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{{Era|UNSC|HCW}}
{{Status|Canon}}
<center>''This article is about the SPARTAN-II. To see other characters with the same name, see [[James]].''</center>
{{Center|''This article is about the [[SPARTAN-II]]. To see other characters with the same name, see [[James]].''}}
{{Spartan infobox
{{Character infobox
|name       = James
|variant=Human
|image       = [[File:James-005.png|275px|James-005.]]
|name=James-005
|spartantag  = 005<ref name="enc">'''Halo Encyclopedia (2011)''', ''page 85''</ref>
|image=[[File:James.png|250px]]
|homeworld   =  
|homeworld=
|birth       = [[2511]]
|birth=c. [[2511]]
|death       = Probably [[2552#August|August 30, 2552]]
|death=Presumably [[2552#August|August 30, 2552]]
|status      = MIA
|causeofdeath=
|species     = [[Human]]
|parents=
|gender     = Male
|siblings=
|height     =
|spouses=
|hair        =
|children=
|eyes        =
|species=[[Human]]
|cyber      =
|gender=Male
|affiliation = [[United Nations Space Command|UNSC]] [[UNSC Navy|Navy]]
|height=
|rank       = [[Petty Officer Second Class]] or higher
|mass=
|specialty  =  
|hair=
|battles    = WIA during [[Battle of Sigma Octanus]], [[Battle of Reach]], and numerous others.
|eyes=
|class      = Class I: [[2525]]
|affiliation=*[[UNSC Navy]]
**[[UNSC Special Forces|Naval Special Warfare Command]]
***[[SPARTAN-II program]]
|rank=[[Petty Officer, Second Class]]
|sn=S-005<ref name="enc">'''Halo Encyclopedia (2011)''', ''page 85''</ref>
|notable=
}}
}}
'''James-005''' was a [[SPARTAN-II program|SPARTAN-II]] supersoldier and is one of the few Spartans that is truly [[MIA]]. Historically he was known for his calm demeanor and persistence, even under extreme circumstances.
 
'''Petty Officer James-005''' was a [[SPARTAN-II program|SPARTAN-II]] supersoldier. He participated in numerous battles during the [[Human-Covenant War]] as part of [[Blue Team]]. During the [[Fall of Reach]] in August [[2552]], he was presumably killed during an [[EVA]] mission after his [[thruster pack]] was struck by needles from a [[Type-33 needler]] and he was sent spinning away into the vacuum of space.


==Biography==
==Biography==
===Early life===
===Early life===
James was a genetically, intellectually, and physically superior child chosen for the [[SPARTAN-II]] project, abducted by the [[UNSC]], and replaced by a [[flash clone]]. James first met John and the rest of his friends when [[Sam-034]] chose him for a mission during one of [[Chief Petty Officer]] [[Franklin Mendez|Mendez]]'s training exercises on [[Reach]].<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 48''</ref> In [[2523]], he was brutally beaten by the [[UNSC Marine Corps|Marine]] trainers of [[Tango Company]], who claimed that he "fell down a flight of stairs" in a one-story building.<ref>'''Halo: First Strike''', ''pages 157-160''</ref> Years later, he was one of the soldiers that survived the [[SPARTAN-II augmentation procedures|augmentations]] without any adverse effects. In the duration of the [[Human-Covenant War]], he fought alongside his fellow Spartans in many important battles, playing a major role in the war.
{{Quote|You have been called upon to serve. You will be trained . . . and you will become the best we can make of you. You will be the protectors of [[Earth]] and all her colonies.|Dr. [[Catherine Halsey]] to the abducted child conscripts.}}
[[File:TFoR-as-Deja.jpg|thumb|300px|left|The children being taught by Déjà.]]
James was a genetically, intellectually, and physically gifted child chosen for the [[SPARTAN-II]] project. He was abducted by the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] and replaced with a [[flash clone]] when he was around six years old. He and seventy-four other children were taken to [[Reach]] in the [[Epsilon Eridani system]]. There, he was trained by the [[dumb AI|"dumb" AI]], [[Déjà]] and [[Chief Petty Officer]] [[Franklin Mendez]], with the two serving as the Spartans' teacher and drill instructor, respectively. In [[2519]], he was taken alongside his fellow trainees to a [[Military Wilderness Training Preserve]] for a mission that required each trainee to be left alone in the woods with a only a single piece of a map. It was up to them to find one another so that they could piece the map together and locate the designated extraction point. After everyone met up with one another, James, [[Fhajad-084]], and [[Linda-058]] were chosen by [[Samuel-034]] to scout the area with at the behest of [[John-117]].<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 48''</ref> The mission was ultimately a success. At another point during training, James and the others traveled to [[Emerald Cove]] for an underwater mission. There, they abandoned Mendez and lived on their own on an island for a few days. By [[2523#July|July 14, 2523]], James and his fellow Spartan-IIs had begun facing the formidable and ruthless [[UNSC Marine Corps]]' [[Tango Company]] in simulated [[War Games|war games]]. At some point prior to that date, members of Tango Company brutally beat James during such an exercise and then claimed he had simply fallen down a flight of stairs in a one-story jail while they were escorting him from one cell to another. It took him an entire week to recover, but the abuse did not break him mentally.<ref>'''Halo: First Strike''', ''pages 157-160''</ref> On [[2525#March|March 9, 2525]], James and the rest of the Spartan-II candidates underwent their [[SPARTAN-II augmentation procedures|augmentation procedures]] at [[Medical Facility Endurance]] orbiting Reach. After successfully enduring the procedures, James later attended a military funeral aboard the [[carrier]], the {{UNSCShip|Atlas}}, in the [[Lambda Serpentis system]] for the Spartans who died during the process. Afterwards, they all returned to Reach for their final training phase in the [[Highland Mountains]].
 
