Hello I'm glad to see you're back for more. I hope this chapter is up to your expectations. I'm just now realizing how terrible my last chapter was! The turian was way to quick with his emotional reaction and the whole pacing was to quick. Please let me know if I mess up like that again!

On a side note there is slight torture here. Nothing to gruesome or detailed but it is meant to show the brutality of the Commissars. So consider this your warning if you care.

Soviet army organization:

Squad-15 men

Platoon-60 men (four squads)

Company- 300 men (five platoons)

Regiment – 2,100 men (seven companies)

Division- 21,000 men (ten regiments)

During peace time operations Divisions are kept independent instead of combining into army groups. This allows for one division to be far more mobile and requires less micro managing from high command. Once they are deployed in a theatre of war they are combined to make up an Army Group of 50,000+ men.

Chapter one: Pandora's Box

"Let sleeping dogs lay." –Anonymous

"Let's start then, give me a brief rundown of the events that led to the discovery of the humans." Amaria began as she opened a recording program on her omni-tool.

"As I'm sure you know fifty years ago there was a massive push to open new relays and the batarians were one of the main supporters of this movement seeking to gain land. Anyways the movement was stopped by the Counsel which in turn made the batarians upset. Mix that with the anti-slavery movement and you know they felt more than a little alienated. When we saw a buildup of ships in their space we, the turians I mean, matched it by doubling war ship production and boosting our patrols. Almost at once we saw them cut their production in half and even saw a few scrap yards fill up. We thought our muscle flexing had cowed them into not making any rash decisions. Sense than they've cut most ties to Counsel Space and even cut any migration outside of their own space. We were sure their leaders had lost favor with their people and were trying to maintain an iron grip of control.

"But we couldn't have been more wrong. They spent the entire time secretly opening up relays and gathering vast amounts of wealth and underwent a social revolution where slave labor was replaced by automated factories. In fact these days only the upper class batarians really keep slaves."

"Artius I don't understand what this has to do with the humans? Batarian space is at the other end of the galaxy?" Amaria interrupted.

"Forgive me I digressed a little. The batarian government soon sponsored pirates to go out and open up a number of relays all around known space. Turian patrols found and stopped most of the pirates before they opened too many relays. I personally hunted down two pirate fleets with the 7th Fleet. Anyways a few years later we tracked a pirate fleet through a relay and cornered them over a little red planet." Artius continued to explain.

"We both know it's impossible to force a fleet battle with current FTL technology. Why'd they stay and opt to fight?" Amaria asked.

"They had a research station ground side. They were trying to delay a landing force so they could wipe all the memory banks."

"What happened when you got troops on the ground?"

"Well after a few intense fire fights we managed to find out that another planet in the system had a sentient race inhabiting it called humans. They had been studying the humans for a few years though a lot of the information we got was pieced together from the heavily damaged hard drives so we don't truly know how long they had been there. Then we discovered they had found a completely intact prothian archive," Artius paused to let it sink in what they had found.

"By the goddess! A complete repository of all their knowledge? Such a find would jump our technology hundreds of years into the future!" Amaria had not been told this.

"Then it's too bad the pirate leader destroyed it."

"What?! How could he? All that knowledge, all that power all of it just wiped out?"

"How could he? Easy with ample amounts of explosives," Atius chuckled at his own grim joke. "I watched the combat footage from my cruiser in orbit. The marines had stormed the chamber taking heavy casualties but pressed on regardless. In a last act of defiance the leader of the batarians climbed to the top of the archive with enough explosives strapped to his chest to bring down a thresher maw. Then in perfect English, one of humanities languages, shouted "My only regret is that I have but one life to give for my country." He proceeded to detonate the explosives. The batarians had been studying humanity and its past quite closely. Whatever they had discovered had them suitably impressed them.

"I'll skip over the more mundane details but we pieced together enough information from the surviving computers that we found earth and had a somewhat crude idea of what humanities past. Of course the idea we had of them was of nothing close to the truth. To us they were nothing more than savages that had waged countless wars against one another with primitive weapons and had just discovered the power of the atom. After scouting the planet and finding it scarred with multiple nuclear detonation sights but still a garden world council law made it clear we were to engage in first contact and establish whether or not they were too hostile or primitive to become a client race." Artius finished.

"You submitted a report to the Primarch after you studied the humans a little bit personally did you not?"

"I did."

"Care to share what you told him?"

Artius sighed in shame before sharing the information "In the initial scans the humans showed a knack for mass industry being able to produce entire factories within a week using a stamping process along with an impressive ability to strip mine at a fast pace. It became clear to me that if we could replace our logistical structure with human workers and turian overseers we would unstoppable. Armies would no longer be choked of gear and clogged down. If a tank was destroyed it could be replaced in a day. We could easily take a planet out from under an enemy fleet and build planetary defense guns and bring the fleet down without risking our precious dreadnoughts. It was simply too perfect an opportunity to not take. After learning how the Soviet Union had rolled across their borders and, pardon the human expression, steam rolled the Allies and most humans had opted to silently follow their new leaders. I made probably the greatest mistake of my career."

