Kal Wardin

Captain Kal Wardin is a marine hero who retired before the the first game. After the Xenos attack Earth and its colonies, Kal is forced back into active duty with N.O.V.A.

He is the main protagonist of all 3 N.O.V.A. games.

Kal is an old friend of Rufus, and by N.O.V.A. 3 he is revealed to have romantic feelings for Yelena.

N.O.V.A.
Kal Wardin was always known as a good soldier for the Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance, even from the time he was in boot camp. But nobody knew just how good a soldier he was until the War of Judgment. In this game, he is ranked as Captain.

Wardin’s legend would begin at that frightful time in history when a Colonial Administration spaceship unexpectedly returned from a mission. The vessel was locked on a direct course for Earth and ignored all attempts at communication. Unsure what fate befell the crew, N.O.V.A. command decided to expect the worst.

Recreational Colony
At the time, Wardin was retired and living a quiet life in a recreational colony New Ceres. But, as his services were needed by N.O.V.A. once more. While enjoying a drink, Kal Wardin was approached by Bonesy and Clydesdale. They forcibly returned him to N.O.V.A service by order of Governor Lysenko to help repel the Xeno invasion. Yelena, a computer AI, helped Kal adjust to his Mobile Armored Suit by making him pan around and walk. She then led him to a N.O.V.A. Shuttle. When Kal arrived at the helipad, a few Grunts came out of portals and attacked Kal. After he killed them he got in the Shuttle and flew to the wrecked Colonial Pride.

Colonial Pride
Kal searched the ship, looking for survivors, only to find those he met killed before his eyes by Xenos. General Korolev  then told him that N.O.V.A. had seen enough and ordered Kal to go to the Computer Security Deck to set the ship to self-destruct. He travelled to a computer room, where he recieved the self destruct codes for the ship. Then, during his mission, he was contacted by Prometheus, a computer AI that gained sentience through a quantum viral accident. He revealed that all is not what it seemed, and not to trust Colonial Administration.

Kal had to go into the vaccum of space to go from place to place on the damaged ship, using storage compartments along the way to restore the oxygen supply in his suit. Yelena discovered that the thrusters were on turbocharge mode, and they would reach New Ceres before Kal got to the Self Destruct computer, so he went to the room with the auxiliary drives.

Yelena uploaded a virus that shut the engines down, but Kal had to stay and guard them to make sure no one else turned them back on. He then resumed his journey to the Computer Security Deck, where the self-destruct sequence could be activated. Yelena told him to evacuate after he turned on the self destruct sequence, but Prometheus told him to go to the Navigation Room and fix the evacuation system so the other marines still on the ship could escape. After he did this he escaped in a N.O.V.A. Shuttle.

New Ceres Outer Jungle
Kal Wardin then landed the escape shuttle on New Ceres, in the outer jungle, and fought his way through attacking Xenos to nearby N.O.V.A. forces who'd set up a temporary area to hold out against the Xenos, with a satellite and a few crates of supplies, including ammunition. The leader of the group directed Kal to the Epsilon Bunker, which hadn't been used since "Rebellion Times". Soon after departing, he came across a large Xeno Portal on a helipad outside an old base, through which Xeno troops arrived. A N.O.V.A. shuttle pilot then contacted him, asking Kal to destroy the Power Crystals that powered the portal so that he could land the shuttle on the helipad it occupied. In exchange, the pilot offered to clear debris that was preventing Kal from advancing further. Kal did as asked, and the pilot made good his word, destroying the debris.

Kal then fought through countless more Xenos, and soon recieved a distress call from Bravo Lead requesting assistance for Bravo squad to hold the perimeter outside Bunker One (the Epsilon Bunker). Yelena asked Kal to proceed to the bunker immediately, and he did so. Shortly before reaching the bunker, Prometheus contacted Kal, informing him that, after accessing the military database, he found out that records indicated a second cargo ship flew with the Colonial Pride before Kal was sent there, yet there was no information on what happened to it.

