James Roberts

From Memory-Zeta

USS Pegasus (NCC-53847-E) - Non-Player Characters

Switch to: Player Characters

Nathan Bryant : Elizabeth Collins : Madison Conrad

Colonel James C. Roberts, PhD

Full Name

James Charles Roberts

Position

Commander, Balkora Sector JAG Office, Starbase 425

Species

Human Male

Born

1 December 2349 (Aged 37)

Homeworld

Earth

OUT OF CHARACTER

Status

Non-Player Character

Played by

Dave Patterson

Affiliation

U.S.S. Pegasus NCC-53847-E

Actor

Matthew Leitch

Colonel James C. Roberts was a commander of the Balkora Sector Judge Advocate General's Office.

[edit] PROFILE

Height: 6" 1'
Weight: 165lbs
Hair Colour: Brown
Eye Colour: Blue
Skin Tone: Caucasian, Tanned
Physique/Frame: Athletic
Distinguishing Features: Colonel Roberts has scars on his chest, arms and back from injuries sustained during wars with the Klingons and the Dominion.

[edit] BACKGROUND

James Charles Roberts was born at 0622 on December 1, 2349 to Mary and William Roberts. Mary was a lecturer at the University of Ulster’s Magee Campus in Londonderry, Ireland while William was a Starfleet Major serving at Marine Corps Base Quantico. As the couples first, and at that time only, child the Roberts’ doted on their son. Four years later the Roberts’ had another child, a girl this time, who they named Heather.

James had a relatively normal and stable childhood with the family living in Arlington, Virginia. Because of his job, William would often spend several months of the year away from home due to deployment while Mary remained at home to raise their children. Mary knew before she married William what marrying a Starfleet meant but she found it difficult nonetheless. When James was five his father requested a staff assignment at Starfleet Command so that he could spend more time with his young family.

Now spending all of his time on Earth, William was able to take a more active role in his son’s life. He introduced the young boy to several sports and the two of them would go away at least one weekend a month for ‘father-son bonding’. These generally consisted of camping trips in various locations around Earth with the pair of them spending the weekend horseback riding or hiking. As James grew older the list of activities grew to include rock climbing and surfing.

During his later years at Primary School, James joined the schools soccer team, having already spent several years playing the game with friends in his neighbourhood. He enjoyed the game and making the school team was a proud moment for James. Another sport that James began playing around the age of eight was basketball. His father had put up a basketball hoop in the driveway and young James would often spend hours shoot hoops alone, sometimes with friends or even his father. William considered it important that his son stay active and felt that sports were a good way to achieve this.

As the elder sibling, James felt that it was his responsibility to look out for his younger sister. When Elizabeth was in the fourth grade a couple of boys her age had taken to bullying her. As a mark of how she felt about her older brother, how close they were, she didn’t tell her parents but went straight to James. He dealt with the problem himself before telling his parents about the incident. When Heather entered High School and began dating, James became overprotective of his sister and once or twice threatened her boyfriends. Heather appreciated her brothers concern but asked him to not threaten them anymore.

In High School James once again took part in the school’s sports teams, both soccer and basketball. As a result James was one of the more popular kids at the school. He was by no means a bookworm but James was a bright student and his grades in High School were well above average. His mother tried to push him to going to college and getting a job in civilian life but James had always wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a Marine. When he graduated from High School at 16 James applied to Starfleet Academy and was accepted. His classes began in the fall of 2365.

As the son of a Marine who’d spent most of his life being active, the transition to Starfleet life wasn’t difficult. His grades were again above average and he made his fair share of friends right off the bat. A lot of those friends were future Marine Cadets but he got along well with Navel personnel too. As with Primary and High School, James joined two of the Academy’s sports teams. This time he decided on the rugby and basketball teams. Eventually he rose to captain the rugby team in his fourth year. Cadet Roberts completed his first year at the Academy successfully and moved onto Marine studies the following year.

Since High School James had struggled with his identity. While his friends were talking about girls, James was aware that he wasn’t attracted to girls in the same way. He pushed those feelings aside for several years but when he reached the Academy he met a fellow Marine Cadet, Aiden Ross. James was immediately taken with Aiden and he could no longer deny the truth; he was gay.

