Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Mass Effect or Crysis. If I did I'd be rich.

Partially unbeta'ed as DN7 was very busy this week. He did the best he could though and I tried the rest, which won't be as good as what he could put out.

Revealing a Traitor

SSV Normandy, shortly after Wraith's exit, Shepard POV

Wraith's sudden exit seemed to raise a few eyebrows, the only one not surprised was Captain Anderson. A short briefing and taxi ride later, Anderson, Ashley, Kaidan and Shepard found themselves in the human embassies where the Ambassador told them that the Council had grudgingly agreed to hold a hearing.While the Captain and Ambassador went on ahead to get everything set up for the hearing and make sure that Shepard had clearance to enter the Council chambers the squad spent some time sightseeing on the Presidium. Anderson called, after half an hour of looking at the spectacular presidium sights, telling Shepard to meet them in the council chambers. Ten minutes later, five of which were spent in the elevator leading up to the chambers, Shepard arrived in the Citadel tower to see a C-Sec officer arguing with the Executor of C-Sec, Pallin.

"He's hiding something. I know it! I need more time, stall them!"

"Stall the Council?" Pallin asked incredulously. "Don't be ridiculous. Your investigation is over Garrus."

The officer sighed as Pallin walked away and noticed Shepard coming his way. "Commander Shepard? Garrus Vakarian, I was the officer in charge of C-Sec's investigation into Saren."

"Judging by your argument with the Executor there, you didn't find much." Shepard commented.

"You're right. Saren's a Spectre, most of his activities are classified, which means I couldn't find anything solid. But I know he's up to something. I think the human phrase is, 'I feel it in my gut."

Shepard smirked at his use of a human expression.

"I think that the Council is ready for us Commander." Kaidan interrupted noticing Anderson standing at the foot of the stairs leading up to the Council chambers.

"Good luck Commander. Maybe they'll listen to you." Garrus said.

Shepard nodded at him and continued on to meet Anderson who urged them on, "The hearing's already started. Come on!"

As Shepard came into earshot she heard the asari councilor, Tevos, say "The geth attack is a matter of some concern, but there is nothing to indicate Saren was involved in any way." By then Shepard had reached to top of the stairs and could see the three Councilors standing on a podium on the opposite side of a chasm that held a garden. Ambassador Udina was standing on a podium that hung over the garden while a massive hologram of a turian, assumedly Saren, was projected to the left.

Sparatus, the turian councilor continued "The investigation by Citadel Security has turned up no evidence to support your charge of treason."

"And how exactly is Citadel Security supposed to find evidence when they cannot access most of Saren's files due to them being classified?"

A loud voice cut in as a new hologram shimmered into view on Shepard's right. The appearance of this new hologram caused quite a stir within the Council chambers. Shepard's eyes widened slightly as she recognized the person. It was Wraith, or rather Martin Duncan the Director of CryOps. He was wearing a suit with the CryNet logo stamped on his chest. Had Wraith not shown Shepard his face, she wouldn't have been able to even guess Martin and Wraith were the same person by their voice. When he was in the nanosuit, his voice was markedly different than the one being broadcasted from the hologram's speakers.

After sizing up holographic Wraith she saw that "Director Duncan", as she decided to call him in this persona, was staring down at the Council, face set in a blank mask as he waited for a response.

"Director Duncan." Tevos greeted neutrally "I do not see why you are here. This hearing has nothing to do with CryNet."

"Actually, Councilor, it does." The Director corrected, careful to not show any condescension. "It was a CryNet Phantom that witnessed the murder of Nihlus Kryik so we should have been part of this hearing from the beginning. I am sure that you merely forgot in the surpise and chaos of recent events."

"You say that your Phantom witnessed the murder of Nihlus at the hands of Saren, yet you show no proof, proof that you should have in the form your nanosuit data." Sparatus retorted.

"The data was corrupted when an unknown entity attempted to seize control of Operative Wraith's nanosuit." Wraith answered. "The attack was successfully repulsed but the data was corrupted. CryNet is hard at work recovering the data but it will take time."

"Don't you see what is really going on? CryNet is simply using the opportunity to supply false evidence, allowing them to frame me of killing a fellow Spectre and friend! I suspect that it was in fact this Phantom of theirs who killed Nihlus!"

Valern, the salarian councilor shook his head at that accusation. "CryNet has no motive in killing Nihlus. He had always been very supportive of CryNet in the past. Killing him would give them nothing."

"But they could be faking the data anyway!" Sparatus said.