"Which was?"

"Thinking humans would be easily tamed if we showed them how technologically advanced we were and then give them a display of our power by hitting as many major bases at once as we could. In short we thought we could cow them with a sudden violent and brutal attack. Not to sound poetic but all we did was slap the Russian bear in the face expecting it to be so surprise it would obey our commands. That's what I put in my report." Artius felt an odd sense of relief flood through him at admitting his great shame.

"We'll skip over the politics surrounding the report for now then. Tell me what happened after you were given the go ahead to try and subjugate the humans." Amaria requested.

"I was given a fleet of one command and control dreadnought, fifteen cruisers and fifty frigates. We also got a support fleet of over a hundred ships. Most were cargo or repair ships the others were fuel tankers and troop landers. I was given four million turian troops augmented with another couple million combat mechs. My orders were simple bring the humans to kneel before their new masters and no matter what do not allow council ships in the system."

Amaria's eyes widened as this nugget of information was exposed. "Exactly how long was your engagement with the humans?"

"The official reports all say it lasted three months. High command's trying its damndest to hush up the truth to hide its war crimes, my war crimes, but it's time we drag it all into the light kicking and screaming. The war lasted three bloody years." Artius laid even more secrets out. It was time to come clean for the sake of peace. He had a son who just became a lieutenant and a loving wife both of which he would not see their blood spilled for his mistakes.

"Then fill in the missing time."

"Gladly."

-oOo-

1973 December 18, 50 Kilometers South of Rudtsovsk

Commissar Yosiv Sheppard stood in the machine gun copula of the half track watching as the 18th Division made their way through the snowy fields. They were returning to their base in the Mother Land from that dreaded city of Semey. They had been sent out when the entire city had gone dark, fearing that it was some cowardly trap set by the Allies they had been prepared for action. Though now he really wished it had been that.

They came to the city finding all roads blockaded and the buildings garrisoned by the citizens turning the city into a fortress. It seemed the whole damn city had risen up in rebellion. All attempts to communicate were met with no reply and any who got close were shot at. They knew the people would have to be put to the sword. The division deployed its V3 missile artillery and bombarded sections at a time opening up gaps all along the front. That was when the first disturbing clue made itself present, none of the rebels retreated. Civilians who had never seen combat were dying by the dozens every minute and it was like none of them cared.

When the artillery had expended most of its ammunition the troops attached bayonets and boarded their half track APC's making ready to charge into the fray. With the Rino tanks leading the charge they broke into the city easily destroying the first line of defense. The APCs disgorged their deadly cargo of conscripts, flack troopers and tesla troopers and they began their glorious work for the Union. Yosiv had been at the front leading by example, bellowing curses and motivational phrases while firing his pistol and swinging his saber. They were outnumbered a dozen to one and the citizens seemed to have no comprehension of cover, just blindly charging the Soviet soldiers with everything from old guns to pitch forks, aiming was just a waste of time. Yosiv's heart filled with pride at seeing his charges hold their ground and push back the waves of enemies. The battle seemed to be going well with morale remaining high and casualties low.

They made steady progress into the city till suddenly the citizens just fled deeper into the city; it was like someone had just turned off a water spout somewhere. Across the line commanders lost control of many troopers who in their eagerness to do their duty charged after the citizens. Yosiv had only kept his men inline by standing between them and the enemy and promised death to any who lost control. In truth he could not fault them for being eager but discipline would be maintained at all costs. They slowly made their way through the city heading for the town center. After dozens of abandoned blocks and no sign of the troopers who had charged ahead nerves began to fray and the soldiers had become edgy. It was when a single severely wounded conscript had stumbled back to Yosiv's line that nerves began to break from anticipation. He had notified General Turkovich over the radio then questioned the conscript. All the man could say before he died was 'grinders'.

Soon though they discovered what he meant. As they came with in just two kilometers of the town center they found that a circle one city block wide had been cleared away around the town center and evenly placed in the open ground were building sized meat grinders. Almost all the soldiers, Yosiv included, were veterans of the Psychic Dominator incident and World War 3. They had all seen what the traitor Yuri did with mind controlled slaves and the disgusting experiments on genetic mutations and augmented growth but what was happening before their very eyes would haunt them for the rest of their lives. Dozens of citizens walked into the grinders at a time and were in turn ground up into genetic material for their twisted war machine.

Yosiv tracked the pipes leading from the grinders to the center and spotted a tall radio tower in the center with generators surrounding it. The pipes were pumping liquid human matter into the generators. The Soviet advance was called to a halt by the general before they advanced into the open ground, the troops lost heart almost instantly. It was then that the enemy commander's strategy had become clear to the commissar. The enemy commander was one of Yuri's psy-commanders who must have managed to escape the Soviet purges and had covertly taken control of the town most likely using the radio tower as relay for his unnatural powers. From there the trap was carefully constructed, as the pieces had fallen into place Yosiv felt a cold horror creep into his gut. The enemy commander never wanted to stop the soviet troops instead he wanted them to come into the town center… right next to the psychic relay.

