Eva McKenna
Actress: Gemma Atkinson
Name: Eva McKenna*Nationality:* British*Affiliation:* Allied Forces / Great Britain*Rank:* Lieutenant*Role:* Signals Officer*Superiors:* Robert Bingham and Allied High Command*Colleagues:* Allied Commander, Tanya Adams, Giles Price*Conflict:* Third World War and post-war crisis*Games:* Red Alert 3, Red Alert 3: Uprising, Red Alert Mobile, Red Alert on iOS
Status: Alive after the Third World War Eva McKenna is a British lieutenant in the Allied Forces responsible for communications and operational support for the Allied Commander during the Third World War.
She thus holds a position comparable to that of Eva Lee during the war against Romanov and Yuri: she acts as the main link between the player, the high command and the forces engaged on the ground.
But Eva McKenna is not merely a military secretary. Her career path places her amongst the Alliance’s most promising young officers.
A vocation born of war
From childhood, Eva was deeply affected by the conflicts between the Soviet Union and the Allied Forces.
This experience instilled in her a desire to join the army from a very early age.
She enrolled at an Allied military academy, where she immediately stood out for her academic achievements.Eva finished top of her year after year, demonstrating abilities that quickly caught the attention of her superiors.
Her performance ultimately earned her a particularly prestigious role: personally handling communications for the most senior members of the Allied command.
Her role involved maintaining an effective chain of command, passing on intelligence, coordinating briefings and keeping in touch with officers deployed in the field.
There is also a rumour that Eva served as the ‘poster girl’ for Allied propaganda, her image being used as the Alliance began to secure military victories.
Red Alert 3
When the Soviet Union launched its new offensive against Europe, the situation for the Allied Forces rapidly became catastrophic.
Much of the continent fell into the hands of the Red Army, and Britain was one of the last Allied strongholds in Western Europe.
By this time, Eva had risen to the rank of lieutenant and was working directly for the coalition’s most senior officials.
She was then assigned to a new Allied Commander, charged with helping to defend Great Britain and subsequently leading the counter-offensive against the Soviets.
From that point on, Eva became one of the Commander’s key contacts.
She relayed mission objectives, tactical intelligence and instructions to him, particularly those from Field Marshal Robert Bingham.
From the defence of Britain to the liberation of Europe
Eva thus accompanied the Commander throughout his rise to prominence.
Having repelled the Soviet offensive in Britain, the Allies gradually began to regain the initiative.
The Commander took part in the liberation of Europe alongside several other officers, notably Warren Fuller, Lissette Hanley and Giles Price.
Eva remained in constant contact with him, passing on the information necessary for the conduct of operations.
This role makes her a privileged witness to the Commander’s transformation: from a mere officer tasked with preventing the Alliance’s final collapse at the start of the war, he gradually becomes one of the Allied military’s leading heroes.
The arrival of the Empire of the Rising Sun
The war, however, takes on an entirely new dimension with the intervention of the Empire of the Rising Sun.
Japanese forces take advantage of the conflict between the Allies and the Soviets to launch their own global offensive.
Faced with this new threat, Robert Bingham finally concludes a temporary ceasefire with the Soviet Union so that both sides can fight the Empire.
Eva views this alliance with great suspicion.
Like Tanya, she remains deeply suspicious of the Soviets after all they have inflicted on the Allies. Both warn the Commander to remain extremely cautious despite the new agreement.
This reaction is entirely consistent with Eva’s personal history: the wars against the Soviet Union shaped her childhood and are precisely the reason why she chose a military career.
Eva and the Allied Commander
As the war progresses, the relationship between Eva and the Commander gradually becomes less strictly professional.
Eva develops an attraction to him.
However, she is not the only one.
Tanya Adams also shows an interest in the Commander, which gradually creates a bit of rivalry between the two women.
This rivalry remains largely light-hearted and is one of the recurring themes in the Allied campaign briefings.
Eva, who is usually very professional when relaying information, becomes noticeably more personal when addressing the Commander directly.
Tanya, for her part, does not hesitate to openly display her interest.
The situation reaches its climax after the Allies’ final victory.
The Allied Victory
Following the defeat of the Empire of the Rising Sun, the Allies discover that Cherdenko is preparing a new offensive and intends to use heavily armed Kirovs against their cities.
The latest Soviet projects are neutralised and the Allied offensive finally reaches Leningrad, where Cherdenko and Krukov attempt to flee Earth.
The two Soviet leaders are captured and the war ends in victory for the Allied Forces.
Eva can then finally step away from her strictly military role.
During the celebrations, she appears in a white evening gown and personally invites the Commander to go out with her.
Tanya does exactly the same thing.
The game deliberately leaves the situation unresolved:it is unclear which of the two ultimately accompanies the Commander.
This scene thus brings the minor rivalry between Eva and Tanya to a close without ever declaring a ‘winner’.
Red Alert 3: Uprising
Unlike several characters from Red Alert 3, Eva returns in Red Alert 3: Uprising.
The Allied victory has not fully stabilised the world.
The Soviet Union is under occupation, the Empire of the Rising Sun has been demilitarised, and various factions reject the new order imposed by the victors.
Eva therefore continues to serve the Allied Forces as a communications officer.
She once again assists the Commander during operations carried out in Japan.
In particular, the Allies must confront several dissident provincial shoguns who refuse to accept the Empire’s defeat.
The situation then becomes much more serious when Crown Prince Tatsu, who had presented himself as a collaborator with the Allied authorities, attempts to restore imperial military power. Eva accompanies the Commander during operations designed to put an end to this attempt.
She therefore remains active in the army after the Third World War.
Mobile versions
Eva McKenna appears in several mobile adaptations of Red Alert.
She features in Red Alert Mobile as well as in the iOS version of Red Alert.
Her role may even become more significant in this continuity: certain missions in the Allied mobile campaign credit her directly as one of the leaders of operations alongside the Allied Commander.