> You make it sound like the UNSC/ONI hasn’t assassinated anyone before. What about Jerald Mulkey Ander who had his head blown off by a young Avery Johnson during Operation: KALEIDOSCOPE? Then there was the Spartan raid on Camp New Hope where they were authorized to kill any rebel leader they might come across.
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> Of course you could argue that those men were terrorist rebels and therefor traitors, but then I’d have to remind you that Doctor Halsey was arrested and held for treason herself. The UNSC doesn’t seem to mind killing traitors, and I would say one who breaks out of her cell, compromises the UNSC Flagship’s AI and is then caught chatting with a terrorist leader while reading top secret files, is definitely one they would have no problem disposing of.
ONI certainly hasn’t on their own and without authorization from higher up, no. As I said, ONI doesn’t have the power to make that call unless, and certainly not whenever they want to against whoever they want.
The difference between that and Osman just up and deciding she wants to kill Halsey now, besides being the kill orders authorized from higher up (either by ONI being specifically given the task, or carte blanche in dealing with the Insurrection/Insurrection leaders) and traitors as you pointed out, is that they’re not citizens of the UEG. By declaring independence/fighting for secession, the Insurrectionists have essentially declared themselves non-citizens and a hostile foreign force. They’ve lost their citizen rights by trying to declare themselves independent from the UNSC. That makes all the difference in how you deal with a threat and what can or can’t be done in dealing with them. It’s a completely different game from someone like Halsey.
> Excuse me? Doctor Halsey infiltrated top secret files on Reach and was warned by her own AI that that was a treasonable offense. She responded with “They can come arrest me then.” ONI should be aware of those actions as well since they knew she destroyed Araqiel. She then kidnapped a Spartan in the middle of a battle and proceeded to go to a top secret location, which she discovered with her treasonous actions, and then lied about a discovery there and used her friend’s trust to send her the remaining Spartans so that she can run away with them because she thought Humanity was doomed. Of course the message she sent was also intercepted and translated by the Covenant who then learned the location of the top secret UNSC facility.
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> She even admits to all of this herself and accepts the fact that she should be punished.
Your point being? It doesn’t matter what we might or might not know as the audience…as far as anyone within Halo is concerned the only thing wrong that Halsey did was taking Kelly and running to Onyx. The only person besides herself who ever knew the real reason why she went to Onyx is dead. No one has any way of knowing how she found out about Onyx or even why she’s there.
And this brings up another flaw with Karen Traviss (and to some extent 343i as well since they let it slide by and didn’t make Traviss change or get rid of it), their seeming omniscience where they know things that they would have absolutely no way of knowing. All contact was lost with Reach during the battle and no knew what was going on there or who did what where on the planet. The only reason why they even knew that the planet was a lost cause and already overrun was because Lieutenant Wagner got to Earth in such a hurry during the battle. ONI have no way of knowing or finding any of the knowledge they display in Kilo-5. They would not know of Halsey reading Ackerson’s files, or about Araquiel and Kalmiyah being destroyed (which was protocol and standard procedure anyway, so even if they could know about the termination of the two AIs, they wouldn’t think anything of since they were supposed to be destroyed along with everything else within SWORD Base anyway).
The only thing Halsey has done (that they would know of) for ONI to take any kind of action against is taking Kelly to Onyx. And even then they wouldn’t be able to touch her, considering Lord Hood didn’t seem to give a damn about it as he sent the rest of Blue Team there to back Halsey up. And not only that but the biggest Forerunner artifact that the UNSC has uncovered yet was delivered to them because of Halsey’s actions, just like she promised in her message to Hood and FLEETCOM. Considering all of that, the worst that Halsey would be getting is what would amount to a slap on the wrist. HIGHCOM is not going to let ONI throw away one of the UNSC’s most important assets, especially not after delivering the motherload of Forerunner technology right into their arms.
> Yeah because they are way worse than the Bungie ONI. The one that kidnaps children in order to make super soldiers, assassinates rebel leaders and makes even more child super soldiers which they sent on suicide missions.
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> ONI has always done bad things. I don’t know why people are crying about it now.
The difference is authorization and in the tone of the work(s), ONI was authorized and given permission to do everything that we know they’ve been up to in all of the books that were written while Bungie was running the show. There was a clear chain of command and a hierarchy that was followed throughout. Which 343i has now thrown out in favor of ONI being free to do whatever they want, whenever they want, to whoever they want with no repercussions of any kind.
In addition to everything I said above, ONI (if they were personel involved with things like coming up with and authorizing the Spartan Programs) wasn’t treated like they were good, moral, or upstanding people, at best ONI as an organization and the majority of people belonging to ONI encountered throughout the series were morally grey. As an organization they were questionable with many things under their belt that most would consider evil.
Now, they’re treated as good guys, nothing they’ve done in 343i’s canon has been called out or into question. It’s treated as the right thing to do or a good thing. Things like planning the genocide of an entire species, actively breaking the law and committing treason in order to carry through with said plans for genocide. Treating people like Parangosky who are obviously completely lacking in any and all moral character and on a moral scale as black as black can be, as if they’re saints or haven’t done anything wrong…whilst calling out someone who in comparison to the likes Parangosky would be a saint (note, I am not actually saying that Halsey is a saint or perfect, merely pointing out that in comparison to someone like Parangosky would come across that way when presented with all of the facts).
ONI has always done or morally questionable things, yes, but it hasn’t been painted as being the good guys like Karen Traviss does all throughout Kilo-5.