"By all means, Councilors, I will send you the corrupted data." Wraith challenged. "I am sure that you will also be able to recover the data if we can." the Director said.

"Still a possibility," Valern said. "Yet we have ways of testing for legitimacy."

"Very well. CryNet will send us the corrupted data now and the recovered data when they have it." Tevos said finally.

"Councilors! You cannot actually be entertaining this human's proposal! Nihlus was my friend." Saren protested.

"That just let you catch him off guard!" Anderson shouted from beside Shepard. At that Shepard noticed director Duncan close his eyes in exasperation for a second before resuming his facade.

"Captain Anderson. Is joining up with CryNet the only way you could try to bring me down? The fact that you are still trying just shows us your arrogance." Saren sneered.

Shepard stayed silent, knowing that Saren was trying to get a rise out of them, trying to make the council question their motives.

After a few seconds Saren continued addressing Shepard herself as it became obvious that she would stay silent "And this must be your protege. The one who let the beacon get destroyed."

"I would be careful about laying blame around, Spectre." the Director interjected.

"Bah. Human's are not ready to join the Council. You're not even ready to join the Spectres."

"He has no right to say that! That's not his decision!" Ambassador Udina shouted looking slightly put out that he hasn't had the opportunity to say much until now.

"I have to agree with the Ambassador." the Director said narrowing his eyes at Saren, one of the few emotions to have shown on his face since he arrived.

"Shepard's admission into the Spectres is NOT the purpose of this meeting." Tevos said sharply.

"This meeting has no purpose. The humans are wasting your time Councilors and mine." Saren growled.

"I would actually say that this meeting's purpose is very important. We are after all looking into a matter of galactic security." The Director commented.

"Indeed and it is of the upmost importance." Valern agreed.

"Very well. This meeting is adjourned until such a time when a more informed decision can be made." Tevos stated.

"I'm glad to see that Justice may still be served." The Director said ominously before his hologram faded out of existence.

"I suppose I should be grateful for Duncan's intervention there, I believe that without him the Council may have dismissed our claims. With you there, Captain, the Council would have only questioned our motives." Udina said "Yet I can't help but wonder if Duncan has another motive."

"It's possible, but I think that he just wants to bring Saren down as well." Anderson commented.

"I have no doubt that he wants to bring Saren down, it's his motives for doing so that concern me. Nevertheless we have a lot of work cut out for us. We should conduct our own independent investigation in the meantime, hopefully we can get more evidence to complement CryNet's."

"Good idea. Where should I start?" Shepard asked.

After getting two leads for her investigation Shepard headed to Chora's Den to talk to a C-Sec officer named Harkin. Heading to Chora's Den, the squad was ambushed by a couple of assassins, who could only have been amateurs. Once the assassins had been taken care of the squad entered the club and found Harkin, drunk at a small table. After trying to hit on Shepard to which she responded with a bit of threatening he gave up the most likely spot Garrus would go, a small med clinic run by a Dr. Michel. Washing their hands of the filth of Chora's Den and Harkin, the squad made their way to the med clinic where they ran into yet another complication.

The door to the clinic slid open to reveal Garrus crouched underneath a low wall, the reason for this was evident as Dr. Michel was being accosted by four armed thugs, who upon noticing the door sliding open took the doctor as a hostage. As one the squad pulled out their weapons.

"Let go of the Doctor." Shepard ordered. With Dr. Michel being held by their leader as a human shield, Shepard didn't have a shot on the leader that would keep Michel safe. The only thing in their favor was that they hadn't discovered Garrus yet. Even as the thought flew through her mind Garrus sprung into action, ducking around the wall he had a clear shot on the thug which he took, nailing him through the head. As the thug's body dropped, Garrus leaped forward and grabbed the doctor, pulling her behind cover as Shepard opened fire on the remaining thugs who were still staring at the dead body of their leader. They were quickly dropped by incredibly accurate and deadly bursts from Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan.

"Perfect timing Shepard, gave me a clear shot at that bastard." Garrus said helping Michel up.

"Nice shot, not sure if I could have pulled it off. Accuracy never was my strong suit." Shepard congratulated him.

"Thanks. Dr. Michel, are you hurt?"

"No I'm okay. I'm glad you came when you did though." She said running her shaking hands over her face.

"Why were they threatening you? Who do- who did they work for?" Shepard asked.

"They worked for Fist. Supposed to keep me silent about the quarian."

"Quarian? What quarian?" Garrus asked sharply.