===Covenant War===
{{Quote|Welcome mat is laid out, [[John-117|Chief]]. Ready when you are.|James-005 during the [[Battle of Jericho VII]].}}
[[File:Covenantannounced.png|thumb|300px|The Spartans are informed of the Covenant menace.]]
After the [[Covenant]] [[First Battle of Harvest|attack]] on [[Harvest]] and the beginning of the [[Human-Covenant War]], James and the rest of the Spartan-IIs were brought to the [[Reach FLEETCOM Military Complex]], where [[Rear Admiral]] [[Michael Stanforth]] and the AI, [[Beowulf]], briefed them on the emerging Covenant threat. In response, the training of James and the rest of the Spartan-IIs was accelerated, and the Spartans were sent to [[Chi Ceti IV]] in the [[Chi Ceti system]] to receive their new [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor]] from the [[Damascus Materials Testing Facility]] in order to aid in combat against the alien threat.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 121'' (2010)</ref> While en route to Chi Ceti IV aboard the {{Class|Paris|heavy frigate}}, the {{UNSCShip|Commonwealth}}, they were [[Battle of Chi Ceti|attacked]] by the Covenant [[warship]], ''[[Unrelenting]]''.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 127'' (2010)</ref> The ''Commonwealth'' was able to ward off the ''Unrelenting'' and the Spartans were deployed to Chi Ceti IV with Halsey, where they each recieved a set of armor.<ref name="for141">'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 141'' (2010)</ref> While the Spartans were returning to the ''Commonwealth'', the ''Unrelenting'' returned and engaged the frigate. To provide aid to the ''Commonwealth'', John had James and the other Spartan-IIs use [[thruster pack]]s to embark towards the ''Unrelenting'' so that they could destroy the warship with [[Anvil-II air-to-surface missile|Anvil-II AS missiles]], though only John, Kelly, and Sam made it aboard.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''pages 147-150'' (2010)</ref>
 
From February 9 to February 12 in [[2535]], James, as the fourth member of Blue Team, [[Battle of Jericho VII|fought]] the Covenant on [[Jericho VII]] alongside Red Team and Green Team. The three days of combat were effectively a stalemate. Blue Team's objective was to draw out the Covenant's rear guard so that Red Team could slip behind its lines and plant a [[HAVOK]] tactical nuke in hope of destroying the next Covenant ship that landed and deactivated its [[energy shield]]ing. These few Spartans of Blue Team were able to kill hundreds of [[Unggoy]], destroy [[Shade]] turrets with little difficulty, and neutralize [[Banshee]] air support by using fougasses they planted. During the engagement James took responsibility for detonating [[Lotus anti-tank mine]]s that killed many Unggoy. The UNSC lost control of the space around Jericho VII, but [[Captain]] [[De Blanc]] of the {{UNSCShip|Resolute}} was able to evacuate the Spartans before the enemy fleet began [[glassing]] the planet.


