James Vega

James Vega is a human Systems Alliance Marine and squad member in Mass Effect 3. While Vega is an experienced soldier, he is unfamiliar with the seedy underbelly and political workings of the galaxy.

Mass Effect: Homeworlds
James Vega joins the Systems Alliance Marines at Camp Pendleton in 2176 following the encouragement of his uncle, Emilio Vega. Upon returning home, his father Joshua Sanders sends him to pick up a package in San Diego. After obtaining the package from a shady dealer, the police move in and pursue James across the city. James escapes by slipping into a restaurant and blending in with the staff.

After bringing the package of drugs to his father, James' dreams of a military career are almost dashed when Josh threatens to tell the military what he did that night so that James will be forced to stay with him and serve as his errand boy. Later, Emilio finds James on the beach outside his home and reveals he knew what happened, and that Josh won't dare talk to the military because he would implicate himself in the drug deal. Emilio tells James that only he can choose how to live his life. James goes on to be accepted by the Alliance and becomes a Marine.

Mass Effect: Paragon Lost
Early in his career, Vega was stationed on Fehl Prime, a colony in a remote star system with a team of elite Special Forces soldiers. When the Collectors attack, determined to capture the population, Vega and his soldiers were tasked with protecting the civilians.

Mass Effect: Conviction
Some time after the aftermath on Fehl Prime, Vega had taken up residence in Omega playing cards in bars. During a game, a broadcast regarding Commander Shepard's actions during the events of Arrival and the galaxy's reactions aired on a nearby vidscreen. As a reporter related how batarian officials had called for Shepard's head, Vega calmly tore the screen off the wall, telling the bartender to pay for the damages with his winnings.

The group of batarians he had been playing cards with took umbrage at the act, accusing Vega of being a "Shepard Lover". The Marine proceeded to defend himself against the attacking batarians with the damaged screen and a knife before escaping. Midway through his escape, he encountered Admiral Anderson. The Admiral commented on the difficulty he endured while trying to find Vega, and ordered the Lieutenant to clean up and follow him. Anderson told Vega to "get over" the incident on Fehl, and revealed that he had a job for Vega. Vega promptly refused, claiming he didn't wish to do so and defiantly demanded why Anderson simply doesn't toss him into the brig and be done with it.

Anderson explained that Vega's job is close, as he had recruited the Marine to guard the brig and its sole prisoner: Commander Shepard.

Weapon proficiencies

 * Assault Rifles
 * Shotguns

Dossier
James Vega is tasked to escort Shepard to an Alliance defence committee hearing, but the hearing is interrupted when the Reapers attack Earth. Vega and Ashley/Kaidan (depending on who survived Virmire) retrieve the Normandy and pick Shepard up from Earth; Anderson convinces Shepard to leave Earth until Shepard can gather allies from the other races. Vega, however, is displeased with this decision and does not wish to leave Earth; unfortunately for him, Shepard overrules him since with their current resources they cannot realistically drive the Reapers away from the Earth at the time. Vega is still displeased but lets the matter drop in favor of professionalism.

On Mars, after Shepard and Ashley/Kaidan reunite with Liara, Shepard sends Vega outside the Mars facility so that Vega can cut Cerberus off if they succeed in escaping with the Prothean data. This turns out to be a wise move; Dr. Eva Coré, revealed to be a Cerberus mole, does indeed manage to get outside the facility with at least part of the Prothean data, but when she attempts to leave by shuttle, Vega crashes his own shuttle into hers, cutting off her escape.

Later, on the Citadel, upon noticing how quiet and peaceful the Citadel is, only because the races living here are isolated from the Reaper threat and almost don't believe it's real, Vega finally admits that leaving Earth was the correct decision for Shepard to make. The other races need, in Vega's opinion, a wake-up call, and staying on Earth would not have accomplished such a thing.

The first time Shepard visits James Vega in the Shuttle Bay after returning to the Normandy from the Citadel, Vega and Shepard will eventually get into a sparring match, during which Vega reveals that his old CO, Captain Toni, a "hard-assed son of a bitch" but a "good leader" in Vega's words, was killed along with most of Vega's squad while the squad was protecting a civilian colony from a Collector attack. The leadership vacuum left by Captain Toni falling in battle was left to Vega himself, and Vega had to make a choice between saving the colony or saving the intel the squad had recovered that could be used to destroy the Collectors. Vega chose to save the intel, but found out far too late that his choice was rendered completely unnecessary since Shepard managed to destroy the Collector threat without the intel Vega saved, which meant that Vega allowed the colony to die for nothing. In the present during the sparring match, Shepard expresses worry that Vega is blaming himself unnecessarily for what happened to the colony, and Shepard believes, based on Vega's reckless stunt with the shuttle back on Mars, that because of his guilt Vega has ceased to care whether he lives or dies. Shepard advises Vega that he needs to get past that past incident and stay focused.

If Shepard speaks to Vega enough, Vega will invite Shepard to go to the Purgatory Bar for drinks on the Citadel. Upon speaking to Vega in Purgatory, Vega reveals that the lower-ranking soldiers he is having drinks with are slightly intimidated by Shepard, and advises that Shepard buy them all a round of drinks to get them relaxed and consider Shepard to be one of them. Shepard can refuse, prompting Vega to ask Shepard to at least buy Vega a drink. Shepard can agree, and during the round of drinks Vega will start up a variation of an old Scottish toast ; either Shepard can finish the toast via a renegade interrupt, prompting the soldiers to become friendly with Shepard, or Vega will finish it, apologizing for thinking the Commander "knew that one".

