Editing Jilan al-Cygni

{{Status|Canon}}
{{Character infobox
|variant=Human
|name=Jilan al-Cygni
|image=
|homeworld=Unknown; presumed [[New Jerusalem]], [[Cygnus system]]{{Ref/Novel|Id=CH4|CH|Chapter=4}}
|birth=
|death=
|causeofdeath=
|parents=
|siblings=
|spouses=
|children=
|species=[[Human]]
|gender=Female
|height=
|mass=
|hair=Black
|eyes=Green
|affiliation=[[UNSC Navy]]
*[[Office of Naval Intelligence]]
|rank=
*[[Lieutenant Commander]] {{C|c.2525}}{{Ref/Novel|Id=CH7|CH|Chapter=7}}
*[[Commander]] {{c|c.2535}}{{Ref/Novel|Id=ET29|ET|Chapter=29}}
*[[Admiral]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET11}}
|sn=
|notable=
}}
{{Quote|Kissing is for politicians, and I'm certainly not that.|Jilan al-Cygni{{Ref/Reuse|CH7}}}}
'''[[Admiral]] Jilan al-Cygni''' is an operative for [[ONI Section Three|Section Three]] of the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] (ONI),{{Ref/Novel|Id=ET11|ET|Chapter=11}}{{Ref/Reuse|CH7}} working under the anonymous codename '''COALMINER'''.{{Ref/Novel|Id=ET48|ET|Chapter=48}} She was one of the [[United Nations Space Command]] personnel involved in the initial first contact between [[human]]ity and the [[Covenant]] at [[Harvest]] in early [[2525]], before going on to have a long-running career in naval intelligence throughout the [[Human-Covenant War]] and [[Post-Covenant War conflicts|post-war years]].{{Ref/Reuse|ET11}}

==Biography==
===Early life and career===
Nothing is known about Jilan al-Cygni's career prior to her actions on Harvest, although it was once observed by the AI [[Sif]] that, judging from al-Cygni's subtle accent, she was likely raised on the planet [[New Jerusalem]] in the [[Cygnus system]].{{Ref/Reuse|CH4}} She eventually joined the [[UNSC Navy]], working in ONI's Section Three as an intelligence officer throughout the [[Insurrection]];{{Ref/Reuse|ET29}} by [[2524]], she had risen to the rank of [[Lieutenant Commander]].{{Ref/Reuse|CH7}}

In late [[2524]], Jilan was dispatched to [[Harvest]], in the [[Epsilon Indi system]], in response to reports of [[Insurrectionist]] hijackings of the [[DCS light freighter|light freighter]] ''[[Horn of Plenty]]'', operated by the [[UNSC Department of Commercial Shipping]] (DCS). Jilan's goal was to investigate the threat and ensure that it did not happen again; at the time, ONI were skittish about the recent terrorist bombing of the cruiser liner ''[[National Holiday]]'' over [[Reach]], and so were extremely paranoid about potential new insurrectionist spaceborne threats.{{Ref/Novel|Id=CH8|CH|Chapter=8}} To accomplish this, she secretly arranged for the detachment of two ex-[[ORION Project|ORION]]-turned-[[UNSC Marine Corps|Marines]]; Staff Sergeants [[Avery Johnson]] and [[Nolan Byrne]], to Harvest under the cover of providing [[Colonial Militia Training]] to the nascent [[Harvest Colonial Militia]].{{Ref/Reuse|CH7}} She arrived at the planet on December 21, 2524,{{Ref/Reuse|CH4}} aboard a digsuised [[sloop]], {{UNSCShip|Walk of Shame}}, though publicly presented herself to Harvest's people as a middle-manager from the DCS sent to investigate the hijackings. Upon arrival, she conducted an audit of Harvest's twin [[smart AI]]s; Sif and [[Mack]].{{Ref/Reuse|CH4}} After the audits, Jilan ordered that additional security measures be imposed on ships exiting [[Slipstream space|slipspace]] en route to Harvest. Shortly after the meeting she was also informed by Sif that a second freighter had been hit - this time one with a human crew, ''[[This End Up]]''.{{Ref/Novel|Id=CH6|CH|Chapter=6}}

