Ekrom was like any other drell for 21 years, being the Hanars' deadly hand in the galaxy. The drell was sent on missions most would never come back from, but Ekrom is a survivor. After nearly a decade and a half of active service in the Compact, Ekrom's luck finally ran out. His team of four other drells were sent into a hostile area of space, where batarian pirates had regularly intercepted and stolen hanar trade ships. After locating the pirates' ship frequency, the drell task force made their move.

As soon as they came out of the FTL jump, everything went to hell. A second pirate ship pulled out from the shadow of a nearby gas giant which had masked its signal. Ekrom's ship's engine were compromised with the first shot, cutting off any hope of escape. Before his men could get to the escape pods, a second shot tore a whole in the hull close to the air lock where his team had waited for infiltration. They never had a chance as the vacuum of space tore apart the ship's metal shell as easy as a wet piece of paper. Ekrom sprinted to the only workable space pod, struggling to pull himself by various beams and consoles. Finally, he managed to get strapped in and escaped, reaching an FTL jump with only a second to spare. He had the honor of watching his ship explode before his pod took him to safety.

Inconsolable, Ekrom cursed the hanar and their missions. He renounced his active status in the Compact and fled to Omega, putting his prodigious skills, upgrades, and talents to work. He'd not been the normal drell, trained instead for front-line and high risk fighting. Most were wetwork specialist, taking advantage of the eidetic memory common to all drell. Ekrom's genetic coding showed a high compatibility with body enhancement technology. With heavy skin upgrades and extensive heavy muscle weaves, his endurance and strength rival a male krogan in his prime. This allows him to use the devastating Claymore shotgun while keeping the bones in his arm intact. Furthermore, the hanar bought the very best of biotic implants for Ekrom, their prodigy, allowing him to use the legendary biotic ability, Biotic Charge.