"A quarian came by, injured, said she had information and wanted to exchange the information with the Shadow Broker. I sent her to Fist as he's the only broker agent I know of."

"Not anymore, he works for Saren now." Garrus informed us.

"Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker? That's stupid, even for him." Michel commented.

"Well, when have criminals been smart?" Ashley asked rhetorically.

"It looks like we are heading to Chora's Den again. This time to get Fist." Ashley said.

"Wait commander! Let me join you!" Garrus said hurriedly.

"You want to join us?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah, I want to bring down Saren as much as you do."

"What about your job?"

"It's not a problem. I'd rather help you at the moment."

Shepard hesitated evaluating Garrus for a moment before shaking his hand "Welcome aboard then Garrus." Shepard shook his hand.

"Thanks Commander. I heard that there is a krogan who has a deal to settle with Fist, maybe we could use him."

"Good idea, Garrus, the extra muscle would definitely help, any idea where he is?" Shepard asked him.

"Probably at C-Sec headquarters, I heard that some officers were going to bring him in for questioning."

"Then that's where we're headed. Lets move!"

Leaving Michel safely in her clinic, the squad headed to C-Sec headquarters where they easily found the krogan by following the sounds of an angry krogan. C-Sec was warning him to stay away from Chora's den, but the krogan was unimpressed by the human officer and brushed him off as he noticed Shepard standing nearby. Walking up to her he scrutinized her before saying "I recognize you. You're Shepard. I've heard a lot about you. Name's Wrex."

Shepard crossed her arms as she regarded the large krogan "Have you now?"

Wrex snorted "Of course. You survived a thresher maw attack on Akuze. That takes a quad."

"Well I'm glad to hear that. Anyway, I heard you wanted to kill Fist. We need to question him. You interested in joining us?"

"I've been hired to kill Fist yes. My people have a saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Shepard shook Wrex's hand "Glad to hear it." After introducing the rest of the squad to Wrex the now five man squad made their way back to Chora's Den where they planned their assault. Garrus would hack the door after which Wrex would charge through. Shepard would enter right after him after which they would split up. Wrex would go right around the cicular bar while Shepard went left. Shepard would be followed by Kaidan with Ashley following Wrex. Garrus would enter last and provide sniper support.

The plan executed perfectly and the entire room was cleared in less than a minute. Moving on they found a couple of workers who looked like they never held a gun in their life. After a little bit of convincing they decided they were better off leaving the heavily armed squad alone and left. That left one final room with Fist himself. As the squad entered the room they heard Fist complaining.

"Why do I have to do everything my self? It's time to die little soldiers!"Two turrets popped up out of the floor on either side of the room and started spewing shots at the squad forcing them down into cover.

"Garrus! Kaidan! Overload!" Shepard shouted and they both hit the two turrets with an overload bringing down their shields. "Focus fire! Get that turret down!" Shepard ordered gesturing towards the left turret "I got this one!" She pulled out a grenade from her armor and threw it, infusing it with biotic power as it left her hand while shouting "Fire in the hole!" the grenade flew through the air, glowing with biotic energy and detonated right on the turret. The blue tinged explosion was rather small, but blew the turret into dust.

"What the-" Fist's surprised exclamation was cut short by Shepard, whose next shot broke through his shields and hit him in the leg. "Ahhh!" He screamed in pain as the squad got out of cover and walked up to him. "Alright don't kill me! I surrender!" he shouted finally noticing the squad walking up to him.

"Tell me where the quarian is and I won't have to shoot you in the kneecaps." Shepard threatened, pulling out her pistol and aiming it for his knees.

"She's not here. I don't know of any quarian!" Fist tried bluffing.

"Who said that the quarian was a she? Looks like you need some help remembering." Shepard said dispassionately. "Put a round in his leg. Maybe that will help him remember."

"With pleasure." Wrex said pulling out a pistol that looked like a toy in his huge hands.

"Alright! Alright! I don't know where she is but I know where you can find her! She said that she would only deal with the Shadow Broker himself." Fist shouted in panic.

"No one meets the Shadow Broker in person. Even I was hired through an agent." Wrex growled.

"Exactly. No one meets the Shadow Broker. And it won't be the Broker's men that will be meeting her. Instead it will be Saren's. You're too late little soldiers." Fist said smugly.

"Is that so? Well tell me where that meeting is or I'll let Wrex rip you in half!" Shepard growled angrily.

"Here on the wards! The back ally by the markets! She's supposed to be meeting them right now." Fist panicked.

