A/N: Here's chapter 4! A bit on the short side compared to the first two chapters I admit, but it just seemed like a good place to stop. Next one, but more likely two chapters are going to be the the real Shanxi War stuff as Bromraka isn't going to go down without a fight. Thanks to Kemjur and Patriota who reviewed the last chapter, and anyone has joined in on the follow and fav group. To everyone that reads, leave a review! It only takes a few minutes and it helps spur the motivation. Especially since sometimes reviews make me think of a part of the setting I hadn't thought to cover yet. So as always, see anything you like, hate, think needs changing, or want to know about. Leave a review!

Disclaimer: Don't own Mass effect.

Eagle's Nest

Floating through an empty star system, buried inside the debris field of what scientists had determined was a former planet, was the Eagle's Nest. A tall, oblong, station of unknown origin. Theorized to be the same makers as the martian ruins. Unlike those ruins though, the Eagle's Nest was still completely functional.

Deep within Reich space, the Nest was the center point of many things. The Abwehr, the Kriegsmarine, the Schutzstaffel, all of them had their primary bases here. Ships and soldiers guarded every door and docking bay. All of it protecting the man and the government that sat at it's center. Today it was not just one important figure there though, the IJN and Regia Marina vessels that floated through space showed that. Deep in the center of the station, protected from everything from ship to ship fire to assassination attempts, a meeting was being had.

"Of course the German Reich will stand by Japan in this matter." Came a level voice from a militarily dressed man. Close cropped hair and a clean shaven face. If there was a face one could have associated with a soldier of the Reich, it would have been this man. Jochim Braun. Born after the death of the first generation of the Reich, the man had risen to his position through shrewd political maneuvering and ruthlessness. Working his way up through the Schutzstaffel before taking control of that organisation. Leveraging his power to become the head of the country after the last Fuhrer had died.

The man beside him was not so much an impressive figure. It was not Ademaro Savona's fault though. The weight of years bore down on the Italian man, already in his 70s. Many outside Italy had suspected Mussolini would have left the party to one of his sons. Instead after his death the party had briefly been taken over by Italo Balbo. Then it passed on twice more until it rested with Savona. A significant amount of mustache adorned his face. Wizened skin surrounding that. His voice coming out more like a puff from his pipe then anything. "So shall the Kingdom of Italy."

Prime Minister Fujioka nodded solemnly to the two men, and lightly sipped his drink. He never did like the western wines. "Thank you both, I am sure between the three of us we could more than overpower these aliens."

"I'd much rather have some Russian, American and British ships to take the brunt of the losses though. Knock them down a few pegs." Savona said with a chuckle that shook his whole frame.

"Indeed," Braun gave a sharp nod. "I think they will both join the expedition. The Americans are too eager to prove themselves on the world stage, while the British need to continuously prove they are the dominant space power. The Soviets though, they are unpredictable. I wish we had wiped them out when we had the chance. Remove their danger from the world."

Fujioka and Savona both hid a sigh. The Soviets were a problem, constantly they would catch them spying, and workers' revolts were almost always their doing. Braun though seemed to have inherited too much from the original holder of his job position. Both the other leaders had come to the conclusion that while they could do without the Soviets, the communists weren't going anywhere quick and they lacked the material to beat them. The western powers would surely jump on all three of them if they tried it.

"Indeed. The British and French have already agreed, and with them the Commonwealth and the Union." Fujioka said stiffly. While Savona seemed to treat these meetings as a gathering of friends. Fujioka, and he suspected Braun, would much rather be somewhere else. The others in this room were at best, allies of the times. He at times wished to split Japan from the Axis, but he knew if he did, the Empire would be in peril.

"My admirals will be quite eager to see the british battleships in action. They've been chomping at the bit to get more information about them." Samova meanwhile moved to refill his own cup of wine. "I'm sure by the time we finish the bottle the American will have agreed."

"You mean by the time you finish the bottle?" Braun raised an eyebrow. Turning away from the video screen on the wall that showed the surrounding asteroid belt.

"I, we, same thing." Samova waved it off, and looked over at Fujioka. "Regardless, my point still stands. How is the ground battle going on Shanxi? Or are you not prepared to release that information?"

"We're holding the line. These aliens have equipment that would make your Folgore or MAS operators look like they were savages. Their individual troops seem to have shield generators and full body armour. We still defeat them, but the troops are burning through ammunition to do so."

"Noted, I'll inform the generals to prepare their troops for heavy resistance." Braun said with a nod. "At least our guns still are effective, we can fight back."

"Don't have to throw a tank to counter an infantryman." Samova agreed, growing serious for a moment, and reminding Fujioka that he was formerly a general. "Regardless, we will purge them from Shanxi. Show them that humanity is not to be trifled with. Maybe we'll even find some new colonies behind Shanxi's relay."

"New Japanese colonies behind Shanxi's relay." Fujioka glared at the Italian prime minister.

The man only grinned in response, his face cracking like a parched desert. "You know you are going to have to open it to everyone after this coalition."

Fujioka didn't like it, but Samova was right. One of the downsides of calling in the League, they'd demand that all land beyond it be open for all nation's explorers, instead of just those Japan let through. It was vexing, but he had already made his call for help. He couldn't turn it down now.

Samova chuckled at the sour look on the Japanese man's face. Reaching over he grabbed the last of the bottle of wine and downed it himself. Almost as the exact same time the last drop passed his lips, Fujioka's pad beeped. "Let me guess, that was the Americans agreeing?"

The old man's chuckle turned to a full blown laugh as Fujioka's mood soured further. All the proof he needed. These youngsters seemed to think he'd gone senile. Really, no respect.

-WoE-

New Yuncheng

The city was an inferno.

