Ryan Stannum

Ryan Stannum--better known by his callsign Snow Bird 26--is the cousin of Mark Stannum. Ryan entered the CSA Snow Bird supersoldier program in 2374 and proved an extremely skilled and resourceful soldier. He is also the cousin of URG Representative of Humanity and Mark Stannum.

Early Life
Born to parents Marie and Joseph Stannum on October 23, 2354, Ryan was strong and focused from the beginning. As he grew with his cousin Mark Stannum to the point that they considered each other brothers, he excelled in academics and commanded the greatest respect from his peers.

With an unwavering devotion and loyalty to authority, Ryan inevitably joined the CSA Military in 2371 at age 17, opting to apply for the Snow Birds. For a year until he was considered a full adult, Ryan underwent very intense physical and mental training, mastering the art of strategy, hand-to-hand combat, and nearly every weapon in the CSA arsenal.

After his 18th birthday, Ryan was able to officially enter Snow Bird training where he quickly ascended to the top of his class and became one of the best Snow Birds the program had seen. Part of his training included live deep-cover training, which saw him attempt to infiltrate an Insurgency target that would ultimately become responsible for the Olympian Bombings that nearly killed Mark. Having failed to stop the bombings, Ryan blamed himself for the casualties, including Satie Nevim and the injuries Mark sustained. He used this guilt, however, as a driving force for the absurdly successful career that followed.

CSA Career
In July 2373, Ryan's deep-cover exercise ended and he left the Insurgency group that he had infiltrated, leaving professionally established Snow Birds to pick up the leads that he had procured during his time. After completion of the rest of his training on Antaro, Ryan was officially deemed a Snow Bird with the rest of his class on Luna by General Edwin White, a man who would soon step aside for the rising star Marvolo Angelico.

Extended Training
With his introductory training complete, Ryan was ranked 26 of 30,000 for all Snow Birds past and present in all time performance for the exercises and academics he underwent in his training, leading to his callsign to become Snow Bird 26. He was first deployed for six months on Sora in the Antaro System as a strategic commander for twenty-five Snow Birds who participated in war games there against CSA Army, Navy, and other recruits who trained on the planet. As a commander against entire battalions of CSA trainees, his success rate in all defensive positions stood at 98-5 and in attack positions, a record of 49-2. It should be noted that there were almost twice as many defensive exercises as attack exercises. This is the result of intense planning due to the Snow Birds taking their time over the course of several days when attacking. It should also be noted that of the two unsuccessful attacks that Ryan commanded, Mark Stannum played a strategic role in the opposition in one of those two exercises.

After honing his strategic and leadership skills, Snow Bird 26 stayed on Sora for another three months, participating for the first month in Lone Wolf/Survival excersises that pitted one Snow Bird against an entire company that was tasked with capturing the Snow Bird. Designed to show intelligence, creativity, and survival skills of the Snow Bird, it also built the same skills and more in the opposing force. Showing decisive wit and cunning, Ryan evaded capture for 15 days and won his first match after eliminating 75% of the opposition. His record stood at 1-1 after he was captured on the twelfth day of the second exercise. For the second month, he participated in a "survival of the fittest" style of exercises against 499 other Snow Birds, in which he placed 7th. His third month consisted of exercises that placed ten Snow Birds against each other in a race to capture several objects from a defending company, and after those exercises he was a part of a team that tested their abilities to capture or "kill" a VIP.

Frontline Against the Insurgency
In 2374, most of the CSA was fighting against the Entente, leaving very little resources to deal with an increasingly threatening Insurgency. Knowing that they lacked serious numbers of infantry to send against them, almost 80% of Snow Birds were deployed to Insurgent targets. Ryan was deployed with two other Snow Birds against several Insurgent targets that had been infiltrated and required elimination. In one case, Ryan and his two teammates entered a well-defended compound that included 96 Insurgents and the three men eliminated every enemy without taking any injuries.

After nearly two years of dealing with Insurgents directly, Ryan returned to deep-cover work against them in late 2376, ultimately passing on informations that other Snow Birds used to destroy three planetwide networks of Insurgency factions. In his fourth undercover mission, Ryan came close to bringing down the faction responsible for  the Olympian Bombings but failed. After hearing that the Echo Legion was captured on Ladle, Ryan reported the information immediately, resulting in the quick rescue of Mark Stannum and the crew of the CSA Animus with few casualties.

Battling the Entente
After his work in bringing the Insurgency to its knees on many difficult occasions, Snow Bird 26 was reassigned to the frontlines, having been directed to do battle with the Entente. Before this point in the war, many Snow Birds were actually replacing battalion commanders on the battlefield and putting their strategic thinking to the test. While the Snow Birds usually were able to outsmart Entente forces, General White believed that the Snow Birds' true beauty was their incredible combat abilities. With this in mind, all Snow Birds were reassigned as special operations shock teams, conducting missions that took them deep behind enemy lines or leading strike teams to destroy major Entente targets. Snow Bird 26 was assigned to break a siege on Yeltzin, a world where CSA fleets were destroyed, but where ground troops still resisted. Ryan was able to break the Entente's major siege with the help of Jack Stowe, one of the Seven Devils of the CSA. After they were dropped on Yeltzin, the two teammates boarded an Entente Carrier and overloaded the engine core, destroying the the ship and breaking the backbone of the siege. From there, the two fought their way through an army of thousands, stealthily attacking critical points in the army and wreaking havoc as the surviving Humans counterattacked, leading to a rescue of more than 2,000 troops.

After his work with Jack, the two formed a bond and conducted missions together. Though Snow Bird orders and missions are among the most classified CSA information, Jack and Ryan worked so well together that General White allowed the two to continue working together, eventually giving Jack the clearance needed to attend Snow Bird briefings.

Activities with the Human Secession & Fate
With the Insurgency rapidly growing into a formidable threat under the leadership of the rogue Alpha, General Angelico ordered the Snow Birds into extreme deep cover missions with the highest secrecy. For Ryan, this meant keeping his true intentions away from partner Jack Stowe, who was not a Snow Bird. In fact, Ryan was given one of the most important missions in the CSA--to kill Alpha. Specifically, Ryan was ordered to kill Mark Stannum, who was known to be in the Alterverse at the time.

While Jack was sympathetic to the Human Secession and actually joined the growing movement, Ryan remained aligned with the CSA and feigned his defection. The two joined with Alpha and gained their trust, and when Jack was killed, Ryan used the opportunity to further bond with Alpha over the loss. All the while, he was passing on intel to the CSA. During the battle with Quinn, it came down to Alter-Echo and Ryan battling the menace. During the battle, Ryan actually attached an explosive to Alter-Echo, making it instead look like one of Quinn's attacks. The explosion nearly killed Alter-Echo and injured Ryan, but Quinn was killed soon after.

When Alpha went to the Alterverse, Ryan was finally able to get the chance to complete his mission. There, Ryan planned to first kill his own cousin, following up with the murder of Lucius Varner, the two most high priority targets. From there he was to attempt to kill the other members, though with Lucius and Mark dead, his primary objectives would be complete. Fortunately for Alpha, Mark survived the initial attack and Avril alerted the rest of Alpha, who quickly came to the rescue, with Lucius killing Ryan. With yet another betrayal behind them, Alpha forged on, wary of any other defections.