Checkmate, or Шāх-мāт, was the the Soviet Union's—and later, Russia's—version of the United States Government intelligence agency of the same name.
History
To combat the threat of Victor Cypher, a billionaire industrialist with designs on ruling his ancestral homeland, the European nation of Austanburg, Soviet Intelligence formed an espionage force of its own inspired by the American agency Checkmate—though possessed of fewer resources.[1]
Contact between the Soviet Checkmate and its American counterpart was first made when an agent was dispatched by the USSR to retrieve the Powerstone, an ancient energy source stolen from them by Cypher and thought to be carried by Checkmate Knight Mark Nagoya. After intercepting Nagoya's Greyhound bus in Tennessee and defeating him in battle, the agent found, however, that he carried only a decoy and the genuine Powerstone had already reached Cypher. Proposing a truce against the common threat he posed,[2] the Soviet agent was, with much trepidation, brought in on a Checkmate strike to bring down Cypher before he could cement control of Austanburg. Dropping at Austanburg's Cypher Industrial Complex, the Soviet agent and Nagoya together brought down one of Cypher's armored soldiers—whose equipment was, unbeknownst to them, fueled by the Powerstone. Tracking the stone by its energy signature, the Soviet extracted it from the complex's machinery, disabling Cypher's armored forces—though he was ultimately able to maintain his hold on Austanburg by political maneuvering—and escaped with it in the chaos, betraying his erstwhile allies.[3]
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the agency renewed its ties to Checkmate, becoming its Russian division, Шāх-мāт. To avoid the red tape involved in using their own Knights, Checkmate leadership called on Шāх-мāт to respond to a request for aid from their operative Roy Harper, undercover with terrorists led by Cheshire attempting to steal decommissioned Russian nuclear weapons from a missile silo on the Taymyr Peninsula. Engaging Cheshire's forces in a firefight, Шāх-мāт failed to prevent them from escaping with five nuclear warheads—one of which was used to lay waste to the Middle Eastern nation of Qurac—but succeeding in averting the detonation of a warhead left behind in the silo as the terrorists fled and extracting the undercover Harper.[4]
With Qurac as proof of her conviction, Cheshire used the remaining stolen warheads to hold the world for ransom. Harper led both branches of Checkmate to her Antarctic headquarters. While Checkmate America brought down the base, Шāх-мāт targeted Cheshire's forces, with a secondary objective of retrieving Central Intelligence Agency operative Deathstroke. Although they reclaimed the warheads, Cheshire was able to escape their grasp.[5]
Paraphernalia
Equipment:
- The Knights, or Коns, of Шāх-мāт wore uniforms similar to those of Checkmate Knights, but with red rather than gold accenting, and a Soviet hammer-and-sickle in place of Checkmate's chess knight insignia. Their pawns, Peshkas, wore similarly-adorned red-and-yellow fatigues.[4]
See Also
- 5 Appearances of Checkmate (Russia)
- 1 Images that include Checkmate (Russia)
- Team Gallery: Checkmate (Russia)
Links and References
Footnotes