and i'm listening to the spliced together files porvided by the ilovebees wiki :
http://qube.netninja.com/beewiki/ and I've come to the conclusion that james james is the master chief, jan james is his daighter, and the whole shebang takes place significantly after halo 1. like, 17 or more years.
or, alternatively, it takes place before halo 1, and james james is a spartan 1. whichever.