Ikamo

Ikamo was orphaned at a young age due to both of his parents dying in during deployment for the Gyallian military. Having died honorable deaths, their son was given refuge within the military's housing program. He continued to attend school, but became withdrawn and his already natural shyness was amplified. This made it hard for him to connect to others and make friends, and instead would spend a lot of time alone.

When he turned 14 he was offered the chance to begin working alongside his usual school attendance. In this time he performed many odd jobs for the military base he was being housed at - mostly errands, cleaning, basic construction, and any other thing they could think of to keep a young boy busy.

He had what could be described as not a necessarily difficult childhood, but a very lonely one.

At 17, he enrolled into the army proper and began basic training for the Gyallian army.

While in basic, Ikamo was befriended by two other new recruits - Tikala and Hradrok. Hradrok was an outgoing young man who could tell Ikamo needed a friend, and quickly took him under his wing. Tikala found Ikamo's quiet but gentle nature interesting and refreshing among a group of people who were posturing and boisterous (as many young Gyallians are when attempting to prove themselves). Ikamo found Hradrok's explosive friendliness and Tikala's logical wit comforting in their rights, and felt like he could rely on them.

Their time in basic together solidified their friendship and they all became extremely close going forward. Where one went, it was likely at least one of the other two were not very far behind.

Ikamo and his two new friends become career soldiers, loyal to their planet and the military's cause. They became a fairly well known trio - Ikamo specializing in stealth and infiltration, Tikala in tracking and coordination, and Hradrok just plain physical power and intimidation. They were often placed together on deployments for how good of a chemistry they had and how well they worked together.

They spend most of their time protecting their borders, boarding the space ships of uncooperative tresspassers and working as an inital strike force to set up a successful boarding operation for their fellow Gyallian soldiers.

Their friendship remains strong in these early years, Tikala and Ikamo even going as far as dating. Hradrok and Tikala would even bring Ikamo to their respective families' gatherings for holidays so he wouldn't have to stay at base camp alone.

One particular mission had their unit checking on a unique tresspassing situation on the far reaches of Gyallian territory. Sun Cultists were performing a ritual of some kind, and after ignoring a stern warning, the team descended on them to capture them and stop the ritual. Ikamo took a lethal shot straight through his chest before he could even get himself in a decent position, sending Tikala and Hradrok into an absolute panicked frenzy to deal with the Sun Cultists with the rest of their team.

In a sea of darkness, The Hunger reaches out to Ikamo and offers him a second chance at life, in exchange for becoming its new Vessel. Ikamo took the offer, not understanding what that ultimatley meant, but was scared to die, and wanted to help his friends. Ikamo wakes up, is engulfed by The Hunger's power, and quickly and efficently destroys any remaining Sun Cultists.

Ikamo experiences what he comes to call "Hunger Sickness" shortly after this, and collapses from exhaustion. Tikala and Hradrok rush him to get medical attention.

Confused and scared after a hosptial visit that reveals he is mostly fine (aside from the strange black tar he keeps puking up), Ikamo, Hradrok, and Tikala try to figure out exactly what happened and how Ikamo is even still alive. The Hunger reveals to Ikamo that it had been under Sun Cultists control for many ages now, and that Ikamo was a good candidate to break this cycle. Tikala begins looking into the Sun Cultists and what their motivations would be to control an entity like this, and Hradrok begins helping Ikamo trial run his new abilities and helping him learn how to maintain control.

Ikamo becomes a person of special interest to folk of higher rank and status than them, and it is not long before it is discovered that Ikamo's new abilities as The Hunger's Vessel make him an excellent suicide soldier. Unable to truly stay dead, Ikamo can the powers The Hunger gives him to destroy key military locations, and at the same time keep The Hunger "fed." This realization is met with both enthusiasm and opposition, with one individual in particular, Xir, warning about the dangers of attempting to control The Hunger.

