User:Elseweyr/Sandbox/Jacob Taylor/Biography (ME2)

Dossier
Jacob was born in 2157 and eventually joined the Alliance military. Originally Jacob was part of an Alliance-sponsored group called the Corsairs, a program that contracted independent starship captains to handle missions that fell outside of official Alliance jurisdiction, giving the Alliance plausible deniability. Jacob eventually left the Corsairs and was assigned to Eden Prime, and was present for the geth attack that nearly destroyed the colony. After Eden Prime, and later the geth attack on the Citadel, Jacob became disillusioned with the ineffectual bureaucracy of the politicians and quit the Alliance after five years of service. Later that year, after his collaboration with Miranda Lawson to protect the council against a terrorist threat, Jacob enlisted with Cerberus for a chance to serve humanity without too much to hold him back, although he remains cautious of some of the organization's more ruthless measures.

Shortly after the destruction of the first Normandy, Miranda hires Jacob as her 'lieutenant' in the Lazarus Cell, whose titular Lazarus Project is tasked with resurrecting Commander Shepard. Over the next two years, while work on Shepard continues, Jacob is technically in charge of security on the Lazarus Research Station. At this time it is implied he and Miranda had some form of relationship, although it didn't work out; Jacob claims he wasn't the right person for Miranda, though they remain effective colleagues.

In 2185, when the Lazarus Project neared completion, project scientist Wilson betrays the organization and hacks the security mechs to attack the station's staff. During the firefight Shepard is awoken earlier than scheduled, and meets Jacob fighting a group of LOKI mechs. Jacob joins Shepard, and together they manage to escape. Of the original members of the first Lazarus Cell, Jacob and Miranda were the only survivors. On the Illusive Man's orders, Jacob accompanies Shepard on a mission to Freedom's Progress, which has recently gone silent. With Miranda's help, they discover the Collectors are behind the mass abductions.

After this mission's completion, Jacob becomes a member of the second Lazarus Cell aboard the Normandy SR-2 where he serves as the Armory Officer, charged with maintaining and stockpiling the team's weapons. During missions he is a calm and collected voice of reason, often siding with Shepard's decisions and trying to defuse conflicts. He later reveals a distrust of mercenaries and believes that assassins are just "precise mercenaries", leading him to recommend caution when dealing with Thane Krios, though no arguments ever develop between them.

Loyalty
When Shepard talks to Jacob after Horizon, he tells Shepard he has received a disturbing message through Cerberus channels. His father, Ronald Taylor, went missing ten years ago along with the starship he was serving on, the Hugo Gernsback. But now a distress signal from the Hugo Gernssback has been detected from a planet in the Alpha Draconis system. Jacob is, not surprisingly, eager to investigate and discover if his father is still alive.