Epsilon Bunker
By the time Kal arrived, the area outside the bunker was overrun by Xeno hostiles. He neutralized those attacking him, then made for the bunker entrance, where a Bravo Squad member informed Kal that they had been pushed back to "square one", and asked him to grab the nearby machine gun turret to defend the position while they hacked the door circuits to retreat inside. Presumably the base was in lockdown, either due to N.O.V.A. procedure or Xeno sabotage. The position was successfuly held regardless, and they retreated inside.

Despite this, Fiends breached the entrance and were shot down by an anonymous marine who told Kal he was expected and sent him on his way. A second marine in the following room directed Kal to Command HQ in the lower levels of the base, and within seconds the main power generator was shut down by Xeno saboteurs. The marine then directed Kal to "grab Bonesy and Clydesdale for backup" in the lower level and restart the generator. Once down there, Kal was given a less than friendly welcome by the two, with Bonesy mocking his return to N.O.V.A. and Clydesdale expressing mistrust. The two were shortly killed by Fiends in a Xeno ambush.

Kal then made his way to the generator. In the main generator room, he deactivated a large portal through which Xeno troops came, like the one on the helipad in the outer jungle, by destroying its Power Crystals. The main generator couldn't be restarted, so Kal continued through the bunker until he met two other marines who directed him to an elevator to the backup generator. While on the elevator, a handful of Fiends came through a portal in a failed ambush attempt. After navigating his way through the debris from a crashed N.O.V.A. shuttle in the next room, Kal then proceeded through a corridor to a large Xeno-controlled room. There, he eliminated the Xenos he could, took a machine gun turret from a drone he killed and defended the area, then neutralized remaining hostiles on foot. He soon reached the backup generator, killed drones defending the room and activated it. He was then congratulated by a N.O.V.A. marine via helmet communications and ordered to take the elevator to Command HQ to recieve a mission from General Korolev.

Kal reported to Korolev as ordered, however not face-to-face. They spoke with two N.O.V.A. guards preventing Kal from getting near and Korolev sat in a chair facing a computer screen away from Kal. Korolev ordered Kal to prevent the Xenos from launching the bunker's nuclear warhead they'd secured by hacking its systems. Kal then entered the rocket chamber, neutralized attacking Xenos and took an elevator up to rocket control, where Yelena informed him the missile was armed and ready to launch. Kal then hacked the control computer and averted the launch. Behind him, the Alien Abomination rose on an elevator to the control level. It then attacked him, but thanks to Yelena's advice Kal killed it by disabling its legs and shooting its brain.

Kal then took the elevator back to the surface, where Yelena had arranged for a 4x4 to meet him and drive him from the bunker and out of the forest to a helipad where a N.O.V.A. shuttle was waiting for him.

New Ceres Mining Facility
Kal crash landed the N.O.V.A. shuttle in a New Ceres N.O.V.A. mining facility in order to investigate it. Almost immediately after exiting the landing site, he was attacked by a sniper, who Kal in return shot with a sniper rifle of his own, killing the hostile. Kal then proceeded, but the door he wished to go through was locked, so Yelena directed him to a nearby control console. Yelena commented that "security got tight since [she] last checked [the] place".

Upon closer inspection, Yelena commented that while the occupants of the facility were human marines, they were controlled by Xenobiotic Parasites on their chests. The Xenos needed reinforcements for their invasion, so used human host bodies. Yelena ordered Kal to consider them hostiles and kill on sight. Kal complied, and then activated the control console, unlocking the door. Yelena was curious to find out why the Xenos took the mining facility, and the pair soon found out - a portal was placed at the end of the ore cart transport system, sending minerals to where the Xenos came from to support their invasion. Yelena claimed that if the facility was lost to the Xenos, humanity wouldn't survive further Xeno attacks, and ordered Kal to get to the central mining station to stop production by any means necessary.

