| « | People were dying all around me – and I was sitting quietly in my living room. Not fighting. Just thinking. I'd returned home to this island in search of peace, after so much fighting; so much bloodshed. I'd tried to hide, but war had found me once again. Victor Troska
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Victor Troska was the main protagonist of ArmA: Cold War Assault's Resistance campaign.
Background
Troska lived a fairly sedentary lifestyle for the first twenty two years of his life. He was best friends with a neighbour named Adam, and the duo treated one another as if they were brothers by blood.
In the 1960s however, that life would be shattered when the blight of Communism arrived onto the shores of Nogova.
The Communists gained much power and influence throughout the country, and by 1962 it was clear that Troska could no longer call Nogova his home.
Like many others, Troska opted not to raise arms against the Communists, but rather flee to safety. He stowed away on a cargo ship bound for the United Kingdom.
His exile would last a total of eight years. During this time, Troska opted to serve with the British military and succeeded in joining an elite special operations unit. It was in 1970 that his fateful meeting with an American Lieutenant named James Gastovski, would change his life forever.
Although their time together was short-lived, the two quickly became close friends, deploying on numerous black operations throughout the globe. The experience had also motivated Troska to return to his homeland in 1974; not as a mere civilian, but to help liberate it from the Communist regime.
Homecoming
Troska quietly propped up the anti-government movement by helping to funnel arms and training to the fighters. With his help, the movement succeeded in overthrowing the Communists and restoring the original democratic government into power. Immediately after the revolution's success, he joined the police force and helped to maintain stability and order on the island. He gradually rose through the ranks and became a judge.
However, the revolution's success also came at a steep price. Adam had been caught up in one of the rallies and was killed in the crossfire between protestors and government forces.
Troska wasn't responsible for Adam's death, but it nonetheless traumatised him greatly; Troska constantly blaming himself for having caused Adam's wife, Liz, to become a widow. Tom and Peter, Troska's neighbours and soon-to-be friends, attempted to dissuade Troska from such thoughts, reminding him that Adam's death wasn't his or anyone else's fault.
It was from that point onward that Troska vowed to himself that he would never again venture into war, having come to realise the enormous costs involved. To alleviate some of his guilt, Troska attempted to make "amends" by insisting on helping Liz in any way possible.
Resistance (1982)
...but it was not to last. His peaceful lifestyle would once again be shattered eight years later on 21st August, 1982. Nogova was invaded by Soviet forces led by an ambitious Soviet Colonel named Aleksei Guba. Guba's troops quickly dismantled the civilian government and executed incumbent Nogovan President Novak on live broadcast, installing a puppet Nogovan government led by former Vice Premier Ostrovsky in its place.
On that same fateful morning, Troska had just left his home and asked Tom to give him a lift to a bus stop at Petrovice to reach his courthouse in Lipany. Peter had promised to repair his motorbike but it wasn't quite ready to ride just yet.
Along the way, they passed by the village of Dolina and Troska noticed a (visibly melancholic) Liz standing outside her home. Troska asked Tom to stop nearby and asked if Liz needed to get anything in town. Liz politely declined his offer, and the duo continued on their journey to the city.
| « | Tom: How long has it been now, Victor? Two years? She's still got that look about her... Troska: Two years, and she can't let him go. Dammit, I could have saved him. Tom: Adam's death wasn't your fault, Victor. It wasn't anyone’s fault. Tom attempts to reassure Troska
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Still blaming himself for Liz' state, Tom again reminded Troska that he was not at fault for Adam's death.
Troska last conversation with Liz, moments prior to the Soviets' arrival.
Shortly afterwards, Troska arrived at Petrovice and boarded a bus when it arrived. Stopping in Lipany minutes later, he entered his courthouse and got buried himself in paperwork. During lunch, he phoned back to Liz and invited her for lunch the day after tomorrow.
Though somewhat reluctant initially, Liz gave in to Troska's persuasion and agreed to meet him. Troska elatedly returned to his work.
But it was at that exact moment that Soviet troops had finally entered the city. Those who refused to obey the Soviet's rule were quickly rounded up and executed on the spot.