===Sigma Octanus IV===
===Sigma Octanus IV===
James journeyed to [[Sigma Octanus IV]] in [[2552]] with [[John-117]], [[Kelly-087]], [[Fred-104]], [[Joshua-029]], and a few other Spartans.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 178''</ref> Specifically, they went to reinforce [[Corporal (UNSC)|Corporal]] [[Harland]] and his [[UNSC Marine Corps|Marines]] at [[Côte d'Azur]], where they were fighting the [[Covenant]]. James served as a scout for the team at first, locating [[Grunt]] patrols and silencing them before they could find the rest of the UNSC forces. Later in the battle, he was critically wounded as a direct result of an encounter with [[Hunters]], getting an arm blown off from the elbow down by one's [[assault cannon]].<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 208''</ref> James did not give in to the pain, but he passed out on the trip back to the Marine base camp, only after helping John-117, Kelly-087, and Fred-104 immobilize both [[Mgalekgolo|Hunters]] by crushing them under an enormous hunk of crystal quartz. John carried him onto a waiting [[D77-TC Pelican Dropship|Pelican]] where he, his Spartans, the Marines, and the rest of the surviving civilians made their escape.
{{Quote|Point to team leader: enemy contact. Enemy troops within one hundred meters of my position, ten degrees left.|James to John during the [[Battle of Sigma Octanus IV]].}}
[[File:James-005.png|thumb|left|175px|James cradles the stump of his arm.]]
On [[2552#July|July 17, 2552]], James and eleven other Spartan-IIs arrived at the human colony of [[Sigma Octanus IV]] in the [[Sigma Octanus system]] with [[Vice Admiral]] Stanforth's [[Battle Group Leviathan|Battle Group ''Leviathan'']] to aid UNSC forces in the [[Battle of Sigma Octanus IV|ongoing battle]] on and over the planet. Deployed to the remains of [[Alpha Headquarters]] to assist the local marine forces as part of [[Operation: OCEAN BREAKER]], James was assigned to [[Blue Team]]—along with [[Kelly-087]] and [[Frederic-104]]—as "Blue-Four" under the command of John-117; James was given control of the unit's extra COM equipment. After meeting with the [[Corporal Harland's fireteam|surviving marines]] at Alpha Headquarters, Blue Team departed for the city of [[Côte d'Azur]] to investigate unusual Covenant activity and to destroy the city with a [[HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon]], provided no [[civilian]]s remained. The Spartans traveled through a jungle in a slightly staggered single-file line to reach the city, with James in the lead.  Every hundred yards, James signaled the group to halt while he methodically surveyed the area for any sign of the enemy. As the team's scout, when a patrol of ten [[Unggoy]] was sighted James concealed himself at the bottom of a hill and indicated to the rest when it was okay to strike after the rear guard had passed by. When Blue Team finally arrived at Côte d'Azur, the Spartans began scouting Covenant movements throughout the city while [[Red Team]] and [[Green Team]] escorted the city's surviving population to safety.<ref name="for205">'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''pages 205-214'' (2010)</ref> As the other Spartans left the city with the civilians, Blue Team infiltrated the Covenant-held [[Côte d'Azur Museum of Natural History]] to investigate unusual Covenant activity. Within an accessway that led underneath the museum, James attached a ground-return transceiver to pipes overhead to establish contact with Green Team.