"Good. Now-" She was cut off by a shotgun blast that caused Fist's head to explode. She looked at Fist's now headless body with a raised eyebrow before saying "Could you warn me next time you're about to shoot someones head off Wrex? I want to be able to look away. Anyway we need to get over there. Garrus do you know where it is?"

"I do commander. I can take you there."

"Well what are we waiting for? Go!" Shepard ordered and the squad ran out of the room following Garrus. As they entered the main room of Chora's Den they found more thugs waiting for them, but they were quickly mowed down by the squad as they rushed through the building to where the meeting was taking place. They arrived just in time to see the quarian throw a grenade at two salarians and throw herself behind some cover. The two salarians were thrown off their feet while a turian drew his assault rifle. He however barely had time to bring his assault rifle up when he was riddled with bullets. Shepard moved down to where the two salarians were trying to get up and draw their weapons when she executed both of them with shots to the head.

"Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" The quarian shouted.

"Then why did you go to him?" Wrex asked.

"Wrex." Shepard warned before turning to the quarian "Don't worry about Fist."

"Then I suppose there are two things to thank you for. Who are you?" She asked.

"My name's Shepard. I'm looking for evidence to prove that Saren is a traitor and I heard that you might have some." Shepard introduced herself.

"Then I can repay you for saving my life. But we should go somewhere safe."

"We can take you to the human embassies, you will be safe there miss..." Shepard trailed off.

"My name is Tali. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." Tali introduced herself.

"Very well miss Zorah. If you would follow me we can get you to safety."

Half an hour later found them walking into Ambassador Udina's office to an irate tirade "You're not making my life easy Shepard. Firefights on the wards, an all out assault on Chora's Den do you have any idea-" He broke off as he saw the new additions to Shepard's squad. "Shepard? Who's this?"

"This is the answer to our little evidence problem Ambassador. I would have told you earlier but you didn't give me the chance." Shepard told him.

"My apologies Shepard. This entire situation has me on edge." Udina apologized. "Now lets see this evidence."

The evidence which turned out to be an audio log of Saren and an unknown woman showing their hand in the Eden Prime attack. With said audio log Tali asked to join Shepard's squad. Shepard however, was rather hesitant in letting her join as she was very young but after some convincing she agreed to let Tali join. The now six man squad left the embassies to get a drink at Flux while waiting for CryNet to finish getting their own evidence. However as they walked into C-Sec headquarters they noticed that there was a big commotion going on.

"Hey, Whats going on?" Shepard asked a passing turian officer, "What's all the commotion about."

"There's a hostage situation in a bank on Zakara ward. We're getting everyone we can over there." He told her.

"Where is it? I can help."

"CryNet is sending an inquisitor team but I suppose we could use all the help we can get. I'll send the coordinates to your nav-point."

The squad quickly headed to the coordinates given to them, taking two cabs due to their number. Upon arriving they were accosted by a man armored in what looked like more like a mech than armor. Almost the entire body was covered in metal plating, the parts that weren't covered showed a dark grey material that Shepard immediately recognized as being similar to the Nanosuit. The helmet looked rather small compared to the rest of the body but was very intimidating. Two slits on either side of the face covered the eyes of the wearer with small bright blue lights giving the appearance of four eyes. Two plates came down from the back of the head to cover the cheeks and mouth. The man in front of them looked very intimidating even as he towered over them, the armor no doubt giving him a height advantage.

"Well well well. Look what we have here." The man said looking over the squad.

Almost his entire body was covered in black and blue metal plating, the parts that weren't covered showed a dark grey material that Shepard immediately recognized as being similar to the Nanosuit. A blue CryNet logo was stamped on his left shoulder, while 'Riker' was stamped in blue on his right shoulder. The helmet looked rather small compared to the rest of the body but was very intimidating. Two slits on either side of the face covered the eyes of the wearer with small bright blue lights giving the appearance of four eyes. Two plates came down from the back of the head to cover the cheeks and mouth. The man in front of them looked very intimidating even as he towered over them, the armor no doubt giving him a height advantage.

"Commander Shepard. What a surprise." At that he pulled off his helmet to show a dark skinned man looking at them, his head now almost ridiculously small compared to the armor he was wearing. "Name's Parchman, team leader of Inquisitor team Riker. It's nice to meet you." Parchman reached out and shook Shepards hand. She could feel the controlled strength in his grip as they shook hands.

"Inquisitor team? What are you doing here?" Ashley asked.

