Nano Effect: The Geth Crysis

by LEGION001

Crysis tech in Mass Effect universe. CryNet Phantom Wraith, is sent on a mission to Eden Prime on the Alliances newest warship with the legendary Commander Shepard. Nothing could have prepared him for what would come after. Revised version. Shepard/OC. Rated M for language and violence.

10. Chapter 10: Spectre vs Inquisitor

Disclaimer: I Don't own Mass Effect or Crysis. It sucks I know.

A/N: Thanks to DN7 for his betaing

Wraith POV

"Lets see how you will fare against Inquisitor Team 545."I was very interested in seeing how Shepard and 545 would perform. While Shepard's squad outnumbered 545, they weren't as experienced as the active Inquisitor squad. Only three of Shepard's squad, excluding Shepard herself, were experienced fighters. While Garrus had been in the turian military, I imagined that he wasn't at his prime after all those years at C-Sec. Tali and Liara on the other hand were completely inexperienced in combat. Tali was very young, on her pilgrimage and while she was no doubt taught some combat skills before she left she would be no match for an Inquisitor. Liara was in a similar position, having been an archeologist, and while she was trying her hardest to learn she didn't have the experience of the rest.

Yet Shepard was something else. I had no doubt that she was the most experienced of the lot, but I felt that Shepard's squad had a definite advantage over 545. After entering a few commands, I evened the odds a bit by giving 545 a couple of virtual CELL troops to command. CELL, or Crynet Enforcement and Local Logistics is CryNet's security force. CELL guards the various CryNet establishments in the galaxy and while not very numerous, CELL troopers are well equipped with the latest in CryNet Armories equipment.

Coming out of my thoughts I saw that Shepard had her entire squad clustered around her, no doubt discussing the upcoming match. Deciding to listen in, I routed their comm chatter through the speakers in the observation room.

Shepard was in the middle of saying something when the link established "-better teamwork and experience. So what do we know about 545?"

Wrex was the first to respond "They are all arrogant. As for Beserker he is reckless. A weak link in the squad."

"How so? I imagine he's like a krogan in blood rage. It's not easy to stop them." Garrus asked, criticizing Wrex's judgment.

Wrex chuckled, "He may very well be like a krogan in a blood rage. But tell me, when was the last time you saw a raging krogan work well in a team?"

I saw Kaidan nod thoughtfully on the monitor. "True, Beserker is more likely to overextend himself, and thereby exposed. However, I fully expect that his team works with that in mind. They most likelyprefer a very aggressive assault because of that. They'll let Beserker charge forward, while moving up themselves to cover him. Under normal circumstances it would be very difficult to stop such an attack."

"Well, what if we take out Beserker first? Their entire assault plan would be shot to hell." Ashley suggested.

"It's risky, but it could work. This all hinges on the fact that they do indeed focus on an assault type like the one we're talking about. If that's not the case then we need something else." Shepard cautioned them. "And while they may be arrogant, I highly doubt their stupid. We need a variety of strategies to deal with them. An ambush will likely be our best bet to eliminate Beserker. We just need to lure them to a place of our choosing and catch them in a well coordinated crossfire."

"Shepard?" Liara asked hesitantly "Do we even know if they will be alone?"

"Excellent question Liara." Shepard began pacing. "I think that if they are alone they will be very cautious. We'll outnumber them as it is. So I definitely suspect that they will have support in some way or another."

A hint of a smile crept on my face as I continued to listen to the squadas they formed various strategies ranging from a full on charge to hit and run strategies using long ranged attacks. Finally when I decided they were ready I told CABAL to start the simulation. With the battlefield up I listened to CABAL brief Shepard's squad disguised as 'Oversight one'.

"Sable squad, Oversight one." CABAL called the squad by their codename for this simulation. Sable one was Shepard. Two would be Kaidan followed by Ashley as Sable three. Garrus took Sable four while Liara and Tali took up Sable five and six respectively. Wrex would round up Sable squad with Sable seven. "Your orders are to find Inquisitor team 545 and wipe them out. Intel has 545 approaching from a road to the north with an armed contingentof an estimated ten troops. These troops are suspected to be well armed. Notable features of the battlefield include two prefab shelter complexes in these two locations. One is near your position and the other is near the estimated arrival point of 545. The two complexes are separated by a river which runs through the entire area. There are three ways to get over the river. This main road here, and these two smaller paths on either side. Good luck Sable. Oversight one out."