For the next two weeks, Johnson and Byrne, alongside their [[commanding officer]] (CO) Captain [[Ponder]], began to train the 72 recruits of the Harvest militia, with all three highly-experienced veterans of [[Operation: TREBUCHET]] privately wondering why they had been brought to Harvest. This was answered when Jilan formally met Johnson at the Harvest [[Solstice Celebration]] on January 16, 2525, where she revealed her true nature as an ONI operative and announced that she had both arranged for his deployment on Harvest, and that she was taking over as his and Byrne's CO.{{Ref/Reuse|CH7}} Jilan assembled an operation that same night with the two Marines designed to entrap the believed-rebels on a decoy freighter, ''[[Bulk Discount]]''.{{Ref/Novel|Id=CH10|CH|Chapter=10}} By 0900 the following morning,{{Ref/Reuse|CH10}} the two Marines were deployed inside the freighter's cargo bay, with the freighter broadcasting a fake SOS signal; the goal was to bait rebels into boarding the ship, but the two Marines instead encountered several aliens; four [[Kig-Yar]] of the [[missionary ship]] ''[[Minor Transgression]]''. After this startling new discovery was reported to Jilan, she ordered the Marines to try and capture one alive if possible, but to make sure they did not escape to call for reinforcements. The [[Skirmish on Minor Transgression|resulting skirmish]] saw ''Minor Transgression'' destroyed by ''Walk of Shame''{{'}}s [[Archer missile]], and the two Marines heavily injured.{{Ref/Reuse|CH8}} With her disguise as a DCS logistician now broken, she had a terse relationship with Harvest's [[Governor]], [[Nils Thune]], over the planet's defence and the potential deployment of UNSC military forces to the world. Getting Harvest's parliament to agree to even the assembly of a small militia had been a tenuous process; a UNSC [[battle group]] would be a difficult sell.{{Ref/Reuse|CH10}} Jilan also requested that Mack transfer his operations to Harvest's [[Planetary Security Intelligence]] (PSI), [[Loki]]. She was initially hesitant to allow Mack to even let Sif know of the swap, as knowledge of the PSI was restricted even to the planetary governor, but she ultimately reneged and agreed.{{Ref/Novel|CH|Chapter=11}}

After this initial first encounter, Jilan prepared a briefing video for the Harvest militia recruits to be shown to them by their sergeants; with no broader UNSC presence available in the immediate-future, the recruits would be the face of Harvest's security in any further engagements with the Covenant. Her video consisted of [[helmet recorder]] footage taken from Johnson's helmet during the previous mission, ending with footage of ''Minor Transgression''{{'}}s destruction, designed to inspire the recruits and emphasise that the aliens ''could'' be killed. She also worked with Governor Thune to prepare a plan for meeting the aliens diplomatically; the two agreed that Thune should do most of the talking, and agreed that the aliens' prior pillaging of fruit shipments meant that they should prepare a similar cargo as a peace offering. However, when the delegation arrived and was revealed to be a [[pack]] of [[Jiralhanae]] led by Chieftain [[Maccabeus]], this forced a change in plan. Jilan was present for the meeting, and worked with Mack to prepare an altered variation of the "welcome to Harvest" introductory video shown to travellers to present to the Brutes, presenting the world as a peaceful one and giving no hint of a larger human [[Human colonies|colonial sphere]]. The footage was tailored to a number of issues Jilan presented to the AI, trying to gauge how the aliens reacted to footage of things like [[JOTUN Heavy Industries|automated robots]] and farming practices - anything that could be used by ONI to gain intel.

Ultimately, this attempted negotiation quickly soured and resulted in a brief firefight, with the human delegation forced to escape.{{Ref/Novel|Id=CH15|CH|Chapter=15}} In the week following, she coordinated a pending mass evacuation of the planet's citizens, though came up against an increasingly-irate Governor Thune. On February 22, this culminated in an argument between the two over the proper course of action to take, eventually resulting in Jilan officially stripping Thune of his title and authority, citing [[UNSC colonial charter]]'s section two, paragraph eight; when Thune refused to comply, she shot him with three [[tactical training round]]s, temporarily paralysing him and allowing her to assume control as the ranking UNSC officer on the planet with Thune to be sent to the [[Reach FLEETCOM Military Complex]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=CH19|CH|Chapter=19}} She then presented the Marines with her plan to evacuate Harvest, involving the use of several decoy [[Welcome Wagon|elevator cars]] rigged with explosives and two cars filled with militiamen to retake the space station [[Tiara]] from Covenant occupation, allowing the planet's [[civilian]] populace to be evacuated.{{Ref/Novel|Id=CH21|CH|Chapter=21}}

Ultimately, Al-Cygni successfully escaped the [[glassing]] of Harvest with Johnson, Byrne, and the surviving militiamen and civilians. During the escape, she and [[Avery Johnson]] had sexual intercourse.{{Ref/Novel|Id=CHEpi|CH|Chapter=Epilogue}} 

