Gharial

Tero "Gharial" Alatolo is an attacking operator on Team Rainbow. He joined Rainbow during Operation Seeking Hunter.

Biography
Born in the beautiful coastal city of Hanko, Finland, Tero Alatolo always had an affinity for the water. He was able to swim by the age of three and surfed for the first time with his mother and older sister at the age of four. The water was his element and he continued to learn to surf and swim, becoming a surfing champion for the first time when he was eighteen. At twenty-two, he joined the national Surf Suomi Competition and was gunning for first place. However, he and another surfer ended up crashing which resulted in him losing his first place. Alatolo also earned himself two cuts next to his right eye where his board at hit him. Despite losing his championship title, Alatolo maintained an exemplary level of sportsmanship.

Because surfing was not a consistent career, Alatolo decided to join the navy as a combat diver. He excelled in the military and was recommended for higher and higher positions, until he was extended an invitation to the Special Intervention Unit. He was named an amphibious person, half-shark, half-human. It was clear to his superiors that any body of water was his element and his domain.

Alatolo earned the nickname "Gharial" after an operation turned sour. Instead of abandoning the mission, Alatolo continued on his own and managed to remain underwater for over an hour with limited gear and supplies. He was able to infiltrate a cave system and take out the target that was almost about to get away, before resurfacing. He also retrieved and released a group of illegally-caught gharials and baby alligators from the cave system.

Psychological Report
''Everyone has their element, but few truly master it. Tero "Gharial" Alatolo is no doubt a master of water; any body of water is his domain, from tanks, to rivers, to seas and oceans. His enthusiasm to get into the water is obvious, to the point where I feel like restraining him from diving would be harder than asking him to risk his life on a dive mission.''

''He insisted I meet him at an indoor surf center to talk. I usually don't say no to meeting new specialists where they're comfortable if it'll help our conversation along, but I've never been invited to a surf center. He was still surfing when I first saw him. It was clear immediately just how good and in control he was of himself and the waves, and his enthusiasm made me want to try my hand at surfing. I'd probably make a fool of myself in front of him.''

There was no resistance when talking to him. He told me everything I wanted to know, even launching into the stories of his surf competition days, his family, how he got his nickname "Gharial", and just about anything else he could talk about. He spoke so fondly of the sea and every experience he had with it, I feel like he may be more fish than human. There is some longing within him for something, though I don't think even he knows what he's looking for. He has given his life to anything involving water that he feels out of place when he hasn't been to the ocean for awhile. He needs to find a balance between what he loves and what is practical.

Specialist Alatolo has no secrets of his own, but has a plethora of other people's secrets locked within. It's hard to not want to share personal troubles with someone that embraces the need to connect with other people. He knows just how to connect with someone else, with a quick mind that analyses the situation just like how he can watch a wave and know exactly how to ride it perfectly. Small details are never going to escape him.

I do wonder if he'd be willing to teach Rainbow more about underwater combat and diving. I think he and Specialist Ryad "Jackal" Ramírez Al-Hassar would get along well, seeing as they both have combat diving experience. Perhaps of Specialist Alatolo is up to the task, I'll arrange for a place.