Canon

Jilan al-Cygni

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Jilan al-Cygni
Biographical information

Homeworld:

Cygnus system, presumably New Jerusalem

Personal details

Species:

Human

Gender:

Female

Hair color:

Black

Eye color:

Green

Political and military information

Affiliation:

UNSC Navy

Rank:

 

"Kissing is for politicians, and I'm certainly not that."
— Jilan al-Cygni

Admiral Jilan al-Cygni, also known by the codename COALMINER, is an officer of the UNSC's Office of Naval Intelligence.

An officer and operative of ONI Section Three in 2525, al-Cygni assumed the role of ranking military officer on Harvest during the initial Covenant invasion of the planet and subsequent evacuation of the human population. She served as commanding officer of the Staff Sergeants of the planet's fledgling colonial militia (including Avery J. Johnson and Nolan Byrne).[3]

She would eventually be promoted to Admiral[2] and al-Cygni continued operating well into the post-war years as COALMINER.[4]

Biography[edit]

Early life[edit]

Nothing is known about Jilan al-Cygni's career prior to her actions on Harvest, although it was once observed by the AI Sif that, judging from al-Cygni's subtle accent, she was likely raised on the planet New Jerusalem in the Cygnus system.

Covenant War[edit]

Harvest[edit]

In response to reports of attacks on DCS freighters in space nearby Harvest, ONI deployed al-Cygni undercover to the colony world to investigate and neutralize suspected Insurrectionist activity. Al-Cygni posed as a DCS middle-manager and arrived with the pretense of conducting an audit with the AI Sif for negligent maintenance of shipping vessels. After making contact with Governor Nils Thune, she inducted Staff Sergeants Avery J. Johnson and Nolan Byrne into a space operation to lure Insurrectionists to a decoy freighter where they would be neutralized. To their immense shock, the fire-team (comprised of Johnson and Byrne) encountered not Insurrectionists, but hostile alien creatures. Al-Cygni authorized Johnson and Byrne to eliminate them before destroying the alien vessel with an Archer missile from her sloop.[3]

Later, after making contact with the Brute investigation team arriving with a formerly decommissioned cruiser, she was among the first humans to meet an official Covenant delegation. The negotiations soured, however, and the group was forced to escape. In the week following, she coordinated a pending mass evacuation maneuver. She removed a visibly upset Governor Nils Thune from office by paralyzing him with tactical training rounds, and assumed command of the UNSC presence on Harvest, consisting of a mere three Marines and a platoon of Colonial Militiamen.[3]

After many risky and difficult plans, in one of which her second in command volunteered to create a diversion at the cost of his own life, al-Cygni successfully escaped with Johnson, Byrne, and a handful of to-be-Marines and civilians. During the escape, she and Avery Johnson had sexual intercourse.[3]

Rest of the war[edit]

Al-Cygni's earliest known activity as COALMINER was in 2532. In a message to Codename: SURGEON concerning the SPARTAN-III Program, COALMINER noted the early stages of preparing Alpha Company were progressing satisfactorily and expressed confidence in Kurt-051's training regimen.[5]

Shortly after the Battle of Jericho VII, now-Commander al-Cygni provided the Spartan-IIs with extensive training on Covenant systems infiltration. This was done at CASTLE Base on Reach. She was a Commander at the time.[1]

In 2552, al-Cygni detected an intrusion into the ONI databases at Reach. While she failed to identify the intruder, the intrusion threatened to compromise HYPODERMIC. Al-Cygni would inform SURGEON of the breach and deleted the UNSC Circumference from Gamma Station's database to minimize the damage.[6]

This caused difficulties during the latter stages of the Fall of Reach, as it prevented the AI Doppler from erasing the Circumference's NAV database in accordance with the Cole Protocol. A SPARTAN-II team was deployed to destroy the ship and suffered casualties in the process. In an indirect manner, this lapse in security inadvertently saved humanity: in the wake of the mission to Gamma Station, John-117 traveled to Halo Installation 04 aboard the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, which set about the final stages of the Human-Covenant War.

Post-war[edit]

At some point in the post-war era, al-Cygni received a series of five reports from SURGEON discussing the state of the post-war galaxy.

On January 1, 2560, now-Admiral Jilan al-Cygni spoke with FIXER about how close Project BOOKWORM had come to succeeding while observing Boundary and the remains of the Lithos from the Akkadian. Al-Cygni admitted that she was looking for any progress and what made this site different from the ones found on Kamchatka, Juvedai, Amasa and Genesis. FIXER suggested that al-Cygni look into the reports that FIXER had sent over as ONI had been seeing a strong uptick in activity gleaned from the Domain terminals they had tabs on. However, FIXER couldn't explain what the activity was exactly, cracking a joke about how they'd have a much better retirement plan if they could. ONI wasn't sure if the fluctuations were related to the events at Zeta Halo or not, but it was worth noting nonetheless. The two discussed what to do with the girl if there were any other entry points to the Domain that their enemies could use before al-Cygni received an interesting message from Ayit 'Sevi suggesting that they weren't done with Dovo Nesto yet and that his new fascination might well be worth their time to look into.

Al-Cygni sent a message to Codename: SURGEON at the ONI facility buried beneath East Africa that they had just recieved a message from SNAKE IN THE GRASS that might necessitate a slight adjustment in their current focus. Al-Cygni sent the details and prepared the Akkadian for departure when they were aligned on a confirmed rendezvous point with 'Sevi. She also asked to be kept updated on the situation on Zeta Halo, having a feeling that they were going to want to be keenly aware of every card they have in the deck before this was all said and done.[4]

Trivia[edit]

It may be possible that Johnson and Jilan al-Cygni were married, as Johnson will occasionally make remarks about his supposed "mother-in-law" during Halo 2. Whether it was just Johnson's typical sense of humor, or actually meaningful in any way is unknown.

List of appearances[edit]

Sources[edit]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 29
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 11
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Halo: Contact Harvest
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 48
  5. ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, chapter 7
  6. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 281-282