Katina Tarask

"Shut up! If you disobey me, I'll use your blood for Gigan too!"

Lt. Katina Tarask is the 25-year old commander of the EFA's Octo Squad. Impatient, and almost psychotically short-tempered woman who is always ready for a fight. She's tends to be bossy, and is known for her inablity to tolerate insubordination, though is usually friendly if people act serious around her. She loves to boss around her subordinate, Russel Bagman, whom she's been close friends with since before the war even started, though no signs of romantic interest has ever been shown between them. Regardless, Katina will definitly look out for Russel, though Russeldoes moreso for her. Katina had once been a test pilot for new machines, and because of this she always wants to pilot newly rolled out machines   from the production line. Katina's an aggressive pilot, so much so that she occasionally rushes right into the fray of battle without waiting for assistance, which can sometimes lead to her getting in way over her head. She directs this aggression sometimes at her squad members, as well as theenemies. This also means that she when she picks an opponent, she doesn't let off until either someone's mech is a wreck. She's so aggressive, she's earned herself the reputation of 'Painting her mechs red with the blood ofher enemies, and using that of her allies as primer.'

Background Information
Katina Tarask doesn't like to speak of her life prior to her joining the military, and becoming a PT Pilot, and trying to force the conversation is only more likely to get one on her bad side, which is typically not a fun place to be. This leaves one needing to look to other sources for information on her past. Born in the United States to second generation Greek immigrants in NCA 93, Katina had once been a sweet, and friendly girl, pleasant to those around her, and carefree. Her attitude took a complete about face in NCA 103, when at the age of ten she lost her family to the initial disasters of the Second Impact, and it was during the chaos following the Impact that she recieved an injury to her right eye, which resulted in her acquired Heterochromia.

The change of her right eye from green to red was like a physical manifestation of the inner turmoils that resulted in the change of the outlook of her life, and personality shift. Katina was taken into an orphanage after the disasters of the Impact, where the other children immediately took to picking on her, and mocking her mismatched eyes. Her initial friendly dispostion disappeared in little time at all, shifted to something more hostile not too long after. Katina became hyper-aggressive as a response to everything that had happened to her, angry at the disasters which took her everything from her, and everything that came as a repercussion. Hostility directed at everyone, getting into fights as often as possible. Katina's attitude became increasingly angry, bossy, and tomboyish to those around her. All One of the dreams of her youth had been in mecha piloting, which soon became something of an obsession.

At the age of eighteen, Katina wasted little time in enlisting in the EFA to be a pilot, achieving good test scores and going through boot camp and pilot school with ease. Despite her good scores, her psychiatric evaluation showed that her hostile and aggressive tendencies could very well jeopardise any mission she was put on if not channeled properly. Fears were averted, however, the day Katina met one of the few people who could keep her under some manner of control, Russel Bagman.

Katina had met Russel during her days in pilot School, some time after boot camp, and the pair simply stuck despite their differences in personality, or perhaps because of it. Where Katina was aggressive, hostile, and somewhat bossy, Russel simply rolled with it. In the advent of an individual who was accepting of her behavior, or at the very least knew how to handle it, Katina's hyper-aggression and anger were subdued to acceptible levels, allowing her to complete pilot school and become a test pilot for the EFA. By the time she was twenty-five, she had managed to achieve the rank of lieutenant, and was given command of her own squad, and was assigned to the Hiryu Custom. Naturally, one of her picks for the newly debuted Octo-Squad was Russel Bagman, whom by this point she's close friends with, and will watch his back, if a little less than he'll watch hers.

As she served a test pilot for a while, Katina is always eager to try out new machines, especially in combat. Her first craft as the CO of Octo-Squad was the F-28 Messer, which she still pilots on occasion. When Kyosuke Nanbu's Gespenst Mk. II became available for her use, she wasted little time in giving it a new paintjob, favoring a red color scheme for all of her machines. This, on top of her aggressive personality, has earned her a reputation of 'painting her mech with the blood of her enemies (and using that of her allies as primer).'

Personality Traits
Katina Tarask's personality is more complicated than it first appears, though she would likely lash out on anyone who would try to delve and look more into it. On the surface Katina is a hyper-aggressive, and bossy woman, quick to anger and quicker to hostility, ready to fight anyone who shows the least bit of disrespect to her, and ready to punish anyone who behaves with the least bit of insubordination to her if she outranks them. She shows suspicion and distrust to anyone, particularly her enemies, who don't show her their worth. Sometimes tactless, nearly always impatient, and always eager to fight, on the surface she can be a very unpleasant woman if one rubs her the wrong way, which can lead her to the occasional violent outburst if uncontrolled.

Despite the picture of an angry, crazy woman, she has a softer side that she will NEVER admit to having, if only because she forged her current image as an emotional defense. The trauma of the loss of her parents to the Second Impact, and the subsequent abuse from other children upon acquiring her Heterochromia had left her needing to defend her sweet, carefree, friendly, and pleasant self from a world where it could be taken advantage of, and thus has great difficulty expressing herself in such a way. Which could very well become reality if not kept under control, which is where Russel Bagman becomes an importance to her.

Russel is the closest friend that Katina has, from the boot camp and pilot school up until present day. Her aggressive, domineering, and hostile personality traits are greatly subdued by him, likely because the man rolls over and takes her outbursts, so she doesn't need to bottle up her emotions. As a result, she's considerably easier to deal with on the whole, where she is at least sociable to those around her. In anycase, she'll watch Russel's back on the field, she's cares that much about him, at the least.

Katina loves to pilot mechs and planes, and loves to get them into combat moreso, and while not obsessed with robots as much as certain other EFA members, it's hard to get her out of a machine, particularly new ones, once she's strapped herself in. She's in the army for the thrill of it, and that's all that matters to her, so far.

Friends and Allies

 * Russel Bagman: Russel Bagman has been Katina's friend since boot camp, a personal punching bag and her only real confidant. Of course, she's not romantically interested in him. Really! Stop making those faces!
 * Tasuku Shinguji: Tasuku Shinguji
 * Chibodee Crockett:

Enemies and Rivals

 * Daiyu Lin - While Katina doesn't like the Titans in general for being undeserving, rank pulling, smug bastards, Daiyu Lin not only takes the proverbial cake, but robs the whole damn bakery, by presuming to talk down to Katina and her Octo Squad, as though they were little more than red shirts waiting to be put in the front line, and not be heard from again, and more personally by outright insulting her for calling things as she saw it and not turning the other cheek.

Talents & Abilities
Lt. Katina Tarask has command of her own squad known as 'Octo Squad', and thus has all the resources available to her rank.

Katina is also scary crazy at times. Quite often she can be heard screaming at her subordinates to motivate them or tell them off, and will punch anyone who doesn't listen to her. Really!

Category : Earth Federation Alliance Category : Banpresto Originals