Kal left the area and neutralized any Xenos on the way. He then navigated a snowstorm using red beacons along the path, as the storm scrambled Yelena's GPS system. When the storm ended, Kal found another locked door, so again used a nearby control console and killed any Xenos in his way, soon ending up in the area where the main computer console that controlled all mining operations was located. Yelena commented that it was strangely quiet, then Kal accessed the console, uploading a virus to it. As soon as Kal stepped outside of the building, Yelena detected multiple hostiles closing in - it was an ambush! Kal used his Sniper Rifle to repel hostiles, but by the time the area was clear, the Xenos had already restarted production from the backup computer.

On the way to the backup computer, Prometheus warned Kal that he was only chosen to destroy the Colonial Pride because of his reputation as a "loose cannon". There was no official record of his being re-instated as a marine, either - he was a perfect scapegoat if things went wrong. Prometheus then warned that Kal may be in danger when the Ceresian government no longer needed him. Straight after this, Kal recieved a plea for help from 3 surviving N.O.V.A. marines that hadn't been infected by the Xeno parasite but were trapped in a building. General Korolev ordered Kal to ignore them and proceed with his mission, but Kal freed them anyway, and they expressed their thanks. Kal then went on his way, killed all Xenos in his path and foudn the building housing the backup computer. He then uploaded a virus to it, disabling the computer system and the entire facility, stopping the transport of minerals to support the Xenos.

Kal then proceeded outside, and Yelena told him Prometheus contacted her, and that Kal had to listen to him - it was humanity's only chance for survival. She then said she would be deleted for saying what she did, and Kal was in great danger - Prometheus would explain. Indeed, very soon afterwards she was deleted. Governor Lysenko then contacted Kal, congratulating him and saying he sent troops to rendezvous with him and requesting Kal to stay put. In reality, these troops would either kill or capture and convict Kal for crimes he didn't commit. As it so happened, a portal appeared by Kal, which Prometheus told him to go through, and Kal did - as a means to escape Lysenko's men and stop the Xenos for good.

Final Judgement
When Kal appeared on the other side of the portal, he was in the outskirts of a monolithic city on the aliens travelling asteroid. Prometheus explained that he needed information on why the Xenos attacked to stop them, so Kal began searching the city for answers. Very soon, he found a Plasma Gun, making killing powerful Xenos much easier. He also later came across Xeno Sentinels for the first time. Eventually, Kal began to find terminals, which he hacked and Prometheus deciphered. The first terminal had repeated references to a "central monolithic tower". Kal then left the terminal in search of others, and came across purple crystals, which absorbed power from wepons and emitted it in the form of a shockwave - useful for crowd control, but dangerous.

A while into Kal's time on the alien citadel, just before Kal entered the central monolothic tower, Prometheus finally told a suspicious Kal how he became self-conscious in 2129 and used to be a normal N.O.V.A. special ops AI.

Once Kal was inside the central tower, he fought through many Xenos, inclusing infected marines and many Heavy Demons, which are quite hard to kill compared to other Xenos. Kal also uncovered more terminals. The first of these referred to other terminals and spoke of "not one, but two alien races. One race, literally "They Who Judge", an ancient race living mostly in a hibernation state - this was the uncovering of the Judger race, and that the Xenos were mere Caretakers. The second of these revealed that the second vessel that travelled with the Colonial Pride crashed on the asteroid, and the automated protection system regarded it as a threat, ordering the Caretakers to eradicate the race responsible - humanity. The final terminal located the automated protection system - inside the tower.

Kal made his way towards the archway leading to where the automated protection system was located and hacked the terminal meant to activate it, but the circuit was almost devoid of energy, so he had to hold his position until it opened. When he did, he found a large shaft leading deep within the tower - where he wanted to go. As such, Prometheus told him to jump and he did.

Finally at the heart of the invasion force, Kal entered the chamber of the Automated Command Core (automated protection system), and was attacked by it. He retaliated by destroying the Power Crystals it used to replenish itself, then the crystals embedded in it. Heavily damaged, it retreated, and finally, the Judgers woke from their hibernation.

