User:Useful Dave/Alexa Groutin

When it comes to physical appearances, Groutin’s olive skin, brown eyes and dark brown hair wouldn’t hint at a heritage leading back to the very first colonists of an ice world. Of course, standing at 5’11 she isn’t exactly going to be squeezing her way down a repair shaft any time soon, not with a bodysuit adding onto that. While her body may not be a steroid fuelled powerhouse, both Marine and ODST training combined with years of combat have brought it into shape for keeping the platoon in line.

In the Marines, a quiet and timid officer might just survive, in the ODSTs however it takes more than that to keep a fireteam let alone a platoon under control. This suits Groutin just fine, being able to vary her command style between being ‘just one of the troops’ and being the ‘tightass’ hardcore Lieutenant that they need. Although, her own cocky and renegade attitude tends to slip through sometimes, even around commanding officers occasionally. This could be part of the reason why she is a mere Second Lieutenant rather than full, even when she manages to get results most of the time.

Pre-Service Life
The daughter of Graham and Valerie Groutin was born on September 24th, 2523 in Murmansk Central Hospital without complications. Her childhood was relatively normal, save for a few incidents which resulted in the discovery of her Coulrophobia. As with some, the change in her lifestyle came in her teenage years when Alexa hit the rebellious streak head-on. Unlike some, she did not throw her exam results in the rubbish and spend her time seeing just how much trouble she could get into. Instead it was the more sensible type, merely diverging from the previous direction of the family and more towards a more satisfying type of life. The problem for Alexa was that while staying on a frozen rock and continuing to secure the supply of Titanium for the system’s shipyards wasn’t exactly a unwanted job, it was… dull.

In comparison to that, the United Nations Space Command had a whole range of jobs which would at the very least spice up life, even if it was still restricted to the same planet. Out of the variety of positions ranging from naval workers to intelligence officers and combat engineers, the one which captured young Groutin’s eye was little more than the bog standard marine. With the Covenant war raging ever brighter even after a decade and a half of fighting, the UNSC would gladly welcome in every soldier they could get, it wouldn’t matter if she was assigned to guard duty for an orbital shipyard or shoved into the front line of a victorious battle, everything would be doing its part

Initial Views
In the end, the newly trained and minted Lance Corporal Groutin was assigned to the 76th Marine Division a mere week before they were to ship out for the system of Fomalhaut. It was there that she got to see just how the war was going for humanity, it was not the slow yet ultimately successful effort to force the aliens back into their own space, it was a valiant yet outmatched effort to save whatever could be saved where-ever the Covenant struck.

This was why she didn’t immediately resign or attempt to desert, if the war was going this badly, it was no wonder the UNSC were concealing it, yet when they tried they could salvage some form of victory no matter what the odds, be it the evacuation of civilians in the combat zone or the destruction of Covenant forces. Surely it was worth fighting if only to keep the Covenant at bay one little piece at a time.

Service Career
Her service in the 76th was without complaint as they fought on not only at Fomalhaut, but at Antares, Regulus and Vega. Over the years she rose from a Lance Corporal to full Corporal, a brevet rank to Sergeant lasted until a disagreement of views with a Lieutenant put him out on the floor and her down to Corporal for another year. Given the time though, she finally managed to rise up to a brevet ranking of Lieutenant upon Vega, where the Covenant met their match at Mandella Starport.

Groutin’s platoon managed to hold out under odds others might have called crazy, placing the thirty men and women under her command in the teeth of the Covenant assault while the evacuation was underway. She came away with a mere trio remaining under her command, yet they had held out against a full scale assault for nearly an hour, providing enough time for the final ships to prepare for departure and rescuing hundreds from plasma based death. This wasn’t the behaviour of a marine who wanted to merely skim through service with as little plasma burns to their name as possible, it was closer to the reckless behaviour of one who preferred to enter combat feet first, with the odds firmly against them.

So in order to settle things down a little for the marines and gain a suitable ODST in the deal, the offer of a transfer to the 42nd Orbital Assault Battalion was made to her. With this transfer came a slight change in rank, being lowered to an actual rank of Second Lieutenant rather than the brevet Lieutenant she had previously been given, but with this position being in a unit of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers rather than marines. After a moment spent reminding Alexa just what it was the ODSTs did during their service, she accepted the transfer and a month later, was billeted with the 42nd for the foreseeable future. It was a position which required time to adjust after years of service in a bog standard marine unit, but thanks to her ‘unique’ attitude, Groutin found herself sliding into place nicely amid the third company.