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CryNet Phantom Operative designation Wraith

Current assignment: SSV Normandy SR1. Aide to Lt. Com Shepard, Spectre

Current Location: SSV Normandy SR1

Current Time: February 25th 12:06

The month following the Noveria Incident was a difficult one for CryNet as we quickly came under flak for basically kicking dozens of companies off of Noveria resulting in the loss of several billion credits. We had to work overtime in order to keep the companies from sueing us and in the end we were just barely able to shift the ire away from us and at Binary Helix for messing with Ceph Technology in the first place. Binary Helix of course tried to say that it was our fault that the ceph went active but in the end it was just the dying flails of a corporation as everyone turned on them. Currently it looked like Binary Helix would be declaring bankruptcy soon and then it was only a matter of time before everything they had was split off to various other companies to pay for money lost.

As it was, that didn't stop some companies from attempting to sue CryNet for monetary losses and while I was sure we would end up winning those law suits, the repercussions of Noveria would certainly be felt in the months and years to come. CryNet stocks had dropped and while we were still relatively stable, we might be forced to delay various projects for the time being.

Meanwhile we had hardly seen any activity from Saren and the geth after a large scale operation carried out by the Alliance had wiped out multiple geth bases in the armstrong cluster. Raptor and Serpent teams were still dark on Virmire and the time was soon approaching when we would begin to investigate the silence from the Phantom teams. However they were still well within the timelimit to report in. Meanwhile the Normandy had taken to going around carrying out a few missions in the meantime. The first mission that Shepard had us take on was to hunt down a salarian criminal by the way of Dr. Saleon. Garrus had tried to take him down while still with CSec but he had been unsuccessful and Saleon had escaped and taken on the name of Dr. Heart. Apparently Saleon had been growing organs inside people and would then harvest them to sell on the black market. When Garrus had confronted Saleon he had escaped onto a ship with more victims and when Garrus ordered his ship be shot down, he had been countermanded due to the hostages Saleon had on board.

Saleon had escaped, but Garrus had continued to keep an eye out for the Salarian criminal and when Shepard heard his tale she asked me to use CryNet's intelligence to help find him and bingo. Cross referencing CryNet intel and council records we found the ship that Saleon had last been on. Following the ship's transponder we found it drifting in space. Upon boarding we found it to be overrun by foul abominations spawned by the mad scientists meddlings. Cutting through the creatures we confronted the Salarian doctor who tried to appear innocent in the entire matter, however it didn't stop him from getting his neck snapped when he tried going for a gun, not knowing I was hidden behind him, cloaked.

Wrex apparently took note of Shepard helping out Garrus as our next mission was recovering some old family armor of Wrex's that was being hoarded by a turian pirate and krogan artifact collector named Tonn Actus. Seeing as he was a pirate, nobody had any problems helping Wrex retrieve his armor. We tracked Actus to his base where we launched a lightning quick assault on the facility. Garrus and Ashley remained on a hilltop overlooking the facility and provided sniper overwatch. Shepard took Wrex, Tali, Liara and Kaidan in the mako while I did an orbital insertion right in the middle of the firefight that erupted the moment Shepard rolled into view of the base. The assault was over in less than five minutes, from the first to last shot fired and we left the facility with Wrex's family armor in tow.

The final three missions that we went on all ended up having something to do with Shepard's past on Elysium, Akuze and Torfan. First we were sent to find and hopefully protect a scientist who apparently had worked on a project on Akuze. However recently all other scientists that had worked on this project had been killed and we went to investigate. We arrived at the scientist slightly too late, discovering that the man who was killing the scientists was already there and was holding the scientist at gunpoint. Shepard recognized the man almost immediately as Corporal Toombs, a soldier part of Shepard's unit that was wiped out on Akuze and thought to be dead. Toombs revealed that the Scientist was part of a cerberus project that had lured Shepard's unit there with a faked distress beacon, much like the one we found on Edolus. They had found Toombs, taken him captive and had proceeded to conduct gruesome experiments on him until he escaped, no doubt due to our actions in assaulting other cerberus bases earlier. Shepard almost killed the scientist herself in order to get revenge for her unit but in a strange turn of events, I was the one convincing her to spare him so that he could be arrested and questioned. I then suggested that Toombs perhaps join CryNet in order to help bring cerberus down. He didn't immediately agree, but last I heard he had recently contacted CryNet recruiters.