The Judgers referred to Kal as "advocate", and deemed Prometheus worthy of being the eternal guardian of humanity. They also restored Yelena to life and vowed that humanity's corrupt leaders shall be "rendered unto oblivion" for their selfish pursuit of power. They also commended Kal for saving his peers on the Colonial Pride and New Ceres.

N.O.V.A. 2
Kal lived happily on Scorpius after the Judger incident, away from N.O.V.A., but still with the resurrected Yelena. Life remained peaceful until the truth became apparent - once again humanity faced an alien threat, and there was one man best suited to stop it - Kal.

Second Retirement
After the Judger incident, Kal went into hiding, spending his second retirement in a farming colony on Scorpius. For six years he lived peacefully and the villagers helped to hide him, until his village was attacked by government troops and the survivors hid in Judger ruins there. The village leader contacted Kal for help while he was elsewhere shooting bottles, and Kal rushed to the scene, saving the leader from a pair of Controlled Marines. He then sent the leader into the ruins with the others, and held off attacks with a Turret Placer and the other weapons he could find.

When the attack was over, Prometheus contacted Kal, who was a "crucial part" of his plan. Kal then claimed the Son of Victory and Prometheus set him on course for Aquarius to sabotage a war factory there. He also told Kal of a newly discovered alien group known as the Volterites that recently formed an alliance with a few colonist politicians, the leaders being The Overseer and President Gerard Folsom. A hologram of them was shown by Prometheus, revealing their goal... to eliminate Earth's forces, N.O.V.A. troops included, and be the dominant force in known space.

Arrival on Aquarius
The ship was then attacked by Volterites above Aquarius, which Kal dealt with. In the process an explosion was caused, ripping a hole in the ship. Kal jumped through this hole, firing his assault rifle to propel himself into the planet's gravity well. Succeeding, he fell through the atmosphere unscathed thanks to the protection of his Mobile Armored Suit, and when he was just about to land attempted to activate the in-built rocket boosters in his boots to break his fall, but failed, when he landed, he was directly in front of a Human-Volterite Alliance base, more specifically, the Sigma Outpost.

The Son of Victory, no longer under attack and now driven by Yelena, followed Kal, hovering by the beach until it was needed. Meanwhile, Kal killed the hostiles outside and hijacked a speeder bike to breach the base, driving through a window. He then cleared the inside of the base, and was making his way to the Transport Highway outside when a Mech broke in and attacked him, driving him outside. Luckily a rocket launcher was at hand on the back of a nearby 4x4, which Kal used to destroy the Mech. Unfortunately, just after he did so, two more appeared. Kal managed to destroy one, then the Son Of Victory appeared overhead and destroyed the other. Further loaded Rocket Launchers scattered around allowed Kal to retrieve replacement ammunition.

Kal then left the Sigma Outpost for the entrance to the Transport Highway leading to the Human-Volterite Alliance War Factory which he needed to sabotage in order to prevent the Alliance amassing an army large enough to crush those of Earth. Yelena proceeded to pilot the Son of Victory away from the area, having been engaged by two battle cruisers. With no air support, Kal had to destroy incoming hostiles, 4x4s included, using his remaining Rocket Launcher ammunition and other weapons.

Each time Kal approached a security gateway, Alliance troops activated the forcefield in it, preventing him from proceeding further until he dealt with his attackers, at which point the forcefield deactivated. This happened a few times, until he reached a second outpost. He passed through the exterior without entering and was fairly quickly on his way after dealing with hostiles. The pattern continued and he soon reached a gateway with an entry slope either side and a machine gun on top, which he used to disperse further hostiles quickly.

After this, an Archangel Dropship dropped of a Mech, which Kal dealt with, then continued to the other side of the gateway. Here, he navigated through various crates and dealt with further troops until he reached a clear bridge up ahead. However, Yelena hit one of the enemy cruisers with the Son Of Victory and warned it was coming down, as it did, destroying the bridge.