===Battle of Reach===
Within the museum, Blue Team discovered that the Covenant were scanning what appeared to be [[Sigma Octanus IV artifact|a simple piece of igneous rock]] and sending the information to a ship in orbit. James and his compatriots quietly eliminated nearby [[Kig-Yar]] patrols inside the museum but then encountered a pair of [[Mgalekgolo]]. The Spartans engaged the creatures but James had his left arm burnt away from the elbow down after being hit with a blast from one's [[assault cannon]].<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 208''</ref> Upon John's orders, Blue Team switched to [[shredder round]]s and fired at the floor beneath the massive aliens. The Spartans managed to make the floor collapse under the Mgalekgolo, causing them to fall into the museum's basement. To finish off the pair, Fred, Kelly, John, and the wounded James pushed a large quartz monolith into the pit, trapping the Mgalekgolo but not killing them. Recovering the rock that the Covenant were scanning, Blue Team left the museum and escaped the city by traveling through Côte d'Azur's sewer systems.<ref name="for231">'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''pages 231-241'' (2010)</ref> John helped James make the trip and even carried him after he had collapsed twice and finally slipped into unconsciousness. Upon rendezvousing with the rest of the Spartans and surviving marines, Linda had her team carry him aboard a Pelican. Before they could take off, James regained consciousness and use his remaining hand to salute John, who directed Kelly to administer an [[drugs|analgesic]] that knocked him out once more. They all returned to Stanforth's {{Class|Marathon|heavy cruiser}}, the {{UNSCShip|Leviathan}}, in the planet's orbit.{{Ref/Reuse|for231}} As the battle drew to an end, Battle Group ''Leviathan'' returned to Reach in the Epsilon Eridani system for repairs with the Spartan-IIs aboard.<ref>'''[[Data Drop]]''', ''#2''</ref>
Later, when the Covenant attacked Reach, [[Artificial intelligence|AI]] [[Doppler]] told [[Captain (Navy)|Captain]] [[Jacob Keyes]] that the Nav Data on the ''[[Circumference]]'', a small [[UNSC]] prowler, was intact. Doppler said this clashed with the [[Cole Protocol]]. This meant that the Covenant could find the location of [[Earth]]. John chose James and [[Linda-058]], for his team to destroy the data. He chose Linda because of her near omnipotent abilities with a sniper rifle, figuring the space dock they were about to board would be large enough that her skills would be a tremendous asset. He chose James because he "never gave up."<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 305''</ref> John's squad entered the ''Circumference'' through a Pelican dropship.
[[File:James3.png|thumb|200px|James is sent spinning away from Gamma Station.]]
===The Fall of Reach===
{{Quote|Can—control—They’ve—everywhere—|The last recorded words of James-005, punctuated with static as he drifted away.}}
On [[2552#August|August 27, 2552]] James and twenty-four other Spartan-IIs were gathered at [[FLEETCOM HQ]] on Reach, where they were briefed on [[Operation: RED FLAG]], an [[ONI]] [[operation]] with the objective of capturing a Covenant [[Hierarch]]. On [[2552#August|August 30]], James boarded the {{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}} with the others in preparation for RED FLAG. However, the mission was aborted when an order went out to all ships to defend Reach from the [[Fall of Reach|a massive Covenant assault]] that was underway at the planet. James and Fred were ordered by John to refit a [[D77-TC Pelican]] by attaching a shaped charge of [[C-12]] to its nose so it could potentially be used to blast into a Covenant vessel that had its shields knocked out. Following this, James was selected by John to come with he and Linda on a mission to sabotage the navigation data on the {{UNSCShip|Circumference}}, a small ONI [[prowler]] docked aboard [[Gamma Station]]. Covenant intrusion software had detected the unsecured database aboard the prowler and three [[Covenant frigate]]s were ''en route'' to take control of it. The three Spartans, designated Blue Team, took the refitted Pelican and crashed it into Gamma Station. As "Blue-Two", James was ordered to police the undetonated explosives as [[Sangheili]] and [[Kig-Yar]] [[ranger]]s were deployed from the frigates near their position. James had almost freed the C-12 rigged to the Pelican's nose when a shower of [[blamite]] needles from a [[Type-33 needler]] struck him and the tank of his [[thruster pack]]. One the needles that penetrated the tank exploded and the explosion of exhaust from the pack sent James tumbling away from Gamma Station without any means to control his erratic trajectory.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 310''</ref> After John returned to the ''Pillar of Autumn'' he asked Lieutenant [[Hall]] to scan for [[FOF]] tags in the region to no avail.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''pages 329-330''</ref>


After a short battle, James and the other two Spartans found a number of enemies. Many were armed with [[Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher|Needlers]], as they filled the area with the purple projectiles. Many of them landed on the Spartans, though not enough to be serious. One landed on James' [[T-PACK]] and detonated. The explosion set James' pack off, propelling him into space. John tried to raise him on the [[COM]] but only got fragmented messages from him, filling him with despair.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 310''</ref>
==Personality and traits==
{{Quote|I’m good, sir.|James calmly assures John-117 he's okay after they and Linda crashed into Gamma Station.}}
James-005 was known for his calm demeanor and persistence under trying circumstances. He remained mentally fit following the beating he received as a preteen and when he lost his arm he did not even whimper. He was known as someone who never gave up.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 305''</ref> During missions, James had an instinct for walking point. John-117, reflecting on his fellow Spartan-IIs following the destruction of Reach, thought of James as someone who had made a difference in his life.


