Kilo-Five

"It's a strange squad. The best ones always are."

- Admiral Parangosky

Kilo-Five was a highly covert intelligence unit under the supervision of Admiral Margaret Parangosky, then Commander in Chief of the Office of Naval Intelligence. Established in late January 2553, shortly after the end of the Human-Covenant War, Kilo-Five's mission was to incite an insurrection among the various Sangheili factions left shattered after the Great Schism; this was accomplished by arming the religious extremist group known as the Servants of the Abiding Truth. Due to the position of the civilian administration and High Command, specifically Fleet Admiral Hood, to pursue a peace treaty with Sanghelios, this unit and its mission were unknown to those outside ONI's senior leadership. Kilo-Five was led in the field by Rear Admiral Serin Osman, Parangosky's protege and a former SPARTAN-II. The unit reported directly to Admiral Parangosky and was thus designated as part of ONI Core Four, outside the hierarchy of ONI's Sections Zero through Three.

During their operations, they manned the highly advanced stealth corvette, refitted in the months following the war with Forerunner technology.

Members
Commander SPARTAN-II Orbital Drop Shock Troopers Specialists
 * Rear Admiral Serin Osman
 * Petty Officer Naomi-010
 * Staff Sergeant Malcolm Geffen
 * Sergeant Lian Devereaux
 * Corporal Vasily Beloi
 * Professor Evan Phillips
 * Fourth-generation smart AI Black-Box

Formation
Prior to the creation of the final roster of Kilo-Five, Margaret Parangosky considered Edward Buck for inclusion on the team as late as January 9, 2553. However, Buck's candidacy was ruled out due to his sense of ethics, his personal attachment to his team, and his tendency to favor the lives of his subordinates over the completion of objectives. All members of Kilo-Five were selected for moral and compliance attributes. They were all known to show exceptional skills in completing assignments while also being able to maintain solid conscious and compassion on the fly. Every member of Kilo-Five also brought special skills specifically needed for their roll with ONI: Osman, a Spartan washout, was being tested and groomed as Parangosky’s replacement; Phillips was the alien expert; Devereaux was a crack pilot; Geffen was strength and stability; Beloi was a pragmatist; Naomi was a Spartan; and BB was a smart AI dedicated to ONI’s agenda.

Weapons transactions
On multiple occasions Kilo-Five provided arms to the leader of the Servants of the Abiding Truth, Avu Med 'Telcam. They set up their meetings on the glassed colony of New Llanelli in the Brunel system. On their second meeting Kilo-Five encountered a colonist named Tom Muir. Muir was extracted from the planet and quarantined on Port Stanley so he could not discover anything about their mission. When he questioned Osman about the meetings she lied and told him they were merely exchanging fallen soldiers.

Exfiltration of Mike Spenser
Kilo-Five then headed to the former mining colony Reynes to relieve ONI operative Mike Spenser of his duties. Spenser was an agent of the Department of Colonial Security who operated a UNSC listening station on the planet. He was extracted by Geffen and Beloi, but not before they were involved in a brief firefight with several Kig-Yar, who were attempting to claim the team's dropship for themselves.

UNSC Ariadne
The experienced reactor complications and was forced to drop out of slipspace near Venezia. Having received no assistance from the Insurrectionist-controlled colony, Ariadne sent a message to Earth asking for help. The was dispatched - both to evacuate the ship's crew and to rendezvous with the  for a personnel transfer. However, the reactor exploded before any help could arrive, and the Ariadne was lost with all hands. Prior to the Monte Cassino's return trip to Earth, Port Stanley transferred Mike Spenser and Tom Muir to the ship.

Assault on Piety
In February, the Jiralhanae auxiliary ship Piety had captured a valuable Huragok and was transporting it to the Servants of the Abiding Truth. Kilo-Five learned of the Huragok's existence and intercepted the Piety. After eliminating the Jiralhanae crew and acquiring Requires Adjustment, Kilo-Five altered the ship's navigational records and planted several Kig-Yar bodies with MA5B assault rifles onboard. The ship was sent back into space and 'Telcam was later tricked into believing that the Piety had been boarded by Kig-Yar scavengers.

