Kelvak

Kelvak is a Telkan who distinguished himself through his selfless acts of bravery in supporting the evacuation of Striker Base Boop, despite grave injuries and being significantly outnumbered.

Description
Kelvak is a typical Telkan male, standing roughly four feet high. His fur was brown and black dappled. He was quiet and studious, often writing letters home to family members.

History
During the First Telkan War, he lost his mother, father, and siblings. He hid with his broodcarriers as a child and helped comfort the podlings with them, hiding in one of the Nagasaki Class shelters. During the Second Telkan War he was inside one of the shelters the entire time. When the Telkan Marine Corps was formed he was one of the first class, being old enough to join up by less than an hour when he signed his name.

First Telkan Marines
While never really distinguishing himself during training, he was still an acceptable (By Telkan Marine Corps standards) power armor pilot with a solid grasp of junior enlisted tactics and responsibilities. He was noted as writing home quite often. When he graduated, he found himself attached to First Telkan Marines.

Deployed as a power armor infantry, Kelvak was on the Crazy Nick Cage when it jumped in-system in the Hesstla system and found itself under attack by Atrekna ships at point blank range. While deploying, his drop-pod was hit by unknown origin fire and Kelvak made an unpowered unassisted free fall. Before chute deployment Kelvak struck something in mid-air, shattering it and damaging his armor systems. Post-battle reconstruction discovered evidence that he struck an Atrekna Command Vehicle, killing actual Atrekna and not their subordinates or proxies.

His armor damaged, Kelvak made a hard landing. The impact severed his leg, broke his spine, most of his ribs, and left him impaled up on an endosteel bar, his armor seriously compromised. (After Action Reports determined that Private Kelvak had close direct contact with Atrekna phasic energy systems, which damaged the warsteel laminate) His Operational Armor Engineer unconscious and wounded, Kelvak watched from where he was sitting as another bad drop put a PacificRim Class Jaegermech into the decorative lake inside of him.

At a later point Kelvak and the mortally wounded pilot of the Jaegermech were discovered by an Atrekna ruling class. The Jaegermech pilot was killed and the Atrekna performed brain extraction and devouring, discovering that the Terran brain was toxic.

Several hours later Kelvak was rescued by a squad of First Cavalry infantry and sent to Striker Base Boop. There it was determined that the damage to his spine and skeletal structure, as well as his internal organs, put him on the critically injured list. After several rounds of surgery, including the removal of debris from his right eye socket, he was wired to use a physical therapy frame in the hopes that he would be able to return to Telkan as the surgeons had informed him "The War's over for you, son."

During an Atrekna counter-attack, Striker Base Boop came under heavy attack (See File Records) by overwhelming strength. With over two hundred critically wounded patients in the hospital section as well as the majority of combat troops engaged in combat against Atrekna landing forces in other areas, Private Kelvak radioed his Operations Engineer 222 (AKA Triple-Deuce) and somehow managed to load his physical therapy frame with ad hoc and emergency combat systems.

Private Kelvak, the Mantids 222 and 640, along with nine critically injured humans, defended the striker base as it was evacuated. Kelvak held the gate for nearly two hours, until finally pushed back into the base itself. The furious defense forced the Atrekna to devote superior forces to taking a nearly empty base.

Finally, holding the striker landing pad to prevent the Atrekna forces from engaging the retreating medivac ships, Private Kelvak and his ad hoc team fought on. Private Kelvak was the last to fall, killed by a hy-vee round.

According to official records, his body was never recovered.

KAPPA
His body taken by the Telkan Disciples of the Digital Omnimessiah, Kelvak's body was taken to an undisclosed location. There his spirit was communed with and agreed to continue to serve the Telkan people and the Digital Omnimessiah. Kelvak was sealed into the body of a Warbound. A heavy robotic power armor chassis, his body brought back to the edge of life and death. The transfer was successful and Kelvak was renamed "Kappa", the first Telkan created Warbound.

Kappa was deployed to Hesstla in advance of the Second Atrekna Invasion of Hesstla.

After Action Report
The following was sent to Director Brentili'ik's office as well as his step-parents and broodcarriers:

MARINE CORPS AWARD LETTER - FINAL PARAGRAPHS

Private Kelvak, in defiance of personal danger and extensive physical injury,used his physical therapy frame and, with the help of two green mantid engineers, held the Precursor autonomous war machines at the south gate at Striker Base Boop to enable the medical evacuation of over two hundred military and civilian wounded.

Despite grave injuries, Private Kelvak fought, often alone with the exception of the Mantids 222 and 640, for nearly two hours. At the end, according to records recovered on site, Private Kelvak, with the remainder of his ad-hoc fire team, defended the landing pad against overwhelming odds. Once the last patient was evacuated Private Kelvak and his team of wounded human compatriots, despite mortal injury, continued to draw enemy fire until finally he was struck by a 52mm high velocity burst and killed.

For his valor in the face of overwhelming personal danger as well as his persistence despite mortal injury, the Telkan Marine Corps has determined that Private Kelvak's actions upheld the highest traditions and expectations of the Telkan Marine Corps, the Confederate Military Services, and the Telkan People.

It is with solemn regret that I record this.--Signed: Admiral NGwark, Space Force, Task Force Commander, Hesstla

FINAL VOICE RECORDING

"Hi, guys, I know I said I'd be home, but, well, things went a little different. I wanted to make a difference, and I think I did. In a good way. I know things for our family have been tough, but you guys will be all right. Podlings, listen to Himf'thalla and Plemill'till. Be good podlings. Be brave, be smart, be strong, be clever. Grow up to be good Telkans. Grow up and take good care of your brood-mommies, they love you with all their hearts. Grow up to be strong, and clever, and brave, and kind. Grow up to love, and laugh. Live free, podlings. Himf'thalla and Plemill'till, you were the best broodmommies ever. Nobody ever had broodmommies who loved them as much as you loved me. When mom and dad died, when my siblings died, you made me feel like someone still loved me. I love all of you, and I'm sorry I can't come home. Podlings, take care of your broodmommies, and I love you."