====Later career====
After surviving the initial contact with the Covenant at Harvest, Al-Cygni continued her career in naval intelligence, going on to develop hundreds of tactical strategies designed to counter the Covenant - nearly all of which were introduced by ONI for [[UNSC Special Forces]] use, including advanced techniques for [[naval boarding]] actions against [[Covenant starship]]s.{{Ref/Reuse|ET29}} During this time she worked under the classified pseudonym "COALMINER", frequently exchanging messages with fellow Section III agent [[Octavio Morales]] (or, Codename SURGEON) in relation to their shared intelligence efforts. In [[2532]], she penned [[AUTOMATED REROUTE UNSC SHIP REG-96667 ABY|a message]] to Morales concerning the [[SPARTAN-III program]], noting the early stages of preparing [[SPARTAN-III Alpha Company|Alpha Company]] were progressing satisfactorily and expressed confidence in [[Kurt-051]]'s training regimen.{{Ref/Novel|Id=goo7|GoO|Chapter=7}} Shortly after the end of the [[Battle of Jericho VII]] in [[2535]], now-[[Commander]] al-Cygni provided the [[SPARTAN-II program|SPARTAN-IIs]] with extensive training on Covenant systems infiltration. This was done at [[CASTLE Base]] on [[Reach]].{{Ref/Reuse|ET29}}

Al-Cygni continued to work alongside Morales under their respective codenames as part of the leadership for [[Operation: HYPODERMIC]]; an intelligence effort connected to the [[Cole Protocol]] (HYPODERMIC FXT-J) that involved the use and upgrade of several [[prowler]] stealth ships disguised as civilian vessels{{Ref/Novel|HTFoR|Chapter=30}} for the purpose of deploying into the systems surrounding [[Epsilon Eridani system|Epsilon Eridani]] to scout out [[Covenant]] fleets.{{Ref/Novel|Id=FOR28|HTFoR|Chapter=28}} On [[2552#August|August 29, 2552]], Al-Cygni sent a transmission to Morales noting that HYPODERMIC was proceeding as expected aboard [[Gamma Station]] orbiting [[Reach]], though also noted that potential interference by the station's AI [[Doppler]] had nearly caused the operation to be exposed. As such, the prowler {{UNSCShip|Circumference}} was disconnected from Gamma Station's [[REACH DOC NET|network]] - according to Al-Cygni, as far as the station's computers were concerned, it was as though ''Circumference'' never existed.{{Ref/Reuse|FOR28}} This disconnect ultimately proved problematic the following day when a massive Covenant fleet arrived at Reach to execute the [[Fall of Reach|final fall of the planet]]. In the ensuing [[Space engagements over Reach|space battle]], three [[SPARTAN-II program|SPARTAN-IIs]]; [[John-117]], [[Linda-058]], and [[James-005]], were deployed to Gamma Station to manually execute the Cole Protocol and destroy ''Circumference''{{'}}s navigation database. The operation was successful, though saw Linda-058 heavily injured and James-005 ejected into space, where he was [[ONI Directive 930|declared]] [[missing in action]] (MIA).

===Post-war===
Around or after [[2554#December|December 15, 2554]],{{Ref/Note|In [[H4:Audio log#Halsey's observations|Halsey's audio log]] on the ''[[Halo 4]]'' level [[Composer (level)|Composer]], dated December 15, 2554, Halsey notes the recent discovery of the [[Composer]] on Gamma Halo's surface. The fifth Eleventh Hour Report directly notes the recovery of the Composer and Halsey's request for it to be transported to [[Ivanoff Station]]; as such, the reports must have been written around, or after, this date.}} Al-Cygni recieved a series of reports from Morales named the "[[Eleventh Hour reports]]", discussing the state of the post-war galaxy including the status of the ex-Covenant races, the newly-established [[Spartan Operations]] division, early post-war [[Remote contact team|expeditions]] to [[Installation 00|the Ark]], the [[Halo Array]], and the discovery of the [[Composer]].{{Ref/Site|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/oni-files/eleventh-hour-reports|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Eleventh Hour Reports|D=07|M=05|Y=2016|LocalArchive=Eleventh Hour reports}} She continued to have a vested interest in the newly-emerging [[SPARTAN-IV program|SPARTAN-IVs]], and would later go on to make frequent visits to the [[Avery J. Johnson Academy of Military Science]] on [[Nysa]] to observe Spartans [[Spartan Training and Qualification Program|in-training]], though primarily worked from a [[prowler]] stealth ship, ''[[Akkadian]]''.{{Ref/Reuse|ET11}}

By [[2559]], Jilan had risen to the rank of [[Admiral]], and was heavily invested in a UNSC research effort known as [[Project BOOKWORM]]. As part of BOOKWORM, Admiral a-Cygni was heavily interested in the activities of {{UNSCShip|Victory of Samothrace}}, and was heavily involved (alongside Morales) in planning the [[Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser|battlecruiser]]'s mission to [[Rossbach's World]] on November 4 to recover senior UNSC leadership and several [[smart AI]]s from their imposed exile. On November 19 of that year, she attended a high-level meeting with officers from {{UNSCShip|Victory of Samothrace}} and the [[Swords of Sanghelios]]' ''[[Shadow of Intent]]'' at [[Site Z]] on Nysa, where they were able to recover essential information from the AI [[Black-Box]] relating to the whereabouts of [[Chloe Hall]]. She approved ''Shadow of Intent''{{'}}s request to deploy troops on [[Venezia]] to apprehend [[Dovo Nesto]] with the stipulation that ''Victory of Samothrace'' join to represent UNSC interests in the mission, before heading back to [[Earth]] with Admirals [[Serin Osman]] and [[Terrence Hood]].{{Ref/Reuse|ET11}} 

