From 1984 to 1985, the Soviet Union carried out an elaborate scheme on American soil, culminating in the creation and operation of a covert underground military base located in Hawkins, Indiana. The base's construction was obscured by the concurrent construction of Starcourt Mall above it, organised by the secretly Soviet-controlled Starcourt Industries[1], and with the assistance of the corrupt Mayor of Hawkins, Larry Kline.
The base served as a space where Russian scientists would attempt to create a gateway to an alternate dimension previously discovered by their American counterparts, using bespoke technology to exploit the already-weakened fabric of reality in Hawkins.
It is presumed that this base was either destroyed by the Starcourt Mall fire or was abandoned entirely following the events of July 4, 1985.
History[]
1984[]
The failed operation at Kamchatka.
After catching wind of the alternate dimension encountered by American scientists in Hawkins, Indiana, the Soviet Union decided to create their own gate to the Upside Down. Dr. Alexei and various other scientists developed an experimental technology nicknamed “The Key”, building many such machines across Russia. However, these machines would inevitably fail upon activation, while releasing a fatal discharge of electricity that would vaporize anyone in the immediate vicinity.
After yet another failed experiment at a facility in Kamchatka, Major General Stepanov had his hitman Grigori kill one of the scientists as a warning to Dr. Alexei, and gave him a year to open a gate.
1984-1985[]
At some point, Alexei and the other scientists understood that they should open the gate in Hawkins, because the fabric of space-time there was already weakened by the gate that was opened in 1983. They arrived at Hawkins and, with the help of Mayor Larry Kline, opened Starcourt Mall, which was actually a cover for the base which they created under the mall.
1985[]
June 28[]
On June 28, 1985, the Soviets activated their newly-built Key machine in the underground base, powered by a radioactive substance. Hess Farm and various other Soviet-owned properties in East Hawkins, all near transformers, were used to siphon off energy from the town's power grid, triggering a major power outage. The energy was redirected to the underground base, and channeled into the Key. The Key ray activated and fired into the base wall, with a gate successfully forming.
Later that day, Dr. Alexei re-entered the control room to observe the progress of the Key ray. One of Alexei’s colleagues was excited by their success, even calling the gate ‘beautiful’, but Alexei looked upon their creation with a distant expression, appearing totally indifferent.
In the days that followed, the Soviets were able to acquire creatures and genetic material from the Upside Down; they even captured a piece of the Mind Flayer and a pack of adolescent Demogorgons, which were incapacitated and shipped to a facility in the Kamchatka Peninsula.
After the gate was successfully formed, the Upside Down's psychic link to Hawkins was also re-established, reviving the fragment of the Mind Flayer laying low at Brimborn Steel Works. The Flayer fragment began possessing hordes of rats, and had them consume different types of chemicals; many of the rats would then explode into animate biomass to create a proxy form, through which Vecna (via the Mind Flayer) could operate in the human world.
June 29 - July 4[]
After Dustin Henderson's ham radio Cerebro accidentally intercepted a Russian transmission, he went to Starcourt Mall to ask Steve Harrington to help him decipher the message. His Scoops Ahoy co-worker, Robin Buckley, offered to weigh-in; the three translated the message to English and uncovered a seemingly nonsensical set of phrases; The silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west. A trip to China sounds nice; if you tread lightly. The week is long. The group realized that, while the code may have been Russian, the transmission was seemingly broadcast from within Starcourt itself.
Meanwhile, Chief Jim Hopper and Joyce Byers found Dr. Alexei at the hidden bunker under Hess Farm, where he and his colleagues performed maintenance on the machines siphoning power from the Hawkins grid. Hopper held Alexei hostage while the three escaped from the wrath of the Soviet hitman Grigori. They then travelled to Sesser, Illinois to meet Murray Bauman, a Russian speaker who could translate Alexei’s speech. While there, Alexei explained that the Soviets had specifically created a base in Hawkins because it was previously a site of an interdimensional incursion, and thus was a weak point in the fabric of space-time that could be exploited by the Key. Later, Hopper made a distress call to Dr. Sam Owens, hoping to alert him to the Russian invasion; however, he was instead put through to another government official, who seemed more skeptical of his claims.
After poring over the mall blueprints, the group at Scoops Ahoy discovered that Starcourt’s vent system connected Scoops Ahoy with a suspicious shipping room, which was routinely flanked by armed Lynx guards. Erica Sinclair, who was just small enough to fit through the vents, was persuaded to traverse the vent system and access the shipping room. Upon reaching the room, Erica flipped a switch, allowing the other three to enter. After finding a radioactive canister hidden inside a Kaufman Shoes box, the doors suddenly shut, and the entire room plummeted miles beneath the mall, revealing itself as an elevator to the secret base.
