Tarkov

Tarkov
Personal details
Species:	Human
Gender:	Male
Hair color:	Brown
Eye color:	Blue
Political and military information
Affiliation:	UNSC Marine Shock Troopers

This article is about the ODST in The Life. For the ODST in Halo: The Cole Protocol, see Markov.

Tarkov is an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper assigned to the 19th Battalion of the 105th Shock Troops Division who participated in the Human-Covenant War.^[1]

Biography

Enlistment

At some point during the Human-Covenant War, Staff Sergeant K. Stark of the 19th Battalion, an acquaintance or relative of Tarkov, was killed in action. Tarkov attended Stark's funeral and afterward volunteered to be an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. He then went through a series of brutal training exercises, including live ammunition combat crawls through mud, to prepare him for combat. Tarkov was then assigned to the 19th Battalion.^[1]

Combat

During one of his first combat deployments, Tarkov dropped onto an unknown planet amongst other members of his battalion and immediately engaged Covenant forces. Several lances of Jiralhanae soldiers were present along with Covenant style tank traps at the landing zone, with multiple Banshees providing close air support.

A Jiralhanae Minor struck Tarkov while the latter was moving up the line, knocking off his helmet and inflicting deep gashes in his face, simultaneously throwing him into a mud puddle. Tarkov vainly fired his pistol at the Brute as it moved forward to make the killing blow. However, a severely damaged Banshee crashed into the Brute's back, killing it and saving Tarkov's life.

Years later, Tarkov, now a battle-hardened veteran whose gashes had turned into scars, led four other ODSTs in a field burial for a fallen comrade slipping an ODST banner under his armor. As plasma fire erupted and artillery detonated in the distance, the ODSTs put on their helmets and moved out.^[1]

Trivia

Tarkov's surname, as well as the fact that Stark's funeral detail and Tarkov's trainers spoke Hungarian, may suggest that Tarkov is a native of Reach. This is likely, as many of Reach's early settlers were from Eastern Europe, particularly Hungary, which influenced the names of many locations and even animal species on the planet.