Capture of Jul 'Mdama
During one of Kilo-Five's exchanges with 'Telcam on New Llanelli, Spartan Naomi-010 spotted a Sangheili eavesdropper named Jul 'Mdama. Using her profound strength, she subdued 'Mdama and had him incarcerated onboard Port Stanley.

Journey to Sanghelios
Serin Osman later met with Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood onboard the. They, along with Corporal Vasily Beloi and Dr. Evan Phillips, were the first humans to visit Sanghelios. There, Hood and Thel 'Vadam discussed the fragile state of both species, as well as a treaty to formalize the peace. Hood invited 'Vadam to a memorial service on Earth, and in return 'Vadam invited Dr. Phillips to study Sangheili history and culture on their homeworld.

Recovery of shield world survivors
Shortly after, ONI had established communications with the human survivors inside Onyx's Dyson sphere. Admiral Parangosky ordered Kilo-Five to arrest Dr. Catherine Halsey for her treacherous actions. Kilo-Five entered the shield world via dropship and detained Halsey, taking her and the other survivors aboard Port Stanley. They were taken to Earth for a debriefing at HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6 in Sydney. Jul 'Mdama was later placed in captivity on the shield world - renamed Trevelyan - after ONI had established a local research facility.

Voi Memorial
Kilo-Five attended the Voi Memorial in Kenya on March 3. Admiral Parangosky informed Osman that she would be appointed rear admiral and her successor the following month. Shortly after, Evan Phillips, along with a fragment of BB, left Port Stanley to visit Sanghelios. He arrived in the state of Vadam and requested a tour of the planet's most ancient cities.

Venezia
Kilo-Five then traveled to Venezia to meet up with Mike Spenser, who had been assigned to monitor resurgent rebel and black market activity on the planet. After Mal and Vaz landed on the surface and put on disguises, Spenser picked them up and took them to his hideout home in New Tyne. Spenser showed them pictures of all the insurrectionist leaders based on the planet. As they looked through the pictures, they found one of them to be Naomi's own father, Staffan Sentzke. Kilo-Five's investigation was put on hold when communication with BB's fragment and Phillips was lost due to an explosion in the state of Ontom.

Rescue of Evan Phillips
Port Stanley returned to Sanghelios as 'Telcam began his assault on Vadam. Utilizing the Pelican Tart-Cart, Kilo-Five searched for Phillips in Ontom and inside the Temple of the Abiding Truth. They eventually located Phillips through an intercepted communication and traveled to the state of Acroli to evacuate him. They extracted Phillips in the midst of a skirmish at Nes'alun keep. During the evacuation, Tart-Cart was damaged by a Banshee, forcing Devereaux to put her down for repairs. They were eventually forced to accept parts from the Sangheili, Forze 'Mdama. Once repairs were made, they flew back to Stanley. During their flight back, a fire erupted and they had to re-route to the, which was deployed on trial to Sanghelios to test its capabilities in the guise of assisting the Arbiter and his forces.

Blooding Years
As Tart-Cart was being repaired, Kilo-Five watched as Infinity turned the tide over Sanghelios as it decimated the Abiding Truth's forces. Admiral Parangosky then ordered Kilo-Five to extract 'Telcam as he was necessary to maintain the imposed stalemate between the two Sangheili factions. Kilo-Five headed back down to Sanghelios on the newly improved, Slipspace capable, Tart-Cart. After forcing 'Telcam unto the dropship, Kilo-Five traveled to New Llanelli to drop him off. Meanwhile, with BB's help, Port Stanley posed as a Kig-Yar pirate ship. Disguised a Shipmistress named Lahz, Osman covertly destroyed some of 'Vadam's ships, leaving the Arbiter with a Pyrrhic victory. During this time, Osman learned that a Skirmisher named Sav Fel had stolen the battlecruiser Pious Inquisitor from the Abiding Truth. Port Stanley jumped to New Llanelli to retrieve the rest of Kilo-Five.

New Tyne investigation
Following the "Thursday war," Kilo-Five quickly resumed its previous task and returned to Venezia. With Spenser's help, Vaz and Naomi went undercover as UNSC deserters and investigated Venezia's black markets. During their investigation of Insurrectionist activity on the planet, they spotted Staffan Sentzke in company with Shipmaster Fel. Kilo-Five prioritized the acquisition of Pious Inquisitor.