"Alright guys, they outnumber us now. We're going to have to ambush them to try and thin their numbers. The problem is where are we going to ambush them. We don't know which path they're going to take. I'd say we bunker up in this prefab complex here." Shepard outlined her plan. I glanced over at the monitor showing the tactical map that Shepard was detailing her plans on, which indicated that Shepard was planning on setting up an ambush in the complex on their side of the river, as it was the only place where they could really set up an ambush for all three paths.

"Garrus, I want you to take up an observation position in this tower. You're going to be our eyes. Tell us where they are and how many they are. Kaidan, Liara, you two are going to take up a position in this building here, alongside the main road. Ashley, Tali, you two in the building on the opposite side of the road. Wrex, I want you stationed just off the road in the south end of the complex where the southeast path joins the main road. Meanwhile I'll be stationed at the north end of the complex right where the main road and the Northwest path join together.

Our target is Beserker, if we can take him out quickly, we won't have to worry about him charging in. Once he is down, or if he doesn't take the bait we will focus on the escort. Ignore the rest of 545 and take down as many of them as possible. Once those are down we'll take out 545. Wrex, if they come from either of the northern paths I want you to try and get Beserker to charge at you. If you can lure him away from the main group he will be that much easier to take out.

If they come from the southern path, I want you to hit them from behind while I try to lure out Beserker. Tali, Kaidan If we can get Beserker, hit him with all the overloads you can, take out his shields. Once his shields are down Ash, I want you to take him out with your Krysae. Quick headshot with the Krysae should easily tear through his armor. Once he's down, I want you to pin them in place with your LMG Wrex. Garrus you can snipe the escort once they are pinned. You should be in prime position. The rest of us will cause as much carnage as possible alright?"

"Got it Commander." Kaidan acknowledged as the rest of the squad nodded their agreement.

"Well then, lets move out." Shepard ordered before cautioning "Watch your spacing, if they charge us before we get to the complex I don't want us all cut down instantly."

I nodded to myself, slightly impressed with Shepard's strategy. Whether she knew it or not her plan was perfect for taking out 545 as it used its apparent strength and their arrogance against them. 545 is a great shock and awe team, utilizing the shock of Beserker charging in and causing mass chaos to enter behind him and wipe out all resistance. This however left Beserker very exposed to enemy fire. If their enemies were not shocked by Beserker, and even managed to take him down, 545's biggest advantage would be taken and turned against them. I was interested in seeing if 545 might change up their tactics due to the amount of times they were beaten by better Inquisitor or Phantom teams who also used their own strength against them.

Turning my attention back to the monitors I saw that 545 and their escort of ten armed CELL personnel were taking the northwest path which would lead them to the north end of the prefab complex. The CELL personnel in this simulation were not real people, merely holographic replicas of the real thing being controlled by CABAL. When the group began crossing the bridge over the river they began to slow down, watching the forest to the sides of the path, obviously expecting an ambush of some kind. Looking back at Sable's monitors, I was just in time to see Ashley and Tali enter their designated building with Wrex already in position hiding in the bushes at the south end of the complex. Liara and Kaidan had already split off and were entering their building with Garrus heading towards his tower that would give him a perfect view of the surrounding area. Soon all that was left was Shepard who soon settled down in the undergrowth at the north end of the complex.

Silence spread over the complex as the squad settled down to wait for 545 to arrive. They didn't have to wait long for them to arrive however as 545 slowly came into view and stopped a few meters away from where Shepard was hiding. While the entire 545 team seemed to be of the opinion that there was infact an ambush waiting for them within the compound, there were different opinions as to how to deal with the ambush. Beserker was of the opinion that they should spring the trap with guns blazing while Stratos wanted to go the safer route of circling around and entering the compound from the forest. Unfortunately for them, the decision was taken out of their hands when Wrex showed himself, roaring out his challenge at the top of his considerable lungs.

"BESERKER! I CHALLENGE YOU! COME AND FIGHT ME LIKE A REAL WARRIOR! I HEAR FIGHTING YOU IS LIKE FIGHTING A KROGAN! BUT I DOUBT IT. YOU'RE JUST A WEAK PYJAK!"

Almost instantly an answering roar sounded and I watched as Beserker charged into the complex heading straight for Wrex, ignoring the shouts of his teammates to get back.

"FUCK! BESERKER, GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!" Stratos yelled "Move! Move! Into the complex, give him cover!" The rest of 545 started running after him just as Beserker made it into the middle of the complex when suddenly all hell broke loose. Sparks began to shower from Beserker as Tali and Kaidan hit him with powerful overloads. A second later and Beserker was without shields when he was suddenly yanked off his feet by Liara's biotics. Two more seconds later and a loud gunshot sounded as Ashley took a shot with her Krysae, the simulated round traveling at hypersonic speeds as it bored straight through Beserker's helmet and exploded, vaporizing his head in a burst of flame. As Beserker's simulated body fell to the ground, the real Beserker was pulled down through the floor so that he could leave the simulation without interfering with the rest of the battle.

