Jesse is a Australian pilot who aids the Nathan James in bringing down Peng Wu and the MSS.
Background[]
Before the Red Flu outbreak, Jesse was born and raised in Australia where she worked as a tourist pilot for the Australian Antarctic taking rich people to see the volcanos there. Jesse eventually got a job flying for Doctors Without Borders and when the Red Flu broke out, she was in China delivering aid to isolated regions. She worked with Sasha Cooper to smuggle in food, fuel, the cure and other provisions to areas in need. When Peng took over when the cure was being delivered, Jesse continued to smuggle in goods, including the cure, while Cooper took a diplomatic role and still helped Jesse. Sasha eventually stopped when things were getting too risky but Jesse continued despite them. While in Guangzhou trying to smuggle supplies, Jesse and her friends stumbled upon the People's Liberation Army (PLA) led by Lau Hu moving missiles. When they were discovered, the PLA shot and killed all of Jesse's friends, including her brother while Jesse managed to escape.
Events of The Last Ship[]
Cooper takes Tom Chandler and Wolf Taylor to meet Jesse, who was sleeping on her couch, as they needed a pilot to get to the Nathan James near Vietnam. When Jesse woke up she punched Sasha in the face was initially hostile to Sasha, thinking she was working with Peng and sent her comrades to their deaths. After Sasha tried to assure her that she was not working with Peng, Chandler explains that he came to China to stop Peng from hoarding the cure and Peng tried to kill him as a result. He says he is sorry for the death of her friends but the MSS are right on their tail and should probably leave before they arrive and she reluctantly agrees help them by using her helicopter.
Jesse leads them to her boat so they can travel to Kowloon to find a van stashed with supplies. When she makes a quip about having nothing to live for when mentioning the possibility of dying, Wolf tells her to focus on taking Peng down to motivate her. Jesse has her crew prepare the ship to sail and they manage to avoid Peng's patrols and make it to Jesse's van. On the way to the helo they happen upon a checkpoint run by the PLA looking for them and has Sasha, Chandler, and Wolf hide while Jesse drives up to the checkpoint. When they ask her if she has seen Chandler she lies while they search he van. They discover Sasha hiding underneath the back of the van and Jesse pulls out her gun killing the PLA soldiers alongside the others and continue to the helicopter. She takes them to her helicopter that was stored in a radioactive area, so they only had about twenty minutes to get it up in the air before they started dying. There is a initial problem starting the helicopter so they decide to jump start it using the battery from the van while Wolf keeps the MSS, who had just arrived, busy with a grenade launcher stored on the helicopter. Jesse manages to start to helo and they escape and head to Vietnam.
Jesse starts to get worried when they are starting to run low on fuel and can't find the ship and Chandler suggests turning on their radar. Sasha says if they do that the Nathan James will think they are trying to attack and Jesse asks if they are sleeping together with Chandler simply telling her to turn it on which she does. When they see a red flare Jesse asks what it means and Chandler sees a speedboat with Danny Green and Carlton Burk being chased by pirates and determines it was meant for them. Chandler tells her to go to them but Jesse says they are running on fumes and need to land now but Chandler insists. Chandler and Wolf destroy the pirate boat with grenade launchers after Jesse gets them close enough and they all make it back to the Nathan James. (“Rising Sun”)
Jesse and Wolf work on repairing and refueling her helicopter in the Nathan James helo bay while Jesse tells Wolf about how she became a pilot. When Sasha comes in to ask when it will be ready to fly, Jesse tells her that she is taking it to leave the Nathan James. Sasha says they need her but Jesse is adamant that she helped her get here and now she has to get back to smuggling supplies across borders. Sasha says her cover is blown now but Jesse says she will go somewhere else that needs cure and Sasha begs her to stay and help fight Peng but Jesse states it isn't her fight with Sasha and Wolf leaving in disappointment.