Occupation
| « | I felt dizzy. I hadn’t expected this. Not now, and not here. Not after everything else... Troska witnesses the arrival of the Soviets
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Troska watched in horror from his courthouse roof but quickly realised what the Soviets were up to. He fled from the city and ran straight back to his home in the countryside, hoping to bide his time until the occupation ended one way or another.
Troska knew his inaction was nothing more than an act of cowardice. The Soviets had no plans to depart anytime soon and the occupation could only get worse from this point onwards. Cowardice or not however, he held firm to his self-vow to stay out of the bloodshed.
The true test to his resolve would soon arrive in the form of two rebel fighters later that night: a young man named Gabriel and his aide-de-camp Geronimo. Gabriel was the leader of a burgeoning band of anti-Soviet partisans and knew of Troska's background, hoping to recruit him as the group's military adviser.
The partisans appeal for guidance from Troska to no avail.
| « | Geronimo: We want you to help us! You're a fighter. You've been in a war before, haven't you? Troska: More than once. And that's why I can't any more. Do you have any idea what this means, a war!? Do you know how many people will suffer!? Didn't you hear the President? This will only lead to unneccessary bloodshed. Troska refuses to join the partisans
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But Troska adamantly refused to heed his request, desperately urging Gabriel to simply "give up" and return to their families.
The partisans soon left after his sharp rebuke against their offer. Internally however, Troska knew the two young men had the right idea; an idea which even he secretely agreed that it was the right thing to do.
| « | Something in me was stirring against my words. As the young men left, I gazed after them. I was different to them; I knew the truth of war. But I also knew that a couple of years earlier, I would have been the first one of all to reach for a gun and fight. Troska
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Even so this was no reason to forgo his own promise. All the incident did was simply bring up unpleasant memories of Adam's death and a resurgence of his guilt.
Crossroads
The next morning, Troska's neighbours along with Tom and Peter rushed to find Troska. Like him, they too were listening to the radio and heard an eccentric radio announcer interrupt the Soviet's daily propaganda broadcast to speak of Gabriel's partisans. The announcer urged all Nogovans to join them in their fight against the Soviets.
Tom and Peter questioned Troska on their best course of action. Troska wasn't as nearly as enthusiastic as his friends, urging them to consider the situation of their families. At that moment, a heavily wounded partisan began limping in their direction. Tom and Peter recognised the man as Anton, a friend of theirs from Dolina. Anton warned them that he had just barely escaped from a failed ambush against the Soviets, and that more were possibly on the way.
| « | Troska: Damn! OK, we can't give in to them... but you can't stay here either. Tom: Why not? Hide him here in your house, and the Soviets won't find him. Troska: That's madness! Soviets- !? Peter: The Russians are coming! Anton, hide in the tool shed. Quickly! Troska: No, he can't stay here! Tom: Come on, Victor. We don't have time- Troska demands Anton hide elsewhere
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Furious that the guerilla had led the Soviets straight to his home, Troska demanded that Anton seek refuge elsewhere (in spite of Tom's suggestion to hide the fugitive). It was already too late; a Soviet truck was racing in their direction and the soldiers disembarked. Troska and his friends were rounded up and held at gunpoint by the soldiers who demanded to know where Anton was hiding.
Guba executes Troska's neighbour.
They refused to answer even when the soldiers threatened them and for a time, it looked like Troska might've just made it out of this situation in one piece. That is, until Col. Guba personally arrived to "inspect" the interrogations. When one of Troska's neighbours gave a false answer, Guba summarily executed the villager without hesitation.
| « | Troska: For God's sake, stop this! You can't- Guba: Of course I can, you idiot! Corporal. Execute one of them every minute. That's an order. And you... One more word and you'll be the first to die. Troska's futile attempt to placate Guba
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Troska was now left with two choices. He could either give in and reveal Anton's location, saving both him and his friends' lives.