When he told his parents, his mother wasn’t thrilled by the idea but she understood and told him that she still loved him and supported him. His father, however, refused to speak to him for six months. This crushed James, he had always been closer to his father than his mother. It wasn’t until Thanksgiving of his first year, when Mary finally talked some sense into her husband that William spoke to his son again. It took several years for them to completely patch up their relationship but the two finally regained the father-son relationship they had previously.

Most of his friends accepted him for who he was, though some turned their backs on him, refused to speak to him and called him derogatory names. One or two even took to trying to physically attack him. However, because of his athletic ability and the hand-to-hand combat skills he was learning they were unsuccessful.

In addition to the leadership classes and combat training that James went through as part of his Marine studies, he also had to choose a degree major. After much thought during the summer months, James decided on a Political Science Major because of his mother’s work in the field at the University of Ulster. Cadet Roberts excelled in his Marine training, particularly the hand-to-hand combat and his field combat leadership classes over the next three years. His fourth year at the Academy focused on the skills he would need to lead Force Reconnaissance units. This included his taking the Basic Reconnaissance course in the second semester of his final year.

James was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the summer of 2369 and immediately began his 26-week course at The Basic School located at Marine Corps Base Quantico, which built upon what he learned at the Academy in training him how to be an officer in the Marine Corps; this was followed by Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape (SERE) Training at NAS North Island and Airborne Training at Fort Benning. These two courses were the final two pieces necessary to complete his training as a Recon Marine. Following this training, he was assigned to Command 2nd Platoon of the 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company.

The first few years of this assignment saw 2nd Lieutenant Roberts lead his Platoon in actions against the Maquis. James didn’t like the idea of going into combat against other Federation citizens. These clashes were few and far between, the Maquis preferred to go up against the Cardassians. In 2371 James was promoted to 1st Lieutenant and 2nd Platoon continued to spend most of their time training for deployment with a couple of peacekeeping missions to allow them to put their training to use. In 2372 war broke out between the Federation and Klingons and the 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company was deployed to the front lines.

Going up against the Klingons was very different than anything James had experienced by that stage of his short career as a Starfleet Marine. Even the training simulations at the Academy didn’t really prepare him for real combat. The Klingons often preferred foregoing their disruptors and using their Bat’leths and Mek’leths instead and James’ skill in hand-to-hand combat came in hand in these encounters. He walked away from the war with the Klingons with little more than a few scars and a Bat’leth and Mek’leth of his own: the spoils of war.

By mid 2373 the growing threat from the Dominion had caused the war with the Klingons to cool down. The war had been James’ first taste of real combat and had been the first time men and women under his command had died. It was a difficult thing for the young Lieutenant to deal with, particularly because, as their Commanding Officer, he was responsible for their safety. He found writing the letters home to be one of the most difficult duties he had as a Platoon Commander. When the Dominion announced an alliance with the Cardassians, forcing the Klingons to retreat from Cardassian space, the Khitomer Accords were reinstated but already the Alpha Quadrant was gearing up for another war, a more bloody and brutal one, and the training the 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company were put through was much more intensive. The Dominion War began in early 2374 with the Second Battle of Deep Space Nine.

The Jem’Hadar were a much different enemy than the Klingons. Both had a sense of honour but the Jem’Hadar were much more relentless and much slower to give up their plasma rifles. The Recon Marines were the tip of the Marine Corps spear and as such the 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company were among the first to see combat in most campaigns. The opening months of the war were a bloody affair with the 3rd FRC taking heavy losses. Among them was the Company Executive Officer, 1st Lieutenant Andrew Logan. As the next senior officer within the Company, James was promoted to Acting Company Executive Officer.

This didn’t mean less time on the frontlines for Lieutenant Roberts; rather he continued to lead his Marines from the front. Three months after the death of Lieutenant Logan, James was promoted to Marine Captain and his appointment, as Company Executive Officer, was made permanent. There was no chance to celebrate his promotion because the war continued to grind on. Each campaign seemed bloodier than the last. Starfleet’s retaking of Deep Space Nine raised moral briefly but the loss of Betazed to Dominion forces was a crushing blow and moral was at an all time low. Even the Romulans joining the war couldn’t lift their spirits.