Yosiv had grabbed the closest radio operator and called up the general. After a heated argument he forced the general to order a charge before the relay could be charged and used against the Soviets by threatening the general with a field execution. The tanks targeted the grinders first and destroyed them easily but then the remaining mind controlled civilians had stormed them. It had been a bloody slaughter but once they managed break through the civilians the real killing started.

From the town center a wall of grey frenzied muscle erupted as a wave of brutes swarmed towards the soviets. Soldiers were torn apart along with tanks and tossed about for every brute that was killed at least twenty conscripts were smashed into paste. But finally with Yosiv at the front the courage of the Soviet troops won them the battle.

In the aftermath Yosiv had personally killed the enemy psy-commander and a conscript he had taken control of. Most of the city was either destroyed or burning with over 100,000 civilians dead from being ground up or shot all in less than ten hours. The city though had cost them just under 4,000 men but the armored companies were hit the hardest and were down to just 300 Rinos, the divisions 40 Apocalypse tanks had all made it out though, a true testament to Soviet armor. Enough half-tracks survived to carry the remaining troops and the flack half-tracks had not joined the attack so they were untouched. The Soviets were bloodied but not even close to breaking so when general Turkovich informed high command of his daring assault and how he had seen through the trap they had congratulated him and promised him a new shiny metal as soon as he arrived back at the base at Rudtsovsk. A day later they had moved out.

So that was what had brought him to the cloudy, cold winter morning riding a half-track in a kilometer long convoy of some 18,000 fighting men all loaded up in trucks and APC half tracks. Commissar Yosiv Shepard truly lived for this. He had been a war orphan raised by the glorious red army to become a motivator and executioner of men, a glorious commissar! He looked every bit like the commissars shown on propaganda posters; tall, well built, with chiseled features and a dark eyed gaze that would strike fear into generals and conscripts alike. In another life he would have been considered attractive but the life of a soldier had left deep scars across the side of his face. He truly did not mind as the scars went well with his peaked cap and black leather trench coat that covered the battle plates on his body and it all served its purpose well. He was a major presence on any field of battle giving inspiration to conscripts and drawing the fire of the enemy. His survival to the age of forty three was a testament to his skills and luck. His survival was also due to his strong balance between fear and inspiration with the troops he fought alongside with, he knew when to turn a blind eye to looting and when to put down a soldier who refused to do his duty. His execution count was only twenty four. Commissars half his age usually had twice that.

Yosiv tightened his jacket up a little and looked about the snow fields searching for enemies on the horizon. His thoughts turned to the future. It had been a whole year sense the soviets had conquered most of the world leaving Britain, France, Canada and America to form what was left of the Allies. He knew it was only going to be a matter of time before they were brought into the Union but then what? With no one left to fight what would the Soviets do with dinosaurs like him? Maybe I'll apply to join the space corps? With the establishment of the moon base surely they could use a commissar to keep the guards disciplined?

Yosiv was brought out of his brooding by a tug on his leg. Looking down a conscript was trying to get his attention.

"What is it comrade?" He called all who fought by his side comrade regardless of rank or social standing. It made him well liked among the cannon fodder.

"The General wishes to speak to you over the comms. Sir!" The conscript shouted through his gas mask/helmet as he saluted sharply.

Yosiv nodded and dropped down into the troop bay. Picking up the radio from one of the troopers he began the talk with the general.

"Sir General?"

"Commissar I'm about to share some extremely classified information with you and there is little time so listen up," The generals' tone was frantic.

"Understood."

"Three days ago the moon base detected a large collection of high massed objects in space. They are headed straight for earth we thought they were an asteroid field till they started making coarse corrections on their own…"

"Sir you don't mean…"

"Space craft. Well over two hundred accounted for with the largest being one kilometer. They have already begun targeting satellites. High command has notified all divisions to be prepared to lose all long range comms. Our standing orders are to pull back to the nearest base, secure what ever recourses we can, If we come under attack we are to defeat the enemy if possible. When all recourses available are gathered we are to pull back towards Moscow till contact is reestablished. We will receive new orders once there. I only tell you this before the rest of the troops because no matter who this new enemy is I need you to hold the troops together anyone who even looks like they might falter are to be shot at once," the general almost sounded like he was pleading.

"Sir who exactly is attacking us? Did Yuri have a space station or is it the Allies?" The commissar asked as his brain struggled to keep up with the information. "How long before the space craft make contact?"

"The last report we have received from the moon base before they turned the power off to avoid detection was that they had just reached high orbit and were starting to destroy communication satellites. And as for whom they are… A satellite did a deep scan of one of the vessels before it was destroyed. All high command told me was that the results showed that the hull had completely alien materials in it…"

Alien. The word tasted funny in his mouth but he was no fool. The logistics behind creating a fleet of ships in space would be immense. No one could do it without the public either being made aware or participating. And the fact they came from deep space… Aliens.

