(A.N. My first Fanfic. Many thanks to DN7 who helped me with this story, and shadowinferno for checking my grammer. Please give me your honest feedback.)

The Beginning

A true masterpiece of Turian and human engineeringI thought as I walked along the deck of the Normandy on my way to the cockpit. There was something off about Nihilus, the Turian Spectre on board. I knew that the Normandy was making a covert pickup of an ancient Prothean beacon, but there was something else going on that I didn't know about. Why would Commander Shepard also be on board?

Shepard wasn't exactly your normal officer for this sort of thing. Everyone knew Shepard and what she's done. She survived her entire unit being slaughtered on Akuze, and a year later she was the one who led the assault on Torfan. She led her troops into a fortified base and came out with minimal losses on her side and killed all the slavers that didn't surrender. Many people looked up to her as a role model as a person who would survive anything and go up against impossible odds to achieve victory. There were some rumors that Shepard didn't go in with just her unit. Some said that there was an elite black ops specialist who helped Shepard fight through the base.

Heh for once the rumors were almost true. I remember Torfan, the third time I met Shepard. The first time was on Mindior after the slaver attack. I had seen Lynna die, I had almost given up when I saw her. Shepard, standing in front of the bodies of her parents. Seeing her caused my resolve to grow. I got Shepard to the Alliance who then said that they would take care of her. I left her in the care of the Alliance soldiers and went back to the lab. I grieved for Lynna but knew that I had to make life a better place for all innocents.

I'm not sure why but I kept an eye on Shepard as she made her way up in the alliance. When all contact was lost with her squad on Akuze, I went there; I guess I thought her as a similar soul. We had both lost our parents when we were 15, and they had both died to criminals. I found her running from thresher maws. From what I gathered she led her unit there looking for a distress beacon. When they landed however, they were attacked by the Thresher Maws, and it seems that the ones who set the distress beacon were also killed by them.

Torfan. It was simple. The Alliance wanted a CryOps Phantom for help taking out the base, and I wanted to take out slavers. Torfan was a good chance to do so. I went there, met Commander Shepard once more as she was in charge of the mission. We made our plans, I would enter the base before Shepard attacked to provide recon and assistance where it was needed. I did better than that. I was able to sabotage many of the enemies systems, but it was the leadership of Shepard that kept her unit alive and ultimately won us the battle. We captured the Batarian slavers and handed them over to the Alliance. I could have killed them in revenge for killing Lynna but I knew that she would never have wanted me to kill in cold blood.

Well anyway, if you want something done covertly you don't send a famous soldier to do it. You send some one, not so well known but equally skilled.

And the Spectre? The fact that he's a Turian makes sense. This project was a Turian/Human project not a Human/Council project, so there should be a Turian officer on board not a Spectre. He is watching Shepard a lot...

Ahhh I see now... Shepard is most likely a Human Spectre candidate or maybe even the only one. Interesting.

As I neared the cockpit I noticed that Nihilus was standing behind Joker. And Shepard was nowhere to be seen.

When he noticed me arriving he greeted me "Wraith"

"Nihilus, Joker, Alenko" I responded, "Whats the Status?"

"10 minutes out from the Arcturus prime relay Wraith"

"So" I said to Nihilus in an undertone so as not to be overheard "Shepard is a candidate for the Spectres?" Grinning under my mask at the sight of Nihilus's shocked face

"How-"

"Did I know? Easy, why would the famous Commander Shepard be here for a covert op and not a not so famous specialist? Why would a Turian Spectre be on board since the Normandy is a Alliance/Turian Project and not an Alliance/Council Project?"

"I am surprised. I did not expect you to figure that out."

"Please I'm the best CryOps Phantom, I can see the signs." I was then interrupted by Joker

announcing that the ship was approaching the Arcturus Prime relay and my nanosuit detected footsteps approaching. I turned and saw Shepard coming.

"Ahh we meet again Commander!"

She looked at me in surprise and asked "Wraith?"

"The one and only"

As the ship made the jump through the relay she said "I didn't know you were the agent assigned for the shakedown run." I just looked at her as Joker checked off the systems after the jump.

"1500 is good your captain will be pleased." Nihilus complimented Joker looking at me intensely while he left.

"I hate that guy" I smirked under my mask, typical joker.