Right as Ashley had pulled the trigger, taking Beserker out of the fight, Shepard revealed herself in a flash of biotics as she slammed into a trailing CELL trooper. The unfortunate trooper's scream was abruptly cut off as he slammed into the side of a building. Without pausing Shepard blasted another trooper away with her shotgun even as the rest of the squad turned their attention on the CELL escort.

Finally understanding what was happening Stratos gave the order to do the only sensible thing, retreat. "FALL BACK! RETREAT, BACK ACROSS THE RIVER!"

Shepard's squad was able to gun down another four CELL troopers as they ran away. Surgeon was only saved from Garrus's sniper rifle by his shields that absorbed the shot that was meant for the back of his head.

I was quite impressed by the ambush. Wrex's taunts were perfect for luring out Beserker so that he could be taken out. They had also taken out the majority of the CELL escort leaving only Stratosphere, Surgeon, Praetor and four CELL troops and these were hightailing it back to the other side of the river where they could regroup. Unfortunately for them Shepard had no intention of letting them regroup.

"We have them on the run! After them! Go! Go! Go!" She ordered, prompting the squad to leave their positions and run after the fleeing remainder of the 545.

Shepard led her squad forward through the forest and as they passed over the river she slowed down, giving the order to spread out "Alright, fan out, keep your heads on a swivel. We might have done some massive damage to them but they aren't out of the fight just yet." As ordered, the squad spread out, Shepard and Wrex leading with Ashley and Kaidan behind them. Tali and Liara went to the sides of the procession with Garrus taking up the rear. The squad slowly went over the bridge and continued up the road.

"I don't like this Shepard. We're too exposed out on the road." Garrus said quietly.

Shepard was about to respond when suddenly a two shots rang out. "GET OFF THE ROAD!" She yelled sprinting to the side of the road. A loud beeping sounded at the same time causing me to look over at the status monitor. There I saw that Tali had been hit by the snipers, Praetor and Surgeon. Praetor had fired first with an incisor sniper rifle so while it sounded like there had been only two shots, there had actually been four. The Incisor had fired off its three shots so quickly that they sounded like one single shot and had taken down Tali's shields. Before she could react another round from Surgeon's DSG-1 slammed straight through her visor taking her out. Even as Tali fell through the floor so that she could leave the simulation a hologram of her body slumped to the floor as Garrus cried out in shock at seeing Tali 'die'.

Shepard hesitated for a moment looking at 'Tali's' dead body before shouting "Fuck! Move up through the trees. They're holed up in a building on the south side of the complex. Get up as close as possible. I'll come up with a plan then."

Garrus stared at her disbelieving "What about Tali? She's dead!"

"It's a simulation Garrus! She's not actually dead." Shepard told him.

"I- oh... Right." He muttered sounding quite embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it. It was very convincing." She placed a hand on his shoulder, "Now let's get on to that building. We need to flush them out of there."

"Yeah, so do you have a plan?" Garrus asked her as they continued on through the forest.

Shepard swatted aside an overhanging fern "I might."

"Well?" Garrus asked ducking underneath the backlash of the fern.

"Angry krogan." Shepard slowed to a stop by the rest of the squad who had all stopped at the edge of the forest. "Alright. So we know that there are three Inquisitors and four CELL troopers holed up in that building. With Tali out of action we'll be severely limited in our tech abilities. We're pretty much in a stalemate if we decide to surround them and only take potshots. Our shields will protect us enough and the same can be said for their own. The only way would be to storm the building, but that would be dangerous if we don't force them to keep their heads down. So here's my plan. Wrex give your LMG to Ash. You're going to be charging the building so you won't need it. Ash, Garrus you will hang back and force them to keep their heads down. The rest of us will charge for the building, and once there we'll breach. That will no doubt force them to turn their attention towards us. I want you two to start taking potshots at them if they are exposed.

"As for the building itself, I'm not sure how its laid out, but I'll put up some guidelines. If it has a single stairway leading up to the upper levels Wrex and I will lead while you two give us support." Shepard continued, looking at Kaidan and Liara, "If it has two or more stairways leading up then we will split up, two and two. Wrex and Kaidan, me and Liara. Wrex will lead while you follow him Kaidan and I'll do the same on my end Liara. Any questions?"

When no one had any Shepard continued, "Well then, let's make it happen."

While Shepard was making her plan for assaulting the building, Stratos was coming up with a plan for defense.