After John escaped the ship (rescuing [[Staff Sergeant|SSGT]] [[Avery Junior Johnson|Johnson]], [[Private First Class|PFC]] [[Wallace Jenkins|Jenkins]], and [[Private (UNSC)|PVTs]] [[Bisenti]] and [[O'Brien (Marine)|O'Brien]] and the critically wounded [[Linda-058|Linda]]), completing his mission, he returned to the {{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}}. There, he asked [[Lieutenant (UNSC)|Lieutenant]] [[Hall]] to scan for James. Unfortunately, she couldn't find him, and they had to leave the Spartan out in space, where he would either be overrun by Covenant troops that were in zero-gravity, or he would die from exposure, something no one, not even a Spartan, could fight, no matter how determined. John felt a pang of regret for his friend and comrade, but was unable to help him. And as with all of the SPARTAN's he was listed as MIA, though one of few to truly be so.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''pages 329-330''</ref>
During the end of the war, James wore an [[EOD-class Mjolnir|EOD]] variant of green [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark IV|Mark IV Mjolnir]]. After losing his left forearm, he was promptly provided with a replacement.{{Ref/Note|James' arm was either replaced with a [[artificial limb]] or a flash-cloned replication.}}


==Trivia==
==Trivia==
*James lost his left arm while fighting a Hunter on Sigma Octanus, but was able to join Blue Team on their mission to Gamma Station, with no mention being made of his missing arm. This raises two theories: he was outfitted with a [[Artificial limb|robotic prosthetic]], or a new arm was [[Flash cloning|flash cloned]] and augmented for him.
*In ''[[Halo 3: ODST]]'' a [[License plate Easter eggs|license plate]] on a [[HuCiv]] [[Genet]] reads "KPD 005J".
*A ''[[Halo 3: ODST]]'' [[License plate Easter eggs|easter egg]] has been interpreted as corresponding to James. The license plate reads "KPD 005J" which presumably stands for "005 James", while the PD could possibly stand for "presumed dead," as James' body is never found after the Fall of Reach. (Note that the "K" is commonplace in the plates and does not represent the word "killed"). The assumption about his tag being 005 is in direct contradiction with the original edition of the ''[[Halo Encyclopedia]]'', which gives this tag to [[René-081|René]]. However, in the [[Halo Waypoint]] video ''Defiant to the End'', the narrator refers to him as James-005, in direct support of the license plate egg, contradicting 005 as Rene's tag.<ref>'''[http://halo.xbox.com/en-us/intel/featured/video/defiant-to-the-end/f2595044-7e26-4928-a24b-8e1a2db3ce45 Halo Waypoint: Defiant to the End]'''</ref> James' tag was confirmed to be 005 in the 2011 version of the ''Halo Encyclopedia'', which establishes René's tag to be 081, which is also consistent with the license plates.<ref name="enc"/>
 
*In the ''[[Halo: Fall of Reach]]'' comic book series, James is propelled into space after being struck by a bolt of plasma and not by the detonation of a Needler round on his T-PACK; one of the many details in the adaptation that deviate from the original novel.
==Gallery==
*The way his T-PACK malfunctioned is similar to the way [[Kurt-051]]'s T-PACK malfunctioned during the mission to Station Delphi in 2531. The only difference between those two events was the fact that Kurt's T-PACK was deliberately sabotaged by the Office of Naval Intelligence, while James's T-PACK malfunctioned due to battle damage.
<gallery>
File:James8.png|James carries Blue Team's COM equipment on Sigma Octanus IV in ''[[Halo: Fall of Reach]]''.
File:James2.png|James loses his left forearm.
File:James7.png|James is assisted by John-117 after his crippling injury.
File:James6.png|Blue Team on approach to Gamma Station.
File:James5.png|James polices the C-12.{{Ref/Note|The C-12 is erroneously labeled as C-7 in this image.}}
</gallery>


==List of appearances==
==List of appearances==
*''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'' {{1st}}
*''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'' {{1st}}
*''[[Halo: First Strike]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo: First Strike]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo 3: ODST]]'' {{Im}}
*''[[Halo: Fall of Reach]]''
*''[[Halo: Fall of Reach]]''
**''[[Halo: Fall of Reach - Covenant|Covenant]]''
**''[[Halo: Fall of Reach - Covenant|Covenant]]''
**''[[Halo: Fall of Reach - Invasion|Invasion]]''
**''[[Halo: Fall of Reach - Invasion|Invasion]]''
==Notes==
{{Ref/Notes}}