Then we were asked to investigate an old espionage probe from before first contact that had started sending a signal from out of the blue. It was armed with a nuclear warhead and since nukes are outlawed by the council, the Alliance wanted this investigated quietly. We found the probe underground in a mine which turned out to be a trap for Shepard by a pirate warlord who had masterminded the assault on Elysium, and who had taken the fall when Shepard held off the attack. The Warlord however had not taken Tali's tech skills into account as the quarian had been able to disarm the nuke contained within the probe before it could explode. We had then located the pirate warlord who had made his base a few kilometers away and killed him.

Finally we were sent to shut down a cult, formed by Major Kyle, Shepard's CO on Torfan who was suffering from severe PTSD from Akuze and had amassed a rather large following of biotics. Shepard had been able to talk his followers into letting her in to talk to the Major alone. Unknown to them however I followed in cloaked, being careful to find hiding places to recharge. Upon reaching Major Kyle, Shepard was able to convince him to stand down, disband his cult and surrender himself to the alliance for psychological help. All in all a peaceful resolution to a situation that could have ended in a massacre. That mission had concluded yesterday and we had recently received word that Major Kyle had been picked up by an alliance ship without any incident.

Shepard's behavior regarding me had most definitely changed in the month after she had kissed me in my office. She started visiting me more often, often flirting when she did. While she had always had the habit of checking in with her entire crew, she had started visiting me more and more often. Sometimes we would just talk for hours, other times she would drag me out to mingle with the rest of the crew. It sent me a very clear message, that she was interested in something more than mere friendship. I was unsure of how to react to her advances, as everyone I had ever loved in the past had died but I knew that I was attracted to her. So I waited. I talked to her more, started telling her about myself, listening as she told me stories about her family back before the raid on Mindoir and despite my reservations we started to get closer.

Now, as we were heading back to the citadel for some shore leave, the entire ground squad were in the comm room as Shepard and I told them stories of past missions we had conducted. I had told them a few select stories about me and Raven team conducting raids against pirates and mercenaries and had also told them about Raptor's operation that was conducted alongside Ryan Mitchell's unit that had ultimately ended in Mitchell leaving the Alliance to become one of the lead designers of GHOST armor and joining CryNet. Shepard had told the crew about her N7 Training and some other missions she had gone on. Garrus had told tales of some of his exploits as a C-Sec officer while Wrex told stories of fights and battles he had taken part in. Ashley told stories about her family while Kaidan told everyone about Jump Zero, Tali told us about the migrant fleet while Liara lauded us with tales of prothean ruins and the few fights she had gotten into with pirates while on digs. Finally right after Shepard and I had told the squad about Elysium, Akuze and Torfan, I received a priority transmission from the Prism. Excusing myself I quickly made my way into my office where I sat in my chair and opened the channel.

"What do you have for me CARLA?"

"Serpent and Raptor just broke comms silence. They just sent out a message, however it was completely garbled. However I believe it to be worth investigating."

I furrowed my eyebrows. This really made me wish that every phantom team had a QEC with a direct link to the Prism. We just needed more information. Information that we wouldn't be getting. "Contact the council. This is important."

"Of course director one moment please."

I waited patiently for a few minutes until the holographic projectors started up, revealing the council standing on my table. I nodded my head as I greeted them "Councillors, thank you for agreeing to speak with me on such short notice. I just recieved a message from Phantom team Serpent on Virmire."

"Yes, we also just recieved a message from Captain Kirrahe from the STG team. Unfortunately it was completely static." I nodded at Valerns words.

