Dimah Tchakova

"My mother [is] Secretary of FLEETCOM and my father is a high-rank intelligence officer, so I was born to do this."

- Dimah Tchakova, 2525 Hastati Squad interview

Dimah Tchakova was an officer cadet of the UNSC Defense Force. She attended Corbulo Academy of Military Science as part of the class of 2529. Like many colonists from Reach, Tchakova was of Eastern European descent.

Biography
Tchakova's mother was a secretary within UNSC Fleet Command, and her father was a high-ranking officer in the Office of Naval Intelligence. While attending Corbulo Academy of Military Science in 2526, she was assigned to Hastati Squad under the leadership of senior cadet April Orenski. Early on in the school year, her roommate was Junjie Chen, but she later came to share a room with Michael Sullivan. She exhibited a standard academic performance in training exercises.

During the Covenant's attack on Circinius IV, Tchakova joined her squad in the queue of cadets to be evacuated via Corbulo Academy's space elevator. The stress of waiting ultimately proved too much for her, and she disobeyed orders and broke ranks with Hastati Squad, forcing her way to the front of the queue. Tchakova made use of her mother's position to intimidate a Marine and let her aboard the next elevator car. This however, led to her death when a Covenant destroyed the space elevator.

Personality and traits
Tchakova put great stock in her family connections while at Corbulo Academy, to the point of irritating her squad leader April Orenski. Tchakova regarded her family connections as making her "born" to join the UNSC, and despite most of the cadets coming from prestigious backgrounds, she set herself apart from the others and felt that she did not fit in. She was the only child and stated that she wanted to make her parents proud, aiming to follow in the footsteps of either of them as opposed to ending up serving in the field. When he was discovered hacking into a top secret combat recording which showed the UNSC's first encounters with Covenant troops via a then-unknown SPARTAN's helmet recorder, Michael Sullivan believed that she could use her connections to protect him from ONI.

Although she performed up to standard in training exercises and maintained a facade of confidence, Tchakova ultimately appeared to be less emotionally mature than most of the other cadets of Hastati Squad. Combined with her over-emphasizing of her parents' position at every opportunity, her collected demeanor and courage would quickly evaporate at the first sign of actual danger. In addition, she would occasionally comfort herself by holding a small plush toy which she had taken with her to the academy among her personal effects. Like most other members of squad, Dimah had a negative view of Thomas Lasky, whom she perceived as an "Innie-lover". In response to Lasky disobeying an order he felt was not sensible, she responded that "Doesn't have to make sense. Just follow it." However, the threatening situation during the evacuation of the academy quickly caused her to put her own safety ahead of the adherence to the chain of command.

Production notes

 * Tchakova is portrayed by Bulgarian-Canadian actress.
 * According to Tchakova's created for Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, her date of birth is 1/7/2512; this would make her fourteen years old during her time at Corbulo Academy. Given that Thomas Lasky's birthdate (also dated 2512 in his dog tags) was later retconned to the corresponding date in 2510, it is likely the same applies to Dimah and the other cadets as well.

List of appearances

 * Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn