Margaret Parangosky

"In his opinion, she was the most dangerous person in the UNSC. She was the real power in ONI. To his knowledge, only one person had ever crossed her and lived."

- Colonel James Ackerson's opinion of Admiral Parangosky.

Admiral Margaret Orlenda Parangosky, (UNSCMID 03669271) is the Commander-in-Chief of the Office of Naval Intelligence, the United Nations Space Command's military intelligence division.

Background
Born in 2461, Parangosky was described as short and aged, yet sharp and cold as ice. Despite her withered appearance, she was very powerful and deadly: Dr. Catherine Halsey was the only person who had ever crossed her and lived. Colonel James Ackerson considered her to be the most dangerous person in the UNSC. Parangosky was a rear admiral by 2511, and vice admiral by 2531, She was promoted to full admiral some time later.

After the Battle of Groombridge-1830 in 2530, Admiral Preston Cole wrote a proposed emergency procedure that would slow down the Covenant from finding Earth. This proposal was approved by Parangosky and would later become known as the Cole Protocol.

Restriction of Onyx
In 2511, Parangosky restricted the planet Onyx from the rest of the UNSC after Forerunner ruins were discovered on the surface of the planet that same year. She returned several times to check up on and report on the project; however, the project was eventually sidelined in 2525 so funding could go elsewhere.

SPARTAN-III Program
"You want to trade lives for time."

- Parangosky, talking about the SPARTAN-III program

"Yes, ma'am. Isn't that the job of a soldier?"

- Colonel Ackerson

In 2531, Parangosky attended a meeting with Rear Admiral Ned Rich and Captain Aaron G. Gibson aboard the. During this meeting, Colonel Ackerson proposed the SPARTAN-III project, which would produce large numbers of expendable supersoldiers. Parangosky approved the creation of Alpha Company and authorized a plan in which Lieutenant, Junior Grade Kurt-051 would be abducted and put in charge of training the SPARTAN-IIIs.

In 2537, Parangosky went aboard the Point of No Return to review the progress of the SPARTAN-III program and to authorize the formation of Beta Company, following the recent destruction of Alpha Company in Operation: PROMETHEUS. She considered Alpha Company's destruction "regrettable", but considered them heroes, and promoted Kurt from Lieutenant, Junior Grade to full Lieutenant for it. It is also possible that she further promoted him to Lieutenant Commander sometime later as well.

Sometime prior to 2551, Kurt appealed to Parangosky to save Tom-B292 (who Colonel Ackerson wanted for his "special projects") and Lucy-B091 (who, because she had become mute due to posttraumatic vocal disarticulation was almost classified as "unfit for duty," and would have been reassigned to ONI's psych branch for "psychological evaluation") from reassignment, saying he needed Spartans to train Spartans. Parangosky allowed him to do this so they could help him train Gamma Company.

Later career
By 2552, Parangosky had risen to rank of four-star admiral and was named the head of the Office of Naval Intelligence. She continued working aboard the Point of No Return, green-lighting some of humanity's most controversial projects. At one point, she adopted the "washed-out" SPARTAN-II candidate Serin Osman as her protégé, grooming her to be her successor. It was noted that Osman is almost like a "granddaughter figure" to Parangosky, and one of the few people she cares about.

Following the end of the war, Parangosky found herself at odds with members of the UEG and UNSC High Command over the Sangheili. While Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood and others believed that a peace treaty with Arbiter Thel 'Vadam and the Covenant Separatists was desirable, Parangosky believed that keeping the Sangheili mired in internal dissent would leave them unable to threaten the weakened UNSC. In 2553, Parangosky assigned Osman to lead an intelligence team on a covert mission to sow dissent among the Sangheili, disguised as a diplomatic mission.

Personality
Parangosky's reputation within the UNSC stems not only from her powerful position as the head of ONI, but also from her intimidating force of will. She is shrewd and highly intelligent, and combined with her cold demeanor these qualities make her an imposing figure despite her age; Dr. Halsey regarded her as one of the few people that she was genuinely afraid of.

While her position has allowed her to authorize numerous programs that may be seen as ethically questionable, Parangosky has been shown to nonetheless possess a sense of morality. After being informed of the use of flash cloning during the SPARTAN-II program, she demanded that Catherine Halsey answer for the trauma inflicted upon the families who watched their "children" sicken and die.

Trivia

 * Her name is seen on a memorial plaque inside the ONI Alpha Site on Earth. As the Halo Encyclopedia states that she was still alive and onboard the Point of No Return by 2553, and Parangosky is a major character in Halo: Glasslands, this is either simply an Easter egg or deliberate misinformation on the part of ONI.
 * She has stated her personal motto is "Strength through Paranoia."

List of appearances

 * Halo: First Strike
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
 * Halo 3: ODST
 * Halo: Glasslands