The first Battle of Chin’toka was a success, despite the heavy loss of life of the opening stages of the battle, and that’s before ground forces were landed. The ground combat stage of the Battle of Chin’toka wasn’t nearly as difficult as it was believed it would be. The major population centres fell quickly to the Allied forces despite resistance from Cardassian and Dominion troops on the planets. The victory in Chin’toka finally raised moral and the 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company stayed on Chin’toka for several months as part of a peacekeeping force until they were recalled to their training base in the Gamma Tauri system in preparation for the next major offensive; the Liberation of Betazed.

The Liberation of Betazed was the bloodiest operation of the conflict up until that point and the 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company took heavy losses in the first few hours. 2nd Platoon lost over half of it’s Marines, the men and women James had led for years before the beginning of the war. Those losses hit James hardest following the battle and he considered resigning from Starfleet when the war was over. Early in 2375 the Company Commanding Officer was killed in a Dominion ambush on Minos Korva. Marine Captain Roberts was thrust into the role of Acting Company Commanding Officer.

James held this position through the end of the Dominion War, leading the 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company through the final stages of the Dominion War. The paperwork in this role increased but James didn’t shirk his responsibilities as a combat leader and continued to lead his Marines into combat. With the end of the Battle of Cardassia, the Dominion War was effectively over. James’ promotion to Company Commanding Officer was made permanent and the 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company was assigned to peacekeeping operations on Cardassia and to provide assistance to the aid operations. Marine Captain Roberts remained in this position for a year. During that time he considered his future. James knew that he didn’t want to remain in a combat unit anymore. He’d seen too many friends due during the two years of the Dominion War and the year and a half of war with the Klingons. Finally he decided to remain in Starfleet but to switch to a career with the Diplomatic Corps.

James retuned to Earth and worked as an instructor in hand-to-hand combat classes until classes began in the fall. At 27, James was the oldest person in his class and some of the cadets in the classes he was taking nicknamed him ‘gramps’ or referred to him as ‘the old man’ but most of them looked up to him as a combat veteran who’d gained more than his fair share of scars, both physical and emotional. James did very well in his classes, his Bachelors degree in Political Science had provided him with. This time around he majored in Law, to better prepare him for a career as a Diplomatic Officer & Staff Judge Advocate. In his second year he was promoted to Major and continued to teach classes while studying. James completed his diplomatic training in 2379 and was assigned to the Sovereign-class U.S.S. Sovereign as her Assistant Chief Diplomatic Officer.

Major Roberts’ position on the Sovereign allowed him to get his feet wet in the world of diplomacy. As a front-line exploration vessel, the Sovereign was involved with several First Contacts and she was also called upon to mediate a number of territorial disputes closer to home. Even four years after the Dominion War there were still a considerable number of disputes. All of this gave James a good deal of experience as a Diplomatic Officer. After two years on the Sovereign, Major Roberts was promoted to Chief Diplomatic Officer when the previous officer to hold the position was transferred and recommended him for the position.

After a year in this position, James was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. At that time he applied to the Marine War College back on Earth and was accepted. He began classes there in the fall of 2382. A year later he graduated with a Masters degree in Interstellar Relations and was assigned to the Diplomatic Corps Headquarters at Starfleet Command on Earth. His role was as a Senior Diplomatic Officer, which meant that he would deal with foreign Ambassadors to the Federation; he would also accompany Federation Ambassadors when necessary and consult the Federation Council and the Office of the President. When he completed his Masters degree, James began his Doctorate in Politics and Interstellar Relations.

Just days after receiving his PhD, in 2386, James was reassigned to Starbase 418 as her new Chief Diplomatic Officer. Despite enjoying his role on Earth, James looked forward to taking up the post and reconnecting with an old roommate from the Academy, Matthew Anderson. After several weeks on the station Lieutenant Colonel Roberts was informed by Captain Serege that his department was being merged with the Legal Services Office and that in addition to being the Chief Diplomatic Officer he would also be the senior Staff Judge Advocate.

In January 2387, James was promoted to the rank of Colonel and issued with new orders. Within two weeks he would take command of the Balkora Sector JAG Office, based out of Starbase 425. As soon as James arrived he bought a house on the surface of Balkora III, preferring to live on the planet than on the station.

