JJ Wickham, also known as the Sea Ranger, is one of Jack West Jr's best friends, as well as his brother-in-law.
History[]
Early History[]
JJ Wickham joined the U.S. Navy some time after he reached enlistment age, and would eventually end up being promoted to the rank of captain.
At some point during the late 1980's to early 1990's, Wickham became associated with the Australian SAS operative Jack West Jr, with the pair eventually becoming best friends. Their friendship grew closer after Wickham met and married Jack's older sister, Lauren. Wickham had no love for his father-in-law, Jonathon "Wolf" West Sr, as he would later note that Wolf was "the biggest asshole of a father-in-law a guy ever had".
Around 1996 to 1997, Lauren died in an airliner accident. Some time after this tragedy occurred, Wickham became stationed out of Diego Garcia, and was given the position of executive officer aboard a Sturgeon-class submarine.
One day, Wickham's sub came across an unregistered submarine piloted by Russian pirates, and Wickham's superior sent him and a boarding party to take control of the vessel and bring it to Diego Garcia. Inside the sub, Wickham was surprised to discover a CIA operative was assisting the pirates in shipping weapons to warlords in Eastern Africa as part of a CIA destablising mission. Part-way back to Diego Garcia, Wickham was contacted by Navy headquarters and ordered to relinquish the sub back to the CIA operative's command and send them back on their way.
Shocked that his superiors supported the arming of African warlords, Wickham decided that, since he no longer had a family without Lauren, that he would do the right thing himself by keeping the weapons . After setting the pirates and CIA operative afloat on a life-raft, Wickham encouraged most of the men in his boarding party to leave as well, but a few who agreed with his actions decided to stay on with him as a skeleton crew.
Even as he was court-martialed in absentia for desertion and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment, Wickham decided to keep the Russian sub for himself in order to make his own patrols of the African coast. Wickham spent some time hiding out with Jack and his team at Victoria Station in Kenya to avoid the authorities, and often played games with the toddler Jack's team was protecting, Lily.
After the heat on him began dying down, Wickham set himself a base of operations in an old cave in Zanzibar, and proceeded to use the Russian sub, which he called the Indian Raider, to intercept weapons to warlords. Wickham also stole food and supplies from cargo ships, which he would give away to the people of Africa, and in return the people gave him the nickname Sea Ranger and called him a hero, despite the American and British navies designating him a pirate.
In late 2006, Sea Ranger poached a shipment of weapons from an American vessel, which prompted an Australian general to visit Jack and inquire if he had seen or heard from Sea Ranger, to which Jack claimed he hadn't seen his brother-in-law since before he went rogue.
During the New Year's celebration on the helicopter pad at the Burj al Arab, Sea Ranger made a brief appearance to see Jack and his friends, along with Solomon Kol. Jack warned him that he needed to be careful when grabbing CIA weapons shipments lest they increase the intensity of their search for him, however the Sea Ranger scoffed that they could try, taking note of Jack's recent victory against the American military as proof they could be beaten. After suggesting that Jack visit him in Zanzibar some time, Sea Ranger proceeded to slip away from the celebrations unnoticed during the fireworks.
The Six Sacred Stones[]
In December 2007, Jack and the twins Lachlan and Julius Adamson journeyed to Zanzibar to request the Sea Ranger's aid. Noting the recent chaos in Africa, Sea Ranger asked if Jack knew what was going on, and Jack replied that it was Wolf's doing. After explaining the mission to restore an ancient machine by placing six Pillars in Vertices scattered around the globe to prevent the Dark Star from destroying life on Earth, Jack requested Sea Ranger's help in getting to the second vertex discreetly. Since he had never liked his father-in-law, Sea Ranger readily agreed to help, and had his men prepare a gutted fishing trawler they could use to cover the Indian Raider.
Sea Ranger's cover worked perfectly, as he was able to get the trawler within the Cape Town sea-lane border in time before Wolf's allies had all access cut off. Sea Ranger's crew soon located the entrance to the second Vertex beneath Table Mountain, and soon Sea Ranger joined Jack and the twins in preparing to go after Wolf's team before one of his men could thwart the mission to save the world.
Needing help to navigate the vertex's trap system, Jack asked Sea Ranger if he had and video-capable phones on the Raider they could use to get Wizard's help, and while Sea Ranger warned him that they could be detected, Jack pointed out their need to take the risk. Soon the group was making their way through the city of bridges, however Jack was forced to make a desperate play to keep Switchblade from dropping the Pillar into the chasm below, and Sea Ranger watched in horror as Jack fell into the abyss. Once they'd confirmed the Pillar had been laid, Sea Ranger told the twins they had to leave before Wolf's men could come after them, and so made their way back to the Indian Raider.
The Five Greatest Warriors[]
As the Indian Raider was heading back for the open ocean, Sea Ranger's sonar operator recieved an S.O.S. from Jack, who was still alive and had used the twins' new collective call-sign as proof he was not a hostile. Once they resurfaced, Sea Ranger and the twins helped Jack and Alby aboard before resuming their departure from the Table Mountain Vertex. At Jack's instruction, Sea Ranger contacted Wizard's team to inform them of Jack's survival and to rendezvous at Little McDonald Island.
When Jack decided to help Pooh Bear rescue Stretch, Sea Ranger was a part of his plan to aide them, but was only noted getting in position and ultimately played no role in the side-mission.
Once the whole Coalition team was reunited at Sea Ranger's Zanzibar base, Wizard helped to bring the pirate up to speed on the crisis and answered his question as to what the end of the world at the Dark Star's hand would look like, and Sea Ranger was daunted by the prospect. After Diane Cassidy suggested the team focus their research on a prophecy in which five figures throughout history known as the Five Greatest Warriors would affect the Machine, the Pillars and the Vertices, Sea Ranger helped the rest of the team spend the next two months research the Warriors' connections to the Machine.
At some stage before the team headed off on separate missions to further the Machine's restoration, Jack informed Sea Ranger of his belief that the sixth Vertex was on Easter Island, and requested his long-time friend take the Raider and wait on the island's outskirts around the time of the Dual Equinox in case the team needed his help.
A few days before the 20th of March, Sea Ranger and the Indian Raider arrived in the waters around Easter Island. After maintaining their vigil and avoiding detection by the Chinese aircraft carriers stationed near the island, Sea Ranger was contacted by Jack shortly after the placing of the sixth Pillar, and once the sea currents brought them close enough, had Jack, Lily, Iolanthe and Alexander brought onboard the Indian Raider before departing.
Sea Ranger dropped his passengers off in the Coalition-friendly New Zealand, and soon he and the Indian Raider began making their way back to Zanzibar.
Personality[]
A man with strong morals, JJ Wickham is far from the villain that his former superiors have made him out to be. He puts the needs of others above himself, and this is best shown in the assistance he gives to the poor people of Eastern Africa, becoming a hero to them.
Skills[]
- Expert Tactician: To Be Added.
- Skilled Oceanographer: To Be Added.
Equipment[]
Weapons[]
To Be Added...
Vehicles[]
- Indian Raider: A Russian-built Kilo-class submarine which was appropriated by Wickham when he went rogue and began using it as his personal sub.
- Sturgeon-class Submarine: A submarine that Wickham was Captain of when he still served U.S. Navy.
Other Equipment[]
To Be Added...
Trivia[]
- During an interview with a Facebook fanpage in late 2021, Reilly mentioned that he had considered bringing Wickham back for The Four Legendary Kingdoms, then again for The Three Secret Cities; upon not doing so for the latter, Reilly had decided that he had left the character out for too long.