Because of the destruction of the bridge, Kal had to take a detour through the jungle below, filled with aggressive flora. He navigated through it and shortly reached a waterfall. Yelena explained she made a slight elevation error while mapping the route, and suggested Kal jump - which he did.

Human-Volterite Alliance War Factory
Kal landed in a pool of water by the War Factory entrance. He killed the guards, then hacked the door terminal, allowing Yelena to open the entrance, extract floor plans and upload a virus intended to disable the Factory AI. Yelena directed him to the Command Center to shut down the production core, but as he entered the facility the Factory AI, driven crazy by the virus, initiated the Shut-down sequence, locking down the building and attempting to kill anyone inside.

Once inside, Kal went to a 4x4 production area, where he used a turret on an unfinished 4x4 to fend off hostiles. He then went through a corridor of dangerous energy beams caused by the now insane factory AI, disabling them with his EMP blast to pass. In this corridor was the corpse of a Skull Crusher, presumably killed by the energy beams. Kal picked up its Melee Disc after Yelena mentioned it could be useful.

Kal continued through the facility, coming across an unfinished Mech and restarting its assembly line so he could use the finished vehicle, as he did. He blasted his way to the courtyard, which was filled with Controlled Marines carrying Rocket Launchers, Mechs and explosive barrels. He made his way through it and left it in another part of the facility near to the Command Center, which he made his way to. He found some mines and picked them up on the way, saving them to blow up the Production Core. When at the Command Center, the Core AI said "I am afraid" before being severely damaged by Kal, initiating the factory self-destruct and unlocking emergency exit routes. Kal took the nearest elevator to the surface, and on his way Yelena reported that the Son of Victory was disabled and taken by a tractor beam along with her to a scientific base nearby. Kal made his way there, holding a surviving Controlled Marine outside hostage and making him drive him to the Nimbus Scientific Base on a 4x4.

On the way to the base, Kal was attacked by many hostile 4x4s, which he destroyed. Eventually he reached a bridge, which was up so he couldn't go any further. As such, he placed a mine on the hostage driver's chest as incentive to stay where he was, then left the 4x4 and fighting his way to the control console on the top floor, where he used it to lower the bridge. By the console, a set of jetpack armor was on display, causing Kal to comment on his hate of flying.

When Kal got back, the driver was still waiting for him and helped with a quick escape from the area. They proceeded to the gateway area to the main base, where Kal again wiped out hostiles and used a nearby console, this time to open the gate. When this was done, he freed the driver of the mine placed on him, telling him to start running, to which he gave a salute and ran from Kal. The mine was then used to blow up the no longer needed 4x4.

Nimbus Scientific Base
Kal walked to the main entrance of the base, where Yelena contacted him saying she tried to hide herself in the base mainframe but was found out and was going to be deleted. She then gave him the quickest route to the Computer Floor on his NavLink. Kal soon killed the guards, proceeding further and blowing up barrier generators with mines. After killing Cybertooth guards and patrolling Controlled Marines, he took an elevator down to the Computer Floor, setting off an alarm as he reached the main computer hub. Communications between servers was split by a virus, so Kal hacked the 5 terminals to save Yelena by restoring server links (at different locations around the building) in but a couple of minutes. This was done whilst fighting off hostiles alerted to his presence. He successfully rejoined Yelena into a single entity.

Yelena then led Kal to an Experimental Weapons and Armory, where there was an experimental Plasma Rifle in a holographic target range. He then replenished his ammunition in a nearby armory and used the security console there there to override the base lockdown. He then went to destroy the four tractor beam generators preventing the Son of Victory from leaving. Once this was done, he made his way to the ship and Yelena set course for Scorpius, where the Human-Volterite Alliance were looking for the Ring of Apocalypse in the Judger Ruins. On the way there, he was boarded by Alliance ships.

