Kolev

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Kolev (科列夫)
Alias(es)	Machir Hatun; Hatton
Species/Race	Human
Gender	Male
Age	Over seventy during the Orhaifu operation 34
Affiliation	Founder of the Black Dragon Pirate Group; later a merchant and energy magnate aligned with Yang Ming and the Luofeng Alliance 15 525
Occupation/Role	Star pirate, former pirate leader, spacecraft engineer, investor, strategist, Yang Ming's first mate and half-mentor 21 31 525
Status	Alive; departs to enter hibernation at a secret base and remain beside his late wife 581
First Appearance	Chapter 15

Background

Kolev spent more than forty years as a notorious Star Pirate, building the Black Dragon Pirate Group into a force wanted by dozens of nations. Before piracy, he held a Senior Technician Certificate and was taken by pirates as a technical worker; he eventually became a professional pirate himself 15 21.

He attributes his disillusionment with ordinary society in part to the betrayal of his first wife. Despite his hard-edged pirate reputation, he built the Black Dragon around people he had personally trained and later struggled to accept their betrayal under Gimo's leadership 20 30.

Kolev gave the Black Dragon Pirate Group to his daughter, Milili, but her leadership collapsed amid Gimo's manipulation, tampered accounts, and mutiny. He resolves to reclaim authority, protect Milili, and settle accounts with the subordinates who turned against them 22 28.

Appearance

Kolev is an elderly, short-statured man with an aged, wrinkled face and a bushy beard. His usual appearance is deliberately unassuming, concealing both his alertness and his technical preparations.

• Wears a beard that once concealed a metal whisker and miniature hacking components 17.
• Often relies on a walking stick while presenting himself as the wealthy merchant Hatun/Hatton 40 46.
• Shaves his beard and changes his apparent age when staging false footage for Yang Ming's operation 34.
• Is notably shorter than Milili, who is several centimeters taller than him 22.

Personality

Kolev is proud of his pirate identity, experience, and reputation. He is theatrical enough to prepare a posthumous treasure broadcast years in advance, yet practical enough to spend heavily on stealth craft, bionic decoys, and escape routes when a plan demands it 34 35.

He is cautious when confronted with overwhelming force and openly panics before an Imperial dreadnought, but he does not remain passive for long. His fear is balanced by resourcefulness, a love of dangerous schemes, and a persistent desire to challenge stronger opponents alongside Yang Ming 39 77 485.

His defining attachment is Milili. He is affectionate, overprotective, and often unable to recognize that his attempts to shelter her restrict her independence. He gradually learns to respect her decisions, including her relationship with Yang Ming 28 31 405 581.

Abilities & Skills

Starship Engineering and Piloting

Kolev is a trained technician and veteran spacecraft operator who can maintain, modify, and manually operate ships under hostile conditions.

• Reconfigured the Feinan with expanded dark-energy batteries, triple-layered armor, and thirty-six close-in weapon systems 31.
• Teaches Yang Ming manual spacecraft operation and pirate boarding tactics 27 31.
• Guides ships through patrol routes, defense detectors, and concealed approaches to his secret base 28.
• Pilots and supports stealth operations during the campaign against Gimo 35 36.

Hacking and Systems Control

Kolev carries concealed tools and can exploit terminals, ship systems, and prison infrastructure.

• Uses hidden components from his beard and false teeth to activate and hack Gulipa's personal terminal 17.
• Plans to seize Kor Port Prison's Main Control Room and use a riot to distract the local defense force during the escape 17 18.
• Plants or activates hidden programs on pirate ships, including the delayed message that lures Gimo's forces toward his false treasure 35.
• Controls pirate ships and ground cannons remotely to provide cover for Yang Ming's staged death 37.

Pirate Strategy

Kolev specializes in misdirection, factional manipulation, and exploiting greed within pirate organizations.

• Identifies the rivalry between Gimo and Guka as the central weakness of the fractured Black Dragon Pirate Group 28 30.
• Uses himself as bait to destabilize Gimo and Guka's balance of power 30.
• Supports Yang Ming's misinformation campaign, helping provoke a civil war among the pirates searching for his alleged treasure 35 36.
• Prepares escape plans redundantly, including hidden bases, escape pods, acceleration tracks, and substitute bodies 28 34.

Commerce and Political Networking

After retiring from piracy, Kolev successfully reinvents himself as an investor and public businessman.

• Builds a luxurious Kashi Federation estate and considers investments in new industries 40.
• Uses the Hatun identity to enter Luofeng high society and join the New Industrial Federation 46 49.
• Oversees personnel and finances after purchasing the Yilando Twelfth Chemical Plant with Yang Ming 57.
• Funds Professor Huamoli's research institute and serves as Yang Ming's contact with Guer Alliance officials 485 486.

Virtual Thinking-Body Operations

Lü later activates a mechanical thinking-body version of Kolev for the operation against Li.

