SPARTAN-G023

"Odds are five to one against us, eh? I almost feel sorry for the little bastards"

- James, during the Battle of Selukos

Childhood
James was born on Sigma Octanus IV. As a child he always admired the UNSC Navy and wished to become an admiral when he grew up. Both of his parents were in service with his father as a commander in the navy and his mother as a Marine Corps captain. In 2541, when James was just two years old the ship his father had commanded was destroyed in a naval engagement and his mother was killed during the land battle. Devastated by this James swore he would get back at the covenant. His wish was fulfilled three years later when a Naval officer came to the orphanage he was in looking for recruits for the SPARTAN-III Program.

Basic Training
James entered into the SPARTAN-III Program in 2544, along with over three hundred thirty candidates from the program. During the first exercise to weed out those that didn't fit, the prospective trainees were told to jump out of a Pelican dropship. James, who suffered from acute acrophobia at the time was on the verging of backing out. If it weren't for his friend Tuan who was there with him, who managed to convince him to make the jump, he probably would have been kicked out of the program then and there.

With the successful completion of the jump test, James was sent into the intensive training program alongside the rest of the Gamma recruits. At the beginning for the physical exercise, James, being a fairly average child, showed weaker performance than the rest of the trainees. Acknowledging his near-failure with the first test, James sought desperately to improve himself in the section. He showed great tenacity, and began to go the extra mile for training until he managed to match the rest of the recruits. As the program entered into the basic combat training, James began to show himself worthy of the program. Alongside his natural motivation for revenge against the Covenant aliens who killed his family, James began to show a previously undiscovered violent nature in him, which resulted in even better combat performance than average.

As combat training commenced, James showed his worth as a member of Gamma Company. During the first few combat exercises between trainees and the ONI Drill Instructors, James showed himself to be willing to attain victory at all costs. He would often work together with his trainees, and, using what little skills his parents managed to impart with him, devised complex strategies that focused largely on guerilla-style combat. During one such exercise, James, with a jammed weapon, ruthlessly beat another trainee with it that he was fighting against rather than retreat and come up with a new strategy. His drive to win, however, would prove to be a detriment in many situations as he was easily lured into traps by some of the more cunning members of the program.

When the trainees were assigned to random teams, with random squad leaders, James would again show some of his more negative traits. During combat exercises, James, if he did not feel as though the current squad leader was shown to be a leader would often fail to point out traps or ambuscades. Once they were set, James would often allow the current squad leader to be killed before he would take over the squad and lead them as he saw fit. Under his leadership, the squad would often see improved combat abilities, which in turn would eventually lead to James becoming a SPARTAN squad leader. At the end of the exercises, the Drill Instructors overlooking them often failed to see James pull off these tricks, which allowed him to escape without punishment.

In terms of sparring, James found it to be one of his favourite activities. Even though he typically lost the first few times he tried, he began to get better and better at it until he was regarded as one of the best hand-to-hand combat trainees in the program at graduation.

Team Falcata
With the end of the two-year long basic training, James was assigned to a five-man unit known Team Falcata. After all the statistics of the previous two years had been complied, James was made the leader of the team. Within the team were, Tuan-059, a hyperactive, explosion-loving recruit and a childhood friend of James, George-202, an intelligent but somewhat cowardly recruit who had barely made it through the training, Will-G331, a silent recruit who would often stay away from extended social contact with his teammates and possessed a fascination with Covenant and alien technology, and Kate-G012, one of the more combative members of the program with a very short temper who was often disciplined for it and had trouble making lasting connections with any lone recruit.

As was naturally expected, the team, despite efforts by James and Tuan, failed to work cohesively. One exercise, after Kate's unwillingness to listen to the rest of the team cost resulted in their dismal failure, tensions within the team reached a boiling point. After they were disciplined for their failures, James and Kate reached the point where they began exchanging blows. This eventually resulted in a melee between much of the squad members that the DIs decided not to step into. In the aftermath of it, James and Tuan eventually came out the winners of the melee by working as a team. It was due to this fight that Team Falcata would receive the nickname "Murmillo" after one of the DIs remarked that they fought like gladiators of Ancient Rome. This nickname would eventually stick, with both the DIs and fellow SPARTAN-IIIs referring to them as Team Murmillo rather than Team Falcata.

Augmentations

 * 8942-LQ99: A carbide ceramic ossification catalyst to make skeletons virtually unbreakable.
 * 88005-MX77: A fibroid muscular protein complex that boosted muscle density and strength.
 * 88947-OP24: A retina-inversion stabilizer drug. It boosted color and night vision capabilities.
 * 87556-UD61: Improved colloidal neural disunification solution, which in turn decreases reaction time.

In addition, the following drugs were injected into the James. They were illegal, but his trainer Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose felt that they were necessary for James and his fellow SPARTAN-IIIs to survive.