"Alright, we're in a bad situation. Beserker is down, along with six of the CELL troops. While we did take down the quarian they still have an advantage over us. We do however have the building and we need to use that advantage to its fullest. I expect that they will attempt to charge the building, most likely under suppressing fire. We need to keep them away at all costs. Praetor, Surgeon try to pick them off. Like how you took out the quarian. Focus fire. Try to take out Shepard if you can this time. If not prioritize the krogan or the asari. You trooper, you have a LMG?" Stratos asked a CELL trooper with a Mod 0. When he nodded Stratos continued "You stay up here with Praetor and Surgeon, but don't let them see you. They will probably try and keep them pinned so once all hell breaks loose I want you to pop up and return fire. Try and keep their heads down and let Praetor and Surgeon take them out. I'll take the rest of the CELL troops and barricade the doors, maybe leave some presents for whoever opens them. Its not an ideal plan but we have to make due with what we got. Let's do this boys. Show the commander who she's messing with here. We are the five-four-five and we will NOT fail here!"

With that rousing shout, the 545 split up to go to their assigned posts. Surgeon and Praetor took up positions at windows overlooking the forest where Shepard was hiding with the CELL trooper while Stratos went to the ground floor where the CELL troopers were waiting. There they locked and booby trapped the doors before taking up a position where they could defend the doors.

Unfortunately for them, Shepard's plan went in motion with devastating results. Having observed the building for some time Garrus and Ash had located both Praetor and Surgeon when they poked their heads out to look for them. On Shepard's signal, Ashley jumped up with Wrex's borrowed Mod-0 and started firing with short bursts at Praetor's window. When Surgeon popped up to take her out he was met with a shot from Garrus that took down his shields forcing him down once more. However Ashley and Garrus were unprepared for the CELL trooper when he popped up with his Mod-0 and started laying down fire on Garrus forcing his head down. When Ashley swiveled to take down the CELL trooper Praetor and Surgeon were able to pop up and take two quick shots at Ashley. Luckily for her they missed her head and were only able to score a shot on her shoulder forcing her down again.

While Praetor, Surgeon and the CELL trooper kept Ashley and Garrus pinned, Shepard, Wrex, Kaidan and Liara had rushed towards the building without taking much fire where they all piled up at one of the two doors. "Kaidan, smoke grenade, on my mark." Shepard ordered glancing back at Ashley and Garrus.

Nodding Kaidan grabbed a smoke grenade and slid over to one of the window's, making sure to stay out of sight. Grabbing a fragmentation grenade herself Shepard gave Wrex a signal. As Wrex walked up in front of the door she also gave Kaidan a signal upon which he smashed open the window and threw a smoke grenade inside the room. Shepard did the same with a window on her side and threw a frag grenade in just as Wrex charged straight through the door. As the door shattered underneath the weight of the charging krogan the booby trap that Stratos had set up detonated sending shrapnel straight at Wrex. Wrex's shields protected him from the majority of the shrapnel but the rest scored some hits on Wrex's armor. An instant later Shepard's frag grenade detonated, alongside Kaidan's smoke grenade filling the room with smoke. Shepard quickly rushed through the open door activating her thermal visor allowing her to see the four glowing figures in the room.

One of said figures was already lying on the floor, having been unfortunate enough to be standing exactly where Shepard's grenade had hit. The other three figures however immediately started firing into the smoke, however the two remaining CELL troopers were having a hard time hitting anything due to them not being able to see. Stratos on the other hand also had activated his Thermal Visor and was able to score multiple hits on Wrex, the simulated rounds penetrating his armor and injuring him. As Shepard picked off another CELL trooper Stratos realized that the room was lost and ordered the last CELL trooper to retreat up the stairs. Unfortunately for him he was caught in a blue aura as Liara grabbed him and yanked him back down the stairs where he met his end to Wrex's shotgun.

"Up the stairs go!" Shepard ordered and led the charge up. Wrex who's shields were still recharging went up after her with no regard for the fact that he had been shot a couple of times already. Kaidan and Liara quickly followed and as they reached the top of the stairs they were confronted with something that could only be described as chaos. All three Inquisitors were in the room squaring off against Shepard and Wrex, the last CELL trooper already lying unnaturally at the foot of the back wall. Without hesitating Kaidan fired off two overloads at Stratos and Praetor, which damaged their shields somewhat, not bringing them down fully. A burst from Praetor's Feline impacted on Shepard's shields, to which Shepard responded by glowing blue and smashing herself into Stratos, causing him to stumble back. Before he could recover, Shepard grabbed Stratos's arm and dragged him back, throwing him off his feet. Dropping into a roll Stratos pulled out a dagger similar to Wraiths and slashed out at Shepard. Ducking underneath his slash Shepard grabbed his wrist and twisted sharply. A sharp crack sounded as Stratos's wrist broke causing him to gasp in pain.

