Full Name: Nicholas Markson
Aliases/Nicknames: Nick, Marksman

Sex: Male
Sexual Orientation: Homosexual

Height: 5' 7"
Weight: 150 lbs.

Parents: Lieutenant Jeff Markson and Mary Markson nee Baker
Sibling(s): none

Date of Birth:  September 21, [...]
Age: 25
Place of Birth: Earth

Race/Nationality/Origin: Caucasian Human, American

Occupation: Xenoarchaeologist

Background: Nicholas's father was a military man, from a proud military family, working his way up the ranks.  His mother is an anthropologist.  Both parents were always on the go, so Nicholas spent a lot of time traveling.  By the time he hit puberty he'd already seen most of what Earth had to offer, including such exotic locales as Egypt, India, and China.  He didn't get to spend much time with his father, but this physical distance only increased the hero worship the young boy felt towards him.  Still, he spent most of his time with his mother.  
An incredibly bright boy, he picked things up quickly.  He was naturally attracted to science and history, so started studying archaeology early on, before he was even out of elementary school (of course, he started with beginner's media files on the subject, but graduated to the more advanced stuff rapidly).  He kept his room in straight, almost military, order, and was something of a gun nut like his father.  Unable to keep much of an actual collection due to constant moving, Nicholas's father settled for taking his boy to the gun range as often as he could.
About the time he was starting junior high school, his father was chosen to lead a unit destined for Alpha Centauri.  Nicholas and his mother got to spend all of three days with him before he had to leave, and Nicholas still recalls these as some of the best days of his life.  His father, in Nicholas's eyes, was like a knight of the days of yore, standing for truth and justice, fighting to preserve what was good and right in this world.  
They saw him off at the airport.  Nicholas had wanted to go all the way to the spaceport, but it would've meant too much time away from school.  So they waved and smiled and cried and said they'd miss him, and he responded with a cheerfully wistful smile and a quick casual salute, then turned and walked into the airplane.
It was the last either of them would ever see of him.
He got to Osiris okay, and sent transmissions home.  But suddenly, they stopped.  The last transmission had mentioned nothing of any sort of trouble or crisis.  Lt. Jeff Markson had just vanished.  No one knew his whereabouts, or at least, wasn't talking.  
Nicholas's mother has accepted that her husband is dead.  She's been out on a few dates, had a couple of boyfriends, but generally has thrown herself more into her work, and has become rather protective of Nicholas.
Nicholas refuses to believe that anything outside of the Forces of Darkness could have beaten his father, and even then, not without one hell of a fight.  He believes his father is alive in his heart, although will tell people that of course it is most likely that he's dead.  
In any case, Nicholas has since been obsessed with Osiris.  Something up there swallowed up his father, and he wants to know what or who.  In the course of reading and studying everything he could get his hands on about Osiris and Alpha Centauri, he's become genuinely intellectually interested in the archaeology of the place.  It seems to him like there's nothing new to be discovered on Earth, but Alpha Centauri is still ripe with new discoveries, new knowledge.
As he neared time to present his master's thesis, the Ozymandias Institute took an interest in him.  They sent him email about the Institute, its stated purpose, and so on.  Nicholas's interest was definitely piqued.  An agent of the Institute sat in on his thesis presentation and formally offered him a position immediately afterwards.  Nicholas accepted, and although his mother has grave misgivings, even she has to admit to extreme curiosity about Osiris.  She is worried about him, but also very very proud of him.
So now, having attained a Master's in Xenoarchaeology and in the pay of the Ozymandias Institute, he is being sent to Osiris.  He can only hope that the knowledge of what happened to his father is among that which lies unknown in the sands of that mysterious world.