Malcolm Geffen

Staff Sergeant Malcolm J. Geffen, commonly known as Mal, is a Orbital Drop Shock Trooper in the UNSC Marine Corps.

Biography
During the Human-Covenant War, Geffen served in the same unit as fellow ODSTs Vasily Beloi and Emanuel Barakat and a solid camaraderie developed between them. During a battle on Imber near the end of the war, Geffen, Beloi and Barakat hijacked a Spirit to exfiltrate from the planet, later leaving the dropship on Criterion.

Post-War
In January 2553, Mal Geffen and Vaz Beloi were hand-picked by the Office of Naval Intelligence Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Margaret Parangosky, to serve under Captain Serin Osman as part of a black operations team designated Kilo-Five. On their way to the initial briefing in HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6 in Sydney, they stopped by in the ruins of bar Parthenon to raise a drink in honor of their friend Emanuel Barakat, who had been killed in action during the final stages of the war.

As part of Kilo-Five, Geffen served aboard, participating in several missions. The team was tasked with sowing discord amongst the now-disorganized Sangheili by a number of means, including providing arms to the Servants of the Abiding Truth, a faction opposed to the allies of Thel 'Vadam. These included the extraction of the ONI agent Mike Spenser from Reynes, where Geffen and Beloi were involved in a brief firefight with several Kig-Yar who were attempting to claim the team's dropship for themselves. At one point, Kilo-Five seized the Covenant cargo ship Piety and successfully captured a Huragok, Requires Adjustment. Geffen and Beloi were also present during several arms transactions between Kilo-Five and the Servants of the Abiding Truth.

After ONI had established communications with the human survivors inside Trevelyan, Admiral Parangosky ordered Kilo-Five to arrest Dr. Catherine Halsey. Geffen accompanied the party that entered the shield world via dropship, detained Halsey and brought her, along with the other survivors, aboard Port Stanley.

Trivia

 * Geffen's medical zap badge reads "A+/NO V-CIN" indicating his blood type is A+. The meaning of "NO V-CIN" is not clear, however NO may mean "nitric oxide" suggesting he may have at one time suffered from pulmonary embolism or angina.
 * While writing Halo: Glasslands, Karen Traviss originally envisioned Mal as being Australian, but later changed his nationality to British.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Glasslands
 * Halo: The Thursday War