Taking the opportunity Shepard grabbed the dagger out of mid air and stabbed Stratos straight through his neck where the armor plating ended. Yanking out the knife, Stratos fell to the ground, taken out of the simulation and towards medical aid. While Shepard and Stratos had been fighting Wrex had charged Surgeon. The light and agile drell tried to dodge out of the way but Wrex would not have it and hit him across the room where he smashed straight through the wall and out of the building where he fell to the ground. While he was still alive, that changed when Garrus sent a sniper round into his head. With only Praetor still fighting against the rest of the squad he was quickly taken down by the combined fire of Shepard, Wrex, Kaidan and Liara.

"Simulation ended. Sable squad victorious. One casualty, two injuries. 545 wiped out... Not bad." CABAL commented.

CARLA's hologram nodded "Shepard certainly didn't disappoint. 545 didn't stand a chance."

"Indeed. I do believe that they are ready. CARLA, is my suit repaired yet?"

"Almost. Finishing touches are being applied now. Do you want to put it on right away?"

I nodded, "I want to be ready to leave when Shepard gives the word."

"Very well. I will inform the lab of your imminent arrival."

I nodded "Thank you CARLA. CABAL, I'll see you later."

"No doubt you will, Director."

Shepard's POV

With the simulation ended, Shepard was confronted by 545 who congratulated her on her victory.

"Well done Commander. Nice tangling with you there there. You deserved that victory." Stratosphere shook her hand giving her a nod of respect.

"Well fought Stratosphere. We may have to do this again."

"Heh. We'll be better then that's for sure. Good luck on your mission. Know that the 545 is standing behind you if you ever need us."

"I appreciate it Stratosphere. Good luck on all your own missions."

Shaking hands one last time the 545 exited the simulator. Moments after, a holographic screen appeared in front of Shepard with various categories to choose her next simulation if she wanted.

"I think we can do one more sim, you guys up to it?" Shepard asked hand hovering over a choice on the screen.

"I think that we all are up for another one." Garrus answered.

Shepard smirked "Well then, let's get started." Selecting her choice, Shepard stood back as the screen disappeared and the room morphed into a wide sprawling battlefield. The sky took on a reddish tinge and the squad could see multiple fires off in the distance. The sounds of distant gunfire and artillery impacts reached them.

"Where are we commander?" Kaidan asked.

As if answering him, Oversight 1 contacted them for their briefing. "Sable squad, Oversight one. You have been deployed to the planet of Zorya. Terminus forces have entrenched themselves around their headquarters in the capital city of Thun. Turian forces are unable to push forward due to the artillery batteries located two clicks east of your position. Your objective is to take out those artillery batteries to allow our ground forces to take Thun. Topographical and tactical data has been uploaded to your VI's. Good luck Sable, Oversight one out."

Taking a quick look at the map Shepard turned and headed towards the marked location "I'll explain on the way there. Pretty much this is a simulation of a single battle in a hypothetical war with the Terminus systems. Specifically, near the end of the war with Citadel forces trying to take control of one of the Terminus' main planets of Zorya. As Oversight one said, we need to take out the artillery that is keeping Citadel troops from assaulting their HQ on the planet."

"How are we going to destroy the artillery?" Ashley asked.

"With the explosives that the simulator was kind enough to provide us with." Shepard said patting a pouch that was now hanging off of her waist.

"That should do it. So what's the plan commander?" Kaidan asked.

"Looking over the intel that we have and I'm thinking that we should split up into two groups of three and hit them from two sides at once." Shepard told them.

"You do realize that we are seven people Commander." Garrus asked cautiously.

Shepard looked affronted at that "Of course. That is why the seventh, you, will be providing us sniper support."

"Sounds good Commander. Who will lead the second team?" Kaidan asked.

"You will Kaidan. Take Ash and Liara with you. I'll take Wrex and Tali. Kaidan you will circle around and hit them from the west, I'll hit them from the east. Garrus, to the south of the encampment there is a hill that should give you a good view of the entire base. That's where you'll give us support."

"Alright Commander. I've received waypoints there." Garrus told her.

"Excellent. Now then, according to the topographical maps, I'd suggest we all split up here. That way we lower the risk of being detected before the assault. Once we start the assault, I want us all to head for this location." Shepard highlighted a clearing right in the middle of the base "We'll group up there and head on to the last emplacement. Also," Shepard continued pulling out a couple of explosive charges from her pouch and tossed them over to Kaidan "You might want these. Plant them on the emplacements when you reach them, get to a safe distance, then detonate. Got that all?"

