Operation Khoroshev's Razor

> *"Your boss is dead. Your only alternative to submission is to follow him. Surrender as wise men, or die whimpering like dogs."*
> ~ Marshal Tisifona Okhotnova, holding a group of mobsters at sword-point.
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## Overview

**Operation Khoroshev's Razor** is the name given to the combat operation launched by the Drakon Brigade in 2131 to hunt down Anatoly Rakovsky, the vozhd son of Szymon Rakowski and chief of operations in central Asian Russia. It was launched as a direct response to the rape of Yelena Trotskaya, who jointly conducted the operation alongside Marshal of the Mechanocracy Tisifona Okhotnova.

## Background

Prior to the rape of Trotskaya, Anatoly Rakovsky had only barely been tolerated in the region by the higher Mekh authorities, seeking to maintain good relations with the Nightfall Society in case the powerful global syndicate's vast resource base were to be needed. As far as Mir was concerned, however, Rakovsky had thrown the first stone with such a personal affront - he was now fair game for being made into an example.

The commander of the Ufa VV garrison expressed profuse surprise as a result of being graced with the presence of the Mechanocratic Armed Forces's most powerful figurehead at his doorstep. In the middle of the night, a week prior to the operation, Okhotnova requisitioned an entire company's worth of Internal Troops for an unscheduled *"training exercise"*. Well aware that 'unscheduled training exercise' normally translated to 'top-secret operation' in such contexts as this, and especially given the involvement of the Marshal herself, the commander authorised the transfer without any question.

## Conduct of operation

The first movement of the operation was for Trotskaya, shadowed by ten Drakon supercommandos, to confront and terminate Rakovsky in his mansion. She slaughtered her way through the guards and used a fusion bomb to destroy the better part of the mansion, eventually entering it and encountering Rakovsky as the commandos cleared the rest of the house. After making a pathetic attempt to knock her unconscious, fully intent on recapturing and selling her as a slave, Trotskaya's archnemesis was cornered and 'purified' by the Crimson Seraph with her plasma sword.

The massive explosion from the fusion bomb at the mansion was the cue for Okhotnova to commence the operation. In the space of one single hour, the Internal Troops, commanded by the rest of the supercommandos, smashed down the doors to every brothel, drug den and protection racket formerly under Rakovsky's control in Ufa. Okhotnova herself led the charge, blasting her way into an illegal joywire factory and killing everyone who refused to surrender. The Ufa syndicate was taken by complete surprise, and many of its members immediately surrendered out of sheer terror when confronted by the dreaded super-elites of the Drakon Brigade. Others, however, put up a fight, seeing little to lose, to no effect - only four Internal Troopers were wounded in firefights, and none were killed.

## Aftermath

> *"You kill me, the whole fucking underworld will hunt you down! They won't stop until you and your stupid friends are DEAD!!! YOU HEAR ME?! YOU CAN'T TOUCH ME!"* (\*)
> ~ Anatoly Rakovsky bellows fire at Yelena Trotskaya, moments prior to his death.
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Upon learning of the operation through his vast web of informants, Szymon Rakowski, Anatoly's father, had begged Mir to spare his son its wrath. The Archaelect responded only by commiserating Rakowski for having been cursed with such an arrogant and foolish offspring, and - in an intentionally cryptic manner - stated that *"adults must solve their own quandaries"*. Secretly, Mir hoped that Rakowski would marshal the vast forces of the criminal underworld in a quest for vengeance against Trotskaya, providing her a sufficient challenge to prevent her from ever growing complacent and weak.

## Trivia

The title *Khoroshev's Razor* is derived from Khoroshevskoye Road, the Moscow street where Russian mafia boss Vyacheslav Ivankov was shot dead in 2009.