Jonah Richardson

Captain Jonah 'Reaper Two' Richardson was an Alliance sniper who was responsible for the assassination of several high profile warlords on Omega, and who was betrayed by the Alliance after killing an anti-human turian ambassador. After escaping and learning of the truth he attempted an assassination on an Alliance admiral and an asari councilor, killing the admiral and wounding the councilor before being counter-sniped by a salarian Special Tasks Group operative.

Early Life
"Growing up, I always wanted to be a soldier. I guess every boy did, but then they grew up. I never did - the adventure and excitement I saw through film made me sign up. But actors don't portray war. It isn't some romantic struggle for freedom. It's hell."

- Jonah Richardson to Dane Russel discussing his life as a soldier.

Richardson grew up in a middle class family in San Francisco. His grandfather fought in the First Contact War and often told of adventures he had fighting the turians. As well he was amazed by the art of cinema, seeing war as an adventure and believing the way it was portrayed was reality. In high school he dropped out to enroll in the military, giving up his short career as the quarterback of his football team, a career in which his coach predicted that he would have likely gone pro.

Service in the Alliance
"My years in the Alliance were the best of my life. But I would have given them all up in a second if I had the chance."

- Jonah Richardson to Jim Hendricks when asked about his time in the Alliance.

After signing up for the Alliance at the age of 16, he graduated basic training at the top of his class. He was regarded as an excellent shot with any weapon and became the sniper of his squad. He served in multiple campaigns for three years under the command of Sergeant Morris while assigned to the Alliance Cruiser SSV Singapore. He became good friends with his squad and viewed them as family, especially Sgt. Jack Morris, whom he viewed as a mentor and father figure, and Corporal Annabel Lee, even going as far to engage in sexual relations with her.

Richardson participated in his final operation with Sergeant Morris' squad during the Aneida Campaign, also known as Operation Tumbleweed. In it, Alliance forces worked on the ocean planet of Aneida for six months to destroy a batarian terrorist group that had been preying on human merchant vessels and had even gone so far as to attack the colony of Maxiduct Three, burning it to the ground. In the assault Morris' squad was sent to attack a stronghold that was being used as a supply base. During the attack he provided sniper support from a ridge, where he had an excellent view of the area. He provided deadly sniper support with his sniper rifle, killing at least thirty batarians with 100% accuracy. The action earned him the Medal of Heroism as well as the job of being a special forces assassin. The attack was successful and played a major role in the operation and with its victory the batarian group surrendered in less than a week due to lack of supplies. However it had negative effects on Richardson, as Sgt. Morris was killed in action by a batarian who was pretending to surrender but who instead stabbed him when he went to apprehend her. The batarian was shot by Corporal Lee, but the Sergeant had taken the blade to the heart and nothing could be done.

After Tumbleweed and the death of Morris, the squad fell apart. Annabel was discharged due to medical issues that were unkown to Richardson. Private First Class Jake Branden was assigned to a new unit, and Richardson was hired by an elusive Alliance black-ops organization, the Office of Alliance Territorial Hegemony (OATH), a group devoted to eradicating possible threats to the Alliance.

Time in OATH
"Which one is he the one on the left or the one on the right?"

- Jonah Richardson to Private Chung during the assassination of Krimus Garfron.

His first official OATH operation was on Omega. He was assigned to kill the warlord Krimus Garfron, a batarian mercenary leader heading a small but rapidly growing mercenary and pirate group, the Sons of Omega. They had been preying on merchant ships, mainly human ones, for six months and were encroaching into Citadel Space. He tracked Garfron for three days with his spotter Private Chung before seeing him walking into a local nightclub. They waited for six hours before Garfron emerged, drunk and with an asari hooker. Garfron was gunned down by Richardson with a single shot to the throat killing him instantly. Garfron's death caused a significant power struggle in the Terminus Systems over the next thirteen years, leading to a civil war between various fractions of his former united force, with the victor emerging with a force less than 100 strong.

His next operation in the OATH was on the Citadel. The target was the turian ambassador Thanos Morchavian, who was known to be anti-human. Jonah was told that Morchavian was working with turian terror groups to help get the Council to turn a blind eye to their activities. However none of this was true, and the OATH was targeting him for what official reports claimed to be "in the interest of humanity". This did not stop Richardson from killing him, sniping him from over 600 yards away with his sniper rifle. He used incendiary rounds and shot him once in the back as he walked towards the Citadel Tower, ending the diplomat's life.

Betrayal by OATH
"Payback's a bitch and so am I."

- Jonah Richardson in a recording for the director of OATH left in his prison cell.

Three weeks after the death of the turian ambassador, Richardson received a letter from his long-lost love Annabel, who told him the reason she had been discharged was because of pregnancy, and that he was the father. Shocked by this, he proceeded to buy a ticket off of the Citadel to travel to Illium, where Annabel was currently serving. However, upon trying to leave he was arrested by the OATH for Morchavian's murder. Although they had sanctioned it, the OATH now needed a scapegoat, and for official reasons Richardson had been listed as MIA after Operation Tumbleweed.

Enraged upon learning he had been used to kill an innocent, Richardson managed to escape by picking the lock to his cell and stealing a pistol. With it he managed to kill his way out of the prison block he was in and escaped. He vowed revenge upon Admiral Sudoko, the director of the OATH and the current asari councilor, who was revealed by a stolen PDA to be involved with the OATH. She had much to gain from the turian's death and had invited him to have an audience with the council, setting him up for assassination.

He waited three weeks for a public ceremony where Sudoko was to be awarded the Medal of Honor in front of the Citadel Tower by the council. He seized it as his chance and waited for the perfect moment. Unknown to him, however, the salarian Special Tasks Group was aware of him, and had a sniper waiting. Richardson waited until he had what he believed to be a double kill lined up and fired his rifle. The shot killed the Admiral, went through his back, and into the councilor's arm, causing public panic and fear.

Thirteen seconds later, the salarian sniper was able to locate Richardson's muzzle flash and fired once, killing Richardson.

Behind the Scenes
Richardson was the first character created by Foxtrot12. He drew origins and inspirations from multiple characters in the Call of Duty series, mainly Captain Price, who was also betrayed by General Shepard and failed the assassination attempt on Imran Zakhaev, similar to Jonah who was betrayed by OATH and failed to kill the asari Councilor. As well they both share the same rank.