Or...he could risk it all and make a dash for the back of his house where he kept a shotgun hidden, and could use it to retaliate against the Soviets. Running was no longer a viable option for him; it was either kill or be killed.
| « | The choice. I could no longer stand back, an observer. People were dying in front of my home. I knew I had a shotgun hidden behind the house, but what could I do with it? The choice. Standing in line, waiting for the bullet, I had only two options: reveal where the rebel was hiding, or somehow break out of line, grab the shotgun, and stop the bloodshed... Troska's dilemma
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Troska opted to fight. While the soldiers were distracted with Peter's pleas, Troska ran for the concealed stash and retrieved his shotgun. His special forces training kicked in and within a matter of seconds, the soldiers lay dead on the ground. Tom and Peter fled from the scene while Troska was rooted to his spot - having come to a shocking realisation to what he had just done.
He returned to his senses moments later, and immediately made his way to the woods nearby where he knew the partisans were hiding.
Guerilla
Troska arrives at the partisan hideout.
| « | I'd made my decision. There was no turning back. Troska
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Hours later, he would finally arrive at the hidden camp. Gabriel was surprised but pleased by Troska's sudden appearance, though Troska himself was still not quite enthusiastic about his new post as second-in-command. He was adamant that he would remain merely in an advisory capacity only.
His post was short-lived; just minutes after his arrival, Soviet troops ambush the camp and a sniper assassinates Gabriel. Troska is left with no option other than to assume command of the disoriented fighters, assuming the radio callsign of Fox. The fighters enthusiastically embrace his leadership and succeed in driving off the Soviets.
Troska rallies the remaining partisans and commands them to relocate to another of their hidden camps. Once all the men were assembled at the new camp, he begins distributing orders and restructuring the ragtag guerillas into a proper fighting force. Their first priority was to gather supplies and salvage whatever vehicles they could manage to steal from the Soviets.
| « | We pulled back the other platoons and regrouped. We’d got ourselves some equipment and made a good start, but a long road lay ahead... Troska
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Commander Troska relays his intent to assault Modrava.
With one successful raid after another, Troska manages to finally build up a decent but not yet ready hardened force. But up until now, the partisans had only fought minor skirmishes against the Soviets.
His subordinates insisted that they could head straight for Lipany and Petrovice, but Troska rebuked their suggestions. Rather, they would lay siege to the town of Modrava instead. Unlike the major cities, Modrava was fairly isolated and held a significant cache of supplies which the partisans needed.
| « | Taking the Modrava base was our first major victory. I expected it to fire people up, to fan the flames of resistance. And that's exactly what it did. Fighting spread all over the island, and we were ready to embark on a crushing offensive from our Northern position, just as soon as the time was right. Troska
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The assault begins and Modrava is seized soon after thanks to Troska's skilful leadership. Soon thereafter, word of Troska's actions and that of the partisans began to spread amongst the citizens of Nogova. The guerillas seemed to be unstoppable, and many citizens began to rise up against their oppressors - just as Troska had hoped the attack on Modrava would do.
Thanks to intelligence provided by sympathetic locals, Troska was also able to ambush an unwary Soviet officer and capture both him and his aide, bringing both back to their camp for interrogation. Troska intended to release the officer, but ordered him to relay a message back to Guba: leave the country now or suffer the consequences.
The Soviets attempted to retaliate by dispatching "death squads" to round up villagers as retribution for Troska's victories. One such village, Velka Ves, almost became the site of a bloody massacre but thanks to Troska's swift decision making, managed to put a halt to their inhumane plans.
Setback
Troska's reunion with his old friend.
| « | ???: Hey, Victor, call off the dogs. Troska: James!? Gastovski: I requested the mission as soon as I found out what was going on. Not surprised to see you in charge here. Troska: I can’t say I‘m happy about it... Troska reunites with Gastovski
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Better yet, word had finally come down that the West was intending to covertly send aid to help Troska's group. What he didn't expect was for that support to arrive in the form of none other than (now Major) James Gastovski; his old friend from his days in the UKSF.
Gastovski informed Troska that help was coming in the form of weapons and equipment, though Gastovski's team was not authorised to assist them overtly. Satisfied that the West was at least paying some attention to the plight of the Nogovans, Troska gratefully accepted Gastovski's offer to stay on in an advisory role.
