Stefan Gradin

Stefan Gradin
Biographical information
Homeland	Republic of Gorasnaya
Date of birth	Unknown; Before Emergence Day
Physical description and appearance
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Chronological and personal information
Era(s)	Locust War Lambent Invasion
Notable Facts	Head of the Emerald Spar Imulsion Platform
Weapons	Rifle Shotgun
Equipment	Imulsion jars Wrench
Affiliation	Union of Independent Republics Republic of Gorasnaya Coalition of Ordered Governments

"This platform is my personal kingdom, so nobody fucks with it, okay?"

—Gradin, telling Delta-One not to touch anything on the Emerald Spar

Stefan Gradin was a Gorasni citizen and the head of the Emerald Spar Imulsion Platform. He later maintained the Vectes Imulsion Field until the island was evacuated by the Coalition of Ordered Governments.

Biography

Working on the Emerald Spar Platform

Arrival of Delta Squad

"They want to play pirates? Good. We play pirates too. Amuse the gulls."

—Gradin, on why there was the top half of a Stranded corpse hanging from the Emerald Spar

Fifteen years after Emergence Day, Gradin gave Delta-One a tour of the Emerald Spar Imulsion Platform after the remnants of the Republic of Gorasnaya joined the Coalition of Ordered Governments. He explained to Sgt.Marcus Fenix how the platform could turn out twenty thousand barrels of Imulsion per day, but could produce more if they had the tankers to transport them. He explained the security situation on the rig, and how they had repulsed several Stranded attacks. As he continued the tour around the rig, he pointed out a hanging body of a Stranded pirate from the platform to a visibly impressed Cpl.Damon Baird, saying that if the Stranded wanted to play pirate, the Gorasni could too, and that it would at least amuse the gulls. Baird asked him if it detered attacks, but Gradin told him that they didn't care if it did or not. Gradin then took Marcus and Baird to inspect the rest of the Emerald Star's defenses. Once they finished, he took them back to the landing pad and asked when the Gear squad assigned to defend the station would arrive. Marcus told him it would get underway as soon as he reported in, and that they would bring their own supplies.

Preparing to Defend the Platform

"This is how Gorasnaya waged war in the Silver Era. Stand on the castle battlements and rain fire on the unwary. We enjoy this."

—Gradin, on Marcus's plan to pour flamable material onto the Lambent

A few days later, Gradin was contacted by KR Eight-Zero, and learned that Lambent Stalks were approaching the platform. He began arming his crew and preparing the rigs defenses, and met Delta-One on the landing platform when they arrived. Gardin shook Marcus's hand, and asked why the Lambent were targeting them. Marcus told him they were trying to figure that out, and asked if he wanted to evacuate any of his people on the Raven. He declined, not wanting to leave the defense his home in the hands of four Gears. Marcus understood, and told him more squads and Ravens were on the way. Gradin asked Baird how to fight the Lambent, and was filled in on the Polyps and all Lambent forms tendency to explode. They headed below deck, and the Gears were impressed with Gradin's crews’ preparations for the battle. He asked Baird if he wanted to have his injured ankle looked at, but Baird declined, thanking him for the offer. Gradin then briefed his people, telling them Borusc Eugen was filling the standby Imulsion tanker to capacity and sending it out as a precaution. He assigned two lookouts per flank, along with one depth charge launcher, and warned them about keeping the Polyps away from any flammable material. One of the men asked if they were shutting down the platform, but Gardin told him they only had time to stop the drilling. He and Marcus then began organizing extra defenses around the rig, including hoses to drop fire onto the approaching Lambent. When three more Ravens arrived with eighteen more Gears and Commander Miran Trescu, Gradin joined the rest of the Gorasni in cheering for their commander.

Battle of the Emerald Spar Platform

"I will not abandon this rig. You go."

—Gradin, after Marcus tried to get him to evacutate

After the battle began, Gardin fought hard to defend the platform. When a fire broke out on one of the lower decks, he sent a damage control team to try and deal with it. However, the rig was taking heavy damage and being overwhelmed by Polyps, and Trescu contacted Gradin, asking if the fire had spread. When Gradin told him it had, Trescu decided to order the evacuation of the platform. However, Gradin refused to leave, and continued to try to put out the fire with a hose, but had little effect. Marcus and Dom found him, and tried to convince him to leave, but Gradin refused to abandon his home. Marcus told him that it was only a piece of metal, and hit him in the face, knocking Gradin off balance long enough for Marcus to pick up him and shove him into the evacuation boat. After the evacuation boat got away from the Emerald Spar, Gradin watched, horrified, as his home burned and fell apart. Dom asked him how long the fires would go on, and Gradin responded that they would burn themselves out eventually. Not long after, the rig exploded several times, and Gradin watched his home sink into the ocean.