"Commissar are you there? Hello?"

"Yes sir, the men will hold steady or by Lenon's blood they will die a cowards death."

"We only need to hold out for another forty minutes before we reach the base. I have already told the garrison to start building up flack and sentry guns. We'll have no idea how effective our weapons are against these… others. I want to minimize our risk as much as possible. I've also notified the town to start arming its citizens and any and all who have had training or are expendable are to report to the base… Shit! Listen we just lost contact with Moscow and the base is reporting air craft inbound on us. By Stalin's left cheek they just came streaking through the atmosphere!"

"General what is their numbers and eta?" Yosiv mustered up all the authority he could to bring the general back to his senses. The man was a half decent commander even though he was still a bit young and glory hungry for a general.

"We've got a dozen small contacts assumed to be attack craft with three larger craft assumed to be landers of some sort. They will be on top of us within ten minutes. Yosiv I am no fool and I know I'm out of my depth, your council will be greatly considered," The general stated.

Yosiv blinked a few times. Most Soviet commanders were too arrogant or stubborn to except advice from anyone but perhaps he had misread Turkovich. Commissars were largely looked down upon by commanders because they had no authority over them and you were just as likely to get an overzealous madman as to get one who knew what he was doing. Turkovich was trying to bridge the gap in the name of survival and Yosiv intended to help him as much as possible.

"Comrade General you have my full support."

"Glad to have it, I'm placing clusters of our anti-air assets at key locations throughout the division hopefully it will be enough," Turkovich cut the line showing their discussion was over.

Yosiv handed the radio handset back the radio operator. As he turned back to the troop bay he found that the fifteen troopers present were all staring at him, though their head gear hid all their faces he knew they all had concerned looks. He cursed himself for not watching what he said closer. Turning to the radio operator he ordered him to notify platoon commanders to expect an enemy air raid any second now. Then he turned towards the squad that was still watching him and considered what to say.

"Comrades remove your helmets," Yosiv commanded. Without hesitation the troops did so.

"Do any of you smoke?" Yosiv inquired. All responded with a 'Da' in unison. Yosiv nodded his approval of their unity. He took out his gold cigarette case and passed it around to the troops each one took single white stick.

"Light them up, we're about to be attacked by others. You men have earned a short break, you have won untold glories for the Union without faltering. Men such as you have been the reason why we won the last war and it will be men like you who win the next," Yosiv finished his speech and looked at each man in turn. He could see their hearts swell with pride and he nodded with satisfaction.

"Sergeant," Yosiv called.

"Sir?" A man at the back responded. He was a bit taller than most the men present, which said something since all conscripts were large well built specimens of humanity. The Soviet Union would not tolerate any weaklings and made sure none existed through tough military programs in all schools.

"Squad identification."

"First squad, fifth platoon, second company, 58th regiment sir," the sergeant replied almost lazily as he lit up his cigarette. This caused Yosiv to frown slightly at his laxness.

"Where all have you fought?" Yosiv asked beginning his assessment. Considering how to reprimand the sergeant for his lack of enthusiasm.

"Me and half my squad have engaged in San Francisco occupation in the first wave, we were then redeployed in the Korean pacification and when we finally got reinforcements we engaged Yuri's last stronghold in Transylvania taking part in the clearing of the castle and finally the burning of Semey yesterday," the sergeant explained.

Yosiv immediately reconsidered reprimanding the large man in front of him. He was a veteran from the start of the war and Red Army was dangerously scarce of them and the need bought them a little leeway. Also men such as him and their squads were often living legends among their regiments and punishing them could either harm morale or cause an all out riot. This also made them perfect for what he needed.

"Sergeant what is your name?" Yosiv asked.

"Dimitri Sir."

"Sergeant Dimitri under article 404 of the Commissariat Responsibilities and Authority Documents I, Yosiv Shepard, am conscripting you and your squad into my direct service," Yosiv stated as he lit up a cigarette of his own. Everyone in the troop bay suddenly went dead silent and still. A few even dropped their cigarettes in surprise. You could almost feel the room's temperature drop as the soldiers felt ice run through their veins.

Being turned into a commissar's glory boys, as the troops called those under a direct command of a commissar, was usually a punishment for a squad that was deemed 'Lacking in duty'. Which meant if a squad was ever seen pushing just hard enough to avoid execution but was staying well behind the rest of the forces they were forced under the direct command of a commissar who would use them as an example. They were always at the forefront of every charge always the ones who hoisted the flags in victory and they were always the first to die. Of all the units in the Red Army their casualties were the highest at near 60 percent dead and all the survivors sustaining wounds of one kind or another. It was almost certain death, weather it was the enemy guns at your front or the raging black coated devil at your back that killed you it all ended the same.

