Mikhaila Ilyushin

"Oh god Morgan, I... you surprise the hell out of me sometimes."

- Mikhaila Ilyushin

Mikhaila Ilyushin is chief system engineer working aboard Talos I. She appears in Prey (2017).

Background
Mikhaila dreamed of exploring the stars like her cosmonaut father before her, but had to leave those dreams behind when she was diagnosed with a rare neurological condition known as Paraplexis. When her father mysteriously disappeared she did everything to find him, and her investigation eventually led her to the TranStar operation on Talos I. Hoping to learn what became of her missing parent, she infiltrated TranStar by accepting the position of Chief Systems Engineer. She had to falsify her medical records as her condition would have excluded Mikhaila from working aboard the space station.

After joining Talos I, Ilyushin entered into a brief relationship with Morgan Yu. At some point Morgan became aware of Mikhaila's condition, though he or she did not reveal her medical status to station administrators. Mikhaila assumed Morgan broke up with her over her condition, a false albeit convenient assumption from Morgan's perspective. In reality, Morgan thought it prudent to end things before the upcoming Neuromod trials wiped out their memories, causing them to completely forget Mikhaila and his or her feelings for her.

Prey (2017)
At the start of the game there is an e-mail on Morgan's terminal from Mikhaila, who is annoyed with the fact Morgan seems to be ignoring her since they parted ways.

Mikhaila first contacts Morgan directly when they enter the Power Plant. She is found clinging to life on the reactor level, her Paraplexis having seized up her legs and lungs. A hull breach in her office has cut her off from her medication, but she tells Morgan they can lift the ongoing station lockdown by performing a hard reboot of the reactor core. After Morgan performs the reset the doors and gravity shafts will become operational once more, and Morgan can EVA to Mikhaila's office and recover her medicine if they so chose.

If saved, Mikhaila will make her way to Morgan's office. She will converse with January and Dayo Igwe (if alive), and bring supplies up for Morgan to use. Later, she tells Morgan that she's learned her father was one of the Russian "volunteers" brought to Talos I for human research trials. She gives Morgan her father's ID number and begs them to go to Deep Storage where she believes evidence of what happened to him may be found. Dr. Igwe will privately contact Morgan over TranScribe and advise them that it may be best for everyone if the audio log not get to Mikhaila. Upon listening to the file they find out why: Mikhaila's father was killed for a Typhon experiment, and Morgan personally authorized his execution. Morgan must then decide whether to destroy the evidence or upload it to Mikhaila. If given the data Mikhaila is furious, but in time calms down and realizes that Morgan is not the same person they used to be. She is resolved to get them all off the station alive, though she insists the data comes back to Earth with her no matter the cost to Morgan or TranStar.

Provided she is alive and Morgan has completed the objective Incapacitate Dahl before priming the station's self-destruct, Mikhaila will call them to the Shuttle Bay for evacuation. If January is still operational it masquerades as Morgan on the TranScribe and tells her and the other survivors to leave without them. Mikhaila hesitates, suspecting something is wrong, but January lies and assures her there is a working escape shuttle Morgan intends to use.

Spoiler
In the after-credits scene, Mikhaila appears as an Engineering Operator that will give Alex Yu authorization to restart the simulation if the experiment fails as determined by Igwe's Empathy Quotient. She will comment on the subject's saving her with the medicine and letting her hear her father's message.

Quests

 * Assist Mikhaila Ilyushin
 * Mikhaila's Father

Personality and skills
Ilyushin is a skilled system engineer, which granted her a position on Talos I. She was able to hide a listening device in a door sensor. Ilyushin deeply cared about her father and was willing to risk her own life in order to find what happened to him.

Trivia

 * The player will have 80 minutes upon contact with her to bring her medication, and she will die if the player goes to Talos I Exterior and returns without bringing her medicine.
 * Should Morgan decide to kill Mikhaila or let her die, they can loot the Ilyushin Family Ring from her body. This is a unique object in the game that serves no actual purpose and cannot be recycled in any way.