CMS Brusilov

The CMS Brusilov was a Sovereign Colonies Armed Forces ship, designated UIC 10015 and nicknamed The Surgeon, that was left adrift over Tau Volantis after the Scenario Five cleanse. It had carried a science team dedicated to studying the alien Markers, and like every other vessel of the SCAF flotilla it was destroyed from within by the dementia and the Necromorph attacks that the Markers brought.

The Tau Volantis expedition#

The Brusilov arrived over Tau Volantis with the rest of the Sovereign Colonies Armed Forces flotilla sent to harness the energy of the Markers. Like its sister ship the CMS Greely, it hosted a science team assigned to the planet, but where the Greely's researchers studied biological specimens of the Tau Volantis aliens and the Necromorphs, the Brusilov's scientists concentrated on the Markers themselves.

At some point a Marker built by the Tau Volantis aliens was lifted up from the surface and stored in a secure area of the ship, which the team converted into a laboratory. Captain Suzuki noted unusual enthusiasm in one particular scientist for the work. As the studies continued, the Marker began to affect the scientists and crew, its signal seeding the same dementia that was breaking down the rest of the fleet and the facilities on the planet below.

Scenario Five and the suffocation#

Conditions across the flotilla deteriorated as Necromorph attacks and Marker dementia ground down the SCAF forces. Captain Suzuki eventually received orders to kill everyone aboard the ship as part of the wider Scenario Five purge. Out of respect for the people under their command, Suzuki told the crew and scientists what was coming and gave them time to get their affairs in order before the executions.

That choice proved fatal. One science team member, already driven mad by the Marker, refused to accept the cleanse order. While the others prepared for death, the deranged scientist disabled the Brusilov's life support and purged the oxygen from the ship. Suzuki hurried into an EVA suit only to find it had been repeatedly punctured. The captain, the crew, and the rest of the science team all suffocated, leaving the insane scientist alone with the Marker. The Brusilov became another lifeless hulk in orbit, and for two hundred years it drifted with the Marker and its reanimated crew lying dormant aboard.

Rediscovery#

Two centuries after the flotilla fell, Isaac Clarke and John Carver reached the derelict. The Brusilov held no air, so the two restored its life support before they could explore. As they worked deeper into the ship, Carver picked up a transmission that sounded like his son Dylan and pressed on to find its source.

In a lower section they reached the chamber holding the Red Marker, still trailing the cords of the tests the crew had been running before the cleanse order. A toy soldier sat near the artifact. Carver approached it despite Isaac's warning to stay clear, and as he lifted the soldier the Marker glowed red and an unseen voice asked him "Why did you do it?" It was the Marker's dementia working on Carver's mind, tied to a grief he carried; Isaac broke the trance as Necromorphs flooded the room. Once the chamber was cleared, the Necromorphs cut the life support again, and the two escaped the suffocating ship. Isaac realized the Marker had shown Carver something, but Carver refused to speak of it and told him only to focus on reaching the planet.