"Nihilus gave you a compliment, so you hate him" was Kaiden's confused response.

"You remember to zip up your jumpsuit on the way out of the bathroom? That's good. I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead. So that's incredible! Besides Spectres are trouble. I don't like having him on board. Call me paranoid." My smirk grew unseen.

"You're paranoid. The Council helped fund this project. They have a right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment."

"Yeah that is the official story. But only an idiot believes the official story." Joker said seriously.

"Besides it was a Alliance/Turian project, not an Alliance/Council project." I cut in.

"And they don't send Spectres on shakedown runs" added in Shepard.

"So there is more going on here than the Captain's letting on."

Oh how true. The captains voice then came through demanding a status report. "Tell Commander Shepard to meet me in the comm room for a debriefing."

"I'm going to head down to the cargo hold. I will probably see you later Shepard." I said deciding to check my suits systems before we got to Eden Prime

"See you Wraith."

As I walked to the cargo hold I noticed the nervous glances that my suit drew from the crew, It wassomething that I had gotten used to a while ago.

While running a diagnostic on my suit, I called Niel to tell him about Shepard's Spectre candidacy.

"Hey Niel guess what I found out"

"What is it Martin?"

"Well the Turian Spectre Nihilus Kryik is on board, and I noticed that he was watching Shepard rather closely."

"Wait... You don't think that maybe she's a Spectre candidate?"

"Well I thought that it was weird that they were using Shepard for a covert operation. And the only thing that made sense was that she's a Spectre candidate. I asked Kryik if she was and his shocked face was all I needed to know."

"Well we suspected that the council was looking for human Spectre candidates and who else than Commander Shepard?"

"True so is there any changes in the mission yet?"

"No all is quiet. Our thermal sensor buoys are not picking up the Normandy, so stealth systems are fine."

"Good I-. Wait I'm getting an incoming distress signal from Eden Prime!"

"Yeah I just got it as well."

The footage from the distress signal showed a woman wearing Phoenix armor under heavy fire from unknown assailants. She pushes the cameraman down out of the line of fire. After more heavy fire the camera turns to focus on another marine who says "We are under attack! Taking heavy casualties I repeat: Heavy casualties! We can't...argh!..-eed evac! They came out of nowhere. We need-" The Marines then look at a dreadnought of incredible size.

"Martin, that ship doesn't match anything in our Databases."

"Captain its Wraith did you see that?"

"Affirmative. Take us in Joker fast and quiet. This mission just got a lot more complicated."

I heard Nihilus say that a small strike team could move quickly and not draw attention, I agreed that that would be the best chance to secure the beacon.

"Grab your gear and meet us in the cargo hold."

Soon I was joined by Nihilus, Shepard, her squad and the Captain.

"Captain, whats the plan?"

The Captain opened up a map of the area around the beacon. "Nihilus will enter at this location here, Shepard and her squad will enter here. Shepard will make her way to the dig site along this route. Nihilus will scout the area alone. I think that you know where the best place for you is"

"SECOND Tactical options."

SECOND brought up map the same map on my visor. "Tactical options available: Drop at drop-point 2 with Alliance squad, Provide recon and support. Execute air insertion at secondary location. Meet Alliance squad at Dig Site. Provide Recon and Support to Alliance squad."

"Well I have two options, I could drop with Shepard and provide close support, or I could do an air insertion at this location that would have a good sniping position overlooking the dig site so I could cover them from afar. Both are acceptable. It's your choice Captain."

"I'll have Joker fly to the insertion point after we drop Shepard off. You can provide Shepard with sniper support at the dig site."

"Affirmative"

"Joker, after you drop Shepard bring the Normandy to these coordinates."

"Aye aye sir."

As the Normandy approached drop point two, I walked to Shepard and her squad. "Shepard I'll meet you at the dig site, try not to take to long."

"HA! Last one there buys drinks!" She challenged

Just then we arrived at the drop point. "The mission's yours now Shepard good luck!"

As Shepard was dropped off, my suit HUD kicked in.

"Alright Captain, we're there, 40 meters is low enough I'll see you after the mission Captain"

With that I jumped out of the Normandy.

(A.N. alright well the first Chapter. Next chapter is coming as soon as it's ready. Please give honest reviews!)