Charles Pressly



Navigator Pressly is an officer aboard the SSV Normandy, serving as the navigator. His grandfather served in the First Contact War. He is not comfortable with non-humans (particularly the turians), but he is loyal to his commanding officer and will set aside those prejudices to serve the Alliance faithfully.

Pressly joined the Alliance shortly after he finished school, desiring to follow in his grandfather's footsteps. Before the Normandy, he was stationed on the SSV Agincourt, a frigate which was one of the first reinforcements to arrive at Elysium after the Skyllian Blitz. (If Commander Shepard has the "War Hero" background, Pressly will reminisce about the Commander's involvement in the Blitz.) After the crisis at Elysium, Pressly received his officer's commission and was selected by Captain David Anderson to serve on the Normandy as the Navigation Officer.

Mass Effect
After Anderson gives Shepard command of the Normandy, Pressly becomes the Executive Officer (XO) and takes command in Shepard's absence.

Though Pressly is loyal to the Alliance, he is more loyal to Shepard and finds the Commander's theft of the Normandy to be an adventure: "I know we'll all be court-martialed if this doesn't work out, but part of me loves this!"

Mass Effect 2
One month after Sovereign's attack on the Citadel, the Alliance sends Commander Shepard and the SSV Normandy to patrol distant systems for geth forces. Pressly believed that there are no geth and that the real threat is from slavers. While investigating a system where several ships have been reported missing, an unidentified ship attacks the Normandy. Navigator Pressly, on the bridge at the time, is knocked unconscious to the floor by an exploding console. After being revived two years later by Cerberus, Shepard is told that Pressly was among those who died in the attack.

If Shepard visits the Normandy crash site, the Commander will be able to find Pressly's datapad among the ruins of the command center. Some of the data is corrupted and unreadable, but the messages can still be understood. Depending on Shepard's conversation choices with Pressly in Mass Effect, his final journal entries varies in regard to how he views the diverse crew. If Paragon options were chosen, where Shepard asserts that not all aliens are enemies of humanity, Pressly's last entry reflects his appreciation and respect for the crew. He states that he'd gladly die for any one of the non-humans on the ship and that his previous doubts &mdash; namely his uncertainty directed at Shepard for allowing Tali, Liara, Garrus and Wrex on board &mdash; were written out of ignorance.

Trivia

 * According to Tali, Pressly at some point acquired chicken pox after the events of Mass Effect.
 * The voice actor for Navigator Pessley also portrayed Murdock from the 80's TV show The A-Team.