Thomas Challenger

Commander Thomas Joseph Challenger (a.k.a. Eagle 1, Echo 101, Eagle Actual)

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Born to Douglas and Sally Challenger, Thomas was born in the North London borough of Barnet. The Challengers were a couple of prestigious teachers at the local Finchley Memorial Academy, who had built a reputation in the local community as some of the best teachers in the borough. Thomas' upbringing through his toddler years was fairly standard for that of a middle-class child. By his 8th Birthday Thomas himself had gained a reputation for being helpful and caring as well as very intelligent for his age.
Thomas began attending the Royal Air Force Air Cadets (RAFAC) when he was 12 years old. His fascination with aircraft as a young child had grown into a genuine hobby for him. He collected model aircraft, attended airshows and loved to play flight based computer games. While attending his local squadron, he would learn self defence, shooting and flying skills. He was very quick to demonstrate his skill in all three areas, leading his squadron's shooting team into the RAFAC Annual Shooting League, where he placed 5th out of 120 cadets.
Tragedy struck in 2036 when during a terrorist attack on his school, both of Thomas' parents were killed right in front of him in a particularly gruesome manner. Thomas was able to disarm and critically injure one of the terrorists before using the terrorists own weapon to kill the remaining two. The psycological impact of this incident was immediate and catastrophic for Thomas.
His close friend's father, Christopher Archer, had offered to adopt Thomas so that he would not be put in a care home. Thomas grandparents, barely able to look after themselves, accepted the offer. Due to the mental trauma and change in school, Thomas went from being a top student and socialable boy to being the bottom of the class in everything and aggressively anti-social, with the exception of a close group of friends and his step-family. Thomas became involved in taking and at one point dealing illegal substances. He was suspended from school twice and narrowly avoided time in a young offenders institute. However, at the age of 15, Thomas met his first love. A new student in his class called Charlie Peterson. Charlie helped Thomas get out of his awful situation involving drugs and helped him with his studies. He began to truly heal from the damage the trauma had left him with.
At the age of 16, after passing U17 exams by the skin of his teeth, Thomas decided to join the army. There was little option for him, as his grades had resulted in him being rejected from all his college choices. He signed up for the United Nations Peacekeeper Initiative. This would later evolve into the United Nations Centurion Peacekeeper Wing.
Thomas' military training helped to harden his mind and gave him technical skills he could potentially transfer to a civillian role. However, he had showed extreme prowess in all areas of his training, shooting, driving, flying and even hand-to-hand combat. His training last for 5 years, during which he was stationed in Portsmouth Academy for Military Studies or PAMS. His relationship with Charlie had become strained by the time he was 21, the long distance had been taking its toll on their closeness and his obsession with the military had grown and grown over the 5 years, and Charlie, being a pacifist, hated this. In 2045, just a few days before the Keplarian Incursions over London, Paris and Plymouth, Charlie officially broke up with Thomas.
There was little time for greiving, as only 4 days later, Thomas would be deployed as part of Centurion Squadron Eagle to London to help defend against the suprise alien invasion. Thomas would take part in both the Battle of London and the Battle of Paris, and would also come out as the only surivivor of his squadron. This enourmous amount of loss in such a short time took its toll on Thomas' mental state, but there was little time to think about his losses. Thomas was promoted to the Commanding officer of the Centurion Squadrons and given command of Eagle Squadron.

Gender Identity

Thomas never questioned his Gender Identity, every part of himself he wanted to be viewed as male. He was always accepting of anyone who did question their Gender Identity, however.

Sexuality

Going through secondary level education at a mixed school in his teens, Thomas found himself questioning his sexuality. He often would not mix with those of the opposite gender or those with different gender identities. At the age of 16 he realised that he had developed a crush on one of the more popular boys in his class. At a similar time, he had begun to make friends outside of his usual group and began to mix with girls in his class, also developing crushes on those who would eventually become his friends. He came out as Bisexual to those close to him when he turned 17.

Education

Thomas' education from a young age went smoothly. He was a good performer up until the age of 13, when the Conspiracy Terror campaigns resulted in both of his parents being killed, and Thomas being severely mentally scarred. From the age of 14, Thomas' academic results saw a rapid decline. No amount of effort from his foster family could fix what was broken within Thomas. He quickly fell into substance additiction and got in trouble with the school security several times.
By the age of 17, Thomas had taken his U17 exams, and recieved straight D grades across every subject, a borderline pass. He then chose to continue his education within the United Nations Armed Forces, where he would be given courses on engineering, computer science and mathematics, albiet at a more basic level than most U19 qualifications.

Morality & Philosophy

"Treat those around you as you would have them treat you"
"Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons, and they will follow you into the darkest valley"
"Failure is not the end, it is a stepping stone to success"
Thomas has a very positive attitude to the world and the people around him. He is very good at helping people find the light at the end of the tunnel in life and often finds himself being the go to person for a lot of his friends when they need advice or just someone to talk to.

Year of Birth

2023

Circumstances of Birth

Born through experimental IVF-cloning operation, given 7% chance to live at birth due to poor understanding of the procedure

Birthplace

Barnet, London

Gender

Male

Eyes

Dark Brown

Hair

Natural Brown, Dyed a dark purple

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Caucasian

Height

5'9''

Weight

80kg

Aligned Organization

United Nations Centurion Peacekeeper Wing

Other Affiliations

• United Nations