Balah was a Spec Ops Unggoy and later Mercenary-Pirate. He was born to a wealthy merchant on Balaho in 2544. After speaking out for Grunt civil rights he was forced into military. He distinguished himself on the raid on the UNSC Toy Box being the only of over a hundred grunts to survive the ship's raid. He was then transferred to The Special Operations Division. His first fight as past of Special Ops was the Fall of Reach. During the battle of UNSC KNIGHT Base near the end of the Battle he watched as his fellow Grunts including the Spec ops, be massacred in suicide runs by their Elite Commander seeking glory. When the rest of unit was killed by an in-orbit MAC blast he fled and joined another deserter, the Skirmisher Mercenary Zhel Arin and his crew. The commandeered a Phantom and escaped