The Ring of Apocalypse
After dealing with the boarders, Kal landed by the Judger ruins, with the Son of Victory in bad shape. Some N.O.V.A. troops took it to their base to make repairs for Kal whilst he entered the ruins to keep the Human-Volterite Alliance from the Ring of Apocalypse. He was reminded of the urgency of stopping the Alliance by Yelena and Prometheus, so took a shortcut by jumping down a hole by the entrance. Upon reaching the first populated area, he found Corrupted Marines spawned to defend against Alliance forces attacking the base. The defenses were too weak to hold back the Alliance, so Kal had to help, despite his being considered a hostile to all within the base.

He soon came across another battle, this time with Heavy Demons spawned to defend the base. He had to kill them to proceed. After this, Prometheus led Kal to a Crystal Chamber guarded by drones. Inside, there was a crystal which, when triggered, slowed time around the user. Kal took it and attached it to his armor to help improve the odds. He continued through the base and soon found a Lightning Gun, which Prometheus commented made a good pair with his ability to slow time.

After fighting through numerous more hostiles, Kal came across a room overlooking the artifact's chamber, with 3 consoles to spawn Xeno defenses with. He utilised them to repel the final Alliance attack, driving to retreat. Prometheus then opened a portal to the surface, and Kal went through to appear outside the ruins once more. There, he came across the leader of the village, who had helped hide him during his second retirement. The leader was badly injured, and told Kal that the Alliance was furious at failing to get the Ring, rounding up and shooting civilian hostages. He died in Kal's arms, and in response Kal took a nearby Speeder and chased after the retreating Alliance convoy, catching it before it reached safety, attacking fleeing troops from behind.

When all but the last few troops remained some large rocks fell and caused Kal to crash. He then took some nearby mines and ambushed the last few Alliance forces on foot. Once they were all dead, Prometheus contacted Kal with news that the attack was a trick to buy time while the Alliance located a second Judger artifact on Sagittarius. Kal scolded Prometheus for missing the deception, then asked Yelena to plot a course for Sagittarius on the newly repaired Son of Victory.

The Second Artifact
Kal arrived at Saggitarius under heavy fire, so he had to jump from the Son of Victory, as there was no safe landing zone near the artifact. He landed on a walkway in an Alliance "Crevice Base", where troops were almost immediately alerted to his presence on the ground. He soon came across a drilling machine, which was in a building that provided a way to the surface.

He then navigated to the first anti-aircraft post, encountering a wave of hostiles which he neutralised by killing an Alliance sniper rifle and killing them at long range while holding a small Alliance building. When the area was secured, he assaulted the first anti-aircraft bunker and hacked the control mechanism to disable the two guns on top. He then once again used a sniper rifle to neutralise the counterattackers. Once outside the bunker, Archangel Dropships dispatched further troops, which Kal dealt with before proceeding to the second outpost, which he reached by hijacking a cable car, then disabled in the same way as the first.

After the guns were disabled, Kal proceeded to the base mainframe. Knowing Kal was coming, the Alliance forces cut power to the mainframe so he couldn't access it. As such, Kal protected the auxiliary power solar cells from Alliance attackers using a variety of weapons, including the turret placer, until Yelena got the Son of Victory to him. Unfortunately, by this time Alliance forces had beat him to the artifact, and Yelena informed him that it was already installed in SkyCity, the Alliance capital ship, to be used in the Ring of Apocalypse weapon. Kal was promptly picked up and Yelena set an interception course for the spacefaring city, which was headed for Earth.

SkyCity Showdown
Kal was dropped off from a considerable height on a speeder bike from the Son of Victory, Yelena having said it was the closest she could get him before the ship was destroyed. Kal then fought through the city roads on bike, attacked by various Controlled Marines on foot and in 4x4s and turret defences. After bypassing his attackers, he abandoned the bike and snuck to the Imperial Palace entrance on foot, killing the guards by the landing bays and entering the palace. After killing counterattackers in the entrance hall, Yelena informed him that the Ring of Apocalypse had been activated and was being used to attack the Orbital Colonies. In the next hall, Kal was ambushed by an enormous Psycher, which he also neutralized, then proceeded to a command center, where he activated the Ring of Apocalypse service elevator, which he took. Once down to the maintenance area, he destroyed the Ring using a method advised by Yelena - using his EMP blast to disable the shields and shooting the Core while it was unprotected.

