Wendell

"I'm hiding a great many things, Inspector."

- Wendell to Special Inspector Veta Lopis

Wendell was a human smart AI of the United Nations Space Command's Office of Naval Intelligence attached to the 717th Xeno-Materials Exploitation Battalion during Operation: JOVIAN WHISTLE in 2553. Wendell was created specifically for the operation to aid Commander Murtag Nelson capture the Forerunner archeon-class ancilla Intrepid Eye on the Outer Colony of Gao. However, the operation resulted in his destruction at the hands of Intrepid Eye.

Creation and initial service
After Commander Murtag Nelson of the UNSC Navy's Office of Naval Intelligence discovered a distress signal emanating from the human Outer Colony of Gao, he ultimately concluded that the signal was being produced by a Forerunner ancilla on the planet. Persuading his superiors into trusting his theory, Nelson was given command of the agency's 717th Xeno-Materials Exploitation Battalion and tasked with capturing the ancilla. Wendell was created by ONI to serve as the battalion artificial intelligence for the 717th Xeno-Materials Exploitation Battalion. In this function, Wendell maintained a small presence in every piece of the battalion's equipment capable of hosting a subroutine of his self. Wendell was to assist Nelson directly, and was also charged with safeguarding the commander's secrets.

In May 2553, the battalion initiated Operation: JOVIAN WHISTLE and arrived at Gao, where it began searching for the archeon-class ancilla Intrepid Eye on the planet. While the battalion searched the Montero Cave System for the ancilla, Intrepid Eye began covertly murdering Gao tourists in the caves in an attempt to frame the United Nations Space Command for the murders, thus getting Gao's government to eject her pursuers from the planet. However, to demonstrate good faith, Nelson proposed a joint investigation of the murders with the Gao Ministry of Protection.

Contact with Intrepid Eye
"Your threats are empty. Save yourself the stress deterioration and surrender now. You will be put to a worthy use."

- Wendell to Intrepid Eye

On July 2, 2553, Major Ira Halal of the UNSC Judge Advocate General's Corps learned that a new murder victim was just found by UNSC personnel and sought to investigate the scene before the GMoP, taking Private Hayes and a fragment of Wendell in his TACPAD with him. While they made their way towards the new crime scene, they encountered Intrepid Eye and Huragok Roams Alone. In the resulting confrontation, Halal and Hayes were killed and Roams Alone was injured. Wendell broadcasted a distress signal over sixteen frequencies, but all but one was blocked by Intrepid Eye. Commandeering the remaining frequency, Intrepid Eye interrogated Wendell and questioned him about the status of her homeworld—Wuatera Thresis. Discovering that the once-verdant world was now a wastelands, Intrepid Eye and Roams Alone departed the site, but not before they learned that they were being pursued by Blue Team, a team of Spartan-IIs and Spartan-IIIs attached to the battalion for the operation. As Intrepid Eye inserted a memory leech into Wendell's systems, his memory of their conversation would be lost in a partition that only Intrepid Eye had the capability to access. Once the fragment of Wendell returned to "Wendell Prime" at the battalion's headquarters at the Montero Vitality Center, Intrepid Eye intended to utilize Wendell to access the battalion's interstellar communications array in an effort to contact the rest of the Forerunner ecumene, as she was unaware that the empire had fallen to the Flood a hundred thousand years prior.

On July 3, 2553, Halal's TACPAD was recovered by Fred-104, Ash-G099, Olivia-G291, and Mark-G313 of Blue Team and Special Inspector Veta Lopis and Cirilo of the GMoP. Though Wendell's fragment within the TACPAD was still active, the device was damaged, leading to Fred taking the TACPAD's data crystal chip containing Wendell and placing it inside his armor to allow Wendell to reside in its interface. Without violating security directive Foxtrot Tango Angel 7012, Wendell agreed to respond to Lopis' questions about what happened to Halal and Hayes, though Wendell claimed that he did not actually see their murderer. As Lopis continued to ask questions about the situation, Wendell retreated from the conversation and even suggested for Fred to shoot Lopis, though Fred ignored him. After examining the crime scene, the humans continued onward following a trail of blood left behind by Roams Alone. Unbeknownst to the group and the majority of Wendell, Intrepid Eye was still utilizing a partitioned part of Wendell's fragment to spy on them. As the group approached Intrepid Eye's support facility, the ancilla conversed with the partitioned Wendell and ordered him to turn the group back, or she would kill the Spartan-IIIs at the front of the group with her Aggressor Sentinels. Wendell realized that they were approaching her facility and ignored her orders, also tricking her into indicating that she had a companion—Roams Alone. After Wendell called Intrepid Eye on her bluffs, she ended the conversation as the group came to the outside of the facility, with the rest of Wendell's fragment still not being able to recall his conversations with Intrepid Eye. Intrepid Eye eventually had her Sentinels attack the humans, resulting in the death of Cirilo, the destruction of the Sentinels, and the capture of Roams Alone.

