Rani Sobeck

Rani Sobeck is a member of the Office of Naval Intelligence from Kentucky, USA.

Background
A 22-year-old college student from Kentucky, Rani is incredibly bright and observant. Durga says she would be a good candidate for ONI, or as she calls them the brain ninjas, to use her brain as the basis for a smart AI.

While living in Boston, Professor Avi, her cultural anthropology professor, encourages her to apply at the Office of Naval Intelligence. Although she is accepted, she initially turns it down in favor of starting a business manufacturing cheap, disposable chatters for colonial refugees living on Earth. However, when it looked like the business would never get on its feet, she accepted the ONI job.

While working as a low-clearance analyst for ONI Section One, Rani encounters a Bill of Laden (a civilian request for transfer of property from the UNSC) supposedly posted by an evacuee from the since-glassed colony of Troy. Determining that the record was fraudulent, Rani quickly discovered that it made reference to marines who had actually been stationed on the planet for a covert evacuation, but her superior shuts down her investigation and warns her not to pursue it further. A week later, an ONI assassin was shot while trying to kill her in her apartment. Durga later recruits her into a group of people that plan to break into Chawla Base. The group is made up of, Janissary James, Jersey Morelli, Kamal Zaman, and Rani. They plan to break into the base and deactivate the Forerunner artifact, a device that they later find out would have activated all the Halos. In deactivating the device however, the group broadcast Earth's location to the Covenant.

Of the group that breaks into the base only Rani is captured. However, after the device is activated and the Melissa A.I. is reformed, Melissa, who felt that she let Rani down, uses her skills to make herself an identity as a lawyer which she used to release Rani, as well as Sophia and Aiden, from jail.

Rani is last talked about when while on a train. She was approached by an ONI agent from Section Zero who tries to recruit her. She decided she was in too far to back out, and accepted. They then heard the air-raid sirens announcing the coming Covenant invasion.