First Name: Roger (Formerly Xian Rui)
Last Name: Straten (Formerly Kai)
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: 7 / June / 1976
Place of Birth: An unidentified town in China
Height: 175 cm ( abt. 5'9'' )
Weight: 76 kg ( abt. 168 lbs. )
Occupation precluding X-COM: An engineer who had expertise in both aerospace and vehicular engineering and experience in manufactured and thermal engineering. Worked with NASA for the construction of the International Space Station, the Orion spacecraft, and the Omega Pulse-Det Jet Fighter (classified)
Occupation in X-COM: Engineer subordinate to Dr. Shen
Biographical Synopsis: Among the almost one billion and growing citizens in the nation of China, there were hundreds of thousands of child labourers, thousands upon thousands who couldn't be guaranteed a fresh meal and many more without shelter or clean water. Back when, I was known by my peers as Xian Rui Kai, and I did not have what most in more fortunate nations like Germany or the United States had. I had a doll handcrafted from twine, and a broken toy that had forced me out of his job in a nearby factory. My parents had to sell me to labour to feed my younger brothers and sisters, and as the eldest child, I was expected to work the soonest. Nobody in his town had either the wealth or the time to take me up into their home, so I survived off of wits, cunning, theft and with my old friends and fellow orphans. I was a stray cat among stray dogs, laying low to survive and using whatever I had to make sure the dogs couldn't find and catch me. But like the occasional stray cat, there would be a kind person willing to give that cat and opportunity, a chance to be more than a stray among strays. That kindness came in the form of a travelling tourist named Jacques Straten, who was an environmental worker who had come to China to write about the monstrous conditions that both the environment and the citizens faced on a daily basis for his new book, titled 'The Trial of Humanity.' Coursing through his veins was the intuitive and higher thinking that would later be passed onto a fortunate orphan, which was me.
One time I had been scrounging all day with little luck, and my friends complained about me 'losing my touch.'
"Guys, I'll snatch whatever I can find, but I think the town is catching onto us." I claimed, and as I darted my eyes from person to person, checking who might have the best goodies for me and my squad of starved compatriots. I spied a man with a peculiar outfit and a smirk on his face. I was less concerned with who, but what he had on him. I spied something, and my squinted eyes opened up to a greedy gaze at what I saw. A candy bar, written in English, lay comfortably in his pocket. I scurried up to the man, and with precise fingers, I lightly plucked the bar out of the man's pocket.
The man did nothing, and as I thought he was none the wiser, the man turned around and acknowledged me.
"I understand why you need to steal." he spoke in a language that was familiar to me when I was a kid, the man spoke Cantonese. "But do you understand why I don't want you steal MY candy bar?" I stared at the man, with curiosity. "How would you like to go to place where you don't need to steal to live? If you want, you can come with me." The man offered, I listened intently as the man explained his purpose. After a few minutes of one-sided discussion, I compared the pros and cons, and decided to follow the stranger. It might seemed skeptical at first to most people, but I was a very clever young man, and he looked trustworthy enough. So, we forged a clever story to fool the border guards at an airport in a large city, far from my home town which got me the name of 'Roger Straten.' The guards believed our ruse, and with access to a plane departing to the United States, we awaited our arrival.
Arriving at an airport in New York, I soon realized that a great opportunity had come to me, and seizing it was possibly the best decision that I had made in my life. My street smarts and cunning easily made me a thriller among women, and my intelligence gave me the opportunity to learn English, go to public school, and head on into university. I still had the doll, which I crafted many years back, and with a new-found degree in Engineering, it was the only thing from China I still had with me. But as I had opened a door to America years ago, another one opened as my prowess in all things mechanical and my ravishing charm made me popular with famous scientists. But I wasn't just popular with regular scientists, an organization that had a much deeper scientific background than even the most esteemed scientists had called to me one morning (That's you guys) A man showed up at my doorstep, with a briefcase and a snappy suit, and spoke quietly and smoothly to me. "Roger, your prowess in Engineering, along with your intuition and ability to work very well with others has brought yourself to the attention of the organization I'm working with. We deal with a very special branch of science, one that could more easily determine the fate of humanity than anything else. We're hoping you'll take the opportunity to read the papers here; so you can consider if you want to be a part of this organization, the X-COM Project." I pried open the briefcase, and with a patient glance, I read over the contents within. This organization would draw upon every one of my strengths, and make use of every little weakness I had. I finished reading the papers, and understanding how much this organization would change his life, just as Jacques had changed it (God rest his soul) oh so many years back, I signed my name, and pledged my life toward this project, the X-COM Project.
(This is told from the perspective and memories of Roger Straten himself, not the X-COM organization.)
Pledge: I have, on this day, voluntarily enlisted myself, as an engineer, in the X-COM Project's engineering department. I am giving myself, unconditionally, to the cause. I do bind myself to conform, in all instances, to such rules and regulations, as set forth by my supreme commander ChristopherOdd. I trust him with my life. And by taking this oath, I realize, I may ultimately lose something while defending the planetary systems. My life.