Living on Vectes

Advising Trescu

"But I like the Cogs, Teo. You weren't on Emerald Spar when the polyps attacked. You didn't see how the Gears fought to save us. Not the drilling platform. Us."

—Stefan, objecting to Trescu getting a plan ready to abandon the COG in case the situation on Vectes got worse

Several weeks after the destruction of the Emerald Spar, Stefan was still struggling to find something to do without any Imulsion work to do. While working on the Amirale Enka, he and SWO Teodor Marisc picked up an odd transmission on an old maritime control frequency, and deduced it was an encrypted data burst. They went to see Trescu and inform him about the transmission, but Trescu's wife, Ilina, kicked them out of Trescu's tent when they decided to smoke. They waited for Trescu outside of his tent, and entered with him after he arrived. They sat down to eat lunch with Trescu, Ilina, and their son, Piotr, and Stefan told him about the signal. Trescu thought they might be testing the Hammer of Dawn satellite signal strength, which made Piotr worry they might get bombed by the COG. Trescu assured him that wouldn't happen, and Piotr then asked if he was allowed to speak with the COG's, and asked if they really ate cats. Stefan laughed and told him on their expert sniper, did that, and that she wore tabby fur boots. Ilina shot him a look over him telling Piotr that, and suggested he try speaking with Cole, who was a former Thrashball player, instead. After finishing lunch, Stefan left with Trescu and Teodor to continue discussing the situation, and Stefan rolled up another cherrot to smoke. Trescu glared at him, but Stefan told him that he hadn't been able to smoke on the rig, and not to be too hard on him. Trescu told him to enjoy it while he could before he banned it, and told them that he wanted a contingency plan in place in case they ever needed to evacuate the island in a hurry without the COG. Teodor was happy with this plan, but Stefan was disturbed by it, and told them that he liked the people in the COG, and that they had fought on the Emerald Spar not to save the platform and the Imulsion, but to save his and the others lives. Trescu agreed with him, but said the situation wasn't about friendship or gratitude, and they had to be prepared to leave them behind. Stefan asked him if he wouldn't return the favor, and not go to their aid if they needed the Gorasni's help. Stefan waited as Trescu thought about it for a moment, and he then told Stefan that they would just have to stick around and keep the COG out of trouble then.

Imulsion Field Discovery

"It's very liquid. Not much refining needed. Very good. Very vioatile."

—Stefan, giving his assement of the Imulsion field to Parry

A few days later, Stefan was called in by SSgt.Lennard Parry of the COG Engineering Corps to investigate a Imulsion field that Marcus had discovered on patrol dep in the forest south of Pelruan. Stefan took several members of his crew, including Eugene, to the site to asses it, and gathered samples in glass jars and tested it. Stefan was excited by what they found, and told Parry, Marcus, and Dom that the Imulsion was very liquid, so it wouldn't take much refining, but would be very volatile. Pvt.Dizzy Wallin was contacted and told to bring his Assault Derrick Rig 314 through the forest to make a road to the site, and beginning drilling the field. Rena, one of Parry's engineers, was worried that Dizzy might be drunk since it was his day off, but Stefan told him it would be better if he was, since on one wanted to drill on a volatile Imulsion field sober. He then jogged over to a rock outside the field and placed a jar of Imulsion down, then ran back over to the others and told them to watch. Stefan pulled his rifle off of his shoulder and shot the jar, which exploded and went flying into the air, impressing everyone. When Rig 314 got close to the field, Dizzy discovered that there were polyps in the trees when they attacked the rig, and sent a warning to the field. Stefan and the others began to clear the area, but when they saw Marcus and Dom struggling to rescue Dizzy and Pvt.Samantha Byrne from the Rig, Stefan and Eugen started yelling at the polyps and drew a large group of the off to help out the Gears. They killed the polyps that followed them, and then returned to the Rig to assist Parry and his crew in clearing out the remaining polyps.

Working the Field

"Good morning, Commander. Just like the good old days. Imulsion everywhere. It's a very rich field."