Yosiv grinned a little as the lax looking sergeant suddenly became a full alert and worried soldier.

"Sergeant understand that I am doing this out of need, not to punish you. We are about to fight an unknown enemy and I need a veteran squad at the front who won't die within minutes. I need strong men who will break the enemies back and give hope the rest of the men. You just had the terrible luck of being the best survivors I could find in short notice," Yosiv informed the sergeant trying to ease over the tension that was quickly growing. Dimitri's shock was quickly turning to anger. He had seen the worst of the past two wars and had led his men into the fighting and always got most of them out which was more than most of his peers could say. Now a commissar dared throw them in harm's way for the sake of looking good. Dimitri stood up and walked right up to the commissar and looked him dead in the eye. They stood like that for a minute. Yosiv wore a confident grin and Dimitri barely contained his anger.

"Sergeant, you know as well as I do the men need heroes. They need someone to aspire to be. I can do that, it's my job to be an example as well as a consequence. However if fellow conscripts match me in bravery imagine what that would do for the rest of the men, we will work together and push them to new heights!" Yosiv's calm and confident tone began to break through Dimitri's anger. There was great wisdom in his words. Humanity idolized war heroes and fellow soldiers always sought to match each other for no other reason than to not let their comrades down. If he set the bar higher as appose to the commissar all the men would rise up to the challenge willingly. If the commissar did it he would undoubtedly get the same results but at the cost of field executions and use of fear and shame.

Dimitri looked back at his men and frowned, he owed them all he had. They had followed him to hell and back without hesitation and every single one carried his weight and then some. They truly were heroes but putting them into the thickest fighting at the front on purpose seemed like betrayal. He couldn't do it to them, he knew he was dangerously close to insubordination and many commissars would have shot him then and there. What he was about to do would seal his fate, to actively defy the commissar would ensure his death but it was all he could do to stop this from happening.

But before he turned back to Yosiv his Corporal spoke up. "The Commissar is right men! We are needed at the front as a beacon of light to the others. We are the best damn squad in the whole regiment and the commissar has enough sense to see it. It's about time we were recognized! Let us do our duty to the motherland and have all witness it," a cheer suddenly went up from the troops. It was odd how one shift in perspective could make the problem a solution.

Dimitri turned back expecting to see the commissar gloat and laugh at him instead he found Yosiv giving him a sad smile of understanding. It hit Dimitri that what he was being asked to do was what Yosiv did every day. Yosiv wasn't some arrogant commander sending men to die in the mud; he was a fellow soldier just with more responsibilities. Dimitri's anger cooled off as his men all agreed that it was their patriotic duty to do this even if they were fighting a completely unknown enemy.

"Fine commissar we submit to your command. However when this is all over each one of my men are given their due credit and if they want out of the army you make sure that happens," Dimitri stated. He wouldn't back down about this.

"Sergeant, if any of us survive I'll personally see to it statues are raised in your squads honor across the planet," Yosiv chuckled grimly.

Dimitri was about to respond but then a near deafening Bang shook the APC so hard it sent the two men to the ground. Yosiv recovered first and ran for the machine gun copula hoping to see what was going on. As he popped open the hatch and rose till his torso was exposed he got a good look at the convoy. The air was full of smoke in his section and Yosiv caught the smell of burning metal in the air. He also caught sight of a smoking crater with bits of metal scattered about. As the convoy blew past it a shrill whistle could be heard in the air for a split second then another explosion farther away. Yosiv spotted the source of the deadly attack, flying in at a low altitude over the convoy were a trio of oddly shaped gunships. They had a thin tail section and thin wings with VETOL engines at the end. The cockpit looked just wide enough to house two, maybe three individuals. They also had large nose mounted cannons that were firing a stream of tracers that were ripping apart munitions trucks and APCs. In mere seconds they had taken down a half dozen armored transports and moved faster than the laser guided flack guns could traverse.

The trio of gunships turned and held their position for a few seconds while they unleashed their cannons on a Rino tank. At first the heavy soviet armor weathered the storm valiantly but the others weapons eventually broke through the weaker points and shredded the crew. The tank swerved out of the convoy and ground to a halt in the snow fields. However the pause that it gave the gunships gave a dozen flack guns the time they needed to line up and fire. The shells screamed through the air and exploded a few feet in front of the gun ships. As smoke and the speed the convoy was moving at obscured the gun ships from sight a cheer rose up among the flack gunners. It turned to yells of horror as the air craft flew from the smoke without a scratch on them. They unleashed a half dozen missiles each that reduced trucks and tanks to smoking scrap metal and unleashed their lethal cannons. Now missiles from apocalypse tanks that had been brought back from the forward positions flew out. The ECMs of the gunships easily fooled the missiles and they flew through the air in random directions. More flack guns joined the fray and they concentrated their fire upon the enemy. As more flack was unleashed flashes of blue could be witnessed where ever the metal shrapnel collided with an unseen barrier. A flack commander recognized it as a shielding system of some sort. Like the Iron Curtain. The call for all guns to focus on the center craft went out and in seconds a staggering thirty-four guns ripped apart the barrier that protected the craft. Its armor lasted a few more seconds as it tried to break away and retreat. Even though the craft and been mortally shot several times the pilot valiantly angled its decent so that it barreled into a V3 launcher causing its deadly payload to detonate and take a couple of half tracks with it. Despite the heavy losses they proved the new enemy could be killed.

