Ikamo

Without access to higher education and with external pressures to make money at a young age, Ikamo began working as a physical laborer as young teenager. Having to prioritize work over school mean that he isn't the most well learned individual, but he does retain information very well, and was very good at taking directions. Over time he went from simple labor, to handling power tools, and all the way up to operating large machinery.

It's not enough, though, and Ikamo eventually begins to feel the pressure of needing to have a more sustainable living than what this sort of job can offer him. For that, he turns to the military.

Ikamo becomes a career soldier who serves the Gyallian army, loyal to his planet and the military's cause. He has high honor ranks, but isn't necessarily in charge of coordinating any large teams. He's a good soldier and is easy to point in a direction to get a task done, but he's not a master strategist.

During one particular mission in the outer reaches of space, Ikamo met an untimely end to Sun Cultists performing a ritual in the far reaches of Gyallian territor. In the midst of his death, The Hunger reached out to him and offered him a second chance at life. Ikamo took it, not really understanding what he was getting into, and subsequently destroyed any Sun Cultists who were left.

News of Ikamo's death would eventually reach his friends and family back home, but the Special Operations unit of the military realized Ikamo's abilities through The Hunger made for an excellent suicide soldier. Unable to truly stay dead, Ikamo uses the powers The Hunger gives him to destroy key military locations, and at the same time keep The Hunger "fed."

Ikamo is mostly unaware of what exactly the grand goals are for him being sent out and obliterating military bases with black holes, but he likes being useful. For a long while, he is satisfied with the knowledge that he is "doing a good thing." He has been operating like this for near on a decade.

At some point, Ikamo is tasked with boarding The Genesis Station (TGS) with the directives to investigate and steal a certain set of research notes being done in a lab run by BioFusion Works, as well as to perhaps investigate the Gravity Nexus. A break in the norm for him, Ikamo was initially skeptical about the change - he felt it was a task better suited for someone much smarter than him. Nothing if not a good soldier, Ikamo took on the assignment and was placed on the the The Genesis Station as a security guard for BioFusion Work's on-site laboratory.

Ikamo encounters an old childhood friend - Daymen, who is employed on TGS with IT. With how rare it is to see a fellow Gyallian, Ikamo was glad to see his old friend thriving away from home. 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 also meets one of Daymen's friends, a Teharan woman named Kiera working as a scientist with BioFusion Works. Outgoing and a bit of a strange personality, Kiera's speciality is in understanding the various forms of shapeshifting on a biological level. She has done many self-modifications to change her genetic makeup in an attempt to become a shapeshifter herself. At present, she can make small changes to her appearance, like getting slightly sharp teeth or giving herself darkvision, but little beyond that.

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 some other folk he comes to consider good people, he begins to question what he's really doing for the Gyallian military. After a lot of internal turmoil, he decides he's going to find a way to abandon the mission in favor of forging a new life for himself.

The Hunger disagrees with Ikamo's new goal - no more missions means no more food, nothing more to consume, at least not in the way it had been fed up to this point. It isn't long before Ikamo loses control of The Hunger and causes a catastrophe in the center of the TGS - tearing it asunder and causing irreparable damage. 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.

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.

Not knowing exactly where he is, but knowing he needs to start moving away from populated locations that can recgonize his face, Ikamo set out to gather a few supplies and stow away on a ship. He came across The Merkavah, a shipping vessel allegedley 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), assistant handiman to Hans (using the knowledge from his construction days), and oddly enough, cook. (He's the only one who enjoys the process and is also good at it.) The crew has yet to learn about his association with The Hunger.