== Sources ==
== Sources ==
<references/>
{{Ref/Sources}}
 
{{Spartan II}}
{{Spartan II}}
[[Category:Human characters]]
[[Category:UNSC Navy enlisted personnel]]
[[Category:Spartan-IIs]]
[[Category:Spartan-IIs]]

Latest revision as of 22:06, February 7, 2024

This article is about the SPARTAN-II. To see other characters with the same name, see James.
James-005
James.png
Biographical information

Born:

c. 2511

Died:

Presumably August 30, 2552

Personal details

Species:

Human

Gender:

Male

Political and military information

Affiliation:

Rank:

Petty Officer, Second Class

Service number:

S-005[1]

 

Petty Officer James-005 was a SPARTAN-II supersoldier. He participated in numerous battles during the Human-Covenant War as part of Blue Team. During the Fall of Reach in August 2552, he was presumably killed during an EVA mission after his thruster pack was struck by needles from a Type-33 needler and he was sent spinning away into the vacuum of space.

Biography[edit]

Early life[edit]

"You have been called upon to serve. You will be trained . . . and you will become the best we can make of you. You will be the protectors of Earth and all her colonies."
— Dr. Catherine Halsey to the abducted child conscripts.
Here is Deja teaching the Spartan II candidates about the solar system and every colony of Mother Earth.
The children being taught by Déjà.

James was a genetically, intellectually, and physically gifted child chosen for the SPARTAN-II project. He was abducted by the Office of Naval Intelligence and replaced with a flash clone when he was around six years old. He and seventy-four other children were taken to Reach in the Epsilon Eridani system. There, he was trained by the "dumb" AI, Déjà and Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez, with the two serving as the Spartans' teacher and drill instructor, respectively. In 2519, he was taken alongside his fellow trainees to a Military Wilderness Training Preserve for a mission that required each trainee to be left alone in the woods with a only a single piece of a map. It was up to them to find one another so that they could piece the map together and locate the designated extraction point. After everyone met up with one another, James, Fhajad-084, and Linda-058 were chosen by Samuel-034 to scout the area with at the behest of John-117.[2] The mission was ultimately a success. At another point during training, James and the others traveled to Emerald Cove for an underwater mission. There, they abandoned Mendez and lived on their own on an island for a few days. By July 14, 2523, James and his fellow Spartan-IIs had begun facing the formidable and ruthless UNSC Marine Corps' Tango Company in simulated war games. At some point prior to that date, members of Tango Company brutally beat James during such an exercise and then claimed he had simply fallen down a flight of stairs in a one-story jail while they were escorting him from one cell to another. It took him an entire week to recover, but the abuse did not break him mentally.[3] On March 9, 2525, James and the rest of the Spartan-II candidates underwent their augmentation procedures at Medical Facility Endurance orbiting Reach. After successfully enduring the procedures, James later attended a military funeral aboard the carrier, the UNSC Atlas, in the Lambda Serpentis system for the Spartans who died during the process. Afterwards, they all returned to Reach for their final training phase in the Highland Mountains.

Covenant War[edit]

"Welcome mat is laid out, Chief. Ready when you are."
— James-005 during the Battle of Jericho VII.
The Spartans are informed of the Covenant menace.

After the Covenant attack on Harvest and the beginning of the Human-Covenant War, James and the rest of the Spartan-IIs were brought to the Reach FLEETCOM Military Complex, where Rear Admiral Michael Stanforth and the AI, Beowulf, briefed them on the emerging Covenant threat. In response, the training of James and the rest of the Spartan-IIs was accelerated, and the Spartans were sent to Chi Ceti IV in the Chi Ceti system to receive their new MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor from the Damascus Materials Testing Facility in order to aid in combat against the alien threat.[4] While en route to Chi Ceti IV aboard the Paris-class heavy frigate, the UNSC Commonwealth, they were attacked by the Covenant warship, Unrelenting.[5] The Commonwealth was able to ward off the Unrelenting and the Spartans were deployed to Chi Ceti IV with Halsey, where they each recieved a set of armor.[6] While the Spartans were returning to the Commonwealth, the Unrelenting returned and engaged the frigate. To provide aid to the Commonwealth, John had James and the other Spartan-IIs use thruster packs to embark towards the Unrelenting so that they could destroy the warship with Anvil-II AS missiles, though only John, Kelly, and Sam made it aboard.[7]

