Gene couldn't have found a better partner than Jim Hawking. Despite his youth, Jim is very level-headed, practical, and skilled. He has excellent mechanical expertise and sense of where all the Wong is going.
Gene depends on Jim to be the backup, waiting in the wings with some guns or a Caster shell or two. Jim sometimes resents the fact that he doesn't get in on the action, but Gene really appreciates all he does for him, the others, and the Outlaw Star.
Most of Jim's family background is unknown, though we're told by the narrator in Episode 20 that he is the son of a famous hacker called the "Computer Wizard." Jim respects Melfina like he would a mother. Because he's only 11, Gene sometimes teases him on adult matters (he's not naive, but he'd rather make the move himself), but Jim often fires back by complaining about Gene's recklessness.
