Kobayashi Iku is a non-player character played by Bilgecrank. She led a strike mission for Ryuusei during their first excursion on the Leo.

Kobayashi Iku
Species:	Geshrin
Gender:	Female
Age:	27
Height:	5'6” / 167 cm.
Weight:	132 lb. / 60 kg.
Organization	Star Army of Yamatai
Rank	Taii
Occupation	Intelligence and Special Operations
Current Placement	Leo Star Fortress

Theme: Halo 3: ODST - The Office of Naval Intelligence

Voice: Vandread - Meia Gisborn

• Height: 5'6” / 167 cm.
• Mass: 132 lb. / 60 kg.
• Bra: B

Build and Skin Color: Lean and lithe, Iku works her body to the maximum of flexibility and grace. Her legs are toned and powerful, shaped by several hours of running and training. Being under conditions of constant stress and extended operations as left her tanned skin a little dry and rough to the touch.

Eyes and Facial Features: Iku possesses a sharp, curled gaze that was normally common among multi-generation Kyoto citizens. Her eyes possess an uncommon, bright brown color that gives most people an uncomfortable feeling when she stares for a little too long.

Ears: Kobayashi's ears human shaped, however her left is decorated with a silver, metal clamp.

Hair Color and Style: Iku wears her black hair in a bun.

Distinguishing Features: A fiery scar mottles the left side of her hip and abdomen, with spots of skin pink with scarring under the arm and left breast.

Personality: Gruff, distrustful, and to the point describes Iku in more ways than it should. She does not take insults lightly, especially about her name, and has been known to handle most situations in social matters “like a Nepleslian”. Despite that, Iku's underlying qualities remain her strongest, her discerning eyes, and her perceptive senses. Unfortunately, this same quality only enhances her bluntness, making her able to call out on things that most people would prefer to be unnoticed.

In combat, Iku is often viewed as cold-blooded by her more sensitive counter-parts. She is goal-oriented, and tends to focus primarily on completing objectives in the quickest and most effective way possible.

• Likes: Elysian wine and Bread, imported drafts, exotic foods, doing field work, and music.
• Dislikes: Anyone that cries out her name during certain physical relations, working alone, being forced into the arms of the Star Army.
• Goals: Finding someone she can trust well enough to live her life with.

• Father: Kobayashi Gira
• Mother: Kobayashi Shizuka
• Stepmother: Kobayashi Tsubaki
• Sister: Kobayashi Ginga (Deceased)
• Step-Sister: Hamasaki Tomoko
• Step-Brother: Hamasaki Katsuo

Born to a forest ranger and company executive, Iku grew up among the towering trees of Tami. Often, in her childhood, she would go on trips through the expansive forests with her father o learn about all nature and the animals within it had to offer. Her mother would spoil her left and right with gifts, and love. Whenever she was bored, she could always find a playmate in her sister, who was never shy and never afraid to try new things. Iku lived a loving, comfortable life with her family in her early childhood, and rarely knew hardship because of it.

However, this was not to last as one early trip home from school had Ginga, Iku's sister, and Iku herself catching their ever-loving mother on the couch with another man. Despite being bribed and a coaxed into keeping the discovery a secret, Ginga had become unable to contain herself with her father. When he found out, the house fell apart and the world Iku had come to cherish was slowly unraveling into an unfamiliar hell. In futile attempts to “work through it”, Iku's parents tried to put it past them, but all it led to was screaming arguments and a constant, cold reminder that the innocence of the family had been lost. Eventually the entire debacle ended in divorce, with Gira getting custody of the children.

The whole thing had been torturous for Ginga, who had thought to have harmlessly exposed a secret, but instead had believed she'd torn the family apart all on her own. One night, without saying a word to anyone, and only a tearful glance to her sister, she disappeared into the forest. Only months later was she found dead, her body broken, and feasted away at the base of a waterfall.

Months later, after constant grief, Iku's father remarried. Despite the shattered hole in her heart, the young girl actually hoped to find something in her new mother, brother, and sister. Yet, to her surprise, she found herself an outcast in the home, a terrible reminder to her father and an unwelcome guest to his new family. Gone were the days of happiness glee, and here had come a life of depression and a constant search for solace.

That solace did not come until Iku had become old enough to join the Grand Star Army. With little word to anyone, she flew away into the ranks of the illustrious military. Among the military she found a life she could lose herself in, with easy care, easy pay, and easy pleasure. Fighting for Yamatai was a mix of pleasures she couldn't separate, and she found joy in everything and everyone she did. Quickly, she began to distinguish herself across as a capable of powered armor pilot and infantry woman, with a suitable precision with weaponry that did not go unnoticed by her superiors.

It was not until the Battle of Taiie that the truest horrors of war began to creep into her reality. Despite being able to enjoy several successes with a few mild failures, nothing was more jarring than the Battle of Taiie. Witnessing the Star Exploder destroy the system gave hesitation to what Iku truly enjoyed of war, but gave a certain importance to the fight that she had been missing. Yet, Iku's station gave her easy access to see the true colors of Yamatai. Watching good, imperial citizens suffer, and watching the destruction of the of the planet of pacifist nation shook every value she had spent the last several years building.

When the Fifth Expeditionary Fleet broke from Yamatai to form the United Outer Colonies, Kobayashi went with them, becoming a Peacekeeper. The further cruelties of the Star Army only affirmed her beliefs and kept her work fulfilling. Yet, not even this was to last as the UOC fell under the axe of the Mishhu. And soon, despite everything she worked for, everything once again fell apart, and Kobayashi found herself under firm, unflinching embrace of the one organization she sought to be free from.

Iku's first assignments had mostly been scouting and gathering intelligence within the colonies still remaining in form UOC territory. Though, she was reassigned, soon after its capture, to Leo Star Fortress.