 * 009762-OO: a mutagen that alters key regions of the subject's frontal lobe. Enhances aggression, strength, endurance, and tolerance to injury. Negative effects include a loss in rational thinking and tactics. This is counter-balanced by the anti-psychotic and bipolar-integration drugs.
 * 009927-DG: miso-olanzapine. an anti-psychotic. Counters the mutagen's properties.
 * 009127-PX: cyclodexione-4. a bipolar-integration drug. Counters the mutagen's properties.

Operation: EAGLE STRIKE
James and Team Murmillo reach the outside of a URF base on Mars via orbital drop. After entering the facility, James and Team Murmillo kill two URF soldiers. After taking control of the URF Command Centre, and killing several URF soldiers, James and Team Murmillo call in for UNSC forces to mop up what is left of the URF base, capturing the local URF lieutenant. After chasing down, and capturing the shuttle holding the stolen nuke, James and Team Murmillo arrest one man, but the other two escape to the port and hold it hostage. After a brief firefight, James and Team Murmillo kill the two URF soldiers, the hostages are freed, and Operation: EAGLE STRIKE is ended.

Battle of Earth
James participated in helping covenant separatist and UNSC forces push the Loyalists and the flood out of Western Europe. After that he was sent back to the UNSC Hurricane.

Battle of Mars
James was sent to the surface of Mars where the UNSC and his team were under heavy fire from Loyalist artillery. James went behind the enemy lines to seek and destroy the Loyalist batteries in order to allow reinforcements to the UNSC base. After joining his team they were sent to capture a Loyalist Command Post before being sent to the UNSC Sherman for another mission.

Battle of Selukos
In 2556, Remnant forces attempted to continue the conflict by launching an invasion of the Inner Colony planet of Selukos. James, along with Team Murmillo and several other SPARTAN-III teams were sent in to aid the UNSC forces in repelling the invasion, as well as eliminating several high-ranking chieftains to facilitate the destruction of overall Remnant leadership.

Battle of Arctic IV
Currently classified.

Battle of Ceres
During the battle, James and his squad landed on the surface of Ceres using Orbital Stealth Insertion Pods. After assaulting, and destroying a Bujkowe Command Post, they were attacked by Covenant Rebel patrols. He soon hijacked two Covenant Rebel spectres, and defeated the main Covenant Rebel force in a battle, even taking out their assault vehicles and banshee air support. After the Covenant Rebels were defeated, he was attacked by a Precursor Dark Maker Bot, which destroyed one of the spectres, before he managed to kill it. Fleet Admiral Stephen Chow decided to send him on a boarding mission to a Precursor ship, where he managed to defeat several Precursor Dark maker Bots and drones, before he returned to the UNSC Spitfire and returned to Earth.

Arcanus
Soon after the Battle of Selukos, Remnant power declined greatly, and left them unable to mount large-scale raid on Human and Sangheili planets. However, unlike many of the other remaining SPARTAN-IIIs, Team Murmillo was split up. Not knowing what happened to his teammates, James was transferred to another sub-section of Section 3, where he became an ONI assassin. Operating under the name Arcanus, he would be used as a deniable asset by ONI when eliminating those who posed a threat to the UNSC.

Arthur Meighon


The first mission James was assigned was the assassination of Arthur Meighon and his family. Arthur Meighon was a successful businessman, and was known to be a backer of the Insurrectionist movement, and his death was ordered to cut the funds of local rebel movements. James was sent to his home in rural Sigma Octanus IV. Under the guise of being a transfer student, James enlisted at the local school that his daughter, Jessie Meighon attended. Experiencing civilian life for the first time on almost two decades, James would befriend Jessie. Acknowledging that he would have to kill the Meighon family soon, James tried to get as close to Jessie as possible, and created a detailed map of the family's house, as well as nearby features.

One day, James got a chance to visit the Meighon family house. Taking this chance, he placed C4 and his machete into his backpack before leaving for the Meighon house. Once he arrived at the house, James attempted to bide time in waiting for Arthur Meighon to return. However, after learning that he would not return until the morning, James decided to take action. Whilst Jessie and her mother weren't looking, James took his machete out of his backpack, and used it to kill them. Once that was done, he went into the backyard and located a gas pipeline. Taking his C4, he placed it behind the gas pipeline, and hooked up a detonator. After this, James took cover in the nearby woods and waited for Arthur to return home. When he did, James detonated the C4. The C4 then ignited the gas that was fed into the house, and the resulting explosion turned the Meighon house to rubble. Once this was done, James contacted ONI agents who led a false inquiry into the explosion, and declared it to be accidental. James was then placed in cryo until he was next needed.

Mental Report
"What truly escapes me is how quickly he experiences a change in personality. I mean, one minute you have this friendly guy, and the next you have a cold, bloodthirsty killer. I'd say something's fucked up about him, just not sure what."

- A DI commenting on James' behaviour