Ellen Dowski

"I submit that we've done all we could reasonably be expected to do, that the longer we delay the harsher the Covenant will be. It makes sense to surrender now."

— Ellen Dowski

Ensign Ellen Dowski was a junior officer and member of the Pillar of Autumn flight crew in 2552. After the crash landing on Installation 04, she continually pestered Captain Keyes and the rest of the bridge crew by suggesting they give up, surrender to the Covenant and be taken as prisoners (also known as giving up or being a coward.) Wang and Singh threatened to kill her, while Captain Keyes was worried that her talk would stir up similar thoughts in Corporal Wilkins and his three Marines. After much of this bickering, Keyes submits and taking Dowski's words "seriously", he has her tied up so that she can surrender and be taken prisoner once the Covenant find her.

Later she was captured by a squad of Covenant Elites and Grunts, but betrayed Keyes and the rest of the crew, by identifying Keyes, so that she could prove she was right and be taken prisoner along with the others. The Elites proceeded to systematically execute everyone in the group (except for Captain Keyes). After killing Dowski with a single shot to the forehead with a captured Human M6D pistol, her killer remarked how primitive the projectile weapon was (quote was, "A projectile weapon, extremely primitive.")