Name: Tar ‘Mdalak

Rank: Swords of Sanghelios Commando

Species: Sangheili

Appearance:
Tar (right) practices CQC tactics with an energy lance

Skills:
Experience of piloting Banshees (Type-27 & Type-54) and Type-57 Phantoms
Covert infiltration
Sabotage
Close quarters combat
Military administration & combat training

Preferred Weapons/Equipment:
Type-1 Energy Sword for hand to hand combat
Type-52 Mauler for closing with targets
Type-57 Carbine for medium/long range engagements
Commando Harness (halopedia.org/Commando_harness) with propulsion unit
Type-2 Spike Grenades and Type-3 Firebombs, if available

Background:
Tar ‘Mdalak was born on Brissekh, a pristine frontier world, in the 2520s. Her father was Tarkr ‘Mdalakai, old swordsman and kaidon of the planet’s largest settlement.

Her homeworld was heavily tapped by the Covenant for fighters, with nearly all Tar’s numerous siblings conscripted into the military.

Tar was desperate to earn glory along with her brothers, but the Sangheili ranks wouldn’t have her. The place of females was to guard their home keep, and a lot of the Covenant traditionalists preferred it that way. So instead she served as the captain of the guard for her father’s keep.

Frustrated with the relatively small scope of her responsibilities, Tar put all her effort into modernising her troops. She expanded their training far beyond basic guard duties, incorporating asymmetric warfare tactics and mechanised detachments.

She also supplemented the traditional energy lances favoured by traditional guard units with the latest Covenant weaponry, like Carbines and Beam Rifles.

There were lots of opponents to her reformist vision, especially seeing as she was a female wielding significant influence over the old kaidon. This often resulted in skirmishes between would-be dissidents and Tar’s well equipped militia. It was in danger of boiling over into all out civil war until the Brutes attacked.

The Sangheili-Jiralhanae war hit Brissekh completely by surprise. None of the Keeps received warning of the raid until Brute cruiser was in low orbit. Before any of the Keeps could react, they’d destroyed the space port and bastion compounds before deploying two companies of heavy infantry to kill as many citizens as they could find.

With the distress signal sent, Tar deployed her troops to the large city outside the Keep. With everyone behind the fortifications, maybe they could hold out until friendly ships arrived.

However, her father wasn’t content to cower behind walls while Sangheili across Brissekh were slaughtered. Despite Tar’s protest, he struck out for the landing zone with his retinue, seeking a duel with the War Chieftain. They found each other, but survivors say Tarkr ‘Mdalakai was separated from his bodyguards during the fight and captured by the enemy.

When Tar found out her father had been imprisoned, a much worse fate than death for Sangheili, she went mad with rage. Abandoning her position near the gates of the Keep, she plowed into the marauding Brute hordes. Her vigorous training and agility let her use the Brute numbers against them, with the weight of bodies allowing her to get in close and butcher them.

When her Energy Sword expired from overuse, she took Maulers and Spike Grenades from eviscerated Brutes and pushed forward. Whipped into a frenzy by their commander’s raw fury, her troops set upon the Brutes with a cruel precision. The narrow streets of Brissekh’s main city ran with Jiralhanae blood.

Such was the ferocity of the Sangheili counter attack that the landing party never even reached the gates. And when a nearby Swords of Sanghelios battle cruiser arrived to help, the Brutes fled the system, taking Kaidon ‘Mdalakai with them.

Upon meeting the rescue ship’s commanders, Tar immediately invoked the right of release, an intention to rescue her father from a shameful life of capture. In the spirit of Thel 'Vadam’s liberalisation of the Swords military, the cruiser’s captain granted her passage and enlistment aboard.

The cruiser gave chase to the Brute ship, but it got away. They searched for the aggressors, but the trail went cold. Tar vowed never to give up, but accepted that she needed to contribute.

She quickly fell in with a squad of Brute hunters that were formerly part of the Silent Shadow division of Covenant crack troops. They were operating from the battle cruiser and had learned of Tar’s plight. When they realised her ability in combat, they offered her a place on missions slaughtering any Jiralhanae they could find. Tar gained a reputation for exceptional cruelty when it came to Brutes, often appearing to exact personal revenge on each combatant.
It took three long years of searching before Tar got a solid lead. Some of the Brutes they’d interrogated had heard a rumor Sangheili kaidons were being held on Brute ships near a Forerunner construct known as Sarcophagus. Her squad tried to convince her the intel was shaky at best, but Tar didn’t care.

She parted ways with Silent Shadow and set out on her own. Finding passage aboard a military vessel, she gained access to the Sangheili-Human facilities on Sarcophagus by joining the colony’s defensive contingent.

However, despite searching for months, Tar could find no trace of the Brute ships. To make matters worse, she couldn’t stray far from her unit for fear of being tried as a deserter. Many of the assignments on Sarcophagus were for life, but Tar certainly wasn’t planning on staying that long if she could help it.