Ivan Komarov

Ivan Komarov was born on Sadaph in the Aerasia star system on 15 July 3176. He had two brothers, Sergei and Viktor, both of whom also rose to great heights in military service of the Protectorate, and the Imperial Alliance during the Perth War. He was educated in military strategy in military schools on Sadaph, and entered the Protectorate Navy as a lieutenant in 3194. In 3198, the same year his brother Sergei received his commission, he was promoted to captain of a carrier; in 3200, he was promoted to captain of a carrier squadron, then in 3205 he was placed in command of strategic operations for the four supercarriers in the Protectorate Navy at the time, giving him the rank of Rear Admiral. During the Perth War Ivan, along with his brothers and many other senior military officials in the Empire and Protectorate, advocated for a more defensive strategy, designed to protect human territory rather than conduct serious offensive operations against the Perth. They were especially opposed to the decision made by leaders in the Imperial Alliance to order human fleets to pursue Perth fleets into Perth territory and destroy all their warships to force a Perth surrender, instead of seeking a diplomatic solution. The Asgardian and UN leaders in the Alliance were adamant about this course of action, however, and the Imperial and Bandorian leaders decided to go along with this rather than to risk a civil war. After his brother Sergei's death on 7 November 3217, Ivan committed himself to a more offensive strategy, as the widely believed opinion at the time was that a Perth agent had managed to sabotage the warp drive on Sergei's ship, causing it to explode while underway. The war was soon over, with the mass suicide of the Perth as Imperial Alliance fleets entered their systems in massive numbers; Ivan's flagship, the supercarrier *Tolstoy*, was rammed by a UN battlecruiser in an accidental maneuvering thruster failure; the two ships were moving very close together in a complex cover fire strategy in a battle in the Perth Tarana star system, and the UN battlecruiser smashed into the *Tolstoy*'s upper section, destroying the bridge and all communications equipment, as well as a major portion of the supercarrier's turreted weapons systems. A repair team from the UN ship was dispatched to the *Tolstoy*, although it is unclear what the purpose for this was, as the supercarrier was still capable of launching its full complement of subcapital ships. Afterwards it was discovered that all sensor records from the *Tolstoy* from the time it entered the system were missing. The *Tolstoy* was the only Imperial or Bandorian ship to come within 100 AU of any planets in the system during the battle; none of its subcapital ships were launched during this stage of fighting, as most of them were in the outer area of the system waiting to be picked up after destroying several Perth gunship squadrons. Ivan's death was determined on 3 December 3217, a day before the end of the war. He is remembered through Protectorate history as a masterful naval strategist. He was posthumously awarded the title Defender of the Protectorate, the second-highest title given to a Bandorian citizen.