James Forest

James Marcus Forest was born on 8 December 2484 on the Human Colony New Scotland in New Edinburgh City to Johnathan Fraiser a high ranking politician within the local government. His mother was Elizabeth Watson who died sometime between 2484 and 2498.

When he was 14 his father and the ruling body on New Edinburgh voted to rejoin the **United Earth Governing Alliance** or the **Confederation of Independent Worlds** in 2498. When the vote was made official, they worked with local freighters to smuggle in weapons from Alliance Allies to prepare for a possible fight. However, when the Union was informed of them breaking away, they responded by launching an invasion against the population. His family was lucky enough to be evacuated by a local freighter captain who offered to smuggle those who he could fit off world. His family were selected by a random lottery.

He would watch as the Union bombarded the planet from orbit killing millions of people in a few hours. They would arrive three months later in Alliance space being ferried by various transports that ran between non-aligned planets.

For the next four years he found it difficult to blend in and adjust to Alliance life on Earth where his father took up a successful political career working to improve outer colony relations. He found it particularly difficult to learn fluent English after having spoken Gaelic and Scots most of his life. When he turned 18 he enlisted in the Alliance Navy where he served for four years until attending the Naval Academy at Union Point.

When he was 27 he was recruited by the Office of Naval Intelligence due to his psychological knowledge of those living behind enemy lines. He worked closely with William McBatten where they served behind enemy lines for several years launching various psychological campaigns to discourage the enemy. The two were eventually recruited into Special Warfare Group II where they were inducted into the **Ghost Program** where they received extensive training in psychological warfare and infiltration techniques, however he failed out due to underlying psychological reasons. In 2509 he spent three years teaching at the Naval Academy where he became close friends with William Barnes. However in 2522 he would give the order that would result in the death of his friend Barnes.

In 2540 he would become disenfranchised by the various ethical violations that ONI had committed as well as their involvement in the **Justinian Program** . He would be transferred to Navy once more, where he gained the rank of Commodore.

In 2552 he would assign his own student and god-son Johnathan Mercer to the *Spirit of Endurance* . However following a disturbing message that had pointed at the Reavers being related to the Justinian Program, he opted to whistle blow on the Office of Naval Intelligence, in how they had been pulling the strings.

However in 2554 he would commit suicide. This however would later be confirmed to have been a forced suicide by the Office of Naval Intelligence who threatened to kill Kassandra Lewis and Johnathan Mercer's family as a way to silence him. His death would ultimately however be their undoing, as he had a previous pacemaker set to sent a data file to various news networks and to several key figures in both the Navy and the Senate. The resulting investigation would result in the Office of Naval Intelligence being dissolved and major key figures being arrested. It also allowed several Scientists to create a antidote to the PAX-18 Virus.