Kojo Agu

"Lance Corporal Kojo Agu. Romeo. Real lucky with the ladies if you'll hear him tell it, but all I care about it is his aim; his luck with targets at long range."

— Buck's description of Romeo.

Lance Corporal Kojo "Romeo" Agu (Service Number 14606-85099-KA) is a UNSC Marine Shock Trooper, who served during the Battle of Ariel and the Battle of Earth in 2552. During the Battle of Earth, he was a part of a Squad led by GySgt Edward Buck.

Summary

He is shown interacting aggressively or abrasively with almost every squad member, as they will tell him to show some respect, including striking the Rookie with his Sniper Rifle to wake him up. He is good friends with Dutch, the squad's heavy weapons specialist. In his old unit, Romeo racked-up multiple code of conduct violations, any one of which should have resulted in demotion—or worse. However, he was kept because the UNSC were running out of battle tested snipers, and Romeo is one of the best. He is a consummate combatant but also saw himself as something of a ladies' man. He is proud of his colonial background, and doesn't hold much respect toward Earth. Prior to the Battle of Earth, he had never been to Earth, and had only seen it from the window of a transport. While he is still listed as a Madrigali citizen, Romeo's last known place of residence is Holetown on the colony of Emerald Cove.

Biography

Early life and military career

Romeo was born in the Castra arcology in Castra on Madrigal in 2524. His homeworld was glassed by the Covenant when he was only four years-old, but he managed to survive the glassing. Before enlisting in 2541, he served in the UNSC commercial fleet as a Merchant Marine. He later became an ODST when he angered the Governor at the colony of Castra by having an affair with said Governor's wife. This prompted the Governor to call upon people he knew in the UNSC who in turn sent Romeo into the ODST to keep him away from the Governor's wife. During his tenure with the ODSTs, Romeo served on various colony planets, such as Coral, Mamore, New Jerusalem, and Beta Gabriel, with a remarkable 100% kill rate.

Battle of Ariel

Main article: Battle of Ariel

In early 2552, Romeo and Dutch served in an ODST unit commanded by MSgt Frost. Before being deployed to planet Ariel, he and another ODST were discussing the Spartans and expressed extreme disbelief over their claimed fighting prowess. When another ODST, Brimley heard this, he told them that a teenage Spartan trainee had killed his friend Langston 27 years earlier. In his typical fashion, Romeo burst out laughing, ridiculing Langston for being killed by a teenager. This led to a fight with Brimley, and Romeo was coming off worse until Dutch interfered in the fight. Sergeant Frost confined them both to their quarters because of the fight.

Romeo and Dutch use Sangheili corpses to shield themselves from the generator's explosion.

Later, inside Ariel's generator complex, Romeo and Dutch were cut off from the remainder of the ODST unit. It was there that they learned that the Covenant was digging for something. After a brief engagement with two Sangheili (whose corpses were later used as shields to survive a generator explosion), the two found an injured Unggoy. They attempted to interrogate it, but its only reply was "knowing". Romeo pretended to let the Unggoy go before killing it, believing it to be a liability.

After using improvised explosives to bring a canyon's walls down on a large number of Covenant and then evading the survivors, the two made plans to steal a Phantom. They proceeded to kill a Unggoy, use its corpse as a ruse, and then eliminate several Covenant infantrymen guarding the Phantom. However, a Sangheili managed to down the ship. The ODSTs bailed out before it crashed, falling through a building's skylight and into a building where the planet's missing colonists were being held hostage.

The ODSTs made short work of the Unggoy guarding the hostages and learned that the colonists had been forced to dig deep into the planet's surface, unearthing an alien complex and activating several traps at its entrance. The ODSTs entered the dig site intending to liberate other colonists; it was there that they found what the Covenant was looking for: an alien construct called the Knowing. If the Covenant got their hands on it, then they could wipe out humanity down to their last DNA strand.

Though Dutch wanted to claim the Knowing to the UNSC, per ONI Xeno orders, Romeo preferred to destroy it, as "this is like Alexander the Great getting his hands on a nuclear arsenal" - he believed that humanity were not ready for the advanced Forerunner knowledge and would destroy itself. Romeo asked the Knowing to activate its self-destruct and direct them out of the complex. As they made their way out, Romeo tripped over a Unggoy's body and broke his ankle. Dutch carried him and managed to escape the blast. When they got back to the surface, they were reunited with their squad, who had seen the Covenant fleeing the planet after Knowing's destruction.

Later, Dutch visited Romeo while he was on the the infirmary bed. Romeo stated that he filed in a transfer to be with Dutch; he told his friend that he withdrew his. They both tried Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide who would go.