The next day, scouts relayed to Troska that Soviet offers were meeting in a farmhouse not too far away from their main camp. Troska personally volunteered to infiltrate the meeting spot, and overhead that a shipment of supplies were being ferried to the base in Mirov. Hoping to intercept those supplies, Troska announced that the group's next target would be the town of Mirov and its garrison.
The attack wouldn't be easy. Though they knew the timing of the supply convoy, the Soviets were deeply entrenched and opposition would be fierce. After hours of bloody house-to-house fighting, Troska's men succeeded in taking Mirov and its encampment.
But as it turned out, Mirov was merely a decoy by Guba in order to lure as many of Troska's men as possible into the open. Heavy gunships proceeded to swoop in and gunned down many partisans. Troska was forced to issue a complete withdrawal from Mirov.
| « | Partisan: That's it! I quit! Going up against those gunships, it's madness. What's next?! Nukes!?!? Troska: Nobody said it was going to be easy. This is the first time we've had to face defeat. We should learn from it. You can't win if you can't lose. Partisan: What the hell does that mean?!?! I've had enough of this – I'm giving myself up to the Soviets. They said they'd pardon anyone who surrenders- Troska: Surely you can't believe them? You'll end up in a Gulag at best, more likely they'll just put a bullet in you. Stop wasting our time and let's discuss our next move. Disheartened by their defeat at Mirov, Troska attempts to reassure the partisans
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Greatly disenfranchised by their defeat, unit cohesion and morale begins to break down amongst the partisans. Troska himself begins to doubt his own capabilities until he remembered that they still had Gastovski and his team to rely on. But first, the partisans needed to retrieve their contraband before any further offensives could be planned.
Dolina
Several days pass and Troska mounts increasing amounts of attacks against the Soviets, destroying helicopter bases and crippling their supply lines thanks to the shipment of supplies. Despite the setback at Mirov, the partisans once again seemed to be winning on all fronts.
The mysterious radio informant relayed details that Guba was now planning to negotiate with the partisans. Furthermore, the information told Troska that Guba only wanted him to hear one specific word: "Dolina".
| « | Gastovski: I don't know, Victor. It stinks to hell. Troska: I know, but... I don't have other choice! They have hostages, from Dolina! They made a point of telling me! I'm afraid they could... They might know about Liz... Gastovski: You're pretty crazy, Victor – you know that? To walk right up to those guys in their own base... but, I understand. Just let us watch your back, ok? Troska makes his choice
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Troska immediately understood that Liz was in danger. He had no clue as to how Guba had found out about his ties to her, but time was now of the essence. If he refused to show up, Liz' life would be at risk. But if agreed to meet with Guba, then the liklihood of him dying at Guba's hands was also an equally dangerous choice. Troska weighed his options and decided to agree to a meeting - in spite of Geronimo and Gastovski's misgivings.
| « | I had no idea what I was getting into, and for the first time, I felt real fear. I felt it everywhere; it was suffocating me. I couldn't let anything happen to Liz. Troska
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Arriving at the site, Guba disembarks from his vehicle and speaks directly to Troska. Troska immediately demands that Guba free the hostages as a pre-condition, but Guba insists on Troska "checking" on them personally.
Troska's final glimpse of Liz.
As if waiting for Troska to react to Liz' presence, Guba motions for his men to open fire on Troska. Luckily, Gastovski and the others had been monitoring the meeting and were ready to intercept Guba's troops. Minutes later the dust begins to settle, but Guba is nowhere to be seen and only his bodyguards lay dead on the ground.
Worse of all, Troska spots Liz' body - clearly dead - not too far from he last saw her. Troska lamented over her loss, yet again blaming himself for allowing another of his close friends to die. The partisans immediately wondered if Troska had any heart left in him to continue their fight.
| « | I said it would end like this... I said innocent people were going to die... This has got to stop! Troska
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They were proven wrong - Troska wasn't dissuaded but merely hardened by Liz' death. Before, their struggle was a fight for freedom. Now, it was a personal feud between him and Guba.