"We also received a transmission from our phantoms in the field, it too was just static however I believe it to be worth investigating."

"Might I suggest we inform Shepard of this? She should probably know."

"An excellent idea Speratus. I will send a message to the Normandy immediately."

"You are thinking of sending her to Virmire?" I asked as Tevos put in some commands on a terminal on her end.

"Yes. The Normandy has not had any leads to follow for the past month, this may be the break we've been waiting for." Speratus answered.

I nodded "Not to mention that this Operation has been going on for more than a month now. For two Phantom teams and an entire STG unit to stay dark for that long and when they do break silence to not be able to send proper transmissions, is troubling."

"Undoubtedly. Hopefully, Shepard will be able to investigate and return through use of the Normandy's stealth systems."

"Perhaps. Either way-" Tevos broke off, glancing at a terminal for a second before turning her attention back to the rest of us. "Well it seems as if we caught Shepard at an opportune time."

A moment later Shepard's hologram fizzed in to join the council's infront of me.

"Commander Shepard. We've received new intelligence that may be critical in hunting down Saren." Tevos said, jumping straight to business.

Shepard drew herself up, hands clasped behind her back as she nodded "I'll take any leads you have."

"We've received an urgent message from one of our infiltration regiments in the traverse." Valern continued.

"Infiltration regiments? Does CryNet have something to do with this?" Shepard asked, glancing at me.

I nodded. "Indeed we do, Commander. An STG unit accompanied by two Phantom teams were deployed at the behest of the Council to the planet Virmire a month ago."

"Correct. This particular STG unit, was gathering intel on Saren and a month ago they gathered information that led them to believe that Saren's main base of operations was located on Virmire. We requested CryNet aid in the investigation."

"So what has the investigation found?"

"Unfortunately, the message we received was little more than Static. The infiltration group seem to be unable to send proper interstellar communications."

"That alone is enough to warrant investigation." I continued. "They must have found something or they would have been able to send proper transmissions."

"Considering your mission to hunt Saren down, we believed it important to inform you. You may wish to investigate, find out what happened to the STG and Phantom teams." Speratus finished.

"Well it definitely looks like something I should look into it. I'll set course immediately." Shepard decided.

"I will forward all known information to Operative Wraith. He will be able to brief you further Commander." I told her.

"Good luck commander, Director." With that, Tevos ended the transmission.

I waited patiently knowing that I would be receiving a visitor very soon. I was not disappointed as a few minutes later a knock sounded on my door and as I called out for her to enter, Shepard walked in.

"You didn't tell me that you had two Phantom teams investigating Saren."

I smirked. "You didn't ask. But really I didn't think it worth mentioning. Either they would find something, and I would inform you, or they wouldn't and that would be that."

She frowned "I suppose, however I would have prefered to have known all the same."

"Well, I generally don't make a habit of giving out intel on Phantom ops, but I suppose I could have told you. Anyway, I did say that I would brief you further. Do you have any specific questions or…"

"I'm guessing that we don't have any detailed intel on the strength of Saren's forces aside from the fact that its his main base of operations and as such is bound to be heavily defended?"

I shook my head. "That's about it. We're basically going in blind."

"Of course. What about Virmire itself? What kind of planet is it?"

I punched a few commands into my console bringing up various images and holograms from Virmire. "Its a lush garden world. Normally it would be ideal for colonization, however its pretty close to the terminus systems so all plans to colonize it have failed. Its smaller than the earth and is quite a bit hotter as well. Its average surface temperature is around 37 degrees celsius. Other than that, the atmosphere is perfectly suitable for us and there are no known natural dangers."

"It looks like a tropical resort." Vanyali commented looking at various pictures.

"That it does." I nodded "Some colonization plans had suggested to make it one, but no one really wants to go to a resort that could be raided by pirates at any moment."

"Yeah I can see why that would put a damper on things. Alright so that's Virmire. What about the STG unit and the Phantom teams? What's the strength of allied forces?"

