Melissa McKay

{|style="width:100%; font-family:Ebrima;" "How old was I when the Covenant war started? Four. I was four when the galaxy suddenly became a frightening place. Like there was nowhere you could hide, and you didn't know when you were going to die, because for all you know the aliens could be at your colony by tomorrow, and they'll kill you and everyone you care about, and then they'll burn your home to ashes. That was the mentality I've had ever since I was four, and that's no way for any kid to grow up. And trying to remember what it was like to feel safe—what it was like before my life got turned upside-down—it's not easy when everything's going to hell day after day. But I try, and I do my best to hold onto that, because that's what I'm fighting for. I'll do anything to feel safe again—for humanity to feel safe again."
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- Melissa McKay

First Lieutenant Melissa McKay was an and a Marine officer serving under the 17th Battalion of the. She is notable for her actions in the battles nearing the end of the Human-Covenant War, having carried out her duties with a selflessness that many of her fellow Helljumpers widely admired her for. In the final years of her service, she worked closely with  as well as her battalion's commanding officer,  Daniel Lorente.

In 2550, McKay was given the rank of and served briefly as the 17th battalion's adjutant until May 2552, when she disobeyed orders during an operation on  and was consequently demoted to the rank of. Lorente and Silva's next-in-command, Captain Mizuki Katsumawa, were both Killed In Action during the, and McKay assumed the position of executive officer under Silva's command after the 17th Battalion escaped Reach on board the towards the end of the battle.

McKay played a major tactical role in the ODSTs' operations during the and was tasked with a commanding role that would have under normal circumstances exceeded her authority. Nonetheless, she performed well due to her previous experience and her own skill as both a tactician and a field officer, and led numerous successful operations including the capture of a -held Forerunner butte as well as the commandeering of the Covenant.

McKay was killed when she deliberately crashed the Truth and Reconciliation onto the surface of Installation 04, believing that Silva had become blinded with the prospect of glory in bringing the Flood-infested ship back to Earth and that he was unaware of the dangers of doing so. She died with every surviving member of the 17th battalion along with all hands on board, shortly before the destruction of Installation 04. Six months after her death, McKay's heroic efforts were recognized with her being posthumously awarded the Silver Star medal at the on.

Childhood (2521—2539)
Melissa was born to a wealthy Taradian family as the second of four children to Ilyena Theiner and Tomas McKay, with a mixed ancestry of what was considered Russian, German, and predominantly Irish by Earth inhabitants. Ilyena was a high-ranking member of the Anguaro mining supercorporation, and Tomas was a prominent politician in the North Capital Commonwealth. Melissa and her older brother Florian (born June 15th, 2518), as the two eldest children of the family, were raised to follow in their parents' footsteps. Although Melissa made no vocal objection to this expectation, she secretly resented it, caring neither for politics or upholding the family wealth through working in a corporation. Although this defiance was not shared by Florian, she was very close with him nonetheless and took comfort in the fact that he would always be supportive if her dull-looking future became too much for her.

After war broke out against the Covenant in 2525, Melissa's parents conceived two more children; Jonathan (born August 5th, 2526) and Matias (born June 22th, 2528), since Tomas had caught word that the UNSC could possibly introduce a drafting mandate that required a minimal number of members per family to enlist. Though Melissa had never considered joining the UNSC before, the idea became a possibility to her when she realized that it could allow her younger siblings to take her place as her parents' successors instead.

By 2532, the McKay family's wealth began to diminish. To retain a favourable reputation in his office, Tomas had frequently donated funds to support the war effort while the Anguaro Proprietary continued to keep the family on steady financial ground; however, with the corporation's efforts diverted to repurposing their resources into military hardware, Ilyena was also having trouble earning more than she sent to the UNSC. By the end of the year, the McKay family was forced to sell their manor and move into a more modest home.

Melissa had no qualms about the change; she had never taken well to living in luxury, and even found it indulgent at times. After settling down into a residential area, she found that she was able to make friends more easily. A particularly close friend she found was one, a headstrong, energetic girl who would later serve alongside Melissa in the Marine Corps.

