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Mashimo and his family lived on an Earth outpost as part of the ongoing integration between Shims and Humans. His father was a Makatare Warrior and was involved in one of the programs to teach others the way of the Makatare. Life was peaceful, revolving around training and meditating. Until war came from an unexpected source.
The initial attacks by the Zarganauts were unexpected and ruthless. True to his calling, Mashimo's father fought to protect the outpost. Meanwhile, his mother tried to take him to a place of safety. But there was no safe place. In the chaos of the attack, weapons fire blasted the outpost indiscriminately. A building collapsed on the pair of them, and all went black.
...
It was a small shaft of light that first regained Mashimo's attention. He felt weak and groggy, but the shaft of light grew wider, and he heard voices calling. He was pulled from the rubble by several pairs of hands. He looked around for his mother but recognised no one.
The rescuers had taken days to get here and had found no one else living. Mashimo had survived by luck, protected from the full weight of the rubble by a solid slab of flooring. He had entered a basic meditative trance in order to preserve himself, but had lacked the full control to enter stasis and was desperately weak. However he was still alive.
Following his rescue he was raised as an orphan in another outpost, but one where there was no Makatare training program. He remained a morose boy but continued to build on the little training he knew, increasing his control of mind and body.
When he was old enough, he entered into the Alliance Academy for further training. His progress was slow: although he usually had a strong measure of self control, often he would lose this in an emotional outburst. Constantly his calm meditations were clouded by thoughts of vengeance. And now that he has finally graduated, Mashimo knows that the opportunity for his revenge is at hand.
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