Vasily Spiakov

Vasily Spiakov was born on 25 July 2147 in the city of Dahisfal on Nodogorov 1 b, shortly after it was settled. He joined the Bandorian Army in 2163 and served in the 19th Disruptorguards for 10 years before going into politics; he was known for being one of the most physically imposing politicians of the late 22nd century, despite his quiet, reserved manner and relatively cautious strategies. He was appointed the governor of Nodogorov in 2177 by Supreme Leader Rodion Gordunov , and Nodogorov was one of the colonies that first came under attack by the UN and Asgardian forces in the opening campaign of the Second Interstellar War ; the Union attack forces entered the system on 23 March 2189. Spiakov was able to hold the system with superb defensive strategy, although he lost a considerable number of ships. Gordunov noted Spiakov's successful defense of his system, although this was brought to his attention by another Bandorian official who was in charge of overall Bandorian military strategy. Gordunov summoned Spiakov to Mystic 4, where they met and became fairly close friends; Gordunov appointed Spiakov as the coordinator for Bandorian defensive strategy in his sector, and for all Bandorian systems that had been colonized in the past three years, since these were considered quite vulnerable. Spiakov did a remarkable job with the forces given to him, but the Protectorate at this time was not really able to compete with the Union in terms of naval shipbuilding; the Bandorian systems that would become vast industrial powerhouses in the future had mostly just been colonized and terraformed, and in addition to this, Gordunov was reluctant to start building newer ship designs, since the Protectorate did not have a superior amount of money and resources at the time. As a result of this, only one of the Bandorian capital ship designs deployed during the war really proved successful: the Lvov-class battlecruiser, which was designed for maximum offensive potential. Most of the other capital ships deployed by the Protectorate in this war were designed for reliability, not for any real combat potential, and this showed throughout the war, with the Protectorate unable to mount any serious offensive campaigns due to the weakness of their ships; most commanders at the time, including Spiakov, chose to focus on defensive strategy and building up the ground forces. Spiakov held the Nodogorov system and other systems, including New Arkhangelsk, against attacks by often numerically superior Union forces. However, a little over a year after he had met Gordunov, Spiakov received the news that Gordunov had been assassinated by a Union agent on 4 July 2190. Spiakov traveled to Mystic for the funeral of the Supreme Leader. After the funeral, in the traditional Bandorian way, a council of military officials voted for the new Supreme Leader; they appointed Spiakov as the new Supreme Leader of the Protectorate on 20 July 2190. The war during Spiakov's rule was mainly about holding onto the systems that the Protectorate already controlled; Bandorian forces took heavy losses during these defenses but the territory was held intact, with no systems being lost to Union forces, although some Union task forces managed to deploy ground troops on Bandorian colonies or on smaller planetoids in Bandorian systems. Most of these troops were unable to complete any significant offensive actions, since the Bandorian ground forces, unlike the navy, had the advantage of superior firepower, tactics, and often numbers. Spiakov's rule as Supreme Leader technically lasted until 28 March 2196, when he fled to the Darkstar system with some Bandorian military and naval forces. The rest of the Bandorian forces in Mystic remained there under the command of Grand Admiral Lu Weng, who on 1 April 2196 proclaimed himself the leader of a new faction, called the Galactic Empire; about 10% of the Navy and 25% of the military did not declare allegiance to him immediately, while the rest backed him in hjs efforts and changed their allegiance to the Galactic Empire. Spiakov was on a stealthed UHW capital ship on his way to the Darkstar system, fleeing what his closest advisors had warned him would be a catastrophic defeat in the Mystic system; after he left, Lu Weng was able to salvage the course of the battle and drive out the Union invaders from the system, inflicting extremely heavy losses on them. On 1 May 2196 Spiakov arrived in the Darkstar system and announced openly that he was still alive; nine Bandorian system commanders, including Admiral Viktor Jenkov , declared their allegiance to him. This alliance of 10 star systems was all that originally remained of the Protectorate after the Second Interstellar War. Some citizens in the outer regions of the Mystic system refused to declare their allegiance to the Empire and maintained resistance to it for many years before finally being driven out of the system, holding many planetoids and even claiming control of Mystic 5 at one point; Spiakov disavowed the rebels as part of the treaty that made the alliance between the Protectorate and the Empire. This treaty was signed by him on 14 July 2197. The Union forces, having received a stunning defeat at the hands of Lu Weng's fleet, retreated back into their territories and did not attack either the Empire or the remnants of the Protectorate for a long time. Spiakov developed a close friendship with Jenkov, and gave him the title of Defender of the Protectorate at his funeral on 30 August 2219. Spiakov barely outlived his friend by a year, dying on 4 September 2220. He died a broken man, despised by many of both the remaining Bandorian citizens and soldiers for what they saw as his cowardice, and by the officials of the new Galactic Empire for his stubborn refusal to join them at first, although he did declare his alliance with the Empire in 2197.