Gao conflict
"I am not that foolish. Before you talk to any Spartans, I am going to pull your fangs—especially the ones that replicate."

- Wendell to Intrepid Eye, when the latter agrees to surrender

The next day on July 4, 2553 at the Vitality Center, Wendell Prime was providing Nelson with a holographic view of the Montero Cave System as the commander sought to pinpoint the location of Intrepid Eye's facility. After examining the caverns, Nelson realized that the nearby Well of Echoes was serving as a cooling array for the Forerunner facility, though Wendell was reluctant to agree with this discovery. However, before Nelson could give the order to search the Well of Echoes, the battalion came under attack by the radical Keepers of the One Freedom at the Vitality Center and at the nearby village of Wendosa. Nelson and Wendell soon met with Major Tereem Wingate, and the three then began planning a counterattack to fight off the Keeper forces.

Meanwhile, as Lopis began to suspect that Mark was the murderer, the group's fragment of Wendell analyzed surveillance feeds and duty rosters, and realized that Fred had been intentionally fabricating some logs to prevent any of his Spartans from falling suspect. Wishing for the murderer to be caught, Wendell informed Lopis of his discovery and told her to keep quiet about it until they reached the surface, as Wendell believed that Fred would be willing to kill her before she attempted to arrest Mark. The group soon began encountering Keeper forces within the caves and Wendell provided data on the faction to aid the humans. As the humans and Roams Alone neared the surface, Intrepid Eye decided to allow herself to be captured to give herself a higher opportunity of reaching the battalion's communications array. Intrepid Eye approached the humans in an inspection drone and Fred slowly approached the ancilla to capture her with a scramble grenade. Intrepid Eye contacted Wendell and agreed to surrender, so the smart AI began transferring her from the inspection drone to Fred's armor. However, Wendell only allowed her a fraction of her capacity to prevent her from overrunning the armor's operating system. Shortly after, Fred captured Intrepid Eye before she could transfer herself to his armor with the scramble grenade. With Roams Alone and Intrepid Eye, the group eventually exited the caverns at Wendosa. As the Spartans joined the rest of Blue Team in fighting off Keeper forces, Roams Alone removed the scramble grenade from the ancilla, allowing her to escape and jam all communications on the planet including Wendell.

Communications were eventually restored and Intrepid Eye was recaptured by the battalion, and Wendell had eventually reabsorbed his independent fragment attached to the data chip. On July 6, 2553, Intrepid Eye recovered from damages she had incurred at the battle at Wendosa in a Portable Spartan Support Module and was contacted by Wendell. She requested to be transferred to a data chip, though Wendell quickly denied her request. During their conversation, Intrepid Eye attempted to insert an object hunter into Wendell's systems to allow her to access his data on Forerunners with the trigger word that she specified—Forerunner. However, to Intrepid Eye's surprise, Wendell succeeded in defeating the object hunter. Wendell proposed that he would help Intrepid Eye gain contact with the Forerunners if she surrendered and agreed to work with the UNSC, to which the ancilla reluctantly agreed. In response, Wendell finally sent her all of his data on the Forerunners.

Destruction
"Wendell"

Meanwhile, Nelson and Lopis came to inspect the equipment in the module, while Corporal Tegg attempted to repair Intrepid Eye's inspection drone. Though the drone's self-repairing mechanisms proved more effective and soon Intrepid Eye gained control of the drone. Reviewing the data on the Forerunners provided by Wendell, Intrepid Eye found much of the data to be inaccurate. Intrepid Eye learned of the fall of the ecumene and the firing of the Halo Array, though she doubted the accuracy of it. She ultimately came to the conclusion that Wendell's records of the Forerunners prior to her stasis were biased and erroneous, and his records from after she was placed in stasis were fabrications. Wendell attempted to convince Intrepid Eye that she could serve the humans as her Forerunner creators had left the Milky Way, providing her with several cases of ancillas working with humanity and humans proving themselves as Reclaimers by utilizing Forerunner technology.