Early on in this discovery Ikamo is moved around and placed in units of higher importance. Each time he is moved he always insists that Tikala and Hradrok come with him - becoming extremely difficult and uncooperative if this request is denied. Through this the three of them climb ranks they never thought they would reach before, allowing Tikala to become leader of their broad unit and Hradrok to grow in physical power through access to new resources.

Their broad goals as a unit move from protecting their borders to specifically starting a turf war with the Sun Cultists - who want The Hunger back under their control to prevent Suns from becoming Black Holes. It eventually works its way into broad propaganda - the Sun Cultists highlighting footage of Ikamo's shadowy form destroying key locations of theirs and spreading the word about the dangers of "The Antimatter Shadow" to the general public.

As the years pass, the trio's friendship suffers. Ikamo begins withdraw as his importance becomes tied to The Hunger, causing him to take a more apathetic state of mind as he digs deeper and deeper into the abilities and visions it offers him. Tikala breaks up with him over it, sending him to further withdraw into himself. Hradrok, concerned that Ikamo is losing himself to The Hunger and what the consequences of that may be, makes it his personal mission to try and keep him under some kind of control. Tikala's abilities to manage their unit efficiently are called into question, prompting Hradrok to issue a formal challenge and takeover of leadership.

Despite it, they are all still united under one goal - keep the Sun Cultists from maintaining control of The Hunger again. They continue to work together even though their friendship forms into bitter resentment.

In recent years, Gyallia attaches a permanent wing to The Genesis Station (TGS) in order to establish open trade for the first time in centuries. This wing has a heavy military presence and an operational base built within it for protecting their goods and their people. Even though it is unsettling to some of the other residents of TGS, it is largely regarded as a good thing, as the metals Gyallia produces are highly sought after for their semi-magical properties.

At some point, Ikamo's team learns that there is a rather high concentration of Sun Cultists on The Genesis Station (TGS). In particular, they have seem to taken an interest in BioFusion Works, who they've been making bids to acquire without success, but still employ for various genetic serums. They decide to set up a presence in the Gyallian Wing, taking on the task of running security for the goods delivered to BioFusion Works from Gyallia. Ikamo is put in charge of security operations at BioFusion Works's on-site laboratory, while Tikala runs research and Hradrok continues to manage the entire team.

While the team is here for their extended stay, they all get deployed out to various locations in other parts of space as they catch wind of new Sun Cultists activities, and meet back at the TGS base to regroup and reassess. They coe to discover that they are seeking to create a new Vessel for the hunger that is genetically perfect. Ikamo notes this is a fool's errand, as The Hunger has no desire to connect with any new Vessel attached to the Sun Cultists, but there is no way for the Sun Cultists to know that the way he does.

At some point Ikamo discovers the location of one of The Hunger's fragments - a piece of the entity's being that was broken into pieces by the Sun Cultists ages past. He keeps this information to himself, not letting his team nor The Hunger know about it.

Ikamo encounters an old childhood friend - Daymen, who is employed at BioFusion Works with IT. Shocked that he'd meet anyone he knew so far away from home (and truthfully, in real need of a good friend), he quickly and eagerly reconnects. Along with him he quickly became acquainted with one of his colleagues, Kiera, who works in genetics lab. Outgoing and a bit of a strange personality, Kiera's speciality is in understanding the various forms of shapeshifting on a biological level. Her determination to find a cure for her own condition as well as her general intelligence and curiosity unexpectedly draws Ikamo in.

Daymen ends up being a good influence on Ikamo and pulls him out of a lot of his more dangerous nationalistic opinions and tendencies. It's enough to make Ikamo question if what he is doing is really in his and other species' best interest.

He is eventually absorbed into their broader friend group, and begins to find a new sense of community with people outside of the Gyallian military that he did not expect to find. More and more, he spends less time in the Gyallian wing and more time with them.

Ikamo develops feelings for Kiera, which end up being mutual, and the two begin dating in a more serious capacity. Between that pursuit, reuniting with Daymen, and being introduced to this friend group he comes to consider good people, he begins to question if what he's really doing for the Gyallian military is worth it for him.

