end of series spoilers in this-
(Im not sure spoiler warnings are really needed in this thread anymore- the purists should all be scared away by now
)
Sousuke's only been with Mithril for about a year and a half at the end of the series- I don't know how long Kalanin has been with them, but definatly not during those past events.
(I'm not even sure to what degree mithril would have even been around and operating at that time)
Kalanin is from Russia, and had, at first been an enemy to the force Sousuke was with.
Oh hell, here's the whole thing, because I have alot of time to kill atm
.
These past events we are talking about?
They are based on the real war between the USSR and Afghanstan that took place roughly 1978-1987. The Soviets were trying to occupy the country, and Kalanin is supposed to have been a part of that military effort.
Sousuke (however he came to be), was with the Afghans- who were viciously opposing the occupation. (which is why he was first trained with terrorist tactics- lacking man and firepower equal to the soviets, the afghans had to resort to guerella warfare- my spelling is poor right now, sorry.)
I assume, mostly from the anime but from other things, that the group Sousuke was with for the homeland flashbacks, was his first real hardcore group.
At some point later, for whatever reasons, Kalanin leaves the USSR- and joins up with his former enemy (for shelter? to assist? for common cause?)
Gaulun was already in the picture, but I guess he was looking for Kalanin specifically. I *assume* (but don't *know*) that Sousuke came to Gaulun's awareness mostly because Sousuke and Kalanin worked together during this time. I highly doubt Sousuke was any sort of target for Gaulun.
But, from there, the story is mostly gone, til Sousuke joins Mithril (much later)
We can pretty much only guess (at this point) that he's moved from merc group to merc group, internationally.
We don't know (yet) when or how Kalanin joins Mithril, and we aren't sure how or why Sousuke does. (I would guess that Sousuke came to Mithril on his own- unrelated to Kalanin's involvement. I base this purely on their professional personalities- Kalanin wouldn't obviously overtly affect Sousuke's life or choices- to do so would insult him. Kalanin's rank and assignment (on the Daanan) suggests to me that he's been in Mithril quite a bit longer than Sousuke.)
BTW I wasn't posting this to counter or anything, just cuz I'm mostly bored and had some info and thoughts to share
:)
I'm sure many of you are already familiar with the little history lesson included <g>
