Tarkov

Tarkov is an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper assigned to the 19th Battalion of the 105th Shock Troops Division who participated in the Human-Covenant War.

Enlistment
At some point during the Human-Covenant War, Staff Sergeant K. Stark of the 19th Battalion, an acquaintance or relative of Tarkov, was killed in action. Tarkov attended Stark's funeral and afterward volunteered to be an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. He then went through a series of brutal training exercises, including live ammunition combat drills and crawls through mud to prepare him for combat. Tarkov was then assigned to the 19th Battalion.

Combat
During one of his first combat deployments, Tarkov dropped onto an unknown planet amongst other members of his battalion and immediately engaged Covenant forces. Several lances of Jiralhanae soldiers were present along with Covenant style tank traps at the landing zone, with multiple Banshees providing close air support.

A Jiralhanae Minor struck Tarkov while the latter was moving up the line, knocking off his helmet and inflicting deep gashes in his face, simultaneously throwing him into a mud puddle. Tarkov vainly fired his pistol at the Brute as it moved forward to make the killing blow. However, a severely damaged Banshee crashed into the Brute's back, killing it and saving Tarkov's life.

Years later, Tarkov, now a battle-hardened veteran whose gashes had turned into scars, led four other ODSTs in a field burial for a fallen comrade slipping an ODST banner under his armor. As plasma fire erupted and artillery detonated in the distance, the ODSTs put on their helmets and moved out.

Trivia
Tarkov's surname, as well as the fact that Stark's funeral detail and Tarkov's trainers spoke Hungarian, may suggest that Tarkov is a native of Reach. This is likely, as many of Reach's early settlers were from Eastern Europe, particularly Hungary, which influenced the names of many locations and even animal species on the planet.

In 2022, Mega Construx released a Halo building set called “ODST Hive Exterminators” based on concept art for Halo 3: ODST. The building set features Tarkov as the team leader of a four man ODST squad tasked with eliminating a drone hive. (This is Tarkov’s first appearance in any Halo media since his first and previously only appearance in the 2009 trailer ‘We are ODST’/‘The Life’). The building set features Tarkov wearing a standard ODST armor set with a Mustard Yellow color scheme accurately detailed to his appearance at the end of the live action trailer. Along with three unnamed squad members (2 male, 1 female) their armor is mash ups of preexisting armor piece pulled from various members of Alpha Nine each in a new color scheme.

List of appearances

 * The Life