After reaching the bottom, the four were stuck inside the elevator for several hours, leaving them hungry and fatigued. The group later hid atop the elevator roof while Russian workers seized the boxes, leaving the door momentarily open, which gave them an opportunity to escape and explore the base.
Later, the group broke into the communications room, only to be noticed by a Soviet technician sitting at the control booth. Robin attempted to use what little Russian she knew to distract the technician, until Steve suddenly attacked and knocked the technician unconscious. Moments later, the group watched from a distance as the Soviets refuelled the Key using the fresh shipment of radioactive canisters, with the machine emitting a luminous energy beam that created a tear in time and space.
Soon after, however, the group were noticed; though Dustin and Erica escaped, Steve and Robin were captured and interrogated by Colonel Ozerov, who threatened to torture them with the help of Dr. Zharkov. Dustin and Erica decided to rescue them, using a cattle prod to electrocute Zharkov to death, while using a stash of radioactive canisters to burn a hole through the base’s floor, distracting Ozerov and his men. Steve, Robin, Dustin and Erica returned to the surface using the elevator, and ducked into "Starcourt Cinema" to avoid scouring Soviet agents.
July 4[]
While a battle against the Spider Monster raged above in the mall’s food court, Hopper, Joyce and Murray traveled to the secret base via the shipping room elevator, hoping to disable the Key. After gunning down various Soviet soldiers, the trio took and donned their military uniforms, going incognito as they entered the facility.
Hopper, Joyce and Murray split up according to their plan; Murray went to a backroom to interfere with various wires and fuses, setting off alarms. The base was thrown into panic, giving Hopper and Joyce a window to access “the vault” that stored the activation keys for the gate creation machine. Hopper tried a passcode given to him by Murray, but was denied access. Murray explained over Supercom that the passcode should be Planck’s Constant, according to Dr. Alexei. Realizing Murray had misremembered the digits, Hopper reluctantly turned to Dustin for help, who in turn called his girlfriend Suzie. After an eyebrow-raising long distance duet of the “NeverEnding Story” theme, Suzie finally divulged Planck’s Constant, allowing Hopper to enter the correct passcode and acquire the two keys. Meanwhile, Grigori and other Soviet personnel arrived via the elevator, and discovered the gunned-down soldiers at the base entrance.
Hopper and Joyce arrived in the observation room, with Hopper threateningly firing his machine gun at the ceiling, prompting the scientists to flee. They then inserted the keys into their two respective terminals; however, before they could turn and deactivate the machine, Grigori arrived and attacked Hopper, while incapacitating Joyce. Hopper and Grigori’s scuffle led out of the control room and right beside the Key. Hopper eventually threw Grigori into the exposed spinning part of the Key, instantly obliterating him, but Hopper was trapped beside the machine as it began to malfunction.
Without another option, Joyce was forced to deactivate the machine single-handedly, using the strap from her stolen uniform to turn both keys simultaneously. The machine grinded to a halt, with a huge burst of excess electricity flooding out and pulverizing Soviet scientists in the base courtyard. Hopper narrowly survived by diving off the Key’s platform and falling to another level of the base. Following the explosion and the failure of the Key ray, the gate closed; the Upside Down’s psychic link was broken, killing the Spider Monster in the food court. Moments later, Hopper was captured by a band of Soviet soldiers. What remained of the base personnel then briskly evacuated, with Hopper in tow as their captive, who would ultimately be sent to the facility in Kamchatka.
Later that night, the US military arrived to assess the aftermath of the food court battle and stormed the Soviet base; soldiers found Joyce and Murray and escorted them to safety, while Dr. Owens reached the room containing the Key, where he surveyed the smoldering remains of the shut gate.
Aftermath[]
The base was presumably abandoned following the military raid.
Layout[]
- Shipping room/Elevator
- Courtyard
- Comms room
- Observation room / control room
- Machine room[2]
- Experimental laboratory[2]
- Key vault
Personnel[]
- Dr. Alexei † (scientist)
- Grigori † (hitman)
- Colonel Ozerov
- Dr. Zharkov † (scientist)
- Unnamed Soldier
- Unnamed Technician
Gallery[]
Behind the scenes[]
The Soviet base's design was inspired by the Death Star interiors from Star Wars, as well as Soviet-era brutalist architecture. Chris Trujillo and his team designed the set in such a way so the tunnels and the rooms would all connect, to allow for continuous camerawork. Additionally, the soldiers were dressed in authentic 1980s Soviet military uniforms.[3]
