Zhao Heng Lopez

Sergeant Zhao Heng Lopez, commonly known among her Marines as "Mama" Lopez, was a UNSC Marine stationed aboard the in October 2552, and a long-time veteran of the Human-Covenant War.

The Mona Lisa
After the crew of the prowler Red Horse discovered an escape pod and a lone survivor in Installation 04's debris field, Lopez was ordered by Red Horse shipboard AI Rebecca and Commander Tobias Foucault to conduct reconnaissance on the prisoner ship, Mona Lisa. Lopez then led her squad as they boarded the ship, where they were soon ambushed by several Sangheili lacking armor or weapons, and quickly took them out. After finding one of her Marines dead, Lopez received new orders to initiate the Cole Protocol by purging the ship's two navigational databases. Lopez and her men split into two teams, with Lopez's team going after the ship's primary NAV database at the ship's bridge.

While scouting the medical bay, Lopez found an ONI Major named John Smith locked inside a safe room. As they interrogated Smith about the experiments with the prisoners and the Flood, Smith broke free and killed Mahmoud with a concealed knife, leaving her with three fellow Marines; MacCraw, Percy and Singh. By the time they reached the bridge of the Mona Lisa, only she and MacCraw remained. There, they learned that not only had Smith stolen their only Pelican, but a Shiva-class nuclear missile was being prepared for launch against the Mona Lisa. Commander Foucault then told Lopez that two escape pods were left on the lower deck, omitting the fact that the pods were designed for single occupants.

As Lopez and MacCraw defended the pods, Corpsman Ngoc Benti arrived with Clarence, a prisoner named Patrick Rimmer, and his Sangheili companion, "Henry". Clarence, under strict orders from ONI to not let anything but the Marines leave the ship, executed Rimmer. Angered, Henry began to strike at Clarence with his cricket bat until Benti, who had already been heavily wounded on the way and showing signs of infection, sacrificed her life by pushing both herself and Clarence into the oncoming Flood horde. MacCraw then escaped in one of the escape pods, leaving both Henry and Lopez to fend for themselves. As the timer for the Shiva launch reached thirty seconds, Lopez and Henry fled into the airlock only to find that the pod couldn't fit them both. Realizing she had no ammunition left in her assault rifle, Lopez proceeded to use the weapon as a club. With only thirty seconds to spare, she and Henry would then fight for the last escape pod.

Personality and traits
Lopez cared deeply for her Marines, referring to the members of her squad as her "kids". She felt responsible for every one of them and had little tolerance for lies or being kept in the dark, particularly when this endangered her Marines, as demonstrated by her hostility toward Major Smith.

Lopez was apparently Roman Catholic, as she commonly referred to her subordinates as her "rosary beads". She also constantly remembered the smell of the pews at her mother's church.

Trivia

 * Her name suggests that she was of Chinese and Hispanic ancestry.
 * Lopez had close relatives on Reach who were presumably killed when the colony fell.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * The Mona Lisa