The other two gunships pulled to the sides and dropped altitude so that the flack guns risked hitting friendly forces and strafed the vehicles with their cannons. It was then that Yosiv witnessed the most incredible act of marksmanship he had ever seen. An Apocalypse tank with Helga stenciled on the side of the turret rotated its main guns and began to track the air craft attempting to shoot it down with its co-axle machine gun but then the gunship hovered for less than a second as it attempted to change directions. That was all the time the tank gunner needed he fired both cannons. The two rounds fired with one just ahead of the other, the first one hit the barrier and detonated destroying it with the sound of broken glass. The second round ripped right through the tale section severing it completely sending the gunship to the ground it a great splash of snow a few dozen meters to the side and ahead of his position the convoy.

As the wreckage of the ship lay in the snow Yosiv spotted movement inside the heavily tinted canopy. He could barely make out arms pounding on it. Someone in the Helga must have also spotted it because the large tank gunned its engine to its max speed, which was little faster than the convoy's current speed and headed directly for the downed aircraft. Without even slowing the massive super heavy tank crushed the canopy under its tracks before rejoining the convoy next to Yosiv's half-track. He silently vowed to find the man who shot down the lethal craft and shake his hand.

Along the convoy soldiers were manning pintle mounted heavy machine guns and opening up on the last air craft. Thousands of tracers flew out struck the barrier. It was then that the death of its two comrades must have sunk in because it began to flee. With incredible speed the craft shot almost straight up making to out range the flack guns. Though what the gunships pilot didn't know was that this was a strategy that the Allies had applied multiple time throughout the war and the flak gunners were well prepared for it. Little puffs of smoke followed the craft so closely it almost looked like a smoke tale. Shrapnel smacked against the barriers in frightening volumes and the pilot fought for control of the craft as it was rocked by the concussion waves. It had almost made it to the edge of the guns range when its shields failed. Four more flack rounds detonated and the shrapnel tore through the armor that the concussion waves had stressed to the breaking point. The craft lost its engines and its mass effect core was red lined in an effort to keep it from falling at terminal velocity.

Yosiv dropped back into the troop bay and addressed the radio operator again hoping to confer with the general with what he had witnessed. "Trooper what's the radio traffic like?"

"It's a mess sir! Luitenents are trying to get casualty reports in while sergeants are asking to turn back and retrieve the wounded. The generals getting the convoy's air defenses to reorganize in case the enemy has more air assets. The base is also reporting it was hit by high altitude bombers but was able to drive them off. It seems the town was their main target sir!" The radio operator spoke fast and a little louder than necessary but he was doing an impressive job of making sense of the chaotic radio traffic. Yosiv nodded in satisfaction, as much as he was meant to be an example to the troops he was also their judge. Their every action was to be scrutinized and used by the commissars to mold the glorious Red Army into perfection. Yosiv looked the man over though it was hard to tell anything about him through his helmet and gear. All Yosiv could tell was the man was shorter and slimmer than average, which made Yosiv think a little less of the man.

"Comrade what is your name?"

"Trooper Veltrov, radio operator sir!"

"Alert me if anything changes trooper."

"Yes sir."

Yosiv pulled Dimitri aside from his troops who all sat perfectly still with their PPSh-44s loaded and head gear firmly in place, the sound of their breathing through their gasmasks filled the troop bay. He began to tell Dimitri of everything he had just witnessed when Veltrov shouted eagerly to Yosiv.

"Commissar sir! The general is on the line and requesting to speak to you!"

Yosiv snatched the hand set from the trooper and spoke quickly.

"Da General?"

"Thank the motherland you are alive, listen commissar time is short. The radar just picked up a landing force a hundred kilometers due west of our position it's made up of a few dozen vehicles that are moving unbelievably fast towards us. You need take two squads loaded in APCs, two flack half tracks and an empty cargo truck and move to the last gunship's crash site. Some of my men tracked its decent and determined that something kept it from falling to fast. A human pilot would have had a good chance of surviving. You are to look for survivors and bring them back to me alive and able to talk. If they are missing limbs it will make it harder for them to try anything. If the craft its self can be recovered in time do it. I have the flack half-tracks and truck already under way follow them due northwest. The crash site is a dozen or so kilometers that way. The truck knows the way. I need someone I can trust to handle this. If the men discover that the occupant is not human and lose focus we could lose valuable intel."