In 2536, Florian was drafted to join the UNSC Army, something that greatly concerned Ilyena and Tomas. Although the Covenant hadn't yet found Taradia, the general populace was uneasy and the sizable UNSC force guarding the colony only made everyone more nervous. Several months later, Ilyena made a breakthrough when Anguaro discovered multiple installations belowground, attracting the interest of the UNSC's Advanced Research Projects Agency and immediately providing support for expeditions. The project was cut short, however, when the Covenant arrived at Taradia and besieged it, sending ground forces to the surface to search for tier-1 artifacts. Ilyena, who was heading one of the expeditions at the time, was captured by 's squadron and forced at gunpoint to lead them through the dig sites. A UNSC Army unit was soon sent to stop them, and among them was Florian, now a. The unit's efforts were successful, eliminating most of 'Vadum's team and forcing him onto the run; however, there were many civilian casualties, including Ilyena. After the battle was over and the Covenant was forced off-planet, Florian brought the news back to his family. Tomas, heartbroken, would later focus his political aims solely on the war effort. A devastated Melissa also vowed to do her own part, and made up her mind to join the UNSC when she became of age.

Enlistment and Early Military Career (2539—2543)
Melissa enlisted to the Marine Corps on March 11th, 2539, her 18th birthday. Though Tomas had been initially reluctant to allow her to join a branch of the UNSC that would most likely take her away from Taradia, he relented upon her insistence that the decision felt right for her. Before she left, however, she made sure that Jonathan and Matias would be safe, and met up with Oros, who was three years her junior and promised to enlist once she turned 18 as well. Shortly afterward, Melissa was shipped out for training.

"We all fought our hardest. Every soldier on the battlefield was determined to win, to show the Covenant that we weren't scared and send them back to where they came from. That was what I believed. I was scared, but I thought that if we just did everything we could, it would be enough. (Laughs bitterly) It was a stupid idea, and one that I lost very quickly. And it was just terrible...you feel so helpless, so angry—'why can't we win?' the rookies would ask—and I was one of them. And the cold hard truth is that maybe we just can't. I want to believe there's another way—that by some miracle, it'll be alright in the end. But no one wants to see their first battle end in glassing; to face death alongside thousands of your brothers and sisters, and to limp away with a fraction of that number. It really makes it hard to be hopeful about anything."

- McKay reflecting on the

McKay was given the rank of Private on July 13th, 2539, and sent to the nearby colony of, which had come under Covenant attack on July 26th. By the time the main UNSC forces arrived the next day, the planet's orbital defences were already destroyed. McKay's first deployment was onto the surface of Kholo, with approximately twelve thousand military personnel. Under the command of then-, she participated in numerous skirmishes and trying to locate and evacuate whatever few civilians and Army forces were still alive. After two days, however, the battle was declared lost, and the surviving human forces were ordered to retreat as the Covenant glassed the planet. McKay's total kill count for Kholo was twenty-seven. She made it off-planet with fewer than two thousand civilians and military personnel, something that greatly discouraged her sense of duty.

"Let me just make one thing clear to you, McKay. You didn't kill those civilians, nor did you let humanity down, nor are you 'not good enough'. You saved lives on Kholo, and you will continue to save lives as long as you're a living, breathing Marine with a gun in your hand! If your actions kept even a single person alive when they would have otherwise been dead, then the battles you fight will never be for nothing. Understood?"

- Avery Johnson to McKay after the Battle of Kholo

Under Johnson's guidance, McKay eventually found her focus and resolved to fight every battle to the best of her ability regardless of the outcome. She performed outstandingly in the next few years, advancing to the rank of little more than a year later. However, her confidence took a beating once more when she learned that Florian had been Killed In Action when the Covenant made a second assault on Taradia in 2541. Too far to return home, and struggling to come to terms with her increasingly bleak future, McKay hardened herself more with each battle. By 2542, she had reached the rank of, and was awarded the Purple Heart twice as well as the Bronze Star, among several other distinctions.