"CryNet usually has at least one Inquisitor team stationed on the Citadel to help with situations such as this." Garrus told her.

"Indeed! There are so many idiots who think they can go up against us." Another Inquisitor said walking up to join them. This Inquisitor had black and red armor, the CryNet logo and 'Riker" on his shoulders also in red.

"Alcatraz!" Garrus greeted him.

"Garrus. Seen any homicidal elcor ambassadors recently?"

"Homicidal elcor ambassadors?" Kaidan asked confused.

"It was a couple of years back. There was this serial killer who turned out to be an elcor ambassador. The Rikers helped me take him out." Garrus explained.

"I see." Shepard said turning back to Parchman "What's the situation?"

"It's a bank robbery gone wrong. We have a bunch of hostiles in the building. C-Sec is trying to negotiate with them, but they are stuck going through the typical playbook. Meanwhile we got a Phantom in there and he's scouting out the area. He'll give us the all clear. That's when we go in. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show Commander."

"I'd rather not relax Parchman. I'd rather be in there." Shepard protested.

"I can understand that Commander. But the thing is we already have a plan, one that should eliminate all hostiles and get the hostages out as fast and safely as possible. We've trained and work together quite extensively for these situations. We have not trained with you, and your presence would throw that training out the airlock." Parchman explained.

Shepard sighed seeing the reasoning "I understand. I don't like it, but I understand."

"Commander!" Ashley protested.

"Enough Ashley. He's right. We would just be a hindrance to them." Shepard told her.

"Here, I'll patch you into our armor links. You should be able to hear everything and see everything from our helmet cams." Parchman said.

"Alright thanks. When are you going in?" Shepard asked.

"As soon as we get the go from-"

"Rikers, data has been uploaded. Go in one minute." A voice was heard over the radio, a voice that Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan recognized.

"Copy that Wraith. Rikers, move in!" Parchman said putting his helmet back on, grabbing his assault rifle from his back, and sprinting back to where four other Inquisitors were waiting.

"Can't play hide and seek with us anymore!" Alcatraz grinned grabbing a shotgun, glowing blue and disappeared only to reappear at the entrance with the other inquisitors.

"Was that just Wraith?"

"Did he just teleport?"

Kaidan and Garrus looked at each other, both having asked two questions at the same time.

"I believe that's an affirmative on both accounts." Shepard said "I'm less interested in Wraith, more interested in that teleportation. I want it."

They fell silent as they heard Parchman say, "Alright Rikers. We have the plan. Let's stick to it." Shepard and her squad opened up their omni-tools to watch the plan in action, on their screens they saw the six Inquisitor helmet cameras along with another, showing Wraith's view. They also had a mini-map showing the Inquisitors, Wraith and all hostiles. Shepard noticed that the Inquisitors were clustering around a wall, where on the other side two hostiles were standing. Through their helmet cams she realized that they planned to blow through the wall, killing the two hostiles in the explosion. Shepard saw that Wraith was priming a flash bang to explode at exactly the same time as the wall breach. Wraith had cloaked and placed the flash bang in the middle of the room the Inquisitors would be breaching. That left four hostiles, two of which were in the back rooms with the other two in a side room. The two hostiles in the back room were with some more hostages and Wraith made his way there after setting up the flash bang. Wraith moved to the door and held his position there. Then, seemingly without any prompt, the plan went into action.

The breaching charge detonated. Blowing the two hostiles away, at the same time the flash bang detonated, blinding all the guards in the main room. An instant later Wraith, not even waiting for it to open, smashed his way through the door and fired two shots. Each of which found their marks in the brain of the two hostiles who fell to the ground. Even as Wraith was smashing through the door, Riker team entered the building through their newly made entrance. Picking off all the hostiles in the main room with short bursts to the head with their assault rifles. As the last hostile in the main room fell the Riker's turned and started firing into the wall and door of the side room riddling it with shots. When they stopped Alcatraz pulled out a shotgun and charged into the door smashing through it where he found the bodies of the last two hostiles.

"Clear!" the team shouted as they secured the hostages and stayed alert for the possibilities of hostiles that they missed. The entire thing lasted for less than thirty seconds.

"Well. I can see why we would've slowed them down." Kaidan said breaking the shocked silence.

"They operate as well if not better than Alliance spec ops teams." Shepard mused.

"Ha. Those weaklings hardly had a chance against them." Wrex laughed.

"We try Wrex. We try." Everyone jerked in surprise as Wraith shimmered into existence in front of them.

"Wraith! I'm disappointed. You only got two kills." Wrex told him.