—Stefan to Trescu, welcoming him to the Vectes Imulsion Field

Over the course of the next two weeks, Stefan worked with Parry to set up Imulsion pipelines and refining stations. He secretly had his crew set up extra pipes that fed into the Gorasni's own separate tanks, just in case Chairman Richard Prescott didn't give the Gorasni their fair share of the Imulsion. While trying to loosen a nut on one of the pumps, Stefan spotted Trescu arriving to inspect the field. He greeted him, speaking in Tyran so the COG engineers didn't get uncomfortable, and told him that it was like the good old days, with Imulsion everywhere. Trescu said it was nice to have good news for a change, and Stefan asked him if he was checking up on him to make sure he wasn't smoking on the job. Trescu told him he was just there to congratulate his people in person, and then asked him if everyone was feeling well, since some people suspected that the Lambent were somehow connected with Imulsion. Stefan told him that everyone was fine, and that he had lived in Imulsion practically his whole life, and working in it some more wouldn't make any difference. Trescu was worried about the quality of several of the machines they were using, but Stefan assured him everything was fine, and showed him the hidden pipes he had set up to make sure the Gorasni got their fair share of the fuel.

Vectes Imulsion Field Incident

"We will carry on. We carry on pumping imulsion because without it we wil all die here."

—Stefan, after Baird suggested shuting down the site after Eugen was killed by a Lambent Bull

Stefan continued his work at the field over the next few weeks, and he and his crew were defended from occasional Lambent attacks by rotating shifts of Gears. One day, Baird and Cole were assigned to guard the field. Baird asked him what the site was like at night, and assumed that it would be scary, but Stefan told him that they had plenty of lights, as did the polyps, which was helpful of them. He pulled out and began to eat a piece of cooked seabird, and remarked to Baird that they could always run if a large number of polyps attacked, which was more than they could have done on the Emerald Spar. Baird remarked that that had been a great piece of engineering, and cursed the Lambent for destroying it. Stefan told him he was the champion asshole slayer in the eyes of the Gorasni, and offered him some of the cooked seabird. Baird looked at it hesitantly and asked if it was cat, but Stefan laughed and told him it was just bird and fine to eat. Baird took it and reluctantly began to chew, and Stefan slapped him playfully on the back before getting back to work. A few minutes later, he and the other Gorasni stopped working when they heard something moving in the woods. Stefan sent Eugen to move the fuel truck a safe distance away, and called out to Baird if he could see anything. Baird told him he couldn't yet, but a few moments later, he called back that it was just a bull that had gone missing from Edlar Farm. Stefan grabbed his shotgun and joined Baird and Cole, but stopped behind Baird when he saw the bull. He realized it was glowing, and asked Baird if it was what he thought: Baird confirmed that the bull had gone Lambent. Stefan asked if they could shoot it, but Baird could only say that he was right about it being able to spread species. Stefan directed the other rig workers to back away and grab firefighting tools while Cole tried to lead it away from the Imulsion field. Several of the Gorasni followed with buckets of water to put out any fires that might start, but the bull managed to evade the Gears and charged at Eugen, hitting him in the chest and exploding. Stefan rushed over, and Baird tried to stop him from seeing the body, but he shoved past him and found his friend had been blown to pieces. Baird told him he was so sorry, but Stefan ordered the others to get a tarpaulin. They grimly gathered up the pieces of Eugen's body in silence, and gathered around it to mourn. Baird eventually told them they needed to shut down the pumps and leave, but Stefan turned to him and said that they weren't leaving, and would carry on their work. Baird tried to protest, but Stefan shook him and said they needed to work, or they would all end up dying on Vectes. As his crew returned to work, Stefan waited for a King Raven to arrive and transport him and Eugen's remains back to Vectes Naval Base so he could inform Eugen's wife.

Abandoning the Field

Over three months later, Prescott had abandoned the COG and Trescu had become one of the three leaders of the government, alongside Hoffman and Cpt.Quentin Michaelson. Preparations for abandoning Vectes were made as Lambent attacks increased, but Stefan and his crew were determined to stay and refine as much Imulsion as they possibly could be they had to leave. Stefan was contacted one day by Lt.Donneld Mathieson, who informed him that Pelruan had sunk into the ground, and hundreds of thousands of polyps had emerged, and KR Eight-Zero was en route to evacuate them. Stefan told him to tell the Raven to forget it, and that they would drive out of the site with as much equipment as they could carry. Stefan directed his people in loading up the tanker and their two pickup trucks, and then drove to Vectes Naval Base with KR Eight-Zero flying overhead as escort.