Calinga was a Mobile Operations Police soldier.[1] He was first introduced in Earth Unaware.
History
Earth Unaware
Calinga went with Wit O'Toole to New Zealand to find new recruits for the MOPs from the NZSAS. Calinga placed his bets on Mazer Rackham for joining the MOPs after the first test because Rackham gave his weapon to Wit since Wit would be more effective with the weapon. Calinga's bets fell through after Mazer failed the second test.[1]
After Wit O'Toole recruited new members for the MOPs, Calinga was assigned to help train the Indian PCs under command of Major Ketkar. Before training, Calinga participated in a game of capture the flag with the Indian PCs. Near the end of the game, the PCs attacked the MOPs' camp for their flag, and Calinga and other MOPs defended it before Wit O'Toole arrived with the Indian PCs' flag. After the battle, Calinga suggested the PCs stay and hang out before training began the next day.[1]
During a hostage crisis training scenario with the PCs, Calinga portrayed the hostage as a diplomat. He was successfully rescued by Wit and the new recruits, who had too easy of a job rescuing him from the acting extremists such as Deen.[1]
A few months later, Calinga went with O'Toole to Indonesia because a terrorist group named the Rémesh had killed Bogdanovich. Calinga and Wit needed to pick up his body. In the town where Bogdanovich had died, Calinga followed O'Toole's orders to videotape the destruction by the Rémesh in the town for the purpose of posting the video to the Nets to hopefully gain interest in the problems in Indonesia. Calinga also stayed in the town to relieve Averbach from the stress that had ensued because of Bogdanovich's death.[1]
The next day, Calinga attended a meeting where Wit O'Toole began preparing his MOPs for the possibility of an alien invasion.[1]
Earth Afire
Following the impact of the Formic scout ship's landers in Southeast China, Wit O'Toole called together Calinga and the other MOPs in the Kashmir valley to discuss going to China. Calinga was eager to help in China even though China was not asking for assistance to deal with the alien threat. Calinga ignored the fact that Wit was not under orders from the Strategos to help in China, and he agreed to go anyway. Calinga then proceeded to go with everyone else to a local dry cleaners, looking for civilian clothing in order to blend in. He went with Wit, Deen, and Lobo to the train station in order to get into Pakistan to head towards China. On the way to the train station, Calinga and Wit noticed a vid of Mazer Rackham helping save a Chinese boy at one of the landing sites.[2]
The MOPs team made their way into China through Khunjerab Pass, where the team headed south to Changsha. Upon their arrival, Calinga and Lobo went with Wit to purchase military supplies off the black market from Shoshang. Then they headed south towards the middle of the three Formic landers, and often fought Formics they encountered during the journey. Calinga and the other MOPs would take refuge in abandoned hotels, when time came for the team to take a rest.[2]
While the MOPs were scouting around the Formic lander, they noticed that Mazer Rackham and Bingwen were being attacked by the Formics, so Wit had Calinga and the other MOPs break cover to rescue Mazer and his friend. During the rescue, Calinga picked up Bingwen and carried him back to the vehicle. Inside the Rhino, Mazer began to formulate a plan to destroy the Formic lander, which he explained to Wit.[2]
Calinga went to a destroyed Chinese base where they found three self-propelled drill sledges and a functional HERC. Mazer taught Calinga and Wit the controls for the drill sledges, so they could attack the lander from underneath. The plan was for Calinga to plant the nuke and escape in Mazer's drill sledge. Unfortunately, there was a huge air pocket underneath the Formic lander, so Mazer and Wit used their drill sledges to burn a hole into the bottom of the lander with the hot lava ejecta, so Calinga could simply jump his drill sledge into the Formic lander. When Calinga arrived inside the lander, he was not able to leave due to the Formics swarming his drill sledge. Calinga told Wit and Mazer to leave, causing him to sacrifice his life in order to destroy the Formic lander by detonating the tactical nuke.[2]
Personality
Trivia
Quotes
- "About time you got here. It's no fun being the hostage. I don't even get a weapon, and they wouldn't even give me something to read."
- — 'Earth Unaware, Page 197