"Two kills and a whole lot of blinded mercs." he responded.

"Wraith. What are you doing here? I thought you were at the CryNet base getting the data ready."

"Data is at the Prism. Just needs to be recovered. So I got bored. When the alert went out I decided to tag along."

"You were bored so you decided to go kill some bank robbers?" Tali asked incredulously.

"Well well well. Looks like you have some new additions to your squad Shep. And why yes I did. Worked out fairly well if I do say so myself miss. . ."

"Tali."

"Tali, and I don't believe that we have been introduced either." He said turning to Garrus.

"Garrus Vakarian."

"Well Garrus, Tali. I am CryNet Phantom Operative Wraith, Infiltrator extraordinaire at your service."

"And an arrogant tin man." Shepard said punching him in the shoulder.

"You wound me woman!"

"Suck it up. What kind of spec ops are you?"

"The dangerous, fast, invisible one? Which reminds me. You owe me a drink."

"Oh for-" Shepard swore. "Now is not the time!"

"Yeah your right. I couldn't drink it through my mask anyway."

"Are they always like this?" Tali asked.

"I asked the same question back on Eden Prime." Ashley muttered.

"Well we do go way back you know." Wraith said slinging an arm around Shepard.

"Yeah and each time I wonder why I keep meeting you." She retorted throwing his arm off causing him to stumble for a second before regaining his balance.

"We've known each other for what twelve years now?"

"Thirteen. And we only really saw each other when we were in such engagements like Elysium, Akuze, Torfan and most recently Eden Prime."

"Yeah well. Time flies."

"Wait, Elysium was just six years ago. Where did you meet thirteen years ago?" Kaidan asked curiously.

Wraith and Shepard looked at each other uncomfortably before Shepard responded "Its uh not important."

"Wraith! We're done here. We're heading back to base." Parchman called over from his team.

"Understood Parchman! I'll be right there!" Wraith called back before turning back to Shepard "Well Shep. Looks like I should go. I'll hopefully see you soon. I foresee a great many things in our future."

Shepard crossed her arms, "Is that so?"

"Oh yes. Lots of dead enemies, explosions, being badasses. Should be fun. We'll see you. Ta ta!" with that Wraith turned and headed to a vehicle that was waiting for him, CryNet logo displayed proudly on the nose.

"Well that was Operative Wraith. The best CryNet Phantom, and the Phantom that was with us on Eden Prime." Shepard said watching him leave.

"He's not what I expected." Tali commented.

"No, he is kind of strange. But trust me, in the field you don't want to mess with him. He is one mean SOB."

"He seemed kind of. . . Arrogant in all the times I've seen him." Kaidan said, glancing at shepard.

"Oh he is. He puts a lot of faith in the nanosuit and CryNet. I suppose his faith is warranted, that tin suit of his is great." Shepard told them.

"He is dangerous even without his suit." Wrex said.

"How do you know? Have you seen him outside of it?" Kaidan asked.

"No, but I can tell. He uses the suit to augment his power, but he doesn't use it as a crutch. When you get to be as old as me you get to be able to tell these things." Wrex responded.

"Reminds me. You've met him before?" Shepard asked him.

"Met him a couple years back. Was hired to wreck some havoc on a mercenary base. Turns out Wraith was investigating the base at the time. Halfway through the assault he pops up beside me and tells me that the attack helped him get his intel. He said since we helped him he would help us. Guy has a quad that's for sure."

"I see. Well I think we should all head to Flux. Get some drinks. Just don't tell Wraith. I don't want him to decide he wants his drinks now anyway." Shepard smirked.

Two hours and a few drinks later

Shepard had gone without any drinks knowing that at any time the call might come in for her to report to the Council chambers when CryNet recovered its data. This precaution proved warranted when Anderson called ordering her to the Citadel tower for the end of Saren's hearing. Looking over her squad she noticed that everyone was too drunk to be of any use. Upon telling her squad about the summons she told them that she would be going there by herself, leaving them at Flux until she returned. Catching a cab she was at the Council chambers within five minutes where she once again met Anderson at the bottom of the stairs. Together the came into hearing distance of the council where they walked in just as the Director finished speaking "-is the feed we received from operative Wraith."

Shepard got into view distance just as the data feed started playing on a holographic projector in the middle of the room. Saren and the Director were both on opposite sides of the council once again. Shepard focused her attention on the data, which showed massive amounts of data coming from Wraith's suit. In the center it had the video feed, on the sides of the video it showed lots of status updates, things Shepard couldn't even begin to understand. Shepard concentrated on the video when she heard Wraith's voice fill the room: "Right, Shepard. I'll head on and scout out the space port. You can see if anyone is in there and then meet up with me later."

