James Ackerson

Were you looking for James Ackerson's brother, Ruwan, or James, the SPARTAN-II?

Colonel James Ackerson is a member of the UNSC Army and the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). His CSV is impressive, as he had survived at least three battles against the Covenant. Early on in the war, he received a promotion and volunteered for a dozen black ops. Ackerson was employed in ONI as a liaison officer, likely being the one maintaining the relationship between ONI and the UNSC Army.

Childhood
During his childhood, when Ackerson used to play with his brother Ruwan Ackerson, they imagined that they were fighting a dragon. Together, they created the imaginary Key of Osanalan whenever they imagined fighting the dragon.

SPARTAN-III Program
"You want to trade lives for time..."

- Admiral Parangosky

"Yes, ma'am. Isn't that the job of a soldier?"

- Colonel Ackerson

In 2531, he presented a plan, to the ONI Senior brass Captain Gibson, Rear Admiral Rich, and Vice Admiral Margaret O. Parangosky, which was the SPARTAN-III project. They approved and he went from field officer to a desk job. At first he was upset by this, but apparently grew to prefer it as opposed to his dangerous but more exciting job as a field officer. It was Ackerson who chose Kurt-051 to serve as the commanding officer of the remaining Spartan-III's.

Rivalries
With the concurrent project underway, he focused all of his efforts on political maneuvers, rather than battlefield tactics. He was arrogant and condescending of most other people in ONI, even top-ranking brass such as Major General Nicolas Strauss.

Ackerson, headed several high-profile projects at ONI. Because his projects were often competing with Dr. Catherine Halsey's projects for funds, he had a long-standing rivalry with Halsey and her SPARTAN-IIs. He was also a part of the UNSC Security Committee and Special Weapons Development at HIGHCOM. He had a private AI named Araqiel, whom he tasked with spying on Dr. Halsey and her "supposed to be confidential" SPARTAN-II project.

During the test of John-117's MJOLNIR Armor, he tried to make the SPARTAN fail, by authorizing the use of Lotus Anti Tank Mines, a squad of ODSTs, three 30mm chain-guns, and even an air strike with a SkyHawk Jump Jet against the SPARTAN, severely jeopardizing his life and causing him moderate injury. Ackerson's purpose was to either disgrace the SPARTAN-IIs and Dr Halsey, or to kill off the most well-known Spartan alive. Nevertheless, John succeeded, and Cortana, who was also part of the exercise, sought revenge, by wreaking havoc in Ackerson's private files, hacking into his personal computer and sending a note requesting reassignment to front line service, and sending a large amount of money from his account to a brothel and then sending the bill to his home, where his wife would find it. However, he managed to weasel his way out of this predicament.

On his computer in CASTLE Base, Dr. Halsey found extensive records of the SPARTAN-IIs in a folder called S-III. One file was labeled CPOMZ and contained star charts. This suggested to Halsey that Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez was involved.

The S-III file contained a folder titled "KING UNDER THE MOUNTAIN." It contained the records of the CASTLE base and a complete survey of Mechanite Mountain, where the original mineral mines were located before they were taken over by ONI. Mechanite Mountain was an extinct volcano where Dr. Halsey found the Forerunner Crystal artifact. Halsey used this to locate the SPARTAN-IIIs on Onyx.

In 2552, Ackerson was scheduled to operate on a front-line post. However, due to unknown reasons, he didn't follow the assignment and remained one of the members of the UNSC Security Committee.

The Battle of Mare Erythraeum
After this, it was unknown what happened to him after the latter strife, until he was found at the Battle of Mare Erythraeum. His UNSC Forces fought valiantly against the Covenant Loyalist Army, but were eventually routed and defeated. He was captured during the battle and interrogated by Jiralhanae Commander Lepidus of the Covenant Cruiser Triumphant Declaration in the Fleet of Furious Redemption. During this interrogation, Ackerson told Lepidus under duress of the Key of Osanalan, stating it was a Forerunner object located somewhere in Cleveland, Ohio, instigating the Covenant invasion of Cleveland. He told them this to ensure his brother's survival: The Covenant would invade Cleveland rather than destroy it, and Ruwan's knowledge of the Key of Osanalan (that it was a fake) would help him and others escape the city. After the Covenant figure out that the Key of Osanalan doesn't exist, Ackerson is decapitated by his Brute Captors.

Personality
Ackerson is one of the most cunning, yet shortsighted characters. His decision to begin a SPARTAN-III project was partially due to buying humanity more time, but also to seek revenge on his rival Dr Halsey. Ackerson easily manipulated Admiral Rich and Captain Gibson due to Halsey's success where they failed, which granted him approval to set the program in motion. While he does not hold the relationship with the SPARTAN-IIIs as Kurt-051 does, he still ensures that both their training and missions remain near-flawless, that is to say undiscovered. Ackerson lacks the brilliance of Dr Halsey, and caused the deaths of nearly a thousand SPARTANs due to his decision to fund cheaper armour. He can also be savage at times, putting his revenge before the war, and nearly caused the death of John-117 and Cortana, which would be a major blow to the UNSC due to their small number of Spartans and the AI's expensive creation and purpose of the upcoming and critical mission. When Ackerson was captured by Lepidus, he had put an effort to stop the glassing of Earth and to protect his brother Ruwan. This shows some sanity in his person.

Trivia

 * He is the only known UNSC personnel to be in the UNSC Army.
 * After the destruction of the Spartan-III Beta Company, Ackerson tried to convince Kurt-051 to reassign SPARTAN-B292 (Tom) to his personal command to head his own Special Warfare team. Instead, due to Admiral Parangosky's orders, he reluctantly agreed to have the Spartan reassigned to Camp Currahee, to train Gamma Company.
 * Ackerson's rank dictates that his desk job had kept him at Colonel for almost 20 years, although he could have been a Lieutenant Colonel in 2531.