Editing Georgi Baklanov

By December of [[2553]], Georgi Baklanov facilitated fully half of all the [[black market]] commerce on [[Venezia]] through his restaurant, the [[Trattoria Georgi]], and [[Uashon Station]], an orbital warehouse complex he owned. He paid a number of lookouts, henchmen, and bodyguards to protect his investments and ensure his dominance over the trades he oversaw. On [[2553#December|December 12, 2553]], [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] operative [[Veta Lopis]] and her team of [[Spartan-III]] [[Ferret]]s were present at Trattoria Georgi to meet [[Ross Nyeto]] as part of [[Operation: RETRIBUTION]].{{Ref/Reuse|R1}} Their objective was to make enough noise so that the [[Keepers of the One Freedom]] would seek them out. To this end, the [[Spartan-II]]s of [[Blue Team]] were planning to breach the trattoria and enter into a convincing mock engagement with Veta and the Ferrets. Baklanov emerged from his office in the trattoria when an altercation broke out between Veta and a group she was speaking with. After he learned Spartans were on the way, he deduced that they were coming for Veta and the three others. After calling for everyone to get out, his next instinct was to draw on [[Ash-G099]], hoping that if he gave them up he might be left alone. When the time came, [[Frederic-104]] and [[Kelly-087]] crashed a pair of [[M121 Jackrabbit]]s through the front window. The first thing Kelly did after breaching was to unload her sidearm into Baklanov's chest, killing him. When the Spartans extracted, he was listed as having been killed as a "target of opportunity", seeing as his presence that night had not been predicted beforehand.<ref name="R1">''[[Halo: Retribution]]'', Chapter 1</ref>