"Alright. Get over there and stay in radio contact."

"Aye aye Commander."

Everyone watched as the video turned and moved along the path. They watched as Wraith stopped as the spaceport came into view. The view of the spaceport suddenly zoomed in on the spaceport where Saren was standing. At that time the feed paused and the Director commented on it "As you can see, we see Saren there right now, on Eden Prime. A place where he was not supposed to be. But let us continue." The video continued as Nihilus came out of cover and started talking to Saren. Shepard heard SECOND ID Saren. A few seconds later Shepard heard Wraith muttering to himself. "Why would Saren be here now? The council wouldn't send another Spectre for a simple recovery mission."

Almost immediately Shepard heard the synthetic voice of SECOND speak up "Intercepted enemy transmission decryption complete. Transmission intercepted five minutes prior:"

"Keep the Alliance squad from reaching the beacon. I will deal with Nihlus."

A great gasp traveled through the room as people realized what they had heard.

"Positive voice recognition on Saren Arterius."

Almost immediately after Shepard noticed a icon pop up to the side of the video, it showed that Wraith was attempting to open a comm channel to Nihlus, no doubt attempting to warn him, when suddenly, multiple warnings started flashing. Shepard heard Wraith gasp in pain and fall to his knees.

"Warning. Hostile threat attempting to seize control. Engaging safety protocols."

Shepard watched as Wraith was able to look up just in time to see Saren shoot Nihlus in the back of the head. Another gasp traveled through the room as people finally were confronted with undeniable proof of Saren's betrayal.

"Rerouting systems. . ."

"Thank you Director. I believe that that is all we need to see." Tevos interrupted the feed.

"Certainly Councilor. You may examine the feed closer if you wish."

"Councilors! We have more evidence!" Udina chose to speak up.

"Ambassador? More evidence? The evidence submitted by CryNet is very condemning." Valern said.

"Indeed councilors. We have an audio file, recovered from a deactivated geth." Udina told them before playing the file.

"Eden Prime was a major victory. The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit." Saren from the recording said.

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." The unknown woman stated.

Sparatus sighed and said "The evidence submitted by CryNet and Ambassador Udina is irrefutable. Saren Arterius," He said turning to Saren's hologram "We strip you of your Spectre status. You are to return to the Citadel to face justice for your crimes."

Saren growled at these words "You will regret this decision, Councilors," before disappearing.

"I believe its safe to say that Saren will not be turning himself in." The Director stated.

"I suppose so. Still I recognize the second voice in the recording. The one mentioning 'Reapers'." Tevos said, "Matriarch Benezia."

"It appears that she is in league with Saren." Shepard said.

"Matriarch Benezia is a powerful biotic with many followers. She will be a formidable ally to Saren and his geth." Tevos concluded.

"I'm more interested in the Reapers. What do you know about them?" Valern asked.

"Only what was extracted from the geth's memory core." Anderson answered "The Reapers were an ancient race of machines that wiped out the Protheans. Then they vanished."

"The geth consider Reapers to be their gods and Saren the prophet for their return." Shepard continued.

"We believe the Conduit is the key to bringing them back. Saren is searching for it. That's why he attacked Eden prime." Anderson finished.

"Do we even know what this Conduit is?" Valern asked.

"Saren thinks it can bring back the reapers. That's bad enough." Shepard responded.

"Listen to what you're saying. Saren want's to bring back the machines that wiped out all life in the galaxy?" Sparatus asked dubiously "Impossible. It has to be! Where did the Reapers go? Why did they vanish? How come we have found no trace of their existence? If they were real we would have found something." He concluded.

"Not necessarily Councilor. The Reapers could have hidden or destroyed all that information when they left. The fact of the matter is, the Reapers represent a clear threat to the galaxy. Something must be done!" The Director countered.

"The Reapers are obviously just a myth director. A convenient lie to cover Saren's true purpose. A legend he is using to bend the geth to his will." Valern said dismissively.

"Are you willing to bet the galaxy on that councilor? Remember all legends are based off of some modicum of reality." The Director told him crossing his arms. "The fate of the galaxy may be at stake here. If Saren finds the Conduit and the legends prove to be true, then we will no doubt be wiped out."

"Saren is a rogue agent on the run for his life. He no longer has the rights and resources of a Spectre. We have stripped him of his position." Sparatus said.

