Czarina Jena Makarov
     A leading supporting character in Nikolai Dante, Jena Makarov is the
Crown Princess of the Second Russian Empire.  This Imperial Russia controls
most of the galaxy.  The only serious rival to the House of Makarov is the
House of Romanov, of which Nikolai Dante is a reluctant member.  Discovering
that he was conceived when the ruler of the House, Dimitri Romanov, raped his
mother was a very unwelcome revelation.  As he often says, "... and they call
me the bastard of the family?"  If he hadn't accidentally become bonded to
a Romanov weapon crest, a very useful biomechanical weapon, and if it wasn't
for the fact they'd kill him if he tried to walk off with the Crest,  Nikolai
would have abandoned the aristocratic life and returned to being a thief.
     Being the daughter of the Czar and brought up to revere the Code of
Imperial Honour, Jena's reaction to Dante can best be described as hate at
first sight.  Which was strengthened by Dante's disdain for the hypocritical
code by which the aristocracy lived, his constant efforts to seduce her and
the fact that he was both smarmy and an arrogant egoist.
     But people change.  As he saw and participated in the reality of the two
Houses' rivalry Dante's arrogance became tempered by empathy.  Empathy for all
the little people casually crushed underfoot by the Great Game as the Romanovs
and Marakovs skirmished.  Added to this was the realization that outright
warfare between the Houses was brewing and untold millions would perish for
the greater "glory" of the nobility.  Meanwhile following her father's casual
execution of her fencing teacher and mentor Jena became increasingly
disillusioned with the Czar and realized that Dante was right about the farce
that was the reality of the Code of Honour.  Which resulted in Jena and
Nikolai being able to work together when the physically and mentally twisted
Valentine Romanov went rogue and threatened to begin destroying the empire
with a weapon that generated black holes.
     In Progs 1109 (Aug 26 '98)-1110 (Sept. 2 '98) they caught up with
Valentine.  As you can see their mutual attempt to find and board Valentine's
vessel before he could attack Earth wasn't a complete success.
     Script by Robbie Morrison, Art by Simon Fraser





     Valentine and Nikolai dueled in the best heroic tradition.  Dante thought
he had won so he was able to turn his attantion to other pressing matters.



     It turned out Valentine wasn't dead after all but Dante managed to throw
him into the Darkstar as it fired.  As Valentine's Weapon Crest controlled
the Darkstar when it dismantled the Crest (and Valentine) as the singularity
began forming it shut itself down.  By sheer dumb luck Dante had saved the
Earth after all.



     Quite a bit's happened in Jena and Dante's relationship since then.  In
an attempt to publicly appear to be resolving their differences the Czar and
Dimitri Romanov arranged for Dante to become Jena's bodyguard.  Which meant
that when she was abducted from her fiance's castle Dante was held responsible
and declared an outlaw.  With the houses of Makarov and Romanov both using
Jena's abduction as a pretext for begining the civil war they'd been planning
for months Dante was the only one searching for Jena.  If you want to know how
what happened then follow this link.  Otherwise that's all for this page.









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