Ray Kurzig

This article is a stub. You can help Halopedia by expanding it.

"Ray was one of the most selfless human beings I had ever had the pleasure to know. He went way out of his comfort zone time and again. Bravely sacrificing over and over. I don't think I can ever truly make him understand how much that meant to me."

— Benjamin Giraud

Raymond "Ray" Kurzig is a civilian analyst circa 2558. He is a friend of both Benjamin Giraud and Petra Janecek.

Biography

John-117 Conspiracy

Ray was called in by Benjamin Giraud during the latter's investigation of John-117 to debunk conflicting information found on both the Master Chief's parents and his death. In the area on business, Ray meets with Ben to show him financial records indicating that the Master Chief's parents were still alive after 2524 and further conflicting with all of the other information Ben had been given previously. Later to ensure that he doesn't lose any of his information on the investigation, Ben sends all of it to Ray before entering ONI's Boston Headquarters. After learning of the cover-ups made in his investigation and going against ONI, Ben calls on Ray to help him find evidence of the lies fabricated in the interviews with Jakob Walker, Gabriella Dvørak, and Deon Govender. Ray arrives at Ben's home and after listening to Ben's theories onto how ONI created the cover-ups, he tells Ben that Jakob Walker and Gabriella Dvørak's information checks out and he was unable to discredit their identities. Ben disagrees, considering how odd Walker acted during his last encounter. Before they could keep conversing on the issue, Petra breaks into Benjamin's apartment, annoyed that he released a recording of his last conversation with her and threatens to kill him. Soon after, Mshak Moradi reveals that he was listening to the whole conversation through Ben's ComPad and was cause of his encounter with Jakob Walker on the plane. He also reveals that he was contacted by someone named "FERO" who he has never really spoken to. Petra and Ray begin to leave, wanting nothing to do with Ben's investigation anymore. Just before Ray leaves, he says that the real Deon Govender died seven years ago. Later, Ray contacts Ben to arrange a meeting at a local bar. At the bar, Ray reveals that he managed to uncover an ONI record on Jakob Walker and found the former soldier was neither retired nor in active duty. Ray also managed to analyze the voice from the recording of Ben's interview with Jakob, and matched it with the voice of Jakob in a commercial for a car dealership revealing that Jakob is an actor. Later Ray would meet Ben at an undisclosed hideout. After assuring Ben that he took the precautions necessary to get to the hideout without being followed, he that he has news about the incident at Biko. Ray shows Ben a message from the Sangheili delegation at Biko saying that both they and the Master Chief had nothing to do with the massacre and questioning the UEG for doing nothing while the population of Biko calls for unjust blood. Ray then tells Ben that the footage showing Biko as peaceful is a loop of old footage, and that he managed to track down a fact-gatherer named Ravi, who captured video evidence of protests, riots and martial law happening on the planet. He then tells Ben that Richard Sekibo's men want to clear the Sangheili but have been silenced by the UEG, and that the real perpetrators of the massacre are a group of rebel extremists called Sapien Sunrise. In return for this information, Ray asks Ben if he could call Petra and see what they were saying on Earth as he was unable to make contact with his parents on Earth. Ben calls her, but before he could say anything, Petra interrupts him and tells him she has a lead he might be interested in, Ben agrees to it and Petra sends him the details: an anomaly on the glassed planet, Bliss, with a 72 hour time window. After finding all the evidence he needed, Ben planned to expose ONI on ECB News and sent Ray files, asking him to forward them on to a select people. Ray agrees, primarily because ONI had his entire home gutted and he was forced to send his wife and daughter off-world to escape ONI. When Ben successfully arranged to break his story to the public on Charles Kesler's talk show on ECB News, it soon became apparent that ONI had used Ben as a pawn to discredit the prevailing rumors concerning the SPARTAN-II program. The authenticity of all of his sources was supposedly disproved. This, coupled with heavy skepticism from Kesler, cast his story as little more than the ramblings of a conspiracy theorist. Ben, concerned for Ray demands for proof of Ray and his family's well being. Kesler tells Ben that Ray is alive and well and that he gave them detailed information on how Ben fabricated his evidence. Kesler goes on to condemn Ben as a traitor and Ben is taken away against his will into federal custody. Ray's current whereabouts are unknown.

Personality and traits

According to Giraud, Ray was emotionless, treating astonishing discoveries with surprising calm. While he frequently met with Giraud in person, he was not the kind to suggest a friendly hangout unless he were unusually happy. Partly due to this, though, Ray was an extremely efficient analyst skilled at tediously challenging work like combing through "the slush", the enormous dump of unprotected data from interplanetary network. He was connected to various data scavengers in the colonies, whose findings put together that ONI's claims about the Master Chief were false. Ray could be meek and have a low temper, which sometimes let Giraud walk over him when he was in an emotional high. Fortunately, Ray was also patient with him and thus was soon to forgive him when Giraud apologized. The only time he asked Giraud for a favor was when it concerned his family, when he feared they might be in danger due to the recent chaos in the Outer Colonies.

Production note

Ray is portrayed by American actor Phil LaMarr in Hunt the Truth.

List of appearances

• Hunt the Truth (First appearance)