He then returned to the palace using the elevator, stopping shortly due to a short ambush before reactivating and returning to the elevator, fighting through more waves of enemies and reaching the room where President Gerard Folsom of the Alliance stood waiting for him. Folsom tried to convince Kal to give in, and, failing to do so, attempting to shoot him in the hopes he wasn't fully alert. This too failed, and he was successfully shot and killed by Kal an instant later. The murder of Folsom triggered the room's security system, releasing drones, but Kal managed to shoot the security nodes, disabling them and preventing further drones. Now that the President was dealt with, Yelena directed Kal to the inner chambers of the palace to eliminate the Overseer and break the Alliance chain of command. Once there, Kal saw nothing, having been ambushed by the invisible Overseer, who used Psycher powers to manipulate his mind.

Dream Sequence & Death of the First Overseer
Kal woke thinking he was alone in the Overseer's chamber, jumping down to a nearby hall in the hopes of finding the Overseer running away, but instead having to slay an extremely Large Cybertooth using Rocket Launchers scattered around. He then fought through a room full of Mechs and a room full of Psychers, proceeding through a portal, where he was confronted by a large beast, the Overseer's avatar. After damaging the avatar, the avatar slumped downwards and stayed still while another portal opened, leading to a maze of portals with freeze-framed memories of Kal fighting Volterites, with Prometheus' voice talking to Kal, saying it's not really Prometheus, as Kal wasn't really there. The voice explained it was just a voice of his subconscious, talking to him as the Overseer controlled his mind, and that the portals were linked in his mind with the idea of escape, hence their appearances.

After navigating the maze correctly, Kal appeared in the room with the Overseer's avatar once more. He noticed that when he damaged the beast enough it teleported into chambers in the corners of the room that channeled energy into it, regenerating its health. As such, Kal planted mines in the chambers, so that when the avatar teleported into the right one, he could detonate the mines before the avatar could react. This he did, and the moment the avatar was killed, Kal was snapped back into reality as the Overseer's hold over him was broken. He then pounced on the Overseer, shooting him in the head with his assault rifle and stating aggressively "stay out of my mind!", to which the Overseer replied with its dying words: "you think you've won but we're merely tools in the hands of the Judger Factions".

In the aftermath, the Alliance was in confusion, with both leaders dead, and Kal used this to his advantage, escaping SkyCity with Yelena.

N.O.V.A. 3
Four years have passed since Kal ruined the Volterites' plans by sabotaging their war factories, and stopping the extraction of the Judger Artifacts. However, following the assassination of President Folsom, the government surrendered the colonies to the Volterites in order to prevent civil war.

In this time, the Volterites have gained considerable power, with a new Overseer and new footsoldiers - corrupted marines, humans infected by Xeno parasites, confirming the Volterite involvement with the Judgers pointed to by Folsom and the first Overseer. In addition, civil war has broken out on Volteron, homeworld of the Volterites, with two armies - the rebels, led by the Psycher Maz' Rah, and the official armed forces of Volteron, led by the second Overseer. In the wake of the second Overseer's opression, the official army is also known as "Dominion".

Kal has been laying low since Folsoms death, but he receives a desperate plea from Yelena, who he has been separated from, to come to Earth. Once again, the hero must rise to save mankind from themselves, the Judgers and the Volterites!

Return to Earth
Kal returned to Earth in his ship to help Yelena, however lost his right wing making his descent, crashing in an San Francisco overrun with marines controlled by Xeno parasites, he fought his way to the streets, where he met Sergeant Becker and his squad. One of Becker's men, Private Chao, found that their communications were being jammed. The soldiers decided to shut down the signal jammer, then reactivated the sensor arrays and mad their way to the N.O.V.A. base where Yelena was waiting for Kal. Here, Kal found that Yelena had been given a body by Prometheus, and she admitted stealing a Judger artifact, which was used to build a terraforming device. The plan was to make Earth habitable and allow human independence, but the Volterite presence chanegd that.

