Ignatio Delgado

"So, why are you joining, Mr. Delgado?" "I'd like to shoot down some Covenant ships, Mr. ONI man."

- A conversation between Ignatio Delgado and an Office of Naval Intelligence agent

Ignatio Delgado was a highly trusted resident of the Rubble. He was chosen by the community's security council to keep control over a data chip that contained the location of Earth. After the destruction of the Rubble, Delgado joined the UNSC Navy with the promise of a posting on an ONI Prowler if he passed his training.

Early life
Ignatio was born on Madrigal in the city of Nueva Lima, several years prior to the Human-Covenant War. He was good friends with Maria Esquival. When the Covenant glassed the planet, he escaped aboard an Insurrectionist ship when he was just fourteen along with Maria, but not before getting separated from his parents, who were killed along with the majority of Madrigal's population.

While growing up in the Rubble, Diego Esquival, a young Insurrectionist and Maria's brother, played the part of his father and mentor. Ignatio later went to join the Rubble Defense Force, pledging to never again let what happened to Madrigal happen to the Rubble.

Battle of the Rubble
When the UNSC Cole Protocol was initiated, all data containing coordinates to Earth and other human colonies on the Rubble were destroyed, except one. To protect the navigation data, a data chip containing the information was given to Delgado by the Rubble Security Council. However, Delgado and his co-pilot Melko Hollister were attacked by rouge Kig-Yar that were once loyal to the Rubble. Melko was killed, but Spartan Adriana-111 intervened and killed the aliens. Ignatio had been wounded, but Adriana healed him and made him promise to take care of the data. She left him with a beacon that he could use if he was endangered. Delgado attended Hollister's funeral, where he met with Diego Esquival. Diego warned him that a member of the Security Council was leaking information to the Kig-Yar. Diego also asked Delgado to find information about the freighter the Kestrel that was doing smuggling jobs among the human colonies.

To find information about the Kestrel, Delgado went to the bar Eddie's In The Rock. Delgado came across Adriana again, who was also attempting to find information about the Kestrel. Five rebels overheard their conversation and approached them. When the men attacked them, Adriana swiftly defeated the insurgents, with the help of Jai-006, and brought Delgado to Gray Team's ship, the Petya, to meet Michael-120. The Spartans revealed their intentions to Delgado, destroy any data that could lead to human colonies and disrupt the insurrectionists from the inside. As Delgado left, he was instructed to find out more about who in the Rubble Security Council is leaking information to the Kig-Yar.

Later, Delgado was approached by Council member Peter Bonifacio. Bonifacio asked Delgado to hand over the data chip, with the intentions of giving it to the Kig-Yar leader, Reth. When he refused to do so, Bonifacio had Delgado arrested. Delgado was later interrogated by the members of the Security Council, asking for the location of the navigation data. The Council revealed that they were intending to place the data to the Exodus Project for safekeeping. Delgado reluctantly agreed and he brought Bonifacio and Diego to where the data was hidden, aboard his freighter, the Distancia. When the three reached the freighter, Delgado was about to hand the data over to Esquival, but Diego was shot and mortally wounded by Bonifacio. Diego and Delgado were locked in the Distancia's damaged airlocks and left to die from lack of oxygen. Esquival succumbed to his wounds, but Delgado was rescued by Spartan Gray Team.

He assisted then-Lieutenant Jacob Keyes, Gray Team and a battalion of ODSTs take a Kig-Yar ship and afterwards, defeated a few dozen Kig-Yar alongside the ODSTs, Spartans and his fellow Rubble Defense Force members. During the final stages of the battle, Delgado flew a D77-TC Pelican to retrieve ODSTs and Spartans from the surface of Metisette, where they had planted a timed nuclear device.

Joining the Navy
Soon after the battle and helping Habitat Exodus and the Rubble's surviving population evacuate to the 18 Scorpii system, he made the decision to join the UNSC Navy after attending the funeral of his friend and former mentor, Diego Esquival on Falaknuma. Due to his background and attitude, the Navy recruiter was uninterested in Delgado, but Commander Hadley of ONI intervened on his behalf. Hadley promised that if Delgado didn't wash out, he would have a place on an ONI Prowler after he graduated. Delgado, after flipping Hadley off, officially signed on, stating that too many people would be pleased if he failed to even consider it.

Personality and traits
Delgado is known for being loyal, such as still attending his co-pilot's funeral when most of the attendants blamed him for the death. Additionally, when the Spartans of Gray Team asked for his assistance in locating the data chip, he initially refused, as he disliked the UNSC. However, he grew to trust the Spartans and other members of the UNSC. When the Rubble allied with some Kig-Yar, Delgado did not trust the aliens.

Despite being close to Diego Esquival, he still felt awkward due to his parents' views toward people like Diego (a known Insurrectionist), who used to plant bombs in passenger ships and engage in other rebel activity for money, which his parents called "blood money".

Equipment
He owned a handgun called Señora Sies. Ignatio's uncle had altered his standard M6 pistol by replacing the standard stock with a very rare oak back on Madrigal. Ignatio said he had made a piece of art out of the standard issue pistol. Delgado later gave the pistol to the injured ODST Faison on board a Covenant vessel. After Faison's death, it was presumed lost or destroyed.

Trivia

 * His childhood nickname was Nacho. Only Maria Esquival continued to call him that as an adult.
 * In The Cole Protocol, it states that he was fourteen when Madrigal was glassed in 2528, implying he was born in 2514. However, if his birthday was later in the year, after Madrigal was glassed, then he would have turned fifteen in 2528, thus he would have been born in 2513.
 * Delgado, as well as most of the residents of The Rubble are likely of Spanish origin. This may be due to most of the Rubble residents having Hispanic names and partaking in Latin American customs such as the quincieñera. This implies that most people that lived in the colony of Madrigal, as well as the Rubble, came from Spain or Latin American descent.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Cole Protocol