Gail Purdy

Summary

Member of the UNSC navy, and an engineer. She was assigned to the Pillar of Autumn as Chief Engineer. She was not in the same Chain of Command as the ODST officers, but she clearly outranked First Lieutenant Melissa McKay. She was middle aged and stout, with ginger-colored hair, and stern and serious eyes.

She was aboard the Autumn when it arrived at Installation 04. Presumably, she took a Bumblebee life pod to the surface when the vessel crashed. At Alpha Base, she managed to survive until the very end of the event. The only time she is actually mentioned is in Halo: The Flood. She points out a conduit to McKay that she knows is vital to the function of the ship. McKay ends up destroying that very piece of technology to stop the Flood from getting to Earth.

Note: The naval rank of Lieutenant Commander is at the same pay grade as the Marine rank of Major. Therefore, Major Antonio Silva, the commander of the ODST forces, is actuially the same rank as Purdy. However since she does not specialize in a combat field, he would assume tactical command. Also, at such a grade, it is never directly stated that she is the Chief engineer of the vessel, but at her high pay grade, it is easy to assume that she is the highest ranking engineer aboard the ship, therefore making her the Chief.