While searching for proof on Wendell's claims, Intrepid Eye accessed a Gao military satellite and picked up messages from the radical Gao politician Arlo Casille, who was working with the Keepers of the One Freedom to capture Intrepid Eye. Reading Casille's messages, the ancilla deduced that the battalion had invaded Gao to steal her. When Intrepid Eye questioned Wendell on this matter, the smart AI claimed that the battalion was on Gao to retrieve her after they received her distress signal. However, Intrepid Eye soon realized that she was the object of a three-way hunt between the UNSC, insurrectionists affiliated with Casille, and the Keepers. Thus, Intrepid Eye concluded that all humans were devious, warmongering, treacherous thieves. When she asked Wendell if she served the humans of the UNSC or the insurrectionists, Wendell stated matter-of-factly that only the humans of the UNSC were worthy of her knowledge and service. Deciding the humans were unworthy of her in their entirety, Intrepid Eye used the inspection drone to attack the nearby Tegg, killing the corporal. Nelson and Lopis attempted to escape, though Intrepid Eye slammed a hatch directly on top of Nelson, killing him as well. Wendell desperately attempted to isolate and contain Intrepid Eye, though the ancilla launched a brute-processing takeover attack on him, destroying his security protocols. Draining him of his memory, Intrepid Eye absorbed Wendell.

Personality and traits
"The Full Wendell may not be an archeon-class ancilla, but I am a formidable opponent, as you stated."

- Wendell to Intrepid Eye

Wendell was a smart AI of the Office of Naval Intelligence that strictly obeyed his orders and directives, as he was created specifically for Operation: JOVIAN WHISTLE. As an AI of ONI, Wendell was aware of many of the United Nations Space Command's secrets, though he only shared his information when protocol allowed it. Not wishing to violate security directive Foxtrot Tango Angel 7012 by revealing information on the Forerunners to civilians, Wendell was generally uncooperative when working with the Gao Ministry of Protection. As GMoP Special Inspector Veta Lopis attempted to pry knowledge about the Forerunners from Wendell, the AI grew annoyed and even suggested for Fred-104 to shoot her. However, after Lopis began to suspect Mark-G313 was the murderer, Wendell examined surveillance feeds and duty rosters and noticed that Fred had fabricated some to prevent his Spartans from becoming suspects. Wendell was willing to share such information with Lopis only because he desired for the murderer to be captured to prevent him from interfering with the ongoing UNSC operation. Though he warned Lopis that he suspected Fred would be willing to kill her if she tried to arrest Mark.

Wendell genuinely believed that the humans of the Unified Earth Government were the only ones worthy of serving as the Reclaimers to the Forerunners' Mantle of Responsibility, and thus the only ones worthy of gaining the valuable information that Intrepid Eye held. Wendell sought to gain the information held by Intrepid Eye by working in concert with her, rather than by force. As such, Wendell continuously proved her with information to explain the status of the Forerunners and the ecumene in an effort to gain her allegiance by asserting that humanity was to reclaim the Mantle of Responsibility. Despite Wendell's efforts, Intrepid Eye became aware of the war between the UEG and insurrectionists, leading her to conclude that humanity was a race of warmongers that was currently unworthy of reclaiming the Mantle of Responsibility. She proceeded to absorb Wendell, though he failed to understand the motives of her actions.

Description
"And your infiltration program is a waste of processing time. I have state-of-the-art encryption and blocking protocols."

- Wendell to Intrepid Eye, as the latter attempts to infiltrate his systems

With an avatar described as a weary-looking gentleman with a gray goatee and fedora, Wendell spoke in a nasally, tinny voice. As a smart AI, Wendell was able to split his "consciousness" into small aspects and install them into pieces of equipment capable of hosting a software subroutine. Each of Wendell's subroutines apparently only took up a gigabyte of memory. Wendell referred to his full self as the "Wendell Prime" or "Full Wendell". Like most AIs, Wendell consolidated independent fragments when ever he found an opportunity to do so.

He was created by the Office of Naval Intelligence with state-of-the-art encryption and blocking protocols, though these defenses were considered to be "horribly primitive" by the standards of an archeon-class ancilla such as Intrepid Eye. His defense protocols were specifically created to safeguard the secrets of Commander Murtag Nelson. Though he was outclassed by Intrepid Eye and had fallen victim to her memory leech, he was still able to detect several of her infiltration attempts and quickly defeat her object hunter. To her surprise, Wendell succeeded in outmaneuvering Intrepid Eye on several occasions, proving himself to be more capable than she anticipated. Despite his efforts, Intrepid Eye was eventually able to destroy his defenses and absorb Wendell.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Last Light
 * Halo: Retribution