretary at the Fezzani embassy on Heinessen. Konev was a childhood friend of Yang Wen-li and later became an ally of the Yang Fleet as it challenged the New Galactic Empire of Kaiser Reinhard, providing intelligence using Fezzani connections in the galactic underground.

Konev considered himself to be an independent merchant and despite being coerced into working at the Fezzani High Commission in the Free Planets Alliance by Landesherr Adrian Rubinsky, he had a very cynical view of government.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early life 1.2 Fezzani diplomat on Heinessen 1.3 Investigation on Earth 1.4 Independent merchant 2 Appendices 2.1 Appearances 2.2 Memorable quotes 2.3 Background information

History

Early life

Boris Konev had been a childhood friend of future admiral Yang Wen-li. Yang recalled to Julian Mintz that Konev had been considered a mischievous child and had gotten in trouble for playing a lot of pranks, although it was thought that they were only successful because of Yang's assistance. (LOGH: 'The Darkness Before Dawn')

By 796 UC (487 IC / 3596 CE), he was the captain of the merchant vessel Berezka, with Marinesk as his first officer, and took on jobs such as transporting Terraist pilgrims to Earth. (LOGH: 'New Trends', 'Courage and Loyalty')

Fezzani diplomat on Heinessen

However, around the time that the civil wars in the Free Planets Alliance and Galactic Empire were reaching their conclusion, the Fezzani head of state Adrian Rubinsky decided to send Konev to the Alliance as a secretary at the Fezzani High Commission on Heinessen to help keep a closer eye on Yang Wen-li for him. That was because Rubinsky was aware of the merchant captain's acquaintance with Yang. Konev hated the idea of working for the government but accepted the order from Rubinsky. (LOGH: 'Farewell, Distant Memories')

By the time of the Eighth Battle of Iserlohn and the mobilization of Geiersburg Fortress, Konev had still been working as a Fezzani diplomat on Heinessen to spy on Yang, although he hated having to do this to his old friend. Konev was often around the Fezzani High Commission and observed the sorts of underhanded tactics that politicians use to accumulate wealth and retain political power. For example, he was waiting in the next room when Pretzer and Walter Islands negotiated some kickbacks on a favourable deal as well as discussing tactics to retain political power. (LOGH: 'Determination and Ambition')

His stint at the high commissioner's office ended when the Dominion of Fezzan was occupied by the Empire as the first stage of Premier Reinhard von Lohengramm's plan to invade the Alliance. Although a lot of the Fezzani diplomatic staff apparently abandoned Pretzer, the high commissioner, as news of the occupation reached the Alliance capital, Konev stuck around to help him because as a sailor he couldn't "abandon a sinking ship." (LOGH: 'The Cold Spell Arrives')

Investigation on Earth

After the defeat of the Alliance and the signing of the Treaty of Ba'alat, Konev met up with Marinesk and the rest of his old crew, who remained behind on Heinessen. The Berezka had been destroyed when they had escaped from Imperial-occupied Fezzan to the Alliance with Julian Mintz, Warrant Officer Louis Mashengo, and the former Alliance High Commissioner to Fezzan. However, Rear Admiral Alex Cazerne was able to procure a transport ship that was being decommissioned as part of the Alliance's treaty obligations to serve as a replacement for the Berezeka. Konev named it The Undutiness. Its first voyage was a trip to Earth with Julian, who wanted to investigate the origins of the Earth Cult. After briefly stopping at the secret base used by Wilibald Joachim von Merkatz and their small resistance group, they proceeded to enter Imperial space through the Fezzan Corridor. (LOGH: 'After the Ceremony, the Curtain Rises Again...')

Upon arrival on Earth, Konev, Mintz, Mashengo, Commander Oliver Poplin, and Napoleon Antoine de Hautetaire, a member of the Fezzani crew, entered the underground bunkers in disguise as pilgrims. They spent some time there before the three Alliance officers ended up getting discovered after they stopped eating the drugged food that the pilgrims were fed and went through withdrawal symptoms. Around that time a task force from the Empire under Admiral August Samuel Wahlen attacked the Cult headquarters in retaliation for a recent assassination attempt on newly enthroned Kaiser Reinhard. They provided assistance to the attacking Imperial troops as fighting erupted between them and the Terraists before evacuating. (LOGH: 'The Kümmel Incident', 'Visitors', 'Holy Land')

They claimed to be independent infiltrators sent by the Fezzani authorities, and in return for their assistance Admiral Wahlen allowed them to go to Odin, the Imperial Capital, with him. They spent some time there before their hotel room was robbed, with the missing items including the disk that Julian took from the Terraist headquarters that contained the data from their computers. Konev was able to recover it using his contacts in the underground, as he said the reach of Fezzan is everywhere. The Fezzani merchant captain was able to retrieve it with the assistance of discharged Imperial Military Police officers. (LOGH: 'Holy Land', 'Holiday's End')

Independent merchant

Following the trip to Earth, Captain Konev began to assist Admiral Yang, and discussed the possibility of getting Fezzani free merchants to provide them with money and intelligence in return for the promise of freeing Fezzan from Reinhard's New Empire. Konev notably asked Yang if there was any guarantee that defeating Kaiser Reinhard would make the galaxy better off, to which he said no. He was later present with them at Iserlohn Fortress when Yang and the others examined the contents of the data disk Julian had obtained. They discovered that Fezzan itself had been a front for the Terraist Church and the close connection between the feudal lords of Fezzan with Terraism, at which point Konev told the others that individual Fezzanis had no idea about this. (LOGH: 'The Plan to Retake Iserlohn', 'The Long Road Ahead')

He later returned to former Alliance space, now the Imperial territory of Neue Land. Konev returned to Iserlohn after finding out that the Terraist remnants would try to assassinate Yang, but was too late as the admiral had already departed the fortress and ended up getting killed. After Yang's death Konev agreed to continue to assist them, and during an intelligence gathering mission on Heinessen, he spotted some survivors of the Terraist Church visist the former Alliance supreme council chairman Job Trunicht's residence. The Fezzani reported the information back to Julian, who succeeded Yang as the leader of the Iserlohn Republic military. (LOGH: 'The Magician Doesn't Come Back', 'New Government in August', 'In the Distant Frontier')

Appendices

Appearances

Memorable quotes

"In a religion, there is nothing cheaper than the lives of its faithful. It is the same as how those in power view the people and how tacticians view soldiers. It may appall you, but you should not be so surprised." (LOGH: 'Holiday's End')

"I want to ask, do you honestly intend to defeat Kaiser Reinhard? So far, Kaiser Reinhard has not made any instances of misgovernment. Plus, his capacity and forces are probably more than enough to rule the entire universe. Is there any guarantee that the universe will be a better place after he's defeated, Yang?" (LOGH: 'The Plan to Retake Iserlohn')

Background information

Boris (Борис) is a Slavic given name of Bulgarian origin, with different interpretations, including "wolf", "short" or "snow leopard." His last name could be a reference to Ivan Konev, a famous Soviet commander from World War II.