2557
Jericho City, Jericho IV
Two years ago…
The Covenant and the Humans had finally switched places in the Human-Covenant War, striking where the humans were vulnerable, pulling back from lesser colonies, aiming for the populated, military-based planets….such as the Jericho System.
Victory here was by the skin of the human warriors' teeth. This left the Human High Command in turmoil, with the loss of a half dozen officers vital to the war-effort. Leaving the deceptive, power hungry, Brigadier General William Battings to seize power and execute the remaining officers that had survived the Covenant assassinations.
Military forces under his command pulled away from major fronts, allowing
Covenant troops to remain powerful, under the premise of 'the loss was acceptable'.
Countless rebellions arose from the fear of a military dictator ruling the Human Empire. Jericho IV was no different, Covenant forces soon reoccupied most of the planet, and Spartan 117 had led a battalion of ODSTs to liberate its capitol, Jericho City.
Battings' men ordered them to fall back when the battle was clearly theirs. The General's men were ordered to fire upon any who disobeyed the order, many of the Marines reluctantly backed away, though the Spartan and a small squad of Marines resisted and were fired upon.
The Spartan and several members of the team escaped, though three were killed and one was captured.
Jericho City was burned along with its inhabitants soon afterward, and the UNSC continued to corner itself back towards Earth.
Many believed Battings was under the Covenant's pay roll or something to that effect. But it made no difference, he who controlled the Military controlled the Empire…leaving only pockets of resistance to truly resist the Covenant….
2559: New Istanbul, Earth
"Gunnery Sergeant Ryan Kendal, you are here by charged with treason against the United Nations Space Command….your actions on Jericho IV were…admirable at best son, but despite your intentions, you were responsible for the deaths of three of your fellow Marines…and the escape of Spartan 117…for that…I regret to say…that you are sentenced to death." An older Colonel stated from the pedestal high above where he stood.
Ryan Kendal stood alone in the center of an oval room, lowered beneath a theatre of spectators concealed in the darkness that shrouded the higher levels of the wood paneled court room.
"This court is adjourned," The Colonel's hammer struck the small platform on his desk with a clap.
Kendal lowered his gaze to the floor beneath him as two firm hands grasped his triceps. He lifted his head to stare directly at the Colonel's eyes as the MPs guided him out of the court room and towards the landing platforms.
A long hallway opened to reveal a blast door at the far end of it. One of the MPs released him and strolled ahead to type several commands into the wall-mounted door controls.
After a moment, the door obeyed to illustrate a storm raging through Earth's city of New Istanbul. The urban expanse stretched across the entire peninsula, littered with the wreckage of a Covenant Cruiser on the South banks of the Aegean.
The wreckage was a stern reminder of the Human-Covenant War that raged just above Earth's atmosphere.
The platform was slick with rain, and completed by the dead hulk of the Phantom drop ship lying on its side near the far edge.
Ryan shivered as the cold quickly bit through his jacket and fatigues. The MPs shuddered as well and hugged themselves. They positioned themselves on either side of Kendal, and calmly waited there.
A Pelican drop ship soared in from far above the cloud and settled on the deck before them. Two more Marines emerged and stood on either side of the troop bay.
The MPs nodded to each other and prodded Ryan forward towards the drop ship.
Last chance…
The thought continuously rushed through his thoughts with every slosh of his boots through the puddles on the platform.
Now or never…do it.
It felt as though another consciousness urged him forward, he obeyed. Ryan threw his elbow back with as much force as he could muster with his restraints. But the blow still caught the MP to his right unawares.
The man dropped heavily to the ground with a splash. Everything seemed to move slower as Kendal watched the Marines raise their deadly M3 rifles, and the second MP draw his pistol.
Ryan leapt forward and tackled the MP the ground and wrestled his pistol away from him. The ex-Marine clouted the MP in the side of the head and leveled his new pistol towards the Marines.
Kendal pulled back the trigger twice. Both Marines faces went white as they staggered to the floor. Non-lethal wounds, but the Marines would not be posing any more of a threat.
Ryan's heightened senses began ebb away as he found himself looking upon the prone forms of four UNSC soldiers. Guilt among other emotions slithered into his mind, but he pushed them away with justifications. He paused to heft one of the groaning Marine's M3 rifles.
The Pelican sat dormant without a pilot; Ryan puzzled over this for a moment but pushed the thought away and brought the craft up and rotated so the nose faced the doorway, and sped away over the Black Sea.
Hours slid away as the rouge soldier's eyes began to shudder between opened and closed. Jarred wouldn't be far now, the small NAV mark that glistened on the main view screen grew larger by the moment.
"Finally" He breathed as a small island seemed to grow out against the sea, not ten miles from the mainland of Bulgaria.
Ryan set the Pelican down in the water a third of a mile off the shore. The soldier strode to the weapons locker and collected two more magazines for his M3 and a lightly armored vest.
Kendal stepped to the edge of the ramp and let himself fall into the icy water.
After several minutes of cautious swimming, the soldier waded up onto the forgotten beach.
The island's far side was obscured by a small mountain dotted with firs. Ryan frowned and removed his vest and his jacket so he could move more quietly, and piled them further up the beach head near a clutch of trees.
The soldier left his M3 propped against his belongings and settled with his pistol. Ryan hunched slightly and jogged along the crest of the beach, eyeing the mainland's coast for any sign of military activity.
Two Pelicans startled him as they roared overhead, but did not notice him. The cautious rogue rose to his full height and let his gaze drift of the sea…it was a mistake, for all he knew from then on was a sharp pain in the back of his head and a velvety blackness that he could not find his way out of.
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