I brought up what information we had on the STG unit. "A pretty standard STG regiment. Highly trained and equipped Salarians, very competent at their jobs, led by Captain Kirrahe. Good strategic mind, charismatic. Of course all previous operations led by him are secret, so we can't gauge his abilities closely." I swiped away the STG unit intel and instead pulled up the considerably more detailed dossiers on the two Phantom teams. "As for the phantoms. You've already met Raptor team. They were deployed to Virmire alongside Serpent. Two of the best Phantom teams, yet in very different roles. Raptor are our heavy hitters. They generally strike with the force and subtlety of an armored company. They are generally deployed to send a message, or when stealth is not an issue."

"Serpent on the other hand, are our covert specialists. Our only all female team, they can infiltrate just about any target, complete their mission and leave without a trace. They've completed many operations ranging from intel recovery, assassination and hostage rescue. Serpent was sent to deploy alongside the salarians and investigate. Raptor was sent to stay on standby until they were needed- or Saren's base was confirmed. They were supposed to then assault and destroy the base, I'm thinking that the base was too well defended for just Raptor, Serpent and the STG unit so they sent for reinforcements."

Shepard furrowed her brows "But it seemed like the council was sending us to investigate, not reinforce."

"Well I did order Raptor to take out the base should it exist and I only told the council that they were there for backup should they be necessary. Then again the council probably suspected that I would give em those orders so they probably didn't care too much."

She merely shook her head in exasperation "Politics. Say one thing but mean another."

"Pretty much. But it's necessary sometimes."

"I suppose. Anything else I should know?"

I hesitated, my mind going over to Basilisk, the leader of Serpent team for a moment before I shook my head. "Nothing big. I'll send you the relevant files."

She watched me for a moment before shrugging "Alright. We still have just over a day before we arrive at Virmire. What do you say we get the crew together for another session?"

I chuckled "You want to continue your search for greater power?"

"Hell yeah! That paladin must die!"

"Heh, alright. Go get the rest of the crew, I'll get my dice and notes ready." That was another thing that was new. We had been chatting with the rest of the squad when we had somehow gotten on the topic of human fantasy creatures. We had begun talking about dragons and from there Shepard mentioned Dungeons and Dragons in passing. I had picked up on it and once Shepard learned that I also played, she insisted on starting up a campaign including the entire squad. I quickly got roped into dungeon mastering for the party, not that I really minded and so the party of mostly evil characters was formed.

Vanyali was playing a Half-Red Dragon sorcerer, Exasia, committed to bringing back the chromatic dragons to the world. In the past few sessions they had been hunting down a Paladin who started causing trouble for the party and now they were ready to assault his castle to find and kill him. Of course there would be complications within the actual castle itself, but what kind of DM would I be if I didn't have hidden agendas?

As I grabbed my dice collection, something told me to make this session a good one, because for some reason I had the feeling that it might be the last one for some time.

CryNet Phantom Operative designation Wraith

Current assignment: SSV Normandy SR1. Aide to Lt. Com Shepard, Spectre

Current Location: SSV Normandy SR1

Current Time: February 25th 23:54

"And as I stand on the head of the Gold Dragon, Loganth, I revert back to my normal Half-Dragon form and shout out into the storm that rages outside 'SI GEOU RHULIT DOUT MARFEDELOMSI! TANGIS SJEK SI TEPOHA EKESS RAZE TIAMO TAOULI EKESS TIR ZYAK! EHIS GEOU FETHOS WER TRESKRI DE SIA SKRIIOD! EHIS!'"

I laughed, recognizing the words as Draconic. "And so, Exasia stands within the shattered remains of the Castle Aldrheim, I assume swearing vengeance or something similar upon the Paladin who summoned Loganth which almost resulted in a wonderful TPK. May Tiamat curse you Shepard." I finished with a smirk.

"Whats a TPK?" Tali asked curiously.

"Total Party Kill." Shepard answered, idly rolling a die in her hand. "He's just pissed that I was able to evade his traps and kill his boss."

