Kateb, F.

[Kateb, F.]

UNITED NATIONS SPACE COMMAND DEFENSE FORCE
PERSONNEL COMMAND (PERSCOM)

CAREER SERVICE VITAE

Basic Information
Name: Faalan Kateb
Age: 22
Birth Date: December 14, 2521
Birth Place: Aleria, Elduros System

Service Information
UNSC Military Identification: 6171579
Service Number: 61726-15079-FK
Rank: Corporal (E-4)
MOS: 0351
Billet Fire Team Leader

RIFLE QUAL: 205
PISTOL QUAL: 190
SWIM QUAL: S3
PFT: Class 2

Unit Information
Command: 27th Marine Expeditionary Unit
Regiment: 12th Regiment
Battalion: 1st Battalion
Company: Oscar Company
Platoon: Second Platoon
Squad: Second Squad
Fire Team: Second Fire Team

Medical Information
Gender: Male
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 198 lbs
Eye Color: BRN
Hair Color: BLK
Blood Type: B+

Personality Profile:

Faalan is often seen as calm, collected, and serious. He has often been described as cold and calculating, however, he feels that such an observation is grossly inaccurate. He possesses an almost single-minded focus on the accomplishment of his duties and the welfare of his Marines. Out in public he prefers to be seen as rigid, rarely being seen to smile or laugh. However, in the privacy of the berths, others can attest that he loosens up quite a bit.

Faalan is no stranger to hardship and poverty. While most see such an upbringing as a negative, he sees it as a positive influence upon him. Hardship wrought a hard work ethic and the wisdom to appreciate the finer things in life such as a pay check, friends, and companions. He realized long ago nothing is ever promised in life, and thus has strived to be a positive force in the lives of others. He takes his role as an NCO and a leader seriously, and treats his subordinates wifh respect and compassion.

Kateb, unlike many Alerians, harbors no ill feelings towards the UEG or the UNSC. In fact, he is proud to serve humanity and despises the Covenant for all of the pain and suffering they have caused. The majority of Alerians blame the UEG for abandoning them at their time of greatest need; however, Faalan points the blame at the alien hegemony. Had the Covenant not arrived, the UEG would have continued its trade agreement with the planet, and they would have the much needed supplies to carry on in relative peace.

Physical Description:

Kateb is tall, muscular, and sports an dark, tan complexion. Scars from years of hard labor mar his body in several places, most prominently his hands and arms. He has short hair fashioned in a crisp medium regulation haircut, and a five o'clock shadow from the beard that refuses to stay gone. He tries to remain clean shaven, and must shave every day to maintain that standard, or else by the end of the week his beard will have wound its way back on his face.

Faalan has no tattoos of note. Though by no means as religious as other Alerians, he does not wish to defile the temple of God with body art, if only to avoid awkward situations when he eventually returns home after the war. Faalen's chest and stomach sports a light dusting of hair, and has encountered ridicule for it in the past. Hair is a sign of manhood on Aleria, and so he does not let the incessant cracks at the abundance of hair get to him.

Background Information
Faalan Kateb was born to a family of miners on Aleria, an Outer Colony plagued by a drought that started seventy years earlier. Much of his chilhood was spent in mining camps with his family, and the only formal education he received was from volunteer teachers at the camps. Shortly after his fourth birthday, news of the attack on Harvest reached Alexis, and days later, the UEG stopped all trade with the colony.

If conditions on the backwater world has been bad before, then the underlying agricultural and economic problems were only exacerbated by the lack of support from the government. By the time Faalan had reached puberty, he had witnessed riots break out over loss of jobs and income, and famine spread across the world as farmers were put out of business because of the drought.

So, at the ripe age of thirteen, Faalan had to quit school and began working as a laborer at one of the largest ore mines on the planet. For the next four years he worked in hundred degree-plus temperatures, putting his body through hell just to earn a measly paycheck that barely bought him enough food to survive through the week. It was a hard, unforgiving life, and he found himself wondering if the grass was greener on the other side. He had to get away. If he didn't, he knew he'd be six feet under by the time he reached his forties, like most Alerians.

On his eighteenth birthday, Faalan's father died in a mining accident. That was the straw that broke the camel's back for Faalan. He worked for over a month, barely eating, to afford the money to be smuggled off the planet by the Courier Guild.

The next month and a half was spent in the cargo hold of an old, dilapidated freighter owned by a pair of couriers notorious for the smuggling of narcotics to and from Aleria. When the freighter arrived at its destination, the colony of New Providence, Faalan disembarked from the ship and went searching for a new life.

It was during this search that he happened upon a UNSC recruiting terminal. Curious, he approached it, and inquired about military service. The information that he read on the screen was enough to sell it to him. Money, food, college benefits -- everything he could have possibly wished for all there. Faalan signed up for the Marine Corps and, three weeks later, was shipped off to Reach for boot camp.

Boot camp was easy compared to the life he had lived back home, and by the end of it he learned that he was a good shot with a rifle, and that he was a natural leader. During the Crucible, he led his fire team through the gauntlet of exercises prepared by the drill instructors, and only failed a total of three of the courses. It was a hard learned lesson in combat leadership, but one he thoroughly enjoyed.

As a result of his outstanding performance, Faalan graduated boot camp as a freshly-pinned Private First Class. He spent the next ten days of leave exploring Reach, visiting such places as Manassas, Quezon, and New Alexandria. New Alexandria was his personal favorite, and found himself inside their many clubs and casinos, just enjoying the atmosphere and the carefree attitudes of the patrons.

Afterwards, PFC Karen was sent to the School of Infantry at Camp Grenert deep within the Highland Mountains. There he was trained as an Infantry Assaultman, and found that he enjoyed busting down doors and executing improvised breaches. The information he absorbed from his instructors had stricken with awe. He had never imagined a saline bag and some detcord could be used as an improvised explosive charge, but when he saw it in action, blowing a door off its hinges, he had no words to describe his delight.

After completing his infantry and MOS training as SOI, Kateb was assigned to Third Battalion, Eleventh Marines, and was soon deployed to fight the Covenant in the Outer Colonies. By the time the unit returned to Reach almost a year later, Karen had earned himself a promotion to Lance Corporal for his actions in combat. Now nineteen years old and back from war, he learned quickly that he did not enjoy garrison life.

The schedule was nice, but he was constantly bored and sattled with bullshit assignments far too often for his liking. Working parties were the worst, and it wasn't long before he questioned his decision to enlist when he found himself in the barracks parking lot moving pebbles to their assigned spot between the parking lot and the sidewalk.

So when the unit deployed again to the Outer Colonies, Faalan was thankful for it. He went on to battle the Covenant in several costly engagements, and almost every battle ended in defeat as the Covenant's Navy swooped in to glass the planet, denying the Marines their hard fought victory. When Kateb returned to Reach for the second time, he was transferred out of his unit almost immediately, and placed into Second Platoon, Oscar Company, First Battalion, Twelfth Marines with a promotion to Corporal.

Since then, Karen has served under then-Sergeant Mason as his Second Fire Team Leader, and distinguished himself as a capable leader of Marines. While someday he would like to hold the squad leader billet, he is content with his position as a fire team leader. So long as he gets to bring the fight to the enemy and bring his team back home in one piece, he is happy.