"Yes Commander." Kaidan nodded.

"Excellent. Garrus, sweep the area for snipers before the assault and take those out first once the assault has begun. Once you've done that, start taking out the higher priority targets. If all goes to plan this op shouldn't take too long. Good luck boys, see you in the base."

With that out of the way Shepard and Kaidan took their squads and split off from one another while Garrus continued straight on. After ten minutes of walking through the undergrowth Wrex became uneasy, "I have a bad feeling about this."

Shepard glanced back at him "What do you mean?".

"I just can't shake the feeling that things are not going to go according to plan."

"What should we do Commander?" Tali asked.

Shepard continued walking in silence, thinking heavily until, "We continue on and deal with whatever tries to interrupt us."

Wrex nodded, pleased "It's a good plan."

The rest of the trek continued on with some banter between the three of them until they reached the artillery base where, after hiding themselves in a ditch Shepard checked in with the others. "Kaidan, Garrus this is Shepard. I'm in position. Whats your status?"

"Garrus here. In position and good to go. No hostile snipers spotted."

"We're in position Commander. Just waiting on you're go."

"Copy that. Go go go!" Throwing herself out of the ditch Shepard sprinted forward into the base, spotting two soldiers with their weapons propped up against a wall next to them. Before they could do anything other than stare dumbly at her Shepard fired two shots with her Majestic, each finding their mark inside the heads of each soldier, as their Kinetic barriers hadn't been activated. Tearing past the two guards, Shepard heard shots coming from the opposite side of camp as well as the distant crack from Garrus' sniper rifle. Rounding the corner past the two dead guards, Shepard was confronted by five more soldiers, all of them in the process of reaching for their weapons and activating their shields. Before Shepard could open fire a stream of biotic energy rushed past her and slammed into the middle of the group where it materialized as Wrex who immediately turned and smashed an armored figure to the side and took another out with a shotgun blast to the face. Firing a quick burst at another soldier, Shepard took down his shields when a blast of fire engulfed him causing him to scream as he died. Immediately shifting her view to the last soldier Shepard took him down with a quick burst followed by a biotic throw.

Rolling to the side as another large group exited a nearby building, Shepard crouched down behind a container while Wrex gave a roar and charged straight into the middle of the group. Tali who had pressed herself against the wall of a building ducked around and fired off an overload at an armored turian which she followed up with a quick incinerate.

Firing another burst off, Shepard vaulted over the cover and concentrated for a second, wrapping herself in a biotic barrier she then propelled herself forward and slammed herself into a batarian who was about to take a shot at Wrex from behind. Almost immediately after she was hit by a throw from an asari who was readying a warp to follow up her throw with. Rolling to the side Shepard dodged the warp and retaliated with a warp of her own. The asari having expected her warp to have hit Shepard, tried to dodge but was too late as she was hit by the warp that tore through her barriers and left her open to being thrown into a window by a backhand from Wrex.

It was in this manner that Shepard, Wrex and Tali fought their way through the base towards the first artillery cannon. Wrex would charge in headfirst while Shepard would use the distraction Wrex created to wreak havoc on the Terminus soldiers. Tali helped more often than not by taking down shields, incinerating or flash freezing whatever she could and when possible using her shotgun to take out anyone who came too close.

Upon reaching the cannon, Shepard and Wrex defended it while Tali got to work setting the charges. With the charges set, the squad continued on to the next cannon where instead of finding Terminus soldiers waiting for them, all they found was silence. Shepard's senses immediately went into overtime upon noticing this. They should have been able to hear Kaidan's squad fighting from where they were but instead they didn't hear a thing.

"I don't like this one bit." Wrex growled "Where are the soldiers, are they too scared to fight?"

"I don't like this either. Hold on, I'm going to try and contact Kaidan and Garrus." Shepard said opening a comm channel to both of them. "Sable two, Sable four. Sable one here come in." A few seconds past in silence before Shepard tried again "Sable two, Sable four this is Sable one, report in... Kaidan, Garrus, anybody, do you read me?" Shepard broke off as she heard a gasp of pain before suddenly her VI beeped in alarm showing that Tali's vitals had gone critical. Spinning around to where the VI was indicating Tali was she saw that something was protruding from Tali's visor. "FUCK!" She swore upon seeing Tali's 'dead' body. Moving closer to Tali she was able to tell exactly what Tali had been hit by. "An arrow? Wrex, did you see who it was?"

