The Great Game Progs 1101-1110

We open to a flashback of 7 years previously, the 18 year old Nikolai Dante is enjoying a night of celebration in the Casino Royal Monaco with Eloise DeJanissaire, his young partner in crime and romance.

The young couple are rudely interrupted by Eloises' mother and her team of Mercenaries. Dante and Eloise are separated by force. Eloise, it transpires, is the daughter or Elena De Janissaire, the commander of an army of mercenaries called 'The Warlords'. Dante promises to rescue his sweetheart.
Back to the present day, Jena Makarov is meeting up with an imperial spy. Agent Kaine has discovered that the Dragutin( the Tsars' weaponsmiths) have created a near ultimate weapon called 'The Darkstar', though they have concealed its existence. Agent Kaine is killed by android assasins and Jena is very nearly killed too, but for the secret intervention of Nikolai Dante.
Dante is assigned by Dimitri Romanov to secure the Darkstar before the Tsar does, in order to break the stalemate in the cold war that exists between the houses of Romanov and Makarov. Jena Makarov is assigned to do the same thing, but for the Makarov family. She is interrogating the Dragutin leader when the weapons showroom comes under attack from a mercenary force.
Nikolai Dante arrives in time to save Jena and the Draguting leader, they flee to the Darkstar chamber and witness a demonstration of the terrible planet devouring weapon. The Mercenaries are not far behind however and Jena and Dante are unable to prevent the weapon being taken.Dante returns to the Battleship Potemkin, the Romanov flagship orbiting Earth, where he meets up with a woman known as 'Madame Director' who debriefs Dante and introduces him to Valentine Romanov, the eldest of the Romanov siblings and their chief intelligence operative. Valentine wears a holographic projector to disguise his face.
Dante explains that the Mercenaries who took the Darkstar were in fact the Warlords, whome he recognises of old. We discover that Elena DeJanissaire has been killed by Valentine 2 years previously and now Eloise has taken her place as the Chief of the Warlords.
Dante then reveals that he and Eloise are in fact married.
Dante is sent to Stolietovs World, the operational command centre of the Warlords, where he reintroduces himself to the wife he hasn't seen for 7 years. Eloise isn't exactly thrilled to see him and denies all knowledge of the theft of the Darkstar.
Things take an unexpected turn when General Kvass, Eloises' 2nd in command mounts a coup to take control of the Warlords. Dante and Eloise manage to flee their almost certain death by jumping from the Penthouse roof apartment on top of the Warlords HQ. Dante and Eloise then head for a rendezvous with Valentine Romanov on Shakan7, making up for lost time on the way.
The meeting on Shakan7 turns out to be a trap. Valentine Romanov reveals his true face in more ways than one. Jena Makarov arrives with a squad of Ravens, but is unable to prevent Valentine taking Eloise hostage in order to make his escape. Valentine , without his holographic mask, is a twisted ruin of a man, the victim of an experimantal weapons crest that has shattered both his body and his mind. Dante weakens under the pressure of Valentines threat to kill his wife and lets the renegade Romanov escape with the Darkstar. As a final act of contempt Valentine kills Eloise regardless and then fires the Darkstar at Shakan7.
After witnessing Eloises murder, Dante loses the will to carry on and is only saved by Jena Makarov. The 2 of them make a narrow escape as the Darkstar rips Shakan7 apart. Dante arrives back at the Potemkin in a profoundly depressed state. He and Jena witness a holographic conference between Dimitri Romanov and the Tsar where the investigation is taken out of their hands. Madame Director reveals that she is in fact the mother of Valentine and all his brothers and sisters, but still she encourages Dante to go after Valentine against her husbands explicit orders. Jena is reluctant to disobey her father, but decides to accompany Dante anyway.
  Dante & Jena trace the ship used by Valentine and Kvass and discover that they have concealed themselves inside the Voight-Kampf Comet in order to get through Earths defensive screen. They realise too late that the Comet/Starship is heavily armed and Dantes' Strikehawk is destroyed by cannon fire. On board the Battleship Potemkin the Romanovs are readying themselves to defend the Earth, but realise too late that the approaching comet is in fact Valentines starship, now outfitted with the Darkstar device. Dante & Jena are revealed to have been captured by Valentine and Kvass and are strapped across the barrel of the enormous weapon. Kvass makes threats to the Tsar, intending to wrest control of the Empire from him, but nobody seems to care, least of all his accomplice Valentine Romanov who seems quite happy to destroy everything in a suicidal act of nihilism. Kvass realises that he has been duped , but is unable to stop Valentine. Dante in the meantime has managed to wrest himself free of his bonds and he too attacks his half brother. A grim battles ensues as Valentines' mind and weapons crest become more and more unhinged.