Shortly thereafter, Naomi was pulled out and substituted by Mal. Vaz and Mal met Nairn and were successful in infiltrating the local militia. They then met Staffan Sentzke and his son Edvin and were taken to see Pious Inquisitor due to their professed experience with Covenant equipment. Using a tracer planted by Vaz, Kilo-Five attempted to seize control of the ship using Venezia's slipspace communicator. However, their hack was foiled by the ship's Huragok, Sometimes Sinks, who alerted Sentzke of the attempted intrusion.

During Mal and Vaz's infiltration on Venezia, Phillips, Naomi and Devereaux returned to New Llanelli to meet with 'Telcam. On the planet, Phillips gave 'Telcam his notes on the Forerunner symbols he had encountered in the Temple of the Abiding Truth. In exchange, 'Telcam provided information about Pious Inquisitor, Jul 'Mdama, and the Servants' ongoing rebellion.

Interrogation and answers
Staffan Sentzke had Mal and Vaz captured and interrogated at the Stuttgart armory. Vaz revealed that he had information about Staffan's daughter. While Sentzke continued to question Vaz at a secure location, Black-Box used Mal and Vaz's neural transponders to locate them.

Meanwhile, Naomi and Devereaux had traveled to Anchor 10 to retrieve a new upgraded Pelican for the team's operations. Upon learning of the ODSTs' capture, Osman immediately ordered Devereaux and Naomi back to Venezia for a rescue mission. Naomi took the team's new dropship, Bogof and extracted Mal from the rebels' compound. Lian Devereaux took Tart-Cart to retrieve Vaz and took Sentzke prisoner. They returned to Port Stanley where Sentzke was informed about the Spartan program and allowed to reunite with his daughter. While he received closure for his decades of pursuit of the truth, he also learned that despite her opportunity to leave, Naomi was unwilling to give up her life as a Spartan.

Pious Inquisitor
Meanwhile, a Kig-Yar pirate crew contracted by 'Telcam located Pious Inquisitor and attempted to commandeer the ship for themselves. Sinks, distrustful of the Kig-Yar and only compliant to Sentzke's orders, placed the ship in complete lockdown. Once Kilo-Five located the ship, Sentzke convinced Sinks to allow them to come onboard. Planning to escape, Sentzke had Vaz promise to take care of Naomi and in turn gave his word to cease his aggression against Earth. Mal and Naomi boarded the ship in a different location and eliminated members of the Kig-Yar crew. The Shipmistress, Chol Von, set the ship to explode and escaped with her remaining crew. While Kilo-Five escaped to their dropships, Sentzke took a Spirit from the shuttle bay but stayed in range to ensure Naomi was safe. Vaz requested BB to give Sentzke the file on Naomi's kidnapping to prove him right to his doubting family; BB complied and sent the files to Sentzke's Spirit. BB discovered Sinks had secretly rigged the Spirit with a miniature slipspace drive which would enable him and Sentzke to escape. Black-Box knew ONI would never stop hunting Sentzke if they knew he was alive and chose to erase his own recollection of the incident, leaving Kilo-Five to conclude that Sentzke had died when the ship exploded.

Continuing operations
Once the Venezian threat was neutralized, Kilo-Five was granted shore leave. They dropped off Mike Spenser at Anchor 10 and before heading out to the planet Cascade, picked up a cargo of arms meant for 'Telcam from the. In the months that followed, Kilo-Five continued to disrupt the reunification of the Sangheili, and carried out numerous black-ops requiring their particular expertise. By 2555 Osman became CINCONI and thus left the team, but it continued to operate on highly classified missions. Aside from its actions against the Servants of Abiding Truth, Kilo-5 went on to sow dissent among other ex-Covenant groups including the Children of Oth Sonin and the Keepers of the One Freedom. As of 2560, their status remains unknown.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Glasslands
 * Halo: The Thursday War
 * Halo: Mortal Dictata
 * Halo Mythos
 * Halo: Legacy of Onyx