Wrex shook his massive head as he gripped his shotgun "No, I had thought I'd heard something over there moments before though." He said motioning towards a spot away from Tali. "I think that something is hunting us."

"Not only us." Shepard muttered, "Kaidan's squad and Garrus have gone dark."

"Who do you think it is?" Wrex asked as he kept looking behind himself.

"There is only one thing that I can imagine would be able to do something like that" She nodded towards Tali's body "So quickly and silently. A-" Shepard was interrupted by a dark figure materializing in mid air as it flew straight towards Wrex, bow aimed right at him.

Wraith POV

"PHANTOM!" Shepard's shout filled my ears as I descended towards Wrex, releasing the arrow from my bow. It burrowed straight through the krogan's head plate and into his brain, having completely bypassed his shields.

"Hello Shepard." I said landing and drawing the string of my bow back, new arrow already notched in place. Before I could do anything else Shepard fired a burst from her assault rifle forcing me to release the arrow before I could aim it properly and roll to the side.

"Cloak engaged."

Coming out of my roll I took off at a sprint sliding to a stop behind a pile of crates. Drawing the string of my bow back I popped up from behind the crates only to find a blast of biotic energy speeding towards me. The blast shorted out my cloak, knocked me off of my feet and forced me to drop the bow. Quickly readjusting, I twisted so that I hit the side of a building feet first so that I could immediately jump off the wall. Landing in a roll I immediately continued on in a sideways roll which caused Shepard's warp to miss me allowing me to scoop up my bow from the ground, have SECOND notch a new type of arrow and quickly shoot it at partial draw. The new arrow, armed with an airburst tip detonated right before it hit her. I had hoped to be able to force her into cover. Unfortunately for me she flared blue and charged towards me.

Fuck. Was my only thought as she slammed into me causing me to stagger back as the suit compensated for the sudden impact. Fortunately for me Shepard didn't have her shotgun out and so was unable to blast me away. Unfortunately for me Shepard had a backup plan of both infusing her fist with biotic power and using the GHOST's muscle fibers to increase the power of her punch. So as I saw the glowing blue fist speeding towards me I did the only sensible thing, I spun out of the way and slashed out at her with my dagger, scoring a hit on her armor before she was able to stop my arm. Quickly responding with a lightning fast punch to my stomach followed by two solid punches to my head dazed me for a second allowing her to blast me away with a biotic throw. Luckily for me that throw blasted me out of her vision allowing me to cloak and circle around her. When she realized her mistake she quickly backed into a corner, SCAR raised.

Jumping up on top of a building I notched another arrow back, pulling the string back all I raised the bow and aimed it at Shepard and just as she noticed me standing there released the string. The heavy arrow whizzed through the air, bypassed Shepard's shields and burrowed straight through her helmet into her head.

"Simulation ended. Operative Wraith the victor. Congratulations." CABAL said over the intercom as I looked down at Shepard who was still crouching in the corner.

"Well fought Shepard. Well fought indeed." I said extending my hand for her to grasp.

"I was not expecting you. I suppose I should have though." Shepard said ruefully as she stood up. "What was that anyway? CryNet unable to afford producing top tier weapons and are resorting to bows and arrows now?"

I laughed. "Expect the unexpected eh Shepard? This little beauty is the simulated prototype of the Predator bow. Silent and deadly. Or at least we hope it will be."

Shepard regarded me for a moment, "It will be?"

I chuckled, "Yeah It's only a simulation. We don't even have a real prototype of it yet, just the design and projected capabilities. We do this with all of our new weapon designs. We can calculate their capabilities and make a simulation of it to see if we need to tweak something before the prototype. Call it a prototype of a prototype if you will. It doesn't always work. Sometimes what happens in real life is different from what the simulation tells us, but it usually gives us a good guideline."

"I see. So why a bow?"

"Kinda remarkable really. Bows can actually do more damage than most guns in a single shot. The main drawback is the fact that its harder to use than a gun. However the Predator bow is designed with a Nanosuit in mind. A powerful compound bow can be fired while cloaked without completely draining the Nanosuit energy which is a huge benefit for stealth operations. And the arrows bypass shields as standard kinetic barriers are not programmed for such low velocities. Now I'm sure you can imagine just how useful that could be when infiltrating enemy positions."

"I suppose. But its not that great in open combat."

I grimaced "Yeah, and it showed. It was the only thing I took with me. I wanted to see how it would work. How did you spot me while cloaked by the way?"

"Thermals. You're cloak might lower your thermal image but its still there."

"Of course... Thermals." I grumbled "Saw your fight with 545 by the way. Nice work there."