[edit] STARFLEET SERVICE RECORD

2365 - 2366	General Studies Cadet	Starfleet Academy, Earth Campus
2366 - 2367	Marine Studies	Starfleet Academy, Earth Campus
2367 - 2368	Marine Studies	Starfleet Academy, Earth Campus
2368 - 2369	Marine Studies (Recon Specialisation)	Starfleet Academy, Earth Campus
2369 - 2369	The Basic School	Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia
2369 - 2369	Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) Training	Naval Air Station North Island, California
2369 - 2370	Airborne School	Fort Benning, Georgia
2370 - 2371	Platoon Commanding Officer	2nd Platoon, 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company
2371 - 2372	Platoon Commanding Officer	2nd Platoon, 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company
2372 - 2374	Platoon Commanding Officer	2nd Platoon, 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company
2374 - 2374	Acting Company Executive Officer	3rd Force Reconnaissance Company
2374 - 2375	Company Executive Officer	3rd Force Reconnaissance Company
2375 - 2375	Acting Company Commanding Officer	3rd Force Reconnaissance Company
2375 - 2376	Company Commanding Officer	3rd Force Reconnaissance Company
2376 - 2377	Diplomatic Studies Year 1/ Marine Instructor	Starfleet Academy, Earth Campus
2377 - 2378	Diplomatic Studies Year 2/ Marine Instructor	Starfleet Academy, Earth Campus
2378 - 2379	Diplomatic Studies Year 3/ Marine Instructor	Starfleet Academy, Earth Campus
2379 - 2381	Assistant Chief Diplomatic Officer	U.S.S. Sovereign NCC-73811
2381 - 2382	Chief Diplomatic Officer	U.S.S. Sovereign NCC-73811
2382 - 2382	Chief Diplomatic Officer	U.S.S. Sovereign NCC-73811
2382 - 2383	Student	Marine War College
2383 - 2386	Senior Diplomatic Officer	Diplomatic Corps Headquarters, Starfleet Command
2386 - 2386	Chief Diplomatic Officer	Starbase 418
2386 - 2387	Chief Diplomatic Officer/ Senior Staff Judge Advocate	Starbase 418
2387 - Present	Commander, Balkora Sector JAG Office	Starbase 425

[edit] QUALIFICATIONS/BADGES

Naval Parachutist Badge
Combatant Diver Badge
B.A. Political Science, Starfleet Academy
LLB (Hons) Law, Starfleet Academy
M.A. Interstellar Relations, Marine War College
PhD Politics and Interstellar Relations, Starfleet Academy

[edit] PERSONAL RECORDS

FAMILY
Mother: Mary Roberts (nee Edwards), PhD, Senior Lecturer, University of Ulster
Father: Major General William Roberts (Retired)

Sister: Heather Richmond
Brother-in-Law: Paul Richmond
Nephew: Lucas Richmond

Marital Status: Single

INTERESTS AND AMBITIONS

Likes: Colonel Roberts prefers Tea over coffee (especially Lemon and Mint Tea), Pasta in all its forms, running and sports

Dislikes: James dislikes laziness and won’t abide it in those under his command. He can’t stand people being unprepared, stemming from his experience during the Second Federation-Klingon War and the war with the Dominion.

Strengths: In addition to being well trained in hand-to-hand combat and with phasers of various types, James is well versed in Interstellar Law and the customs and histories of the major powers in both the Alpha and Beta Quadrant.

Limitations: Colonel Roberts has a fiery temper when provoked and absolutely refuses to leave one of his people behind.

Special Abilities: James is an expert marksman and is also trained in the use of bladed and beam weapons used by a number of non-Federation races.

Ambitions: One day James hopes to reach the rank of General, perhaps become the Judge Advocate General of Starfleet.

Quirks: Colonel Roberts still wears a Marine K-Bar knife on his belt when on duty, despite his no-longer serving in a combat unit.

Motto: Celer, Silens, Mortalis (Swift, Silent, Deadly) – Marine Force Reconnaissance Motto

Hobbies/Interests: James enjoys a variety of sports including soccer, rugby and basketball as well as several outdoor activities such as running, hiking, rock climbing, horseback riding, surfing and swimming. Some of his less active pursuits include playing the guitar, reading and spending time with friends.

Notable Possessions: A Klingon Bat’leth given to him by the Klingon Ambassador to the Federation in 2383.

LINGUISTIC ABILITY
Spoken: Federation Standard, Klingon, Bajoran and Romulan
Written: Federation Standard, Klingon, Bajoran and Romulan
Read: Federation Standard, Klingon, Bajoran and Romulan