Name: Sergei Degtyarev

Nickname: Mist "Дымка"

Age: 28

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: Ukrainian/Russian

Rank: Junior Sergeant

Role: Pointman

In-Depth Personality: Mist is generally a very calm and collected sort of person, though he has been known for making the occasional cheeky or irreverent remark. He carries an air of confidence about him, and isn't phased by combat in the slightest. One could say he is fearless to a fault, and once while he was in the VDV rushed into an exceedingly hazardous situation with no fear at all, as if he commanded the fight itself. For obvious reasons, he has withheld this information from anyone who wasn't present at the time.

When he is off duty, he is often more lighthearted, and while still calm, he is also more likely to open up and his cheeky self can show through a lot more. He likes to crack jokes, though some people won't really get them. He can be abrasive at times, though he rarely means to actually offend. It's more like he simply doesn't know how to say anything other than as directly as possible.

Character background: Sergei was born in Kiev, Ukraine to a fairly well off family, though his family was Ethnic Russian and their extended family was from Russia. That being the case, himself and his parents had dual citizenship, though he was the only one born in Ukraine. The economic environment in Ukraine had been improving rapidly since the end of the unrest with Russia, though there was still some tension between their governments.

When Sergei was about 12, his family learned that his grandmother had fallen ill and decided to move to Moscow to help take care of her. They originally intended to only stay until they were no longer needed, but their grandmother never quite recovered, and it was discovered some time later that she had cancer.

It took several years, and during that time Sergei proved to be a good student. He learned English in High School, and got close to fluent in it, but he always could speak it well enough. He also had a talent for Physics and Mathematics, and graduated with the top 10% of his class. His grandmother died roughly two months later, and though they began planning to return to Ukraine, Sergei was notified by the Army that he was to be conscripted, since he hadn't applied to any colleges in Russia.

Still, he took it in stride, saying it was only a year of mandatory service, and the conscription force would likely go easy on him. Oddly enough, he actually found that he had a talent during training, and grew to enjoy the challenges that the military presented. The constant effort to push himself became a daily excitement for him, and he always made the effort to push himself as hard as he could. He graduated in the top 5% of his class, and was invited to join the VDV. He accepted, seeing it as another challenge to overcome, and to further his training.

He almost regretted joining during training, finding the additional hardships to be extreme. Nevertheless, he made the cut and stayed with the airborne unit for four years, attaining the rank of Junior Sergeant and having command of a squad for his last few months. Despite how long he had been in, he only participated in combat a few times against insurgents in the North Caucasus, and only once in Syria. He acted as a forward scout and close quarters specialist in those deployments in which he wasn't a squad leader.

While he did like being in the VDV, he considered the thought that fighting abroad didn't really directly defend innocent lives. He found that he might be more useful in this capacity as a member of the police, and so he decided to apply for SOBR, a special tactics division of the MVD. They accepted him without hesitation, and while he still had to undergo training, he passed it with ease and was assigned to While he would have been demoted to a lower rank due to seniority, he retained the rank of Junior Sergeant due to his experience in the VDV. He participated in several robberies and hostage rescues, along with two counter-terrorism operations. After a couple of months, he was given the role of leading a detachment from his squad, making him the second in command.

Roughly a year after joining SOBR, he began to hear about how the US had fallen into turmoil. Shortly thereafter, Russia began to re-initiate hostilities with Ukraine, seeing it as an opportunity. Of course, this angered Sergei, and while he wanted to do something about it, most of his ideas involved committing high treason. He requested a short leave from SOBR, which he was granted. This gave him time to consider his options, and after much deliberation, he decided to defect to the US. He decided upon defecting as opposed to simply leaving for multiple reasons, but primarily out of fear that he would be arrested, being Ukrainian, if he arranged to leave Russia by conventional means.

During his planning phase, he decided to meet with Edward Snowden in the hopes that he would assist Sergei in contacting the US government anonymously. Snowden supplied him with the tools to do so, along with a list of US sympathizers in Russia and ways to contact them, though he understandably declined to go any further. He made contact with the CIA and described his situation, specifically stating that he planned on renouncing his Russian citizenship upon arrival, and that he was prepared to assist the US in containing their insurgency, while also omitting the fact that he was aided by Snowden. He and his contact determined that the best way to get out of the country was to cross the Bering Strait within the next couple of months and make contact in Nome, Alaska. He added that he would bring his weapon of choice as well, both to use once in the US, and also for self defense should he be pursued. The CIA agreed, under the condition that he surrender the weapon until he is admitted into whichever service he is placed in.

A month later, he requisitioned an AS VAL and three magazines, packed 150 thousand Rubles and enough gear to make the trip, and left Moscow, hopping trains until he made it to the Far East. He chartered a couple of planes and boats to make it to the Bering Strait. He made it as far as Lavrentiya before making the long walk across the Bering Strait, stopping at the Diomedes for a night before making the rest of the way across the ice and into mainland Alaska. He then hiked the rest of the way to Nome, upon which he was greeted by three CIA agents and then taken to Washington.

After several days of negotiations and mild interrogation, in which he basically gave them his complete service record. He was then transferred to the FBI, who informed him of Task Force Trident, and that they wanted him in it. He couldn't refuse the offer, and was assigned to the force immediately.

Loadout:

• Primary: AS VAL w/ 2x PSO scope (or) Saiga 12k w/ Kobra sight (depending on the mission)
• Secondary: CZ-75 SP-01 w/ suppressor
• Grenades: 3 flashbang grenades
• Combat knife
• 1 breaching charge; 5 M-80s (decoys)
• Pocketfull of nuts and bolts (decoys)