One Last Fight
Renewing the group's efforts with extra vigour, Troska launched another wave of offensives against Soviet supply lines. Guba's troops simply couldn't match the ferocity of Troska's deadly attacks and within a matter of days, even the capital of Lipany would fall to partisan control. With its fall, the Soviets were now cornered to their only remaining hold on the island at their airbase in the south-west.
Ill news had arrived however, that Guba had ordered for reinforcements in the form of a flight of bombers. Guba was defeated, but the Colonel was far from willing to allow Troska to achieve a total victory, and planned to firebomb Nogova into oblivion to cover his retreat. Gastovski relayed word of Guba's genocidal plan back to Troska, and volunteered his own team to sabotage the bombers.
Unfortunately, Gastovski's team simply could not breach the airbase's defences. The Soviets proved to be much more resilient that they had anticipated and almost succeeded in killing the entire team during their retreat. An injured Gastovski informed Troska and passed him the explosive charges, urging Troska to finish the job. In spite of his own misgivings, Troska immediately mobilised all partisans within the area and ordered to them to advance on the airbase.
Troska's blaze of glory.
Suddenly, Guba's troops unexpectedly launch a counter-attack and ambush the unwary guerillas upon reaching the outskirts of the airbase. The partisan tank force is mostly annihilated in the assault, and the remaining survivors are forced to pull back to avoid being overwhelmed.
| « | Follow the mission plan. I'm going in. Gotta stop those planes. Wait until you're all together, then attack with all you have! Troska's relays his final radio message
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With only minutes to spare, Troska opted to infiltrate the airbase alone. Sneaking past the base sentries, Troska planted Gastovski's explosives and made his explosive getaway before Guba's troops could discover what he was up to.
Death
Troska's blitzkrieg was a complete success and Guba's fleet of bombers lay burning on the airbase's tarmac. However, Guba wasn't just about to let Troska get away with his treachery.
Cornered by Guba, Troska accepts his fate...
The furious Colonel spotted Troska sprinting away from the base and immediately ordered the remnants of the entire garrison to pursue him.
Lacking vehicular transport and trapped by a small crevasse, Troska didn't get very far before the Soviets caught up to him; with Guba himself personally leading the charge. Hopelessly outgunned and surrounded on all sides, Troska could do little but glare at Liz's killer as he braced himself for the inevitable.
A smiling Guba triumphantly looked down upon him from the hatch of his tank and commanded his men to open fire...
Post-Resistance
| « | He took out the planes... he saved us, but some things are too much, even for a hero... Even for a hero, Geronimo. Gastovski mourns the loss of his old friend
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Despite remaining Soviet forces capitulating in the aftermath of the occupation, Troska's body was never discovered by the partisans. His corpse - or rather what would presumably be left of it, still lies buried somewhere within the same crevasse which ultimately became his grave.
Nevertheless, Troska's legacy continues to live on in the hearts of every Nogovan. His tenacity in the face of the Soviets and heroic sacrifice, continues to inspire generations of resistance groups more than half a century later.
Personality and Appearance
Trivia
- Troska is the first protagonist in the entire series who is introduced and killed off in the same campaign he appears in.
- Beginning with the mission Crossroads, Troska can opt to betray the partisans and assist the Soviets in wiping out the resistance. In the aftermath of his betrayal, he is eventually executed by firing squad as the Soviets refuse to trust a "traitor to his own people".
Gallery
See also
| Characters of ArmA: Cold War Assault | ||
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| United States | Berghof† • Bormioli† • Caper Blake • David Armstrong • Fowley† • James Gastovski • Kozlowski† • Robert Hammer • Sam Nichols • Sutherland | |
| Soviet Union | Aleksei Guba* • Angelina Malevich† | |
| Resistance | Nogovan Partisans | Anton† • Gabriel† • Geronimo • Stoyan Jakotych† • Victor Troska† |
| Everon Freedom Alliance | Ian Stoyan • Slava† • Tomas | |
| Civilians | Nogovan | Liz† • Peter • Tom |
| Unknown | Tasmanian Devil† | |
| † indicates deceased characters | * indicates character status is unknown | ||