Jackson Gray

## History

Having been born as the only child of a scientist mother and an engineer father, Jackson was introduced to the wonders of modern technology from a very young age. His early years were typically spent pulling apart his toys and putting them back together again, just so he could see what was inside them and learn what made them work. Unfortunately, his childhood clumsiness meant that most of the time he did this usually resulted in him breaking the toy in the process. In an attempt to combat this and distract him from causing any further destruction of property, his parents gifted him an Omni-tool for his fourth birthday. This turned out to be either a great idea, or a terrible one, depending on which parent you’d ask - on the one hand, he wasn’t destroying his toys anymore. On the other, he was glued to his screen.

School was something Jackson excelled in; the various teachers that he had throughout his school life were quick to note his aptitude and enthusiasm for learning, especially in the fields of mathematics and science. And while this usually drew some ire from some of his lesser-minded peers, he didn’t mind, nor care. Even in spite of his condition, he had his own group of friends that he enjoyed socialising with, and had (mostly) no issues making new ones.

His passion for tech was what drove him to further his education at the University of California, which, to the surprise of absolutely no one who had attended alongside him, he graduated from with dual degrees in both software and engineering. His accomplishments at University caught the eye of Ariake Technologies, who after hearing of one of his independent projects - a personal V.I assistant embedded into his Omni-tool he endearingly named ‘Faraday’ - hired him as one of their numerous software engineers. While one would think that someone with such an enthusiasm for technology as Jackson would be at home with his new job, this was simply not the case. Though he initially enjoyed the work, he soon came to realise that it wouldn’t be for him; the concept of spending his days stuck behind an office desk would quickly grow monotonous and repetitive, to the point of being downright depressing. So, he quit.

But with a student debt looming over his head and no way to pay it, Jackson knew that he had to find work, and fast. While originally he had intended to find a job with another engineering company on Earth, he changed his mind once he heard about the Alliance Military’s repayment programs, which offered young enlisters an opportunity to pay back their debts in exchange for military service. He didn’t see it as work - if anything, he saw it as an opportunity to travel the galaxy while playing with the Alliance’s toys. The decision to enlist was an easy one to make.
Once people caught wind of just how technologically gifted he was, Jackson was steered to take non-combat roles, such as ones in logistics or communications. He declined these. Challenging himself was something that he frequently enjoyed, so he applied for combat engineer training. Here, he had access to the sorts of technology his younger self could only have dreamt of - sentry turrets, tech armour, jump jets, mag-boots. The list went on. He wasn’t a bad shot either, much to his surprise - clearly those countless hours he had spent at the local arcade playing shooters when he was younger must have paid off.

From battling batarian slavers in the lawlessness of the Terminus Systems to peacekeeping missions in the scorching heat of the Krogan DMZ, Jackson certainly isn’t a stranger to the perils of combat. So when the reapers arrived, he didn’t see it as any different. A war was still a war, it was just that now the stakes were a little higher. His attitude changed when he stood in the ruins of London, and he saw firsthand just how monumental of an enemy the galaxy was up against. He never got to see the end of the fight - a brute caught him with his shields down, and he had to be evacuated. Were it not for the quick-thinking actions of a nearby squadmate, he’d likely have died. It was only until he recovered from his wounds that he heard about the Crucible’s failure. There was no denying it now; things were looking grim.

So when he got the message to join RIFT, how could he possibly say no?