The base was attacked by Volterites, but Kal managed to push back the attackers so it could be evacuated. He then took a 4x4 with Becker to the facility with the terraforming device, and was meant to take it off-planet, safe from Volterite hands, with Yelena, however upon finding the device, with Becker defending the building outside, Prometheus appeared to Kal and sent him to retrieve two more unidentified Judger artifacts - one that was on Therrius, and another that was on Boreas. now that the Volterites had been set on the trail of other Judger technology capable of unbalancing the galaxy.

The Judger ship Therrius
Prometheus transported Kal to the Judger ship Therrius to secure it from the Volterites, however it was old and falling apart, with some areas unprotected from the sun. At one point Kal was sucked into space, drifting into the sun. His jetpack failed to ignite, but he was saved by Maz'Rah, who pulled Kal back to the ship using a Psycher gravity field. The couple made a deal - Kal got the artifact in exchange for his removing the 'infestation' of Volterites and making the ship functional for Maz'Rah's usage in the rebellion against the Volterite oppression.

By using energy crystals to redirect power and open doors, Kal made his way to the engine room to restore their functionality, avoiding direct sunlight that damaged his shields due to its intensity. After this, he was directed to the Command deck on the other side of the ship to secure the remaining parts of the ship, using the ship transportation system now that the engines were functional. Upon finally clearing the ship, Maz'Rah gave Kal the artifact. Within seconds, Prometheus teleported Kal to the location of the next artifact.

Reunion on Boreas
Kal regained contact with Yelena, but found himself in the middle of a sandstorm on a prison planet. Seeking shelter, Yelena directed him to an old mining ship to survive the sandstorm. Upon arriving, he was contacted by Yelena to tell him she'd set up a meeting with someone who claimed to know where the next artifact was - his old friend, Rufus. When they met, Rufus saved a defenseless Kal from a group of thugs ready to sell him to Dominion, and from that moment they fought alongside each other to recover the final Judger artifact, taking a Mech, then a 4x4 to the abandoned communication center where it was located, only to be told by Prometheus upon arrival that they were too late, and it was being taken by the Volterites to their home planet, Volteron, to be repurposed as a devastating weapon.

Assault on Volteron
Kal was dropped off on Volteron by an Archangel Dropship piloted by Yelena, who was unable to land due to heavy hostile presence. Rufus was dropped off separately, meeting with Kal later on and using a teleporter to get nearer to the artifact. It was soon discovered that Maz'Rah was also present, and when they finally reached the temple where the new Overseer had the artifact, Yelena initiated a self-destruct of the weapon, only to have Maz'Rah turn on Kal, controlling the Kar'rak to try and kill him, only to have Yelena take the blow, then



be killed by subsequent blows as Rufus held Kal back, knowing to save her would be suicide. Kal and Rufus fought Maz'Rah, but eventually were defeated, with Kal held helpless in Maz'Rah's gravity field. The Overseer appeared, revealing that Maz'Rah only betrayed Kal to save his rebellion against the Dominion from the Overseer's wrath.

The Overseer ordered Maz'Rah to kill Kal but instead, after much internal conflict, Maz'Rah turned around and lunged at the Overseer, stabbing and killing him, but only after the Overseer had shot him, fatally wounding him too. As his dying act, Maz'Rah gave Kal the artifact as the area began to crumble. Rufus and Kal ran from certain death, only to be saved by Prometheus, who teleported them to safety.

Trivia

 * Kal seems to be considerably shorter than other Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance marines.
 * N.O.V.A. 3 takes place 10 years after N.O.V.A. which suggest that he is in his late 30's to his 50's.
 * On the N.O.V.A. 3 title screen, it clearly shows that Kal Wardin has yellow plates on his chest when in the game, it clearly shows that his plates are blue.
 * Kal seems to be from the planet Theta since numerous references to the planet throughout N.O.V.A. 3 suggest Kal and Rufus knew each other as children on Theta.