"Thanks. I suppose that your suit is fixed?"

"Yeah it's fixed. We're ready to leave whenever you are."

"Commander!" We looked up to see Kaidan walking towards us, "Just received a call from Joker. Apparently there is a message waiting for you aboard the Normandy."

"Did he say who it's from?" Shepard asked.

"He just said it came from Alliance Brass."

"Well I suppose we've spent enough timehere. Let's go."

The rest of the squad was waiting for us in the simulator armory where they were dropping off all of their borrowed equipment. They all looked up at our entry and Garrus called out to me "Hey Wraith! Good shooting there. I never saw it comin."

"Thanks Garrus."

"That bow sure is something? How far away were you?" Garrus asked, grilling me on how I took him down.

"About hundred and fifty meters. It was not easy lining up that shot by the way. If SECOND hadn't helped me. . . Well I probably wouldn't have hit you."

"Pretty smart I suppose. I was pretty shocked when I was taken out by a single shot from the middle of nowhere."

"You did a quick job taking us out as well." Ashley said.

"Yeah, a suggestion for next time though, once you notice someone go down out of nowhere, don't stick around. I understand that you would want to help your teammate but in this case that just allowed me to take you out easier. Your VI will tell you if you can help your teammate or not, and even if you can, I'd suggest trying to locate the hostiles first." I explained.

"I suppose its good to sometimes fall back on tried and true methods of combat." Kaidan said.

"That's for sure." I laughed "The bow may be old, but just about every humanoid species that we know of have developed the bow or something similar so I'd say its pretty damn good."

"Seeing that performance I'd be insane to try and argue." Ashley said.

"Well, I seem to be pretty good at covert operations."

"You're not boasting much are you?" Shepard asked me.

"I am merely trying to show them how to not be taken out like that again and regale them with a bit about history." I defended myself.

Shepard chuckled sarcastically "Sure. Like that's all you were doing."

After we had all dropped off our equipment during which some good natured insults were exchanged between me and Shepard we all began heading back to the Normandy. Before we made it to the docking bay however we were intercepted by Prophet and Nomad.

"Commander Shepard! Wraith, I'm glad we could catch you before you left." Prophet said coming up from a hallway on our right "We watched you in the simulator when we could. Pretty impressive taking down 545 like that."

Shepard shook his hand "Thanks Prophet."

"You're going back on your Spectre hunt then?" Nomad asked.

"Possibly, apparently there is a transmission waiting for me aboard the Normandy. I need to see what's going on there." Shepard answered.

"I see. We're heading out ourselves. We've picked up reports of a distress signal in the Argos Rho cluster. Intel has possibility of a geth ambush so they are sending us." Prophet told us.

"Yeah, best way to get rid of an ambush is to spring it, 'eh boss?" Psycho's voice sounded as he walked out of a door to our right. "Anyway, rest of the team is ready to go. We're just waiting on you."

"Alright. Shepard, it's been privilegemeeting you." Prophet said stopping outside of the door Psycho had come through.

"Likewise Prophet." Shepard said shaking his hand.

Continuing on in silence we eventually arrived at the door leading on to the Normand's hanger bay. Entering we found two CryNet employees with a large crate between them waiting for us. Underneath my helmet I smirked, knowing why they were here.

"Ah Commander Shepard? Tom Jones. Its an honor to meet you ma'am." The first one said upon seeing us arrive.

"Likewise Mr. Jones." Shepard shook his hand.

The second employee stepped forward "Operative Wraith! I've heard much about you sir. My name's Bill Lee."

I took his hand, "I hope not too much eh Mr. Lee?" I asked good naturedly.

"Oh uh, no sir!" Lee said slightly unsure of himself.

Jones continued "Commander, we're here to deliver these weapons to you, courtesy of Director Duncan."

Shepard glanced over at me shocked.

I grinned, "The Director figured that you could fulfill your part of the sponsorship bargain on the Normandy."

She slowly shook her head bringing her attention back onto the two employees. "Well then, I suppose we should get these onboard then."

A/N And that finishes the Prism Arc. Now we are going back to ME events. As you can see I introduced the "simulated Prototype" of the predator bow because I just had to bring it in as soon as possible. Since its just a simulated prototype we won't be seeing the actual prototype until later on.

Also thanks to Strat545 for his inquisitor team 545.

Anyway, I'm pretty excited for Crysis 3. Just a few more days! I just know that its going to wreak havoc on my writing because I'm going to be playing that. Oh boy. I'm pretty excited though. . .

Constructive criticism is welcomed and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

As always I'll be seeing you on the 2nd.

~LEGION