Patrick James Beckett

"I fight for peace, that's what I'm up here for"

- PJ

Patrick "PJ" James was a 23 year old pilot flying for the 4th Air Force Unit Crow, hired by the Ustian government to fly against the Belkan Air Force during the Belkan War. He was the only Ustian pilot known to fight for peace. It is unknown how skilled his piloting ability is but he was never shot down during the Belkan War. He flew an F-16C Fighting Falcon with a white heart painted on the right side. He was usually teased by his squadmates in the Crow Team about his personal life, especially about his girlfriend. James' character appears to resemble those of the Wardog Squadron, especially Hans Grimm from the war 15 years after than those of his fellow mercenaries, proclaiming that he is "fighting for peace" and is often at odds with Larry Foulke over the nature of the war.

Belkan War
Out of a desire to help end the war, Patrick joined the Ustio Air Force, becoming part of the mercenary Crow Team. He first fought alongside the Galm Team in May 23, 1995 during the Battle of the Schayne Plains, where he assisted them and the other Allied aircraft in destroying the Belkan superweapon Excalibur. Once the tower itself came to grief and broke into two, AWACS Eagle Eye sarcastically commented "PJ, don't get too excited and crash, buddy!" as the latter replied with a war cry.

Two weeks later, in June 6, 1995, Crow and Galm Team were dispatched to assist friendly ground forces in an assault at the city of Sudentor, flying on their way through the Waldreich Mountains. As they passed through the middle of the mountain range, they came across a Belkan bomber formation carrying nuclear weapons en-route to Ustio, and intercepted it. All BM-335 units involved were destroyed, and the nuclear threat seemingly averted. Several seconds later, however, seven nuclear warheads detonated in Belkan soil, causing a shellshocked Solo Wing Pixy (whose views on Allied morality were changed a day before during the Battle of Hoffnung) to go renegade and attempt to kill Cipher, his flight leader, before escaping to northern Belka, nowhere to be found.

"It`s an honor to fly as Galm`s number 2. And by the way, PJ stands for Patrick James. And I like to play polo. You know, the game with the horses? Maybe we should get going now."

- Patrick James introducing himself at the start of "Lying in Deceit"

Following the "Seven Pillars of Belka" incident and the "official" end of the Belkan War, PJ was transferred to Galm Team, becoming Cipher's new wingman. A day after the incident, the reformed Galm Team launched in several operations to clean out Belkan elements refusing to surrender at Mount Schirm and Anfang. In Christmas that same year, Valais Air Base came under attack from the insurgent group A World With No Boundaries, who had comandeered a prototype Belkan heavy command cruiser, the XB-0 "Hresvelgr", and Galm was promptly sent to hunt down and destroy the ship hours later. The Hresvelgr and her escorts fell at the Waldreich Mountains, while a late Solo Wing Pixy passed over the falling XB-0, sending an encrypted message to the mercenary pilots, a shocked PJ exclaiming "It's...!" after decoding the message.



Days later, in December 31, PJ and Cipher launched in their final sortie towards Operation Point Blank, an Allied assault at the AWWNB stronghold at Avalon Dam to stop the launch of a V2 MIRV. After engaging the coup d'etat's leaders in a duel at Airspace B7R, Galm Team arrived at Avalon, flying through the Mund Valley's ravine as Allied aircraft fell around them. After reaching the dam and destroying the V2's launch control systems inside Avalon itself, Cipher & PJ remained at stand-by in the skies of Mund while Eagle Eye analyzed the situation. While awaiting for orders, an unknown blip approached Avalon at high speed. A laser came from the horizon towards Cipher, and PJ sacrificed himself by diving into the beam's way, exclaiming "Dammit!" as it pierced through his F-16C's cockpit.

PJ is seen again in the ending of Ace Combat Zero, where a shot at Avalon Dam in 2005 shows a shard of metal, presumably from PJ's plane, alongside a tombstone and some flowers.

Trivia

 * To date, PJ Beckett remains the only plot-important wingman in the Ace Combat series whose face has not been revealed.
 * If you look closely at the TLS hitting PJ, you'll notice what seems to be glass shreds flying off of his canopy, meaning the beam went directly through the bottom of the nose of his F-16C Fighting Falcon, entering the cockpit and exiting via the canopy. Whether or not the laser went through his body is unknown. Another possibility is that PJ bailed out and the glass from the canopy is from that, as the TLS seems to hit the tail of his aircraft.
 * PJ's actual fate after the events of "ZERO" is a known source of speculation. Although the probability of PJ surviving the attack is extremely small, the data regarding all pilots in the game lists him as "Missing in Action" as opposed to "Killed in Action." This is supported by the fact that it is possible to see his plane still flying after the attack, plus his plane is only seen trailing thick gray smoke (which indicates "Neutralized") as opposed to flaming (which indicates "Destroyed") after it was hit, which means he could have survived. A combat pilot's status is only changed to "K.I.A." in which either his death has been confirmed, or the situation would be very unlikely for him to survive; some (but not all) Belkan aces shot down by Cipher during the First Battle of Waldreich Mountains who had ejected there were believed to have died either from radioactive poisoning or injuries sustained before or after ejecting, and thus they were considered "K.I.A." All that was found was a piece of sheet metal from PJ's plane. Assuming he was dead, someone (probably his girlfriend) painted his initials on the shard and propped it at the base of a tree, where it remained ten years later. However, some have speculated that PJ escaped the battle to live a life of anonimity.


 * PJ is a Polo player, the only AC character to say which sport he plays. This also indicates that PJ comes from a wealthy family because polo is considered an aristocratic game in which the care for the horses and field which to play it on requires a substantially above-average income.
 * PJ's personal emblem which is placed next to the canopy of his plane is a heart which comes from the love he shows for his girlfriend.

Quotes
""And by the way, PJ stands for Patrick James.""

- PJ explaining what his name stands for.

"And I like to play polo. You know, the game with the horses? Maybe we should get going now."

- PJ talking about himself in "Lying in deciet".

"Hurry, but keep it cool."

- Introduction of "The Talon of Ruin"

"Galm 2, is there a problem with your craft?"

- The Stage of Apocalypse

''"Avalon, this is the final destination."

- The Valley of Kings ''

"Galm 1, this is PJ. I will now join you as Galm 2. I`ll be flying under your command now. Give me orders at any time."

- Lying in Deceit

''"I've got a girlfriend back at the base. I'm going to propose to her when we get back... I even bought flowers!"

- PJ after The Valley of Kings ''