Eventually, James Vega will ask to speak to Shepard privately in Shepard's cabin. After Shepard invites Vega to the Captain's Cabin using the intercom, Vega will explain that he has been approached with an offer from the Systems Alliance to undergo N7 training. However, Vega is unsure whether or not to accept the offer since N7 training is a lot of work, and Vega humbly wonders why he was even approached, given his past failure, hence the private conversation. He also confesses that during that mission, his team was betrayed by a colonist who was actually a Cerberus spy working with the Collectors. Vega had no choice but to kill the spy and destroy the Collector ship, which left himself and one other squad member as the sole survivors of the mission. Shepard can either encourage Vega to go for it without hesitation or tell him that such a decision should not be taken lightly.

Either way, however, eventually Shepard can meet Vega in the refugee camp getting something tattooed on his shirtless back. Upon being queried, Vega explains that he eventually decided to accept N7 training after all, and is getting a tattoo on his back to celebrate the occasion. Shepard can either congratulate him or admonish him not to take N7 training lightly since it involves huge responsibilities; then, Shepard asks Vega if he can return to duty given the pain from the tattoo. Vega responds that it's true that he's not looking forward to putting his armor back on after getting a tattoo on his back but the pain will not prevent him from being part of Shepard's squad.

After the the Cerberus scientists have been rescued, Vega and Garrus are seen in the mess, challenging each other to prove their superiority as warriors by relating their previous battles. Vega jokingly retaliates at every one of Garrus's accomplishments, finally saying that he taught a Harvester youngling to let him fly it, at which Garrus will dismiss it as a fake and ask if the Alliance actually taught him to make up stuff. James will proudly reply that its a gift.

After the the assault on the geth dreadnought, Vega questions Shepard's trust in Legion or the Geth VI. If Legion is the synthetic on board, the Commander can choose either to assure Vega of his trustworthiness or agree with the need to keep an eye on him. Vega agrees that its not fair to judge an individual by their species; if Tali is present, Vega notes that she worked with a geth despite the history of animosity between their two races. Vega remarks if all the quarians were like her, Shepard wouldn't be stuck referring their war with the geth. He shakes his head at the quarians' decision to attack the geth in the middle of the Reaper war, saying that the end of life makes everyone a little crazy.

After the disabling of the geth fighter squadron server, Vega is found in the mess with Javik, cooking his favorite dish. Shepard can ask him about his cooking. If Ashley is on the team, Vega asks Shepard to inform her about the food, remarking that she will need some after the previous night's hangover. Vega attempts to make conversation with Javik, trying to get to know him better. However this proves unsuccessful as Javik doesn't approve of gambling or smoking, something which Vega asks him about. Javik then tells him a joke, which Vega doesn't understand but pretends to and laughs anyway. Javik will snidely comment on how Vega easily believed something that was made up.

If Kaidan is on the team, Vega can be found playing poker with him in the Port Observation Deck after the the Battle of Rannoch.

James can be found in Dr. Garret Bryson's lab, when Shepard is searching for clues to find Leviathan with Dr. Ann Bryson. James is deeply sympathetic to her loss and asserts he wants to be there for her, despite having not been invited by Shepard. A rather comical scene unfolds as he becomes interested in the husk skull on display, which bites him, much to his bewilderment. Later, when Shepard uses the Leviathan artifact to locate Leviathan, James holds Ann in her place as Leviathan takes control of her. James is very opposed to the idea of allowing Leviathan to take over Ann and tries to stop the connection when the control starts to hurt her, though Shepard can order him otherwise. If Ann is incapacitated by the ordeal, James takes her to the medbay.

Before the final assault on the Citadel beam, Vega can be found a little disquieted at the state of Earth. Shepard assures him everything will be rebuilt and tells him to focus so that he doesn't lose the will to fight. James then salutes the Commander, saying its been a great honor serving with them. Shepard can choose to shake hands with him and praise him as a good man and a terrific soldier; or the Commander can retort saying that honor won't be worth anything if they lose, to which Vega will agree.

If Commander Shepard chooses to activate the Crucible during the battle for Earth, James, along with Joker, Cortez, and any other surviving squad members can be seen paying their respect to Shepard, placing the Commander's name above Anderson's on the memorial wall aboard the Normandy.

If James is in the squad at the final push towards the Conduit, he will be killed by Harbinger if the Effective Military Strength is too low.

Trivia

 * According to BioWare, James Vega is intended to reflect the perspective of a new player coming to the franchise.
 * James Vega was originally known as James Sanders, however the name was changed some time after several gaming press outlets visited BioWare and revealed his original name. Vega himself references this after saving Kahlee Sanders from the attack on Grissom Academy, saying his father's last name was Sanders, but claims that there's no relation to Kahlee.
 * Like Garrus Vakarian, James also shares the relationship of mentor and protege to a certain extent, following Shepard's advice regarding his military career decisions.
 * As with all squad members, James Vega has unique dialogue that can be heard at various locations, during missions or assignments, or if a specific squad member is in the selected team.