Miranda Keyes

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"Ma'am, squad leaders are requesting a rally point. Where should they go?"

- UNSC Officer

"To war."

- Miranda Keyes, during the Battle of Earth

Lieutenant Commander Miranda Keyes was a Lieutenant Commander in the UNSC Navy. LCDR Keyes served as the Commanding Officer of both the In Amber Clad as well as the Forward Unto Dawn and was the commander of the Human expedition force to Installation 00 in Spring 2553. She was the daughter of the late Captain Jacob Keyes, a legendary naval officer who served from the years 2517 to 2552 and was one of the first victims of the Flood.

Early Life
Miranda was born somewhere between 2524 and 2527. She lived with her father on Luna, where he taught at the OCS academy.

Miranda Keyes joined the UNSC Navy at a relatively early age and quickly rose through the officer ranks. Throughout her career, she was forced to confront accusations of nepotism from those who ascribed her rapid rise in rank to the position and influence of her father, Jacob Keyes. By the year 2552, Miranda had risen to the rank of Lieutenant Commander, and commanded the UNSC Frigate In Amber Clad. She accepted her father's posthumous Colonial Cross on Cairo Station immediately before the Battle of Earth.

The Battle of Earth
At the start of the Battle of Earth, Miranda's vessel was docked at Cairo Station, so that she could receive her father's honors. During the awards ceremony, the station was attacked and boarded. Miranda fought her way to her ship with the help of Sergeant Major Avery Johnson, several Marines and the Master Chief, the latter of whom, also repelled Covenant boarders along the way. As the Covenant armada began the invasion of Earth, she took In Amber Clad down to New Mombasa, where she dispatched multiple Pelican dropships with Marines to join the massive battle with the Covenant in progress there.

During the battle, In Amber Clad was one of the only vessels close enough to follow the High Prophet of Regret when his Assault Carrier entered Slipspace inside the city. The resulting shockwave of the in-atmosphere Slipspace jump caused a massive cataclysm and a large portion of the city was destroyed.

Delta Halo
The In Amber Clad "piggy-backed" the Prophet of Regret's Assault Carrier through Slipspace and ended up at Installation 05. There, she sent a platoon of ODSTs to assist the Master Chief in his pursuit of the Prophet of Regret in order to capture or kill him. Once she learned of the Prophet of Regret's plan to activate Delta Halo, she ordered the Master Chief to assassinate him.

Meanwhile, Keyes and Johnson went to the Library of Halo, accompanied by most of the standard Marines of the ship. They attempted to retrieve the Index, and, although Keyes was successful, most of the Marines were killed or infected by the Flood. Once Keyes and Johnson had the Index, they were ambushed by Thel 'Vadamee. Johnson was knocked out, and Keyes was able to take down Arbiter's shields with dual SMGs. Seconds later, Keyes and Johnson were captured by Tartarus and his band of Brutes. The Brutes then took Keyes and Johnson to High Charity, where they met the High Prophets of Truth and Mercy. They were then taken aboard separate Phantom dropships and were transported to Halo's surface.

Keyes was taken to the Control Room of Installation 05 because she had been designated as a Reclaimer by 343 Guilty Spark. Tartarus then used her to activate the Installation. Shortly afterward Thel 'Vadamee and Johnson arrived, and the three of them were able to kill Tartarus. At that moment, she retrieved the Index and stopped the Halo from firing. When she asked 343 Guilty Spark about the Halos, 343 Guilty Spark told her about the Ark.

Return to Earth
From Delta Halo, Keyes eventually returned to Earth, where she commanded the defense of Earth from the UNSC base Crow's Nest. Shortly after Master Chief was recovered from the African jungles, the base came under heavy Covenant attack. As the base was overrun with Loyalist forces, Keyes and the command staff evacuated the wounded Marines and escaped on the last Pelican. The large explosive device that Keyes ordered left behind was detonated by the Master Chief, destroying a large portion of the attacking Covenant. Miranda then took an active role as the commanding officer of the, Lord Hood's personal flagship. After the Prophet of Truth succeeded in opening the Portal outside Voi, Keyes was permitted by a reluctant Fleet Admiral Hood to follow the Covenant Loyalist forces through the portal.

The Ark
Miranda Keyes, commanding Forward Unto Dawn, then traveled with Ship Master Rtas 'Vadum and a Separatist fleet to Installation 00. During the events of the Battle of Installation 00, she landed troops and large quantities of weaponry and armor on The Ark, largely to supplement John-117's offensive in search of the Silent Cartographer. When John-117 located Truth at The Ark's control room, she dispatched several Pelican Dropships and Phantom dropships to deactivate the shield protecting the control room. When Sergeant Johnson was captured by Truth's forces in the course of this battle, Keyes asked the Chief how close he was to stopping Truth. Realizing that he and Thel 'Vadam would never get there in time to stop Truth, Keyes decided to stall Truth herself. She crashed her Pelican at Truth's position, intending to rescue Johnson. She exited her Pelican with an M90A Shotgun and a M6G Pistol. She was able to kill two Brutes, and wounded (some fatally) several others but ultimately found herself outnumbered. Johnson requested that she kill them both in order to halt Truth's plans. Keyes, unwilling to harm Johnson, hesitated. As she paused, the Prophet of Truth shot her in the back 7 times with a Spiker. She gasps, reaching for the spikes but falling to the floor, dead. Her body was subsequently rescued from Flood infection by Johnson, who carried her into the Pelican which he used to escape The Ark's control room. It is likely that her body was taken back to Earth, and buried there. Her face is later seen in a photograph on the Memorial to the Fallen on a hillside overlooking the Portal to The Ark, near the photograph of Avery Johnson and the service number of Master Chief John-117.

Due to her actions during the final months of the Human-Covenant War, she was posthumously awarded with the Medal of Honor, the highest award anyone, UNSC or otherwise, can receive.

Gameplay
In-game, Keyes appears as a non-playable character and is invulnerable to damage. When meleed, she won't bleed, she'll only bleed when shot at or when caught in a grenade explosion. If you do either of the aforementioned for a period of time in the Halo 2 level Cairo Station she will moan. If you shoot her for some time or melee her in Halo 3 she will scream hysterically.

Trivia

 * She is described by Commander Richard Lash as "The ballsiest officer in the Fleet" in Halo: Ghosts of Onyx.
 * She has the number 7 engraved on her cheek.
 * In Halo 3, she is portrayed by Justis Bolding, instead of Julie Benz, because Bungie wanted a person with an accent. It should be noted, however, that Keyes was portrayed with an accent in Halo 3.
 * Miranda's preferred sidearm is a Pistol, which is clipped to her side by magnetic plates woven into her standard-issue UNSC Navy fatigues.
 * In Halo 2, Miranda has a Silver Oak leaf (meaning Commander), but in Halo 3 she has a Gold Oak leaf (meaning Lieutenant Commander).
 * She is one of few non-Spartans that dual wields SMG M7's. Strangely, she has no problem with the recoil of the SMGs while shooting.