Throughout the ensuing weeks, al-Cygni (alongside Morales) was instrumental in working to try and gain the UNSC access to, and control over, the [[domain]], which she intended to achieve by replacing [[Cortana]]'s neural network with a clone. While Morales [[James Solomon|handled acquiring]] the clone, using the information gathered from BB, Admiral al-Cygni handled the broader planning and coordination with the rest of the military. She was present at ''[[Bengaluru Station]]'' on December 12 to observe Black-Box's decommissioning ceremony, though departed the [[Sol system]] aboard ''Akkadian'' as the [[Banished]] began [[Battle of Earth (2559)|their attack]] on the planet the same day, instead headed for [[Boundary]] to scout out the [[Boundary Lithos|Lithos site]] buried under [[Tyrrhen]].{{Ref/Novel|ET|Chapter=19}} By the time the [[battle of Boundary]] began a few days later, ''Akkadian'' was hidden over the planet's southern pole as to avoid detection by the Banished.{{Ref/Novel|ET|Chapter=23}} Although al-Cygni's original plan had been to scout out the location of the Lithos and then meet with the contractor providing the clone, this soon proved infeasible, and al-Cygni instead moved to coordinating the combined UNSC forces on and around the planet.{{Ref/Reuse|ET29}} Once it became clear the battle was unwinnable, she ordered ''Victory of Samothrace'' to [[Orbital bombardment|strike]] the Lithos with its [[Magnetic Accelerator Cannon]] to deny it to the enemy.{{Ref/Novel|ET|Chapter=27}}

On [[2560#January|January 1, 2560]], she spoke with [[Codename: FIXER|FIXER]] about how close Project BOOKWORM had come to succeeding while observing [[Boundary]] and the remains of the [[Lithos]] from the ''[[Akkadian]]''. Al-Cygni admitted that she was looking for any progress and what made this site different from the ones found on [[Kamchatka]], [[Juvedai]], [[Amasa]] and [[Genesis]]. FIXER suggested that al-Cygni look into the reports that FIXER had sent over as ONI had been seeing a strong uptick in activity gleaned from the [[Domain]] terminals they had tabs on. However, FIXER couldn't explain what the activity was exactly, cracking a joke about how they'd have a much better retirement plan if they could. ONI wasn't sure if the fluctuations were related to [[Battle for Zeta Halo|the events]] at [[Installation 07|Zeta Halo]] or not, but it was worth noting nonetheless. The two discussed what to do with the girl if there were any other entry points to the Domain that their enemies could use before al-Cygni received an interesting message from [[Ayit 'Sevi]] (a spy within the Order of Restoration operating under the codename SNAKE IN THE GRASS) suggesting that they weren't done with [[Dovo Nesto]] yet and that his new fascination might well be worth their time to look into.{{Ref/Reuse|ET48}}

Al-Cygni sent a message to Admiral Morales at the ONI facility buried beneath East Africa that they had just recieved a message from 'Sevi that might necessitate a slight adjustment in their current focus. Al-Cygni sent the details and prepared the ''Akkadian'' for departure when they were aligned on a confirmed rendezvous point with 'Sevi. She also asked to be kept updated on the situation on Zeta Halo, having a feeling that they were going to want to be keenly aware of every card they have in the deck before this was all said and done.{{Ref/Reuse|ET48}}

==Trivia==
It may be possible that Johnson and Jilan al-Cygni were married, as Johnson will occasionally make remarks about his supposed "mother-in-law" during ''Halo 2''.  Whether it was just Johnson's typical sense of humor, or actually meaningful in any way is unknown.

==List of appearances==
*''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'' {{Fm}} {{C|Identified as Codename: COALMINER}}
*''[[Halo: Ghosts of Onyx]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]'' {{1st}} {{C|First identified by name}}
*''[[Halo: Fall of Reach]]''
**''[[Halo: Fall of Reach - Invasion|Invasion]]''
*''[[Halo: Empty Throne]]''

==Notes==
{{Ref/Notes}}

==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources}}

[[Category:Human characters|al-Cygni, Jilan]]
[[Category:UNSC Navy officers|al-Cygni, Jilan]]
[[Category:Office of Naval Intelligence personnel|al-Cygni, Jilan]]