"Da," Was all Yosiv could say. The general was still drawing the distention between them being human and the others not being human. Yosiv shook his head, regardless of who the others were they were about to find themselves subject to Soviet hospitality. "You will have your prize comrade General."

Yosiv handed the hand set back to trooper Veltrov and turned to Dimitri. "I need a squad that has tesla troopers attached to it and now."

Dimitri thought for a second. "Zelenkov's boys have three and their half track was just behind ours last time I checked."

"Good tell them to follow us, use my rank and name if they resist. Also make your regimental colonel aware that I'm temporarily barrowing two of his squads on the general's orders," Yosiv commanded as he turned to inform the driver of his new destination.

-oOo-

Ari Chellinian head was blurry and all she could hear was an incessant buzzing that was driving her mad. The female turian struggled hard to make sense of the last ten minutes of her life. One minute she and her gunner were being deployed and racking up an impressive number of kills on the primitive's convoy. Then the next thing she knew the primitives had brought down their wing commander with a humbling amount of fire, then Vegrull's ship had been brought down by a blasted tank then ground under tread. His screams were still present in her memory. She had made to pull away but had underestimated the range of simple out dated flack guns and had lost control. She fought to keep the ship from plummeting hard but they still smacked into the ground and tumbled with bone shattering force.

Ari checked the electronics only to find them all dead. She turned in her chair to check on her gunner. His body was limp and his neck was bent at an unnatural level. She shook her head and sent a prayer to the spirits to guide her lost comrades before she checked over herself and made sure she was alright. In the end though she came to the conclusion her left leg was broken and her right hand hurt far worse than it should but she could still use it. Her flight suit and helmet were more or less intact and would protect from the bitter cold outside.

She grabbed an emergency kit and activated a distress beacon. Then she retrieved her service pistol before hitting the emergency escape bolt which in turn safely blew the canopy off. Wincing slightly as cold air rushed into her cabin she began to climb out of the wreck. It was a painful process but she was a turian soldier who had been trained to ignore pain… And she knew the humans would be coming for her if only to get her craft but if they caught her. Well she could only imagine how mad they would be.

Her worst fears were realized when she used her helmets' optics to pick out five vehicles approaching from the distant convoy. Now she had two real options, one; she could make a run for the friendly turian armored units heading this way, of course she would never make it before the humans caught her and she didn't want to be shot in the back or ran down like a wild varren. Which left option two; Stay at the crash site and hold them off for as long as possible. Hopefully the humans would be timid after the slaughter her gunship had unleashed on them. If she lasted long enough the inbound friendly forces would rescue her. Or they would try to take her captive in which case she resolved to end it with a shot to the head before that could happen.

She placed herself with the downed craft's wreckage forming an L shaped cover with the enemy on the opposite side. It would offer her the best cover available while still allowing her to watch for any of the enemy who might try flanking her. She watched the five vehicles approach with bated breath and twitching fingers. They were moving fast towards her and were within a hundred yards before they slowed to a halt. Ari heard the sound of hatches swinging open and rumble of engines, she peaked through a hole in her cover and saw roughly thirty humans approaching under the cover of their flack guns which were leveled at her. As she scanned the humans she spotted one which stood out the most. He wore a black trench coat over a dark red uniform with gold trim and a darker red sash, atop his head sat a black peaked cap which a gold and red emblem on the front of it. A large pistol hung low on his thigh and a saber opposite to it. There was an imposing presence to the human even from here she could feel the confidence and strength oozing from him. While the others all approached with weapons drawn and pointed in the direction of her gunship and crouched low, he walked towards her standing tall with supreme confidence. For a second she wondered if her small pistol would even be able to harm her, but then she shook her head of the ridiculous thought. He was flesh and blood too and would die like the rest if shot enough.

He was shouting to the other humans and they approached faster but then she spotted the heavy troopers behind the trench coat wearing man. There were three of them all standing around 7 feet tall in bulky grey armor plating wrapped in places with a thick red cloth of some sort. The bare domed helmet had only a simple slit for the occupant to see out of. While one hand was just simple thick armor the other was a great silver gauntlet with wires leading from it to a power pack on the back. She could see electricity dancing from one finger to the next.

Ari gulped fearing what such weapon it could be but then she shook her head. She knew there was no hope of survival now. She readied herself for battle and waited till the humans were only a few dozen meters then she sprang up and fired on the trench coat wearing man. Her aim was poor and he was far faster, he quickly rolled to the side and the shots slammed into the heavy troopers behind him. They left large dents in one of their chest plates and caused the one struck to stumble a little but he survived.

The rest of the Soviets laid down suppressive fire purposely avoiding the turian pilot but they accomplished their goal in forcing her down into cover. Ari held her head down as a storm of lead landed all around her. Then from around the corner rushed one of the heavy troopers each heavy step sending snow flying. She fired three times putting large craters in the troopers armor before his outreached gauntlet lashed out and crushed her pistol in an exposition of sparks. A painful jolt ran up her arm but she let go and rolled away faster than the human could strike again.