"That is not good enough! You know he's hiding somewhere in the Traverse. Send your fleet in!" Udina demanded.

"A fleet cannot track down one man." Valern told him.

"A Citadel fleet could secure the entire region. Keep the geth from attacking any more of our colonies!" Udina explained.

"Or it could trigger a war with the Terminus systems! We won't be dragged into a galactic confrontation over a few dozen human colonies." Sparatus dismissed Udina's explanation.

"Excuse me councilor? Did I hear that correctly?" The Director jumped in "You plan on leaving dozens of human colonies to the mercy of the geth without doing nothing? You plan on turning your backs on one of the races that are under your protection?"

"I am sure that that is not what Councilor Speratus meant. We simply cannot risk a galactic war at this time, not that we would do nothing." Tevos responded "There however is another option available. One that does not require fleets or armies."

"No! It's too-" Sparatus broke off when Tevos glared at him.

"Commander Shepard, step forward." Tevos said returning her gaze on Shepard.

Shepard swallowed, glancing up at the Director who gave her an almost imperceptible nod and smile, before stepping forward, past Anderson and Udina.

Tevos began the ceremony, "It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel."

"Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle, those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file." Valern picked up.

"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will." Tevos continued.

Sparatus continued, "Spectres bear a great burden. They are the protectors of the galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold."

"You are the first human Spectre, Commander. This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species." Tevos finished.

"I'm honored Councilors."

"We're sending you into the Traverse after Saren Arterius. He's a fugitive from justice so you are authorized to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him." Valern gave Shepard her orders.

"I'll find him." Shepard said confidently.

"Director Duncan. I assume we can count on CryNet's support?" Tevos asked turning to the hologram.

"Of course councilors. A CryNet Phantom will be assigned to Shepard and CryNet will assist in any way we can." The Director nodded his head.

"This meeting is adjourned." Tevos finished the meeting and the Director disappeared from view.

After congratulations from Anderson, Udina immediately started working on the logistics necessary. Shepard decided to head down to the C-Sec academy to get new equipment. On the way she called her squad and asked them if they would join her. No one hesitated in agreeing.

Making a short stop at the spectre requisitions office Shepard bought a CryTech Armories Marshall, a fairly slow firing speed and high heat generating shotgun that did quite a bit of damage per shot. Armed with her new shotgun she joined up with her squad at the Normandy where Captain Anderson told her that he was stepping down in order for Shepard to become its CO.After a bit of convincing Shepard took the position.

Anderson and Udina then told her that the only lead they had was that Matriarch Benezia's daughter, Liara T'soni was in a Prothean dig site on Therum. It was unknown if Dr. T'Soni was working with her mother but she was a Prothean expert regardless and could even possibly help Shepard make sense of her vision. Deciding that barring any other complications Shepard would head there after final preparations were completed which was estimated to take six hours.

It was then that Wraith contacted her "Hey Shep."

"Wraith, quite the thing you pulled off there."

"I thought so, anyway can't go into much detail about that particular event, this is an unsecured channel. As it is I need to do a systems check on my suit. I have to make sure that Eden Prime didn't fuck anything up."

Shepard nodded to herself "Right, I need to finalize preparations here as well. I suspect that that will take about six hours. After that we're probably heading to Therum, unless anything else gets in the way."

"Alright, so I'll meet you there, or wherever you are when I'm done checking my suit. I have to head over to Noveria as its the closest place with the necessary equipment to do a full systems check. That scan could easily take quite some time so I'll meet up with you after I'm done."

"Alright Wraith. I'll see you then."

"Roger. Wraith out."

A/N: Well there you go. Shepard is a Spectre and CryNet brought forth some new evidence unlike in the previous version where Wraith brought the same evidence as Shepard. Kinda made Shepard useless.

Also, if you want to follow me on Twitter, you can do so, I'm going to try and post regular updates there. You can find me LEGION001. I'll try to be posting updates on NE but there will probably also be other gaming related tweets there as well.

Speaking of which, Planetside 2 has launched and I find my time being sucked away by that and Assassin's Creed 3 as well. I'd definitely recommend Planetside 2 even if it is in a rather buggy state at the moment. Here's hoping that they will fix that soon.

Anyway, I'd say read and review but if you're reading this chances are that you already read it. As for reviews, while getting reviews that say "Nice chapter" is great, they don't really help me get better. So constructive criticism is welcomed!

Until the eighth of December!

~LEGION