From February 9 to February 12 in 2535, James, as the fourth member of Blue Team, fought the Covenant on Jericho VII alongside Red Team and Green Team. The three days of combat were effectively a stalemate. Blue Team's objective was to draw out the Covenant's rear guard so that Red Team could slip behind its lines and plant a HAVOK tactical nuke in hope of destroying the next Covenant ship that landed and deactivated its energy shielding. These few Spartans of Blue Team were able to kill hundreds of Unggoy, destroy Shade turrets with little difficulty, and neutralize Banshee air support by using fougasses they planted. During the engagement James took responsibility for detonating Lotus anti-tank mines that killed many Unggoy. The UNSC lost control of the space around Jericho VII, but Captain De Blanc of the UNSC Resolute was able to evacuate the Spartans before the enemy fleet began glassing the planet.

Sigma Octanus IV[edit]

"Point to team leader: enemy contact. Enemy troops within one hundred meters of my position, ten degrees left."
— James to John during the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV.
James-005 is critically wounded on Sigma Octanus IV.
James cradles the stump of his arm.

On July 17, 2552, James and eleven other Spartan-IIs arrived at the human colony of Sigma Octanus IV in the Sigma Octanus system with Vice Admiral Stanforth's Battle Group Leviathan to aid UNSC forces in the ongoing battle on and over the planet. Deployed to the remains of Alpha Headquarters to assist the local marine forces as part of Operation: OCEAN BREAKER, James was assigned to Blue Team—along with Kelly-087 and Frederic-104—as "Blue-Four" under the command of John-117; James was given control of the unit's extra COM equipment. After meeting with the surviving marines at Alpha Headquarters, Blue Team departed for the city of Côte d'Azur to investigate unusual Covenant activity and to destroy the city with a HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon, provided no civilians remained. The Spartans traveled through a jungle in a slightly staggered single-file line to reach the city, with James in the lead. Every hundred yards, James signaled the group to halt while he methodically surveyed the area for any sign of the enemy. As the team's scout, when a patrol of ten Unggoy was sighted James concealed himself at the bottom of a hill and indicated to the rest when it was okay to strike after the rear guard had passed by. When Blue Team finally arrived at Côte d'Azur, the Spartans began scouting Covenant movements throughout the city while Red Team and Green Team escorted the city's surviving population to safety.[8] As the other Spartans left the city with the civilians, Blue Team infiltrated the Covenant-held Côte d'Azur Museum of Natural History to investigate unusual Covenant activity. Within an accessway that led underneath the museum, James attached a ground-return transceiver to pipes overhead to establish contact with Green Team.

Within the museum, Blue Team discovered that the Covenant were scanning what appeared to be a simple piece of igneous rock and sending the information to a ship in orbit. James and his compatriots quietly eliminated nearby Kig-Yar patrols inside the museum but then encountered a pair of Mgalekgolo. The Spartans engaged the creatures but James had his left arm burnt away from the elbow down after being hit with a blast from one's assault cannon.[9] Upon John's orders, Blue Team switched to shredder rounds and fired at the floor beneath the massive aliens. The Spartans managed to make the floor collapse under the Mgalekgolo, causing them to fall into the museum's basement. To finish off the pair, Fred, Kelly, John, and the wounded James pushed a large quartz monolith into the pit, trapping the Mgalekgolo but not killing them. Recovering the rock that the Covenant were scanning, Blue Team left the museum and escaped the city by traveling through Côte d'Azur's sewer systems.[10] John helped James make the trip and even carried him after he had collapsed twice and finally slipped into unconsciousness. Upon rendezvousing with the rest of the Spartans and surviving marines, Linda had her team carry him aboard a Pelican. Before they could take off, James regained consciousness and use his remaining hand to salute John, who directed Kelly to administer an analgesic that knocked him out once more. They all returned to Stanforth's Marathon-class heavy cruiser, the UNSC Leviathan, in the planet's orbit.[10] As the battle drew to an end, Battle Group Leviathan returned to Reach in the Epsilon Eridani system for repairs with the Spartan-IIs aboard.[11]

James is sent spinning away from Gamma Station.

The Fall of Reach[edit]

"Can—control—They’ve—everywhere—"
— The last recorded words of James-005, punctuated with static as he drifted away.