"I still can't believe that I rolled a one three times in a row when climbing the rafters to fall to my death." Ashley, who had been playing the rogue of the party, muttered.

"If you had just waited before trying to climb over the lava pit I would have been able to save you." Kaidan, the wizard retorted.

I exchanged smiles with Shepard as we listened to the rest of the party banter about the session. We listened for a few more minutes before we got up and left together, shepard reminding everyone to get some rest before we arrived at Virmire. We walked together in comfortable silence until we reached the door leading into Shepard's quarters where Shepard turned to look at me with a smirk. "So, O great and almighty Dungeon Master. What did you think of our escapades in the realm of the fantasy?"

"Well I think that next time, You're going to have to be the DM so that I can thwart all of your well thought out plans."

She laughed "And who would you play?"

"Probably an illusionist. Or use magical means to induce fear and insanity."

She arched an eyebrow as she leaned against her door. "An Illusionist could be pretty fun."

"Hell yeah. Go Illusionist and maybe get some rogue levels to get the skills required for assassin?"

Shepard shuddered "That would be pretty damn powerful. But anyway, I should probably get some rest before Virmire… Unless you'd want to join me."

I winked "As tempting as that offer is, I probably should check in with CryOps and then get some rest myself."

"Alright, have it your way then. See you-" She paused and glanced at her omnitool "Later this morning I guess."

"Yup." As I turned to walk to my office her voice called out once more.

"And Wraith?" I turned to face her "Make sure you do get some rest."

"Aye aye ma'am."

CryNet Phantom Operative designation Wraith

Current assignment: SSV Normandy SR1. Aide to Lt. Com Shepard, Spectre

Current Location: SSV Normandy SR1

Current Time: February 26th 08:00

"Alright so here's the situation." I leaned back in my chair as Shepard started the briefing. "Over a month ago, the Council sent an STG regiment accompanied by two CryNet Phantom teams to Virmire to investigate the possibility of Saren's base of operations being located there. As was expected they went silent shortly before arriving at Virmire. However a day ago, both the STG regiment and the Phantom teams broke comm silence in an attempt to contact the Council and CryNet respectively. Unfortunately it seems that they were in no position to properly send interstellar transmissions because the messages were just static, however both the council and the CryNet board believe that the fact that they were unable to send proper transmissions is evidence enough to warrant further investigation. I'm inclined to agree with them. Therefore we will be arriving at Virmire within four hours.

"Now we don't have any intel on Sarens base, or the strength of the garrison stationed there, however expect extremely heavy geth resistance. Once we arrive in Virmire's orbit, we will scan the planet until we find the location of Sarens Base, the STG camp or both. Once we know that I'll come up with a plan of operation. Now any questions?"

"Whats Virmire like? Is it habitable? Hot, Cold?" Ashley asked.

"Virmire is a hot garden world. Average surface temperature is maybe a bit warm but nothing that we would need special equipment for. Other than that, breathable atmosphere, no known hostile fauna or flora other than whatever Saren has guarding his base. Any other questions?" Shepard looked at each one of us and when there was no response continued. "No? Then I want all of you combat ready within two hours. Garrus, is the Mako good to go?"

"Mako is good Shepard. I've tweaked the controls and calibrated the guns. Everything is in top shape."

"Excellent. Ash, hows the armory?"

"Weapons are in top condition, same with the armor."

"Kaidan, how's the Normandy's own garrison?"

He shrugged "They are good. Ready and waiting. Not as experienced as any of us but they are well trained."

"Alright then. Squad dismissed."

A/N: So I skipped a bunch of side quests, mainly because I didn't feel like they would fit in too well. Also, I decided to put in a bit of D&D cuz seriously D&D is the best. Anyway sorry its been taking so long to update but I have exams atm so lots of studying. Just managed to update this chapter this week otherwise I feel like it would take another couple weeks before I could update.

So yeah, next few chapters will cover Virmire.

As always if you have feedback don't hesitate to leave a review.