Rion Forge

"Good reputation. Eighty-five percent success rate. Best salvage ship out there… Not bad for a thirty-two year old military brat from Earth."

- Kip Silas on Rion Forge

Lucy Orion "Rion" Forge is a human salvager and the captain of the Ace of Spades, a modified operating out of New Tyne on Venezia.

Early life
Rion Forge was born on Earth to UNSC Marine Corps non-commissioned officer John Forge in around 2525. She was raised as a military brat though she hardly considered herself one. She had a rough relationship with her mother, who rarely spoke with Rion's father, though she was close to her aunt Jillian. Due to her father's career and the beginning of the Human-Covenant War, Rion rarely saw her father as he participated in battles against the Covenant throughout human space, though she often remained in contact with him. On August 17, 2530, at age five, Rion went with Jillian to see her father at an officer's lounge, having last saw him six months prior. The two were approached by the drunk Lieutenant Prosser, who aggressively flirted with Jillian. After the officer enraged Jillian, she struck him and, in turn, Prosser shoved her against a wall and pressed down on her throat. John intervened and attacked Prosser, leading to his incarceration for assaulting a senior officer. However, Admiral Preston Cole ensured that the investigation was fair, leading to Prosser receiving a court-martial while John was assigned to.

In early 2531, after the UNSC lost contact with Spirit of Fire, her grandfather informed Rion that her father had been "lost". The loss of her father and uncertainty of his fate had a profound effect on her, with members of her family, and her pediatrician and physiologist, diagnosing her with various disorders and labels as she aged, including Childhood Traumatic Grief, posttraumatic stress disorder, and anxiety. Eventually, she became disillusioned with the Unified Earth Government and UNSC, turning to a career of independent salvaging in hopes of locating Spirit of Fire.

Salvaging career
Centering her operations in New Tyne on the independent world of Venezia, Rion often worked along the Via Casilina Trade Route. Since about 2550, she used the Ace of Spades as her vessel of operations. Ace was crewed by a handful of individuals that she trusted, including former Marine Cade. All of the money she earned from her career went towards upgrading her ship. In around 2555, Rion was in the mining slums of Aleria when siblings Lessa and Niko attempted to hack into her commpad. Rather than turn them other to the authorities, Rion recruited both of them into her crew. She soon became one of New Tyne's most notable salvagers, creating what she described as a "lovely little circle of profit", as her jobs provided her profit to keep her crew satisfied, her ship operational, and her informants eager to continue dealing with her. She often traded with Nor Fel, a T'vaoan who owned a clearing house business that bought goods obtained by salvagers. The two enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship, with Fel providing Rion with information on large salvage finds before her other clients. Rarely did Rion report her findings to the UNSC under their Salvage Directive.

In December of 2556, Rion participated in a four-way bidding war for a small piece of Forerunner navigational databoard at a small bazaar on Komoya. After winning the bidding war, she sold the databoard to a Sangheili for a large profit, despite the damage the device had sustained. Shortly after, Rion discovered information on a Forerunner Luminary, which she began working towards locating. Around this time, she took on Kip Silas as an engineer. In January 2557, after spending six weeks away on their last job, Rion and her crew returned to Venezia to sell their salvage, including a stasis field generator to Fel and a small lot of Type-25 Spikers and Type-51 carbines to the same Sangheili she had sold the Forerunner nav databoard, bringing in a decent amount of profit.

Roman Blue
After completing her most recent business, Rion spoke with Fel about a salvage job on something large that would provide a massive amount of profit. Fel sent her to meet with a man named Rouse at the bar, Tiny Birds, who could provide her with more information in exchange for a cut of the profit. Lessa did not take the news that the crew's shore leave would have to wait well, but her protestations eventually ceased so that she, Rion, and Kip made could enter the bar. Upon entering, Rion was accosted by a man named Cottrel with who she had been forced to put up with before. His advances made her lash out and seize him by the throat, and she was only brought back from reliving the similar experience in a bar she had witnessed as a child when Lessa called her name. Putting Cottrell behind her, Rion gave Rouse her full attention. In exchange for ten thousand credits and fifteen percent of the sale, Rouse provided her with the salvage job's location—the abandoned moon, Eiro, in the Ectanus 45 system. After the meeting was concluded, the three salvagers returned to where the hanger bay where the Ace of Spaces was docked. After gathering everyone in the mess, she laid out the opportunity before them. Though there was some complaining, none of them could really resist a big score. On Eiro it was discovered that the salvage job concerned the, a Halcyon light cruiser that had been destroyed during the war. During the search of the ship, Rion discovered a log from Captain William S. Webb. It contained Webb's description of the "dressing down" of the former captain, Terrence Hood. In his description Webb also mentioned the loss of the 's log buoy, which resulted from Hood's decision to engage the Radiant Perception in battle instead of making the buoy first priority.

Personality and traits
Rion has been described as reckless and volatile. She found enjoyment in her career as a salvager, believing that she was good at it. She created her own way to success in the business, never hesitating to take more drastic actions to remain one of New Tyne's most notable salvagers. She presented herself as neutral, believing her business depended on it. She avoided politics, religion, and rebellions, though she sometimes recalled how her family would have disagreed with her refusal to take a side.

Despite her success as a salvager, Rion found that her career often left her engaging in sales and transactions that left her with feelings of doubt and misgivings, believing that these deals betrayed what honor, integrity, and loyalty she had left. She referred to these dealings as dark karmic tally marks that put a few kinks in her otherwise successful and enjoyable career. Each time she sold weapons to a former member of the Covenant, she felt a nagging sense of betrayal, despite the empire's demise and her lack of loyalty to the Unified Earth Government. To avoid such feelings during the deals, she would always have a few drinks at Stavros' bar in New Tyne after each transaction.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Fractures
 * Into the Fire
 * Halo: Smoke and Shadow
 * Halo: Renegades