This Quarian knows how to move people. Nekros thought. He was sitting comfortably on a sofa, talking casually with the two asari and the Quarian sitting in front of him. He had arrived a day too early for his work, so he was glad for the opportunity to kill some time. The darker blue asari (who introduced herself as Thea Sorac) owned an impressively large apartment in the richer districts of Omega, which had four bedrooms, two living rooms, four bathrooms (why she needed so many was a question too rude to ask) and a large kitchen. Furnished atypically yet in a usable fashion, it was filled with various items of memory (he wondered what it would be like to have a 400 year personal history). The whole house was somewhat untidy, and he could see that only the "guest" areas were hurriedly cleaned. The other asari (introduced herself as Kisana Sorac) apologised for the mess, saying that her cousin wasn't the sort of person who bothered to be clean. In fact, she was amazed that she managed to organise the guest area. Bui seemed amused and commented how similar this room looked like to a liveship within the Migrant Fleet.

Nekros introduced himself as a part of the Turian Spec Ops and a prospect Blackwatch member and told Bui, Thea and Kisa that he wanted to inspect the newest and the most illegal weapons on the market: Omega was the perfect place to do so. He mused on how much he hated the Hierarchy, having always been "the rebel who did it my way. Mind you, that usually turned out better than what the idiots with long horns ordered me to do." He was, at the start, restrained and formal, but soon loosened into talkative and light-hearted Turian eager to make friends. He also seemed equally eager to disobey orders.

Though his jokes, Jackson could see that this Turian had passion and ambition to achieve. He wasn't sure on his character nor his abilities, although Jackson did need to recruit a Turian.

I need the best. Gathering different species together into a team of highly specialized killers is kinda impossible… But if I don't have the best, then we will all die. Jackson wondered grimly as he flicked out the next photograph. It was a photo of a dark cave, light seeping in from behind the camera. Nothing was clearly defined, though one could make out a locked door hidden behind the folds of the cave wall. The cave itself was vast, dark and horrifically empty. Yet it filled the whole scene with its omniscient presence. Printed on a course sheet of paper, it gave out a sense of danger and demanded attention.

"This is what I have to go through every day." Jackson-in-Bui's-voice said, his voice quivering. "I want to avoid it, but I'm bound by it."

Nekros could sense despair in his voice, but also something else… What was it? "Was this the secret that you talked about?" The helmet nodded.

By the goddess! This is what he meant by "Demons"? Kisa thought. She was the only one who could understand Jackson's words. But even she couldn't understand what he truly meant.

…

Jackson stretched his body, finally free from the suit. He repeatedly curled his fist and wriggled his fingers, trying to get the middle finger and the pointer finger to separate (with not much success). His back muscles were having a spasm. His legs were screaming – this time for the sudden rush of blood.

Note to self – being a Quarian is NOT a good disguise. Jackson thought as he left the shower. He quickly dressed in the largest set of clothes he could find (he had done a bit of shopping before he left Nevos), packing away the enviro-suit. As much as he despised it, he would need it soon enough.

He looked curiously at his room, which was a lot brighter now compared to seeing it through the tinted helmet. A bed, one wardrobe, a locked footlocker (Thea: "I swear to goddess if you open this, I will KILL you … with a spoon" Jackson: "A spoon?" Thea: "Because that's the only item in that box that I can afford to ruin."), an unlocked footlocker for himself, a table and an en suite bathroom was more than what he could ask for in someone else's apartment. It was a comfortable place to snuggle in and plan for a suicidal mission.

He flopped on top of the bed, checking the Nekros's extranet address. He had promised to return and visit them before he left Omega.

Time to contact the Shadow Broker. He thought as he opened an encrypted connection.

…

Kisa felt at home (in fact, this was her home merely a year ago, though it used to be much more tidy), and immediately placed herself in her old bedroom. She was glad to see her home again, and she felt a swelling sense of adventure. As much as she hated to admit it, she still felt like a Maiden.

I guess some people were never meant to grow up. She thought with a smile.

Thea, who was practically the head of the house, marched off toward the shopping district to buy food and supplies to accommodate two more people. Having nothing much to do, Kisa rigged up a computer in Jackson's room, giving him a near-full access to the Sorceress Group's network as well as her hacking programs.

During their casual talk, Jackson surprised her with his knowledge in cryptography – though not as extensive as her own, he knew how to crack a military-grade channel with a blink of an eye. He was especially adapt in human encryption, even to a point where she learned new things from him.

"HIGHCOM." Jackson answered her quizzed look. "I may as well tell you. We received training on every aspect of the battlefield. That included hacking things. Military-grade security is as easy as peeling a banana." With a single flick of the wrist, Jackson sent Kisa a file – his own military report.

"That thing used to be covered in black ink. Not many people has seen the whole thing. You should have a read of it." Jackson said.

"You sure?" Kisa asked. As much as she wanted to read his files, Jackson's continuing secrecy had led her to believe that there was something dark lurking within his past.

"I'm sure. Firstly, I feel guilty for looking into your past. Secondly, we're in this together. I want you to trust me completely. A part of that is you knowing my past… at least enough to know where I come from."

"Right… But you know that I don't need to know your past to trust you." Kisa commented. Jackson smiled, his eyes betraying him once more. They seemed to say: "then you are too trusting".

…

Kisa got to her the bedroom and brought up the files. The first part was his illustrious military career; spanning for almost twenty years. For a human, that was a very long time. He had passed the N7 test as well as being offered a position of a Captain, but they were all turned down voluntarily. Jackson stubbornly remained as Sergeant. Kisa counted four events in his career where Jackson was a sole survivor. She was shocked… How could anybody hold up after being whipped into combat at the age of twelve and see all of his friends die four times? He seemed so unaffected, yet this was what he was hiding under his mask. Her eyes watered in pity.

Then came his actions with HIGHCOM. After faking death and being reported MIA, he was taken into the Spec-Ops team under civilian status. Other members of HIGHCOM were also taken from a civilian status, too. Kisa noted that all of the HIGHCOM agents had notable amounts of training… they all passed N1 test, at least.

HIGHCOM missions were daring and gruelling… almost impossible even for a Spec-Ops team. She noted one interesting fact – all Jackson's missions had a yellow tag underlined in red.

That meant no teammates.

This must be where his nickname comes from. Kisa thought. Lone Wolf…

The files came to an abrupt stop with a mission named Operation Unveiling:

May 1st: Permission Granted to launch Operation Unveiling. Encryption Key RED.

May 4th: L. Jackson reports in with a infiltration ship, The Nightly Wind.

May 5th: L. Jackson put in command with T. Cosby as second-in-command launches Operation Unveiling. Three ships, The Nightly Wind, SSV Jungfrau and SSV Carnivore is given permission.

May 27th: Regular pings to the ships is broken. Last transmission 13:29, giving green.

June 4th: The Nightly Wind returns without a ping, reporting a mass relay at the given location. SSV Jungfrau has entered the relay under command of L. Jackson, while SSV Carnivore re-establishes ping connection.

June 11th (CURRENT STATUS): SSV Jungfrau is declared MIA with all its crew. Operation Unveiling pending orders.

Oh Jackson… Why didn't you tell me earlier? If these are your demons, then … I can help! Kisa thought. Are these your demons? Or… is there something more?

Kisa glanced at her omni-tool, activating her hacking systems. She wondered deeply for a long time before finally deciding to close it.

That's all what Jackson wants me to know for now. I trust his decision.