Alisha Granderson visits Jesse to try and convince her to stay. Jesse says she is sorry about what happened to her crew of their last helicopter but she has to get back to her life. Alisha says that because of the work Jesse did they are allies and she hopes she will stop feeling sorry for herself and realize they can help her as much as she can help them and leaves her to work. Alisha has a meal devlievered to Jesse, but she just drinks her soda while mocking her. When Chandler and his team are ambushed in Shanzhai by MSS agents led by Lau Hu, Alisha again pleads with Jesse to help them while holding a radio so she can hear everything happening. Jesse tells she is was already heading out to help them before she barged in and requests a gunner before she leaves. Jesse arrives with the gunner and guns down all the MSS agents on the beach and rescues Chandler's team, bringing them back to the Nathan James. (“Shanzhai”)
After the Nathan James is stranded in Chinese waters without enough fuel to get to the pirates' hideout, Jesse takes a team led by Chandler into Honk Kong to break into Peng's house to force him to give them fuel. Jesse waits in the helicopter chewing gum while waiting for good news. After they are done refueling, Jesse takes them back to the Nathan James so they can search for Takehaya and their kidnapped crew members. (“Devil May Care”)
When the Nathan James is trapped in a minefield set by Takehaya and his pirates, Jesse pilots the helo with Green, Gator, and Sasha onboard as they help blow the mines to clear a path for them. When a torpedo is launched at the Nathan James and Wolf and Cruz move to in to intercept it on their rim boat, Jesse wonders if it will work. Chandler orders Jesse to move faster but she can't otherwise she risks pulling a mine out of the water. They successfully clear a path through the minefield while also detonating the torpedo prematurely and they then search for Wolf and Cruz. When asked by Chandler, Jesse lies saying they got plenty of fuel to spare while conducting another sweep. After Burk finds them, Jesse celebates with the rest of the crew as they head back to the ship. (“Minefield”)
Jesse take the helicopter to search Dragonfly Island for Takehaya and the prisoners but reports that the island is almost completely underwater. After discovering that Takehaya is on Kumonosu Island, Chandler leads a team of operators to fight the pirates. They rescue the crew and kill most of the pirates, but they are ambushed by Chinese MSS agents so Jesse leaves with Burk manning a machine gun to clear them a path. They can't get close enough to cover them effectively so Burk tells them to handle the agents from north while they handle the east. Burk tells Jesse to position the helicopter in a way so the Nathan James can fire on their position and hit the MSS and Jesse complies. The Nathan James can't get a lock so Jesse hovers to keep still and prepares to bank hard once they fire. They fire and Jesse banks far enough to avoid the shot and the MSS agents are all killed so Jesse returns to the ship with Burk. (“Dog Day”)
Jesse flies to Shanzhai on a reconnaissance mission to survey the area before the land teams are sent to capture Wu Ming. Jesse reports to the Nathan James that Shanzhai has been firebombed and their is nothing left of the city before returning to the ship. Jesse later takes Burk, Green, and Sasha on her helicopter to find a boat Peng wanted to make sure no one pirated. They discover it is a small yacht and approachs it when the driver tries to flee from the Nathan James. After convincing the driver to cut his engines and be boarded, they find a missile hidden behind a drug stash and bring it aboard the Nathan James. Chandler has Jesse brought down to where they are examining the missile and Jesse confirms it is the same kind of missile she saw in Hong Kong when her brother was killed. (“Sea Change”)
Jesse flies to a strike team led by Chandler to Paraiso Island in an attempt to find where they are making the anti-cure missiles and heads back to the Nathan James but returns to pick them back up after they are done. She later helps run rescue operations from the helicopter after the US Navy Destroyers are ambushed. She helps the surviving members of Haywood's crew and determines that there were no survivors from the Shackleton. (“Paradise”)
Jesse flies a strike team led by Mike Slattery in close to the Henan so that they can swim in and capture the ship by surprise. The mission proves to be a success and Peng is killed and the last of his anti-cure destroyed. Jesse then leaves the Nathan James to return to her original mission of spreading the cure across Asia but says goodbye to Chandler, Sasha and Wolf before she leaves and tells them to get home in one piece. (“Legacy”)