Nikolai Kulikov

Age: 31
Sex: Male
Species: Jackal
Origin: Soviet Confederation
Height: 6' 2"
Eye colour: Brown
Fur colour: Desert tan
Affiliation: Freelance, Shadow Fox
Current Position: Freelance arms dealer
Special Traits: Mechanic, gunsmith, psychic abilities (Mind Barrier, Telepathy, Telekinesis, Bio Manipulation, Machine Ghost, Mind Blade, Telemechanics)
Attire: Camouflage pants (black, gray, and white), black short sleeve shirt, black boots.
Identifying Characteristics: None of note
Weapons: 2x P14 pistols, M14 OICW, MG 42 machine gun
Vehicles: F 14 Tomcat, Tu 44 A1 gunship
Notes of Interest:

History: A freelancer arms dealer and ex NKVD operative, Kulikov (he almost exclusively goes by his last name) is a supplier of weapons and supplies to a number of freelance mercenaries throughout the galaxies, as well as a covert supplier of the Free World Alliance. Not just anyone can become a client of his however…a person or their group basically has to be ‘recommended’ by someone who already knows Kulikov personally.

This serves the jackal in several ways. One is security. His arms and other supplies caches are quite big and include the latest weapons available on the battlefield, and sometimes even prototypes not yet in full production. Another is that by keeping his ‘clientèle’ small in number, he can personally get to know each and every one of them, and has a good idea of what kind of people they are and what they’re likely to do with his ‘merchandise’. It also serves to help him keep a low profile…operatives of the Tyrian Empire, other arms dealers, vengeful mercenaries, and other ‘troublemakers’ will have a near impossible at best task to find him and although many have tried, so far not one of them have found him in the years he’s been operating.

In his days before selling weapons to a select group of elite mercenaries, he served in the NKVD of the Soviet Confederacy, an organisation that carries out several roles, from acting as federal law enforcement, a secret service, and an espionage and intelligence agency. Kulikov specialized in the espionage and intelligence aspect of the organisation and worked in the field, almost exclusively acting covertly as the eyes and ears for the Soviet Confederacy in the Free World Alliance, observing their civil war with the Tyrian Empire and secretly supplying the Alliance with weapons and small vehicles like starfighters.

Kulikov frequented military bases and the larger outposts of the Alliance, and after doing some basic logistical work, he would requisition new supplies from the Confederacy. Such supplies would often be rifles, pistols, food, ammunition, and other basic necessities. Because the Confederacy needed to keep its involvement under cover, only few people in the Alliance high command knew that the Confederacy was in fact providing these supplies, and that Kulikov was their link. Kulikov’s cover identified him as an Alliance logistics officer, not very high up in the chain of command…in other words, he seemed to be just another low-mid grade officer and freedom fighter. Weapons and supplies given to the Alliance from the Confederacy, although manufactured in the Confederacy were actually the very same weapons and supplies used by the Alliance so that none of them could be traced back to the Confederacy. Not only were they exact duplicates of Alliance supplies, but arsenal, serial, and identification numbers were replicated and reproduced.

For years Kulikov worked his covert mission, no one outside the top brass of the Alliance nor anyone in the Empire even having so much as a clue to his true mission and the source of his supplies, which seemingly materialised out of no where. Although there were those who suspected that he might be getting his supplies through less than legitimate channels and from outside the Alliance, effectively no one cared; so long as the Alliance was getting the supplies they needed, they were content with not knowing where said supplies came from.

His days as an Alliance supplier came to a close almost abruptly, and rather unsurprisingly with the Imperial sneak attack on Alliance headquarters on Cyax II. Although Kulikov himself was not at the base, being away on a supply run, he quickly found out what had happened, and diverted his supply of now desperately needed weapons and rations to an Alliance outpost where the high command had fled. Both the Alliance and Soviet military feared that Kulikov’s link and true source of supplies could be discovered through some of the intelligence captured by the Empire in the attack, so as soon as he was able to return to Soviet territory his operations were terminated.

The NKVD gave Kulikov two options on his return; he could either continue his work in another field, this one not involving the Alliance or the Empire at all, or he could get an honourable discharge from service while retaining his benefits such as his pension and others. He chose the latter, and with a bit of the money gained from a service bonus he received when his mission was terminated he procured a large tract of land on which sat an out of service Soviet Air Force base, as well as a rather large cache of weaponry.

From that moment on, Kulikov slowly built up an arms dealing business, selling at first largely to the contacts and people he met in the Free World Alliance, which he could now do with relative safety since he was no longer officially part of the NKVD and Soviet Government; if he was found out, he’d be seen as just another of the multitude of black market arms dealers. As a number of elite operatives of the Alliance started forming freelance mercenary groups to strike at the Empire while the Alliance rebuilt its forces, Kulikov started to approach a select few of them and offer to become their weapons and munitions supplier. Soon enough, Kulikov was making a rather handsome profit, as the mercenaries were in constant need of supplies and ammunition, and Kulikov was selling them as fast as he could get a hold of them.

As he continued to profit from the freelance arms trade, Kulikov expanded his business and started acquiring just about piece of military hardware imaginable, from tanks and armoured personnel carries to starfighters and gunships. In just a few short years, perhaps as few as three, Kulikov was one of if not the largest private military hardware dealers in the known galaxies, despite the fact that less than a dozen freelance organisations and one major nation knew of his existence.

He became Shadow Fox’s supplier very early on in his independent business endeavors, having befriended Volody Tupolev when he and his adopted brother Vasili Ilyushin were working as operatives of the Free World Alliance. When Alliance forces scattered, Tupolev and Ilyushin became independent operatives, and Kulikov agreed to keep them equipped with the needed supplies. He knew that money would be tight at times for them, and offered the two canines the ability to ‘buy now and pay later’, knowing the duo was good for it. About two years later, Tupolev and Ilyushin returned to Kulikov’s facility, this time with an escort aircraft carrier in their possession, and two more operatives as part of their ranks. They had become the special forces mercenary team known as Shadow Fox, and in addition to supplies needed for their operations they were in need of their carrier being refitted to better suit their needs. With a simple telephone call, Kulikov had his best mechanics and armourers at his facility later that day, and a month later the fully outfitted Shadow Dragun was ready for operational use.

***
My freelance arms dealer and informant, Nikolai Kulikov, one of Shadow Fox's special resources.

All credit to Nintendo where applicable.
Everything else Copyright to me
Drawing by Naira