Jamesbio

James Vega

 

Role:

James Vega is Shepard's guard, the Normandy's weapons specialist, and a character who is able to ask Shepard questions about the choices he made throughout ME1 and ME2. He helps Shepard escape Earth (if Shepard is aligned with the Alliance). James is able to convince the Hegemony to grant part of their main fleet to the war effort, by either giving them a detailed report implicating a Collector-Hegemony deal, or making the report public, causing the Hegemony to add more fleet support in an attempt to stem public uproar. He is also able to convince several of the Alliance's Corsair squads (not located on Earth) to join the war effort by joining the final battle. James is bisexual, having had a previous relationship with Steven Cortez and seeking a relationship with Ashley/Kaidan. He can be romanced by Shepard.

 

Personal History:

James Vega is an Alliance Corsair – an operative given special rights by the Alliance Parliament, not unlike a Spectre. One of the youngest Corsairs, along with brightest and most gifted Alliance soldiers, James has an exceptional service record that is said to rival Shepard's in service accomplishments. Friendly but focused, respectful but forceful, competitive but never sacrificing mission priorities, James is both loved and hated by Alliance Parliament.

 

During Shepard's struggles against the Collectors in ME2, James Vega lead a squad of Corsairs to a colony rumored to be the target of batarian pirates. Instead of batarians attacking, a Collector cruiser arrived at the colony, killing or capturing most of the population, along with most of James's troop. Vega and one other soldier managed to disable the cruiser by activating and utilizing the colony's defense AA guns. James contacted Corsair command for further orders, and was told to keep the Collector ship on the colony at any cost – and to destroy the ship, even with colonists onboard, if necessary. The Collector ship repaired itself, and attempted to leave the colony but James, following orders, fired the AA guns at the craft. The cruiser fell out of the sky, and caught fire upon impacting the planet surface. Despite the fact that the colony was in flames, all colonists and most of James's troop were dead, and the Collector cruiser was partially destroyed. The Alliance was able to salvage large amounts of technology from the wreckage, and James was awarded a medal of honor. Disgusted with the notion that the Alliance was more interested in securing alien technology than protecting its own people, Vega went to Omega, looking for a way to vent his trouble. There he was recruited by David Anderson to guard Shepard.

 

Personality:

 

Generally polite with a dry sense of humor and a questioning nature, James Vega is known to be a risk-taking individual, often recklessly putting himself in harms way. Despite his personable nature, James is an undisputed adrenaline junky, willing to sacrifice himself to get the job done. Onboard the SR2 James develops close friendships with several other crew members, including:

Garrus, whose alter ego “Archangel” James finds inspiring.

Ashley/Kaidan, whom James has worked with before.

Tali/Kal Reeger, who James enjoys talking to about quarian culture.

Jack, who shares James's passion for tattoos and firefights.

Jacob, who James worked with briefly before Jacob went to work with Cerberus.

 

Missions:

 

James has two side quests: the action oriented “Rescue the Corsair”, and the more conversation oriented quest  “Persuade the Hegemony”. He is a full squad-mate, and is available for every mission since his recruitment on either Earth (aligned with the Alliance) or the Citadel (aligned with Cerberus).

 

In the side quest “Rescue the Corsair”, Shepard gets a distress call onboard the SR2 that some Alliance marines, lead by a Corsair, are evacuating a civilian colony under attack from husk forces. James recognizes the Corsair as the other survivor of the Collector attack he faced several months ago, and is eager to assist him. After scanning the planet where the people are located, Shepard and James take the shuttle down to the planet. Most of the colony has made it aboard a frigate slightly smaller than the Normandy, but husk-harvesters shot down the remaining escape shuttles. The survivors, including a dozen people and the Corsair (a man named Spencer Carlson) are crouched behind a building to avoid husk fire. Shepard and company fight their way through the husk forces, and lead the people  building-to-building to avoid gunfire. When the people are a safe distance from the advancing husk forces, the Normandy flies down to the planet and bombs the husk forces. The colony must be abandoned, but the colonists are saved. Carlson tells Vega to meet her on the Citadel for drinks.

Next time Shepard is aboard the Citadel he can find James and Carlson at a bar. Carlson will buy Shepard a drink, and James will explain that he is trying to convince Carlson to join the Alliance main force in retaking Earth. Carlson will respond by saying that he is more interested in protecting colonies. Shepard can convince Carlson to either join the main military force, or to keep on protecting colony worlds. Either way, Carlson will stay in contact with Vega, and give him the contact numbers of several dozen other Corsairs that might be interested in joining the main military force planning on assaulting the Reapers.

 

Upon convincing Carlson, James will be grateful and surprised at Shepard's willingness to help remote colonies. Shepard can romance Vega from this point on, if (s)he so chooses.

 

[Note: this mission is supposed to be the equivalent of an ME2 loyalty quest, but rather than being one large mission where Shepard learns about James's history and personal problems, I decided to keep it entirely professional and on track with ME3's premise of stopping the Reapers. It is also divided into two parts: the larger combat section (supposed to be equivalent in size to that of a ME2 N7 side quest) and a smaller conversation section (between James and Carlson)]

 

“Persuade the Hegemony” is side quest that takes place after Shepard's trial with the batarians. Its purpose is to gain more war assets at the last minute. The mission is only available if Shepard completed James's side quest “Rescue the Corsair”

After the trial, James gets a message from Spencer Carlson containing information that could  strongly damage the Hegemony's public image. When Shepard asks James what the information is, Vega reveals that the Hegemony made deals with the Collectors several months ago: destroy a human colony so that the batarians could take it over, and they would give the Collectors Prothean relics in return. While the Hegemony had no way of knowing that the Collectors were Reaper agents – let alone repurposed Protheans – if this information was ever revealed to the Council, the batarian government would be in deep inter-galactic scrutiny. The Hegemony could be seen as having aided the Reapers.

 

For Paragon points, Shepard can take this information to the Council. They will be shocked and angered by the Hegemony's deals with the Collectors, and will call them to a meeting (which Shepard and Vega will not be a part of). After wards, Shepard will get a video call from the Council revealing that they made a deal with the batarians to not release the Collector information. In exchange, the Hegemony leant a larger amount of their military force to the war campaign.

For Renegade points, Shepard can take this information to Liara. Using Kasumi Goto/a random agent (if Kasumi is not in ME3), Liara will hack into the digital advertisement boards all over the Citadel, and reveal the Hegemony's secret. In the resulting uproar from the public, the Hegemony will lend a large amount of their military force to the war campaign.