In 2543, McKay participated in an anti- operation on, to shut down a rebel smuggling operation that could possibly lead the Covenant to the colony. When the Marine team was sent in to capture Armagan Kervan, the leader of the operation, the rebels sprung a trap and captured the entire team. While being escorted towards the brig, McKay managed to escape along with the team's marksman, Aiden Jenkins. The two Marines, on the loose inside the base, worked to find a solution to both capture Kervan and escape with the rest of the squad. Upon gaining access to the facility's main database, McKay discovered that Kervan wanted Johnson because he had once been a part of the and wanted to study his augmentations. She was contacted shortly afterward by Kervan, who demanded she and Jenkins turn themselves in or he would execute the entire Marine team. McKay countered by threatening to lock down the facility, destabilize the rebels' supply of smuggled volatile chemicals, and burn it down with everyone inside. After a short round of negotiations, Kervan agreed to release every member of the squad except Johnson, and McKay asked Jenkins to bring them to the extraction point.

Kervan pulled a double-cross, however, and sealed all exits in the facility. But McKay, who had expected the treachery, revealed that the Marines' extraction was a ploy, while they were in fact in the hangar bay. She also revealed that she had leaked carbon monoxide into the brig where he and Johnson were, and that he would die if he didn't lift the lockdown. Reluctantly, Kervan opened the doors, allowing the Marines to leave the facility, and was taken into custody by McKay.

After the mission, McKay was awarded with the Meritorious Unit Commendation medal and hailed as a hero by her team. Johnson, who was impressed with her quick thinking and her calm nature in the face of a difficult situation, recommended that she apply for OCS and become a commissioned officer. She was initially hesitant on the idea, reluctant to part ways with the team she had grown close to, but agreed when Johnson promised her that she was always welcome to work with him. She attended the ten-week program and passed with flying colours, and shortly afterwards received the rank of.

Officer Commission and Operations After Reassignment (2543—2546)
The now-Lieutenant McKay was reassigned as a junior officer placed in charge of a Marine platoon for field operations. At first she was somewhat uncomfortable giving orders to non-commissioned Marines, half of whom had as much if not more experience than she did. However, she was often given moral support by the company's staff officer, Captain, a former militia trooper from who had trained under Johnson himself. With his help, she soon adjusted to her position and before long the Marines she commanded trusted her as much as she did herself.

In 2544, the company was stationed at when the Covenant found and attacked the colony. McKay's platoon, being the closest to a UNSC research facility where was conducting her work, was ordered to get to and defend the facility. McKay aided in clearing the facility of enemies and getting Dr. Halsey to safety, while Anderson quickly set his company up in positions to keep additional Covenant forces from getting to the facility. McKay suggested that Sheila take Dr. Halsey and slip off discreetly while her platoon continue to defend the base until everyone was evacuated. Although it would not be until later that McKay learned of Sheila's death at the hands of, his departure to pursue Dr. Halsey did give the Marine platoon ample opportunity to eliminate the majority of his forces. McKay made one-hundred twenty-six confirmed kills on Miridem, which later earned her the Combat Action Ribbon and the Miridem Campaign Medal.

In 2546, McKay was promoted to the rank of. However, she soon discovered that she would be tasked with primarily supervision of the company rather than commanding a platoon in the field, as per a Colonel's suggestion that her tactical capabilities would be better suited not to put herself at risk in the field all the time. She immediately wanted to refuse, however Anderson advised her not to appear impudent to a senior officer. As an alternative, McKay declared that she was going to join the to ensure that her duties would remain in the field. After some hesitation, Anderson offered her his support.

Induction Into Orbital Drop Shock Troopers and Later Campaigns (2546—2552)
"So, you're the new kid. I'm, and this is my executive officer, Captain Reaver Delgado. If either one of us says 'crap', then I expect you to ask 'what color, how much, and where do you want it?' Do you read me?"

- Major Silva introducing himself to McKay

Quotes
"Keep in mind, the next time you boys sneak up on me while I'm holding a gun, I will shoot you even if I do hear you coming."

- McKay to a group of ODSTs after they tried to give her "the initiation"

Promotions and Demotions

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