When she came out of the roll she found herself outside her cover with a half circle of humans surrounding her with rifles pointed at her. This was the end and she knew it.

She ripped her helmet off and drew her utility knife, prepared to charge the human line she made peace with herself. But then the trench coated human stepped forward with his own saber drawn. It seemed that these savages were no better than the krogan when it came to one on one challenges. She didn't care either way. She would take one more human life for her comrade's honor before she went.

It was then that she got a good look at a humans face for the first time. It struck her that they looked like pale skinned asari with hair. And if their facial expressions were anything like the one in front of her was smiling confidently.

-oOo-

Yosiv truly was enthralled. Sure it was only one enemy combatant but it truly was alien. And unlike in their previous engagement against the aircraft where his fate was in the hands of the flack gunners this was a ground engagement. He had control over his life and could safely rely on himself and the troops around him.

Now he was facing the alien one on one. It looked avian with a boney exoskeleton and mandibles surrounding its mouth. In its talon like fingers it held a knife and stooped low favoring one leg over the other one.

Yosiv decided he found the aliens form repulsive. He strode forward with his blade held forward. The alien jumped forward suddenly aiming to stab him through the chest. Its form was sloppy and in its wounded state the alien hardly moved fast. With laughable ease Yosiv parried the blade and stabbed forward driving the tip of his saber into the alien's hand. And with a sharp slice and a grunt of effort he sliced two of the alien's thick fingers off forcing the alien to drop its knife. The creature recoiled in pain but quickly recovered. After looking at its hand it tried to run for the discarded knife. Yosiv kicked out striking the alien in its chest sending it to the ground. Yosiv had now become bored. It seemed this alien was to wounded to be any real challenge.

"You two restrain the creature! And you grab a chunk of metal and use your tesla gauntlet to heat it up till its red hot!" Yosiv commanded to the three tesla troopers who wordlessly and quickly did as they were commanded. After they had the alien restrained face down in the snow Yosiv gave his next order. "Hold its arm out."

The tesla trooper did as he was ordered. The alien stared at Yosiv in what he guessed was a glare. He smiled back at it. It was time to have some revenge.

He raised his saber high above his head and brought it down with all his force. The blade brutally cut straight through the creature's wrist. It began making a terrible screeching sound and struggling with all its might but the tesla trooper's power armor was more than enough to keep it still.

"Use the metal to cauterize the wound."

The command was followed by a hissing sound and yet more screeching.

"Hold out its other arm."

And the action was repeated, this time many soldiers yelled their approval at the mutilation of their enemy. It was only a small measure of revenge but it was a start.

Yosiv was about to order the troopers to hold its legs still when Dimitri approached him and whispered through his mask into Yosiv's ear.

"Sir we don't have time for this. I want to see it bleed like the rest of the men but the enemy is closing in."

Yosiv nodded his approval in Dimitri quietly reminding him of the mission at hand. Now was not the time to get the men worked up into a frenzy.

"You are correct sergeant get the men together and get as much of that ship loaded onto the truck. We leave in ten minutes," Yosiv commanded. He turned to the tesila troopers and told them to leave him and help move the wreck.

They dropped their captive that was panting heavily and trying not to cry out in pain. All its energy was sapped by its injuries and it could barely move.

Yosiv crouched down and grabbed the things face and lifted it till they looked each other in the eye.

"I don't know who or what you are but I do know that you just started a conflict you will regret. We will break your kind and when we find out where you came from we will exterminate your people and burn your homes to the ground."

-oOo-

-The human's political climate in 1973 (human date) when the Council races discovered them was one of heavy military influence. Their so called 'World War III' had ended only a year before the turian invasion with over 80 percent of the countries being absorbed into the Soviet Union and the remaining 20 percent being Allied counties. The war had ended when a third faction broke off from the Soviets and began to attack both sides. The end result led to a loss of the Soviets psychic and cloning technology but what it had loss in biotech it had made up for in a space program that was impressive. It even had a permanent base on their moon. An interesting fact to note is the fabled use of a time machine, which the humans adamantly deny ever existing. -

-Exert taken from The Study of Human Politics and Consequences of its Wars written in 2230.

A/N

Okay so a few things I know will make a few people mad. One: no clones. Sorry I just felt that having the ability to make armies in days was overkill and clones just aren't my things. They also make each death mean a little less sense a soldier can be replaced easily.

Second; Cosmonauts are not armed with lasers and no hand held lasers. I'm trying to break away from typical two types of weapons in mass effect crossovers. Rail guns/lasers and other DEWs.

Now that I got that out of the way. I'm looking for a beta reader who can do a little more than just edit my grammar. I would like to have someone who I can bounce ideas off of and who can give good ideas or counter points. Oh and if anyone can make a cover for this story let me know! I can't guarantee I'll use it but if I like it enough I will.

Other than that all I ask is that you guys enjoy my story and if have anything to say leave a review. I'll PM you as soon as I can.

Have great day!