Battle of Earth

Main article: Battle of Earth

Romeo in his armor.

During the Battle of Earth in October 20, 2552, Romeo served as a Marksman in an ODST squad led by GySgt Edward Buck. The squad was a part of a larger ODST unit, with a mission to attack the Prophet of Regret's assault carrier, Solemn Penance, which was stationed over Earth's city of New Mombasa. At the last moment before the drop, an ONI operative known as Veronica Dare took command of the squad in order to use them for her own classified mission.

In mid-drop, Dare ordered the squad to adjust their drop pods' trajectories away from the carrier. Right after this, though, the carrier jumped into Slipspace above the city, generating a massive EMP/Radiation shockwave which disabled the pods' electronic systems. The pods were scattered around the city due to the blast.

Right after the drop, Romeo landed near Tayari Plaza and shot a Huragok he thought was going to kill Buck. Reunited with Buck, the two made their way to the NMPD Headquarters building where they would hopefully get information of their other squadmates' whereabouts.

Three hours after the drop, around 19:15, Dutch and Mickey had acquired a ride on an NMPD Pelican dropship, and were ready to pick up Romeo and Buck from a platform of the NMPD Headquarters, but before they could land, they were shot down by two Banshees. Romeo and Buck then proceeded to find and rescue their squad mates.

After finding the downed Pelican site to find that their squadmates were unscathed, Romeo, Buck, and the other ODSTs defended their position from Banshees and Phantoms, until a Jiralhanae Chieftain arrived and impaled Romeo in the chest with the blade side of his Gravity Hammer. The rest of the squad managed to kill the Chieftain, before realizing that Romeo had been wounded from the impact of the blow. The squad headed for Kikowani Station, to escape the city through train tunnels, but realized the whole sector had been flooded by water. Here, Romeo's condition was getting worse. After Buck had administered Biofoam to Romeo's punctured lung, the squad decided a risky move to hijack a Phantom, and finally escape the city. Eventually, Romeo and the rest of the squad escaped New Mombasa aboard the captured Phantom after going back and finding both the Rookie and Dare. They were last seen a month later, in an ONI orbital facility, guarding the Huragok the squad had extracted from Mombasa as Sergeant Johnson interrogated it.

Trivia

• Although born on Madrigal, Romeo's name and appearance hint at possible West-African descent.
• Romeo is unlocked for Firefight by earning the NMPD HQ Achievement.
• Sergeant John Forge and Romeo share the same voice actor, Nolan North. Both have somewhat controversial service records and are often disrepectful to officers. Their armor is also similar, as both of their left pauldrons are larger than their right one, with Romeo not having a right pauldron.
• If one explores enough in the level Mombasa Streets, they will eventually come across an empty SOEIV in the middle of a garden, with an M7S Caseless Submachine Gun beside it. The pod is possibly Romeo's, as his pod is never seen, and when he is first encountered is only wielding a sniper rifle and an M6C/SOCOM.
• One of the names listed on the ONI Memorial is "Chen Agu". It is possible that this was a relative of Romeo.
• Romeo never appears as an in-game ally, save for when he is injured and cannot fight. He can still attack enemies when he is on the Phantom's turret, however.
• Romeo shows distaste for using a sniper rifle inside a Covenant ship. Ironically, in the level The Truth and Reconciliation in Halo: Combat Evolved, sniper rifle ammunition can be found aboard the eponymous vessel.
• According to his shoulder pad, Romeo's blood type is AB-.
• The story of Agu's enlistment is similar to that of Felicia Sanderson, another ODST. Sanderson claimed that she was forced to enlist in the Colonial Military Administration after being caught in a romantic relationship with the daughter of Nils Thune, the governor of Harvest. While this event actually occurred, it was not, as she claimed, the actual reason for her enlistment.

Gallery

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  Romeo as he appeared in ONI Candidate Assessment Program V5.02A.

• ODST Sniper.jpg

  A pre-production concept of Romeo.

• IH ODST concept cover.jpg

  Concept art of Romeo and Buck on the level NMPD HQ.

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  A Halo 3: ODST render of Romeo with his SRS99D.

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  Romeo taking aim.

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  Romeo in New Mombasa.

• RomeoClose.jpg

  A close look up of Romeo with his helmet.

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  Romeo's avatar, as seen on Bungie.net when viewing Halo 3: ODST's service records.

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  Romeo in Halo: Helljumper.

List of appearances

• Halo 3: ODST
• Halo: Helljumper (First appearance)