On August 27, 2552 James and twenty-four other Spartan-IIs were gathered at FLEETCOM HQ on Reach, where they were briefed on Operation: RED FLAG, an ONI operation with the objective of capturing a Covenant Hierarch. On August 30, James boarded the UNSC Pillar of Autumn with the others in preparation for RED FLAG. However, the mission was aborted when an order went out to all ships to defend Reach from the a massive Covenant assault that was underway at the planet. James and Fred were ordered by John to refit a D77-TC Pelican by attaching a shaped charge of C-12 to its nose so it could potentially be used to blast into a Covenant vessel that had its shields knocked out. Following this, James was selected by John to come with he and Linda on a mission to sabotage the navigation data on the UNSC Circumference, a small ONI prowler docked aboard Gamma Station. Covenant intrusion software had detected the unsecured database aboard the prowler and three Covenant frigates were en route to take control of it. The three Spartans, designated Blue Team, took the refitted Pelican and crashed it into Gamma Station. As "Blue-Two", James was ordered to police the undetonated explosives as Sangheili and Kig-Yar rangers were deployed from the frigates near their position. James had almost freed the C-12 rigged to the Pelican's nose when a shower of blamite needles from a Type-33 needler struck him and the tank of his thruster pack. One the needles that penetrated the tank exploded and the explosion of exhaust from the pack sent James tumbling away from Gamma Station without any means to control his erratic trajectory.[12] After John returned to the Pillar of Autumn he asked Lieutenant Hall to scan for FOF tags in the region to no avail.[13]

Personality and traits[edit]

"I’m good, sir."
— James calmly assures John-117 he's okay after they and Linda crashed into Gamma Station.

James-005 was known for his calm demeanor and persistence under trying circumstances. He remained mentally fit following the beating he received as a preteen and when he lost his arm he did not even whimper. He was known as someone who never gave up.[14] During missions, James had an instinct for walking point. John-117, reflecting on his fellow Spartan-IIs following the destruction of Reach, thought of James as someone who had made a difference in his life.

During the end of the war, James wore an EOD variant of green Mark IV Mjolnir. After losing his left forearm, he was promptly provided with a replacement.[Note 1]

Trivia[edit]

Gallery[edit]

  • James carries Blue Team's COM equipment on Sigma Octanus IV in Halo: Fall of Reach.

    James carries Blue Team's COM equipment on Sigma Octanus IV in Halo: Fall of Reach.

  • James loses his left forearm.

    James loses his left forearm.

  • James is assisted by John-117 after his crippling injury.

    James is assisted by John-117 after his crippling injury.

  • Blue Team on approach to Gamma Station.

    Blue Team on approach to Gamma Station.

  • James polices the C-12.[Note 2]

    James polices the C-12.[Note 2]

List of appearances[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ James' arm was either replaced with a artificial limb or a flash-cloned replication.
  2. ^ The C-12 is erroneously labeled as C-7 in this image.

Sources[edit]

  1. ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2011), page 85
  2. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 48
  3. ^ Halo: First Strike, pages 157-160
  4. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 121 (2010)
  5. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 127 (2010)
  6. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 141 (2010)
  7. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, pages 147-150 (2010)
  8. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, pages 205-214 (2010)
  9. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 208
  10. ^ a b Halo: The Fall of Reach, pages 231-241 (2010)
  11. ^ Data Drop, #2
  12. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 310
  13. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, pages 329-330
  14. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 305

v • d • e
 
Known Spartan-II candidates
James-005 • Jai-006 • Li-008 • Naomi-010 • Leon-011 • SPARTAN-013 • Kirk-018 • Serin-019 • Daisy-023 • Robert-025 • Riz-028 • Joshua-029 • Vinh-030 • Otto-031 • Samuel-034 • Randall-037 • Isaac-039 • Douglas-042 • William-043 • Anton-044 • Keiichi-047 • Kurt-051 • Jorge-052 • Margaret-053 • Linda-058 • Malcolm-059 • Maria-062 • Sheila-065 • Soren-066 • Solomon-069 • Cassandra-075 • Arthur-079 • René-081 • Fhajad-084 • Kelly-087 • Jerome-092 • Grace-093 • Caleb-095 (not conscripted) • Musa-096 • August-099 • Victor-101 • Ralph-103 • Frederic-104 • Adriana-111 • John-117 • Michael-120 • Joseph-122 • Kai-125 • Oscar-129 • Alice-130 • Vannak-134 • Carris-137 • Cal-141 • Roma-143 • Edgar-150 • Unidentified Spartan • Beta-Romeo Actual • Red-Fifteen • Janissary James (not conscripted) • Nicole-458 • Yasmine Zaman
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