Joseph Amir

Chief Petty Officer Youssef "Joseph" Amir was deck chief of the Charon-class frigate UNSC  , in charge a team of technicians tasked with the maintenance and repair of the vessel's dropship and vehicle compliments, when the vessel was struck by a slipspace anomaly and crash-landed on an uncharted world.

Early Life and Enlistment
Youssef's parents had immigrated to Aleria shortly after marriage in search of work, only to find themselves horrified by the living and working conditions on the planet. The union formed to protect the rights and safety of the miners working Aleria's primary source of revenue had become corrupt, and the health of individuals deteriorated rapidly. Though both wished to leave, they hadn't enough credits to afford passage on a ship, and fell into indentured servitude as they found work with a mining company and their wages failed to cover the food and lodging the company provided. Bringing a child into their harsh new world would've been the last thing the couple wanted, but Youssef's mother had already been pregnant when they set out for the planet. When he was born, Youssef's parents made every effort to make their son's life happy on that desolate world.

This would be a monumental task, as resources grew all the more scarce when the UEG voted to halt all trade with Aleria after the onset of the Human-Covenant War in 2525. With starvation and drought widespread, Youssef's parents could not afford anything but the barest essentials, and by the age of eight, Youssef had developed berylliosis. Resigned to their fates on the planet, his parents became determined their son would not suffer the same, and prevented company agents from grooming and recruiting Youssef as a potential future employee. Instead, they sought out the illicit courier guilds becoming ever more common on the planet and volunteered Youssef as an assistant for the mechanics tending their smuggling starships. As this was the last thing Youssef wanted to do with his free time, it led to conflict between himself and his father, but he stuck with it and swiftly learned the basics of the trade.

By 2538, when Youssef was in his late teens, unrest on the planet was on the rise, as his own generation began blaming Aleria's government and the UEG for the planet's degrading conditions. While his friends entered or formed secret groups dreaming of insurrection, Youssef realized the need to escape before he, too, was forced to join or refuse their fraternities. Given a few hundred credits by his parents, Youssef signed onto the crew of a smuggling ship as their engineer and left the planet behind, never to see it again. Once the freighter made landfall on Actium, Youssef anonymously reported the crew to cover his separation from them, and never rejoined them after release from a few nights in jail. Instead, he set out to make the most of a life for himself, his parents' wish for him.

This proved difficult, however, as Youssef was not a citizen of the UEG. Without identification, he struggled to so much as purchase food for himself, and spent time living in poverty among the many refugees of the Human-Covenant War. Determined not to remain living in such a way, whether on Aleria or Actium, Youssef registered for citizenship, benefiting from the fact he'd been born before trade had been cut off with Aleria. His known association with the smugglers, however, became a recurring justification to deny his application, until Youssef had only one path left: enlistment with the UNSC military. While Youssef had little desire to risk his life for the UEG, the increasingly-desperate state of their war with the Covenant had led them to offer generous benefits for enlistment, and already possessing experience as a starship mechanic, Youssef was quickly picked up by the UNSC Navy.

Given the unwanted nickname of Joseph by his comrades in the heavily-Western culture of the UNSC, Amir served first as a basic technician aboard transport vessels, witnessing the battles of Miridem and Alluvion. When he observed the glassing of Actium firsthand from aboard the carrier UNSC Trafalgar, Youssef realized there might be nowhere left for him to live a safe and secure life if humanity lost its war with the Covenant, and redoubled his efforts to improve himself and serve the UNSC's larger war effort. His skill and marks in leadership courses saw him promoted to a deck officer, albeit on the less prestigious command of the Charon-class frigate  , and eventually became the ship's deck chief. It was here he remained when a slipspace anomaly struck the ship as it fled from a pursuing Covenant cruiser.

Personality and Traits
Meticulous to a fault, Youssef preferred to take the time necessary to ensure success before acting, potentially waiting too long to make the most of opportunities. The approach served him well as the  ’s deck chief, ensuring the dropships and fighters he was responsible for worked flawlessly when their pilots needed them, but his need for perfection often brought him into conflict with superiors and peers alike over priorities. His willingness to argue for it was an extension of a desire to live well, constantly aware he owed his life to the sacrifices his parents had made. He kept a digital file, as well as the physical original, of their photo on him at all times; also among his possessions were a supply of corticosteroids to help treat his berylliosis, which he required regularly.