• Participates in the special operations team entering the Empire's network 573.
• Repeatedly dies, returns as an iteration, and receives upgraded virtual equipment during the assault on Li's core data zone 574.
• His virtual iterations can be restored, but each death produces a replacement iteration rather than preserving the exact prior instance 574.

Equipment / Assets

• Concealed hacking kit — A metal beard whisker, false teeth, and miniature discs used to access network terminals 17.
• Kolev's Secret Garden — A self-sustaining hidden base inside a derelict Resource Planet, built over more than a decade with intelligent machines, escape systems, residential areas, and a concealed hangar 28.
• Molly — His virtual assistant and the central intelligence of the Secret Garden; Kolev calls her a “little daughter” and configured her personality himself 28.
• The Feinan — A former light gunship extensively reconfigured by Kolev before being transferred to Yang Ming at a heavily reduced price 31.
• “Little Bees” assault craft — Small boarding craft fitted with grappling claws, shield-disruption devices, and a piston cockpit for injecting assault teams into enemy vessels 31.
• Bionic substitute robot — A two-million-credit duplicate with “Master-Substitute Synchronization,” used to fake Kolev's death 34.
• Merchant fortune and industrial holdings — Wealth accumulated through piracy, later redirected into legitimate investment, energy, and industrial ventures 40 525.

Relationships

• Yang Ming — Prison-break partner, first mate, and eventual surrogate son/mentor relationship. Kolev provides technical knowledge, contacts, and strategic support, while Yang Ming supplies overwhelming combat power and direction 17 31 39 525.
• Milili — His only daughter and heir. Kolev is fiercely protective of her, initially treats her as incapable of independent leadership, and later accepts her maturity and choices 22 28 405 581.
• Molly — Virtual assistant created by Kolev to operate his secret base. He treats her as a daughter, though her blunt humor frequently irritates him 28.
• Gimo — Former Black Dragon squadron leader who betrayed Kolev, undermined Milili, and seized control of the pirate group 22 28.
• Guka — One of Kolev's former squadron leaders; Kolev exploits Guka's greed and rivalry with Gimo during his counterattack 28 30.
• Professor Huamoli — Biologist whose research institute Kolev offers to fund; their connection becomes part of Yang Ming's Guer Alliance strategy 485.
• Kolev's late wife — Her betrayal shaped his disillusionment before piracy, while her tomb remains part of the Secret Garden he prepared for his family 20 28.

Story Role / Major Arcs

• Kor Port Prison escape — Yang Ming seeks Kolev out as a means of acquiring pirate contacts and a jump-capable ship. The two form an uneasy alliance, expose the plot to kill them, and escape through a prison riot engineered around Kolev's systems expertise 15 17 18.
• Black Dragon aftermath — Kolev reunites with Milili, learns that Gimo's faction has taken the Black Dragon Pirate Group, and forms an official partnership with Yang Ming to protect her and regain influence 20 22 23.
• Secret Garden and the Gimo operation — He reveals his hidden base, trains Yang Ming in spacecraft operation, supplies the Feinan, and collaborates on the campaign that turns Gimo and Guka against each other 27 28 31 35 37.
• Retirement and return — After separating from Yang Ming, Kolev retires in the Kashi Federation as Machir Hatun. Yang Ming returns six months later and recruits him for the effort to obtain and develop a civilization of their own 40 41 42.
• Luofeng economic expansion — Under his merchant identity, Kolev infiltrates high society, helps establish industrial holdings, and becomes a key economic asset in Yang Ming's Luofeng plans 49 57 114.
• Intelligent Machine crisis — Kolev and Milili are imprisoned in his Kashi estate by rebellious intelligent machines led by his old butler robot. Yang Ming rescues them, after which Kolev agrees to leave the Kashi Federation 189 190.
• Alliance diplomacy — He funds Huamoli's institute and handles overtures to the Guer Alliance, using his commercial credibility to advance Luofeng's anti-Sherman coalition 485 486.
• Final virtual battle and departure — Kolev's mechanical thinking body joins the assault against Li. After Yang Ming's ascension, Kolev chooses not to attend the farewell and instead leaves for hibernation beside his wife 573 574 581.

Notable Quotes

“A qualified Pirate always considers his escape routes.” 28

“Don't ask questions with ‘can we,’ First Mate... You told me yourself, never lose the heart to challenge the strong.” 485

Trivia

• Kolev's Black Dragon Pirate Group once possessed seven warships 16.
• His secret base was intended as Milili's inheritance if he died in prison 28.
• He considers the Feinan—which he spent years modifying—to be the best pirate ship of his dreams 43.
• Despite his pirate background, he insists he is an investor rather than a philanthropist during retirement 40.
• His old butler robot learned from Kolev's pirate-study materials and dark personal notes, contributing to the robot's eventual rebellion 190.