James-005

''This article is about the SPARTAN-II. To see other characters with the same name, see James.''

James was a SPARTAN-II supersoldier who was remembered for his calm demeanour and persistence, even under extreme circumstances; he was considered a great soldier and a great companion. James is also one of the few Spartans that is truly MIA.

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 Mendez's training exercises on Reach. In 2523, he was brutally beaten by the Marine trainers of Tango Company, who claimed that he "fell down a flight of stairs" in a one-story building. Years later, he was one of the soldiers that survived the 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.

Sigma Octanus IV
James journeyed to Sigma Octanus IV in 2552 with John-117, Kelly-087, Frederic-104, Joshua-029, and a few other Spartans. Specifically, they went to reinforce Corporal Harland and his 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, James had the dubious honor of being the first SPARTAN to be critically wounded as a direct result of the Hunters, getting an arm blown off from the elbow down by a Hunter's Assault Cannon. 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 Frederic-104 immobilize both Hunters by crushing them under an enormous hunk of crystal quartz. John carried him onto a waiting Pelican where he, his Spartans, the Marines, and the rest of the surviving civilians made their escape.

Battle of Reach
Later, when the Covenant attacked Reach, AI Doppler told 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." John's squad entered the Circumference through a Pelican dropship.

After a short battle, James and the other two Spartans found a number of enemies. Many were armed with 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.

After John escaped the ship (rescuing SSGT Johnson, PFC Jenkins, and PVTs Bisenti and O'Brien and the critically wounded Linda), completing his mission, he returned to the. There, he asked 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.

Number Tag
A possible Halo 3: ODST 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 could possibly stand for "presumed dead," as James' body is never found after the Battle 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 Halo Encyclopedia, which gives this tag to Rene. 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.

Trivia

 * James lost his left arm while fighting a Hunter, but later saluted John with his left hand and was able to fight later, and no mention is made of his missing arm. This raises two theories: he was outfitted with a robotic prosthetic, or a new arm was flash cloned and augmented for him. It is also possible that this was an error on the author's part, as it was implied he was right-handed and had lost his right hand, therefore saluting with his left.