The White Knights were one of the flight groups selected to participate in the evaluation of the Advanced Tactical Assault Fighters at the Obex Research Centre.

In June 2617 they participated in Operation Menelaus, originally being assigned to the Initial Run team to strike at Dragon and its frigate escort. The group were, however, moved back to secondary defence of Griffin after Elliott Parks discovered that Simon Dodds and Enrique Todd were still drunk, following a night of heavy drinking. The move ultimately saved the team's lives.

The White Knights are currently the team assigned to piloting the ATAFs, working with the Confederation and Independent Worlds on a number of so-called Special Operations.

In late 2617, the White Knights were shot down in the Coyote System whilst en-route to the Solaris system. They were travelling aboard Ifrit at the time and acting captain Christian Hail evacuated them from the carrier when it was boarded by Pandoran forces.

Through various reasons, the team became separated on the surface and spent the next twenty-hour trying to both regroup with one another and survive the invasion of the planet itself. Simon Dodds became separated the earliest on, before the group had even departed Ifrit, making his way to the surface with a member of the carrier's security personnel. Estelle de Winter and Chaz Koonan evacuated together, crash landing in a park in New Malaga. Kelly Taylor and Enrique Todd made it safely to the rendezvous point on the beach, but were intercepted by a number of Pandoran soldiers who had traced their descent.

The team were eventually rescued by Elliott Parks, with the assistance of the Mythos Territorial Guard, who recognised the lives of the White Knights as an exceptionally high priority. Parks later went on to reluctantly admit that the five had been chosen to pilot the ATAFs as part of a plot known as Operation Sudarberg, which was designed to defeat the Pandoran threat once and for all.

Despite everything they learned, the team volunteered to go through with the operation.