Kennedy Mehaffey

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"There's a soldier inside of you, Thomas. I can see it. Everyone can see it. You need to see it; I know your brother did."

— Colonel Mehaffey attempting to motivate Thomas Lasky

Colonel K. L. Mehaffey^[1] was a field-grade officer of the UNSC Marine Corps who served in the Insurrection and during the early days of the Human-Covenant War. In 2526, she was a professor at the Corbulo Academy of Military Science.

Biography

During the Insurrection, she served under Colonel Lasky, whom she greatly respected.^[2] Mehaffey became a mentor for Colonel Lasky's son, Thomas, as he attended Corbulo Academy. Despite Thomas' continued insubordination and misbehavior, Mehaffey recognized his potential and had frequent private talks with him, attempting to encourage Thomas to take his training with appropriate seriousness and to eventually become a leader. Along with support on part of Cadet Chyler Silva, Mehaffey's efforts eventually paid off, with Lasky successfully leading Hastati Squad to victory during a training exercise and later maintaining his composure under pressure during the Battle of Circinius IV.

During the Covenant invasion of the academy, Mehaffey supervised the evacuation of cadets from Corbulo to escape the invading Covenant forces. She was hit by Needler fire while attempting to get Hastati Squad to safety. Moments later, the Needler rounds detonated, killing her right in front of a horrified Lasky.^[3]

Trivia

Colonel Mehaffey's statement to Lasky, "At the end of the game, the king and the pawn go into the same box" (a translation of an Italian proverb) was also spoken by Cortana in Italian as her first words.^[4]