Thane Krios
Jacob Taylor walked out of the CIC and into the Normandy's elevator. As the door slid shut behind him, he hit the button for the third floor, which housed the crew quarters. Jacob would be staying on the ship for a short time while it ferried him to the Crucible. He would have liked to have had some down time on the Citadel, but the Cerberus attack on the station had changed his mind. He wanted to get back into the fight now. He had discussed things with Shepard, who had agreed to give Jacob a lift to the Crucible, where he intended to provide security for the thousands of brilliant scientific minds working on the colossal superweapon.His work as a security chief for Cerberus not only gave him the basic qualifications to perform the same role on the Crucible, but his knowledge of the terrorist organization's tactics made him a valuable asset. He was accepted almost immediately, Shepard's good word dispelling any issues people might have with his ties to Cerberus. So now, Jacob was looking to squeeze a few more hours of comfortable civilian life out before he was back to the life of a soldier. The elevator controls dinged, letting him know he had arrived.
He stepped out of the shaft, and made to walk down the hall towards the crew quarters, familiar with ship's layout from his previous tour aboard the Normandy. However, he stopped short as his eyes fell on a huge marble slab that covered the wall directly in front of the elevator. He stopped to study it, noticing the names inscribed in the stone in crisp, white lettering. A memorial wall. He knew one when he saw one. Curious, he scanned it, his eyes resting on one name in particular: Thane Krios.
Jacob recalled the details Shepard had given him regarding Cerberus' attempted assassination of the council. How Shepard's team had discovered Valern, the salarian councilor, first. And how the Cerberus agent Kai Leng had appeared, with the intention of killing the councilor. Shepard had recounted how Krios had seemingly appeared from nowhere, attacking Leng, and giving Shepard time to secure Valern while the two assassins fought. Jacob had later watched security footage of the fight, and recognized the drell's deadly skill from serving with him during the Collector mission.
Jacob remembered first meeting Thane aboard the Normandy, immediately after the assassin had been recruited by Commander Shepard. After reading the dossier himself, Jacob questioned the decision to recruit the drell. Jacob had no love for guns-for-hire, and in his eyes, an assassin was no better than the hundreds of mercenaries he and Shepard fought on a daily basis. Though Thane had offered his help for free, Jacob couldn't forgive him for his long, and successful, career as a hired gun.
Despite his qualms about the man, Jacob had learned to at least rely on Thane during battle, though he never fully trusted him. But, whatever he had thought when first meeting Thane Krios, watching Leng's blade pierce his chest was surprisingly hard for Jacob to take. He had seen plenty of men die, but for a reason he couldn't quite place, Thane's death stung far more than he thought it would. Jacob couldn't help but feel a small surge of respect for the drell after hearing it wasn't even the stab wound that killed him. He died several days later, the extreme blood loss simply aiding the terminal disease he had. "Tough bastard, I'll give you that." he mumbled to himself.
Jacob thought about how Thane had died, risking his life to protect another. He had to admit, that sort of action didn't really fit the money-driven, cold-blooded killer label he had fitted to the assassin. Maybe Shepard was right. He thought reluctantly. Maybe he did surprise me. Jacob continued to look at the name for a few moments, before coming to a conclusion. Yeah, I suppose he did.