AK-74

The AK-74 is a Kalashnikov rifle of Soviet manufacture. It is a larger, heavier version of the AK-47. The crew of the Soviet space shuttle Tsilovsky carried six AK-74s to Minerva. Shota Rustaveli used one to kill a krong after the predator attacked and wounded Valery Bryusov. Sergei Tolmasov attempted to hide the nature of the weapon from his Minervan hosts, but when he and Fralk were attacked by another krong, Tolmasov was forced to fire on the beast. Fralk immediately wanted an AK-74 and convinced Hogram to ask the Soviets for one. Tolmasov attempted to refuse but was overturned by Moscow when Hogram put the crew under house arrest in their vessel and tent to punish them. Oleg Lopatin, who had long been advocating overt support for the Skarmer invasion of the US-allied Omalo, volunteered to train the Skarmer soldiers in the use of the weapon and to accompany them across the Ervis Gorge. After the death of Frank Marquard led Lopatin to attempt to defect to the Americans, Fralk assumed control of the weapon personally. He used it to devastating effect against Hogram's soldiers, but the weapon was neutralized when Sarah Levitt destroyed it (as well as both Fralk and Lopatin) with an incendiary weapon slung under the bottom of the Damselfly.