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 end of the war he and Vasily Beloi hijacked a Spirit on Imber to exfiltrate from the planet. During the war, their friend Emanuel Barakat was killed in action.

Post-War
Following the end of the Human-Covenant War in January 2553, he and Beloi went to Sydney to the ruins of the Parthenon Bar to raise a drink in honor of Barakat, as he wished to happen when he died. Later he and Beloi were hand-picked by the Office of Naval Intelligence Commander-in-Chief Admiral Parangosky to serve under Captain Serin Osman in a covert operations team designated Kilo-Five. The team was tasked with sowing discord amongst the now-disorganized Sangheili by a number of means, including providing arms to the Servants of Abiding Truth, a faction opposed to the allies of Thel 'Vadam.

As part of Kilo-Five, Geffen served aboard, participating in several missions. 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 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