Finally Dante throws the shattered ruins of Valentine in front of the oncoming Darkstar beam, both neutralising the barely human Valentine and stopping the beam from reaching its intended target...Imperial Earth.

There is a dynastic conference aboard Valentines ruined spacecraft as both imperial families claim possession of the Darkstar. Jena & Dante conclude the discussion by destroying the weapon, so neither family benefits.

We next see Dante & Jena aboard the Potemkin, celebrating their victory and mourning their losses....the atmosphere is pregnant with possibilities.

The Masque of Dante Progs 1125-1126

Drawn by Charlie Adlard

Nastasia Romanov goes into a fury at the news that she has been dumped by her boyfirend Thomas Kronstadt, a popular entertainer. Kronstadt announces that he is about to marry a Lady Constance Bovary instead. Nastasia heads out to his celebratory masked Ball with murder on her mind. Dante is instructed by their father to stop her. Kronstadt is an important pawn in the Dynastic propaganda war that rages between the houses of Romanov and Makarov. His controlling interest in Gorky Communications will be an important tool for Dimitri, he must be kept alive.

Dante discovers that the bride to be is none other than The Lady De Winter from his Yalta adventure, obviously engaged in some scam of her own.

The Octobriana Seduction Progs 1113-1116

Drawn by Andy Clark

Dante and his half brother Victor are ordered to Paris to contact a Romanov agent. While there Victor falls in love with a nightclub dancer named Octobriana. Victor being the silent type asks Dante to help him seduce her. They are successful, but she turns out to be a spy and attempts to kill Victor. Victor Romanov is not so easily killed however , as Octobriana discovers to her ultimate cost.

( This summary is a bit sketchy I realise, I'll update it when I have copies of the Progs to hand)
Tour of Duty Progs 1131-

Drawn by Charlie Adlard

A series of short stories featuring Nikolai Dante and his half brother Konstantin Romanov as they do a tour of duty together in the service of the Dynasty.

One involves Dante taking an assumed identity in order to seduce and trap Ingrid Wagner into providing information to the Romaovs intelligence service, Wagner is the Personal maid of Tsarina Julianna, one of the Tsars younger daughters and Jenas sister.

Dante and Konstantine are aboard an orbiting genetics research station. Attempting to enlist the support of the emminent genetecist in charge....

( this space will be filled better later )

  
The Movable Feast Progs 1128-1130

Dante joins his half brother Andreas Romanov on board the larges mobile Bordello in the world, 'Madame Gyorgys House of Sin', which travels round the world every 80 days.

The brothers are on a mission to enlist Madame Gyorgy and her busines as an espionage tool of the Romanof Dynasty. Madame Gyorgie says she will do it if Dante undergoes the 'Hellraiser Gauntlet' a test of sexual endurance that only one other man has completed, Andreas Romanov.

As Dante is starting his endeavour the House of Sin come under attack by a squadron of religeous lunatics called the 'Skoptzy' led by Arnheim Ivanov. The Skoptzy have a mission from god to purge the house of sin. Dante leaps to the defence clad only in his boxer shorts. Andreas pitches in to help, slaying 12 or 13 of the sect with one blade, Dante chases down Ivanov as he climbs to the top of the control cabin.
After a brief tussle the 2 men end up hanging off the breast of the giant statue on top of the House of Sin. Arnheim hanging on to Dantes boxer shorts. The Reverend Arnheim plunges to his death under the giant wheels of the bordello as Dante lets down his pants.
Dante returns to meet his brother and finish the hellraiser gauntlet.
As we see the 2 men walk away at the end we see a huge billboard photo of Dante in the background. The billboard is featured fairly frequently over the next few stories, the image is of Dante with 2 seductresses and his pants on his head and it is being used by persons unknown, to discredit the house of Romanov.