This manifests in his normally stoic attitude starting to fade away when hes working with the rest of his team, and both Tikala and Hradrok come to notice there is a change in Ikamo's demeanor. Tikala especially notes that he's reverting to his older personality instead of his more newly acquired apathetic one, but is conflicted on if this is a good thing or not. Hradrok maintains that it is a problem and believes that any inch of room given to Ikamo means an inch of power given to The Hunger itself.

The two work together to try and get Ikamo under control by sending him on more missions and giving him more tasks to perform, but it only drives him to desire to break off more than before. He becomes more intensely dedicated to his friends and to Kiera and actively avoids his team wherever possible while on TGS.

Eventually, Xir shows up to The Genesis Station as a High Representative of Gyallia to facilitate new trade and other agreements. In his time there, he catches wind that Ikamo has been on board for an extended period of time, and orders Hradrok to immedetley withdraw his entire team from TGS - fearing disaster for the residents here if Ikamo were to lose control. Being a much higher rank than Hradrok, he is forced to comply.

Hradrok pulls the team within a day, giving Ikamo next to no time to say his proper goodbyes or sort out how he's going to stay in contact with his friends or continue to work things out with Kiera. The sudden upheaval sends him into a panic, and shortly after they take their ship and leave, he begins scheming on how he's going to leave. It's not long before he calls upon The Hunger for help.

Ikamo tells The Hunger that he doesn't want to be it's vessel anymore, to which it refuses to move on unless he can find a Vessel it likes (and it does not like any of his teammates). Instead, Ikamo offers that he knows where one of it's fragments is at TGS. The Hunger responds that it will agree to help Ikamo "escape his situation" if he helps it recover ALL of it's fragments. Ikamo takes the deal.

The Hunger teleports Ikamo back to The Genesis Station, but they begin to fight about who's objective to complete first. Ikamo wants to reconnect with Kiera and his friends and make sure they're alright, while The Hunger wants to retrieve it's fragment. They fight for a short time, but it isn't long before Ikamo loses control and causes a catastrophe in the center of the TGS - tearing it asunder and causing irreparable damage as The Hunger moves towards it's fragment and successfully absorbs it. There are many civilian casualties, and several ships in the surrounding area get caught in warp pockets and wormholes caused by the unstable nature of The Hunger's black holes.

In the panic, Kiera makes prolonged eye contact with Ikamo as The Hunger/ Antimatter Shadow, but he is functionally unconscious for the entire ordeal, and she's not entierly sure if what she saw was even real. (The Hunger is simply acknowledging who she is here, and moves away from her general location in an act of respect for it's Vessel.)

Satisfied with it's meal and the discovery of one of its fragments in the Gravity Nexus, The Hunger "gifts" Ikamo the boon of relocation - placing him far, far away from the action that would incriminate him. He wakes up on a heavily populated planet with not much knowledge of where he is.

Ikamo is left with the guilt of having caused an incredible catastrophe and becomes panicked that he has no idea if any of his friends are alive. He also knows that if he tried to go back to Gyallia he'd be functionally locked up for what could be the rest of his semi-immortal life. His only option is to run.

Not knowing exactly where he is, but knowing he needs to start moving away from populated locations that can recognize his face, Ikamo set out to gather a few supplies and stow away on a ship. He came across The Merkavah, a shipping vessel allegedly moving into deep space. Figuring it was as good a hiding spot as any, he absconded to the inner rafters of the ship with the intent to lay low and get off on the next habitable planet.

Things didn't necessarily go to plan as after a short while the crew began to grow suspicious of his presence. Being forced to make use of his powers to get away from them, he was eventually "caught" and interrogated about why he was on their ship. Once the crew realized he wasn't a threat to them, they let him stay.

Ikamo is currently living on the Merkavah with the crew, serving the roles of security/muscle with Rene (he's particularly strong), and oddly enough, cook. (He's the only one who enjoys the process and is also good at it, having learned from Kiera) The crew has yet to learn about his association with The Hunger.

(Eventually, he does reunite with Daymen and Kiera, who escaped the disaster on the Arthas and was rescued by the Merkavah.)