There was no other way to describe Yuncheng at this point. The Element Zero storage tanks at the edge of the city had been detonated. The work done by a group of intrepid IJA soldiers, along with the last of the Shikigami walkers. Fire had spread from the storage facility, overtaking block after block as debris and detritus floated through the sky and down the streets. The firestorm had forced IJA soldiers deeper into their underground fortifications, and the Turians out of the city while it raged.

Then the clouds had opened up and it had rained a near monsoon. The fires put out by the deluge as broken roads and what few open fields there was turned to mud and sludge. IJA soldiers had streamed out of their fortifications to reclaim the ruined city. The wreckage and burned husks were more useful cover than when they stood.

Private Kobayashi clutched the alien rifle to his shoulder as he scanned the drenched section of fog covered road before him. His Type 48 had run out of ammo and he'd just picked up one of these strange alien weapons from a fallen enemy. There didn't seem to be any need to reload the rifles or maintain them. Could they just fire on infinitely? This weapon was like magic. He wasn't the only one to try this, as many other soldiers had taken the enemies weapons. They worked much better against the alien's shields, but he would have rather had his Type 48 after that. He swore this thing was shooting grains of sand or some other insanity. It also came with a thermal scope though, and that was helping greatly in the current situation.

Covered in rubble, the rain streaming down his face, he watched as multiple figures stepped down the street. The fog shrouded them, but with the thermal scope he could see them walking in standard search and advance formation. Guns pointed in every direction, scanning for threats.

It seemed they weren't able to see through the rubble, though. With the burning embers still raging despite the drenching rain, the small heat signature he and the others gave off probably was looked over. Time to make them pay for that mistake.

The aliens continued to approach. Stepping closer and closer, making the private cling tighter to his rifle. His knuckles turning white. Finally he heard the Major say. "Now!"

The gun barked in his hands, firing a stream of rounds into the aliens. The gun visibly sizzling as the torrential rain hit the barrel. His shots were joined by others, both full rifle rounds and these alien projectiles. The aliens reacting and firing back as the street turned into a charnel house. Death for both sides came with the rain, guns silenced, bodies tumbled. A grenade went off somewhere near Ren and nearly made him deaf.

Then just as quickly as it started, the firing stopped. The aliens lay dead, and Ren saw other figures pulling themselves out of the rubble. Digging trenches in this rain was impossible, and they were trying to keep the aliens as far away from the evacuation shelters as they could. The resort had been these attacks. Letting the aliens advance to their death. Even still, for half a dozen aliens killed in an ambush, ten of his comrades didn't get up.

Ren knew they were losing, slowly but surely. Some might call the loss of the city a defeat in itself. Still, he would keep fighting. Keep holding. He knew that out there reinforcements were coming, and that him and the IJA could keep this fight going. Fighting until the last man fell.

-WoE-

Joseon System, Imperial Japanese Territory

The Joseon System was the nearest link to Shanxi. A relatively 'sleepy' system. It had a single world that was lightly populated, and a single minor space station. Said space station was completely unprepared for the volume of traffic in the system now.

Battleships, carriers, cruisers, destroyers. A bona fide fleet, all of various sizes and nationalities, now orbited the planet. The IJN first, second, third and sixth fleets were there. The grand shapes of the Yamato, Musashi, Shinano and Satsuma drifting among them. The four great battleships of the japanese navy all gathered together for this operation. They were not the largest vessels in the combined fleet though.

A fleet from this many states, united against a common foe, hadn't occurred since the expedition against the Boxer Rebellion. As such, every nation was taking its chance to show off as it were. More orbital tonnage was over Joseon than any planet had likely ever seen.

The American fleet had two of it's slightly larger Maine class battleships. The vessels carrying more guns, but of a smaller caliber than the Yamato class's titanic eighteen inch guns. Even larger still was the Germans singular H-258. An utterly daft concept that was nearly half as long again as the Maine class, and had bigger guns than the Yamato. The thing worked, but the singular vessel costed nearly as much as the four Yamatos combined. The British HMS Thunderer was the Kingdom's own flagship of the operation. Not up to the size of even the Yamatos, but armoured and designed by some of the best shipbuilders in the world. Finally, for the major powers present with a battleship, the Impero, was a quick and accurate vessel, but lacked much of the prestige of its cousins.

Around the capital ship fleets was many others. Commonwealth cruisers and destroyers. A Soviet contingent of light cruisers. The French battlecruiser Alsace and its supporting fleet. Those were just some of the ships present, many more orbiting the world that weren't attention grabbing enough to be named.

It wasn't only human vessels in the system of Joseon though. Far, far at the edge of the system, a small probe floated along. Turian in make, it was recording all the ships it saw, looking to send the data back to its home base. Unfortunately...someone had rerouted it.

-WoE-

TSF Unbreakable, In Orbit over Shanxi

"Get me an update on that silent probe. I want its data." Bromraka growled from his command chair. The probe, one of many he had sent out the day before, had detected a small human force over the planet, with a few more ships arriving before it had gone dark. That worried the Turian admiral. If a few ships were coming to that nearby system, one with a connection to this alien world, then there could be even more rallying there. He needed to know just how many alien ships might be there now.

Unfortunately, nothing his crew had been able to do could get the probe back online. They got enough info that the probe was still working or at least on, but the data couldn't come through. It was infuriating. For all he knew they were gathering up a fleet to counter attack him now, and if he lost to that then he'd go down in the history books at the admiral that lost because of a technical malfunction!

"Where the hell is that data going?" Bromraka mumbled under his breath. Unfortunately, the admiral had forgotten a rule of the galaxy. Even though he had shut down all ingoing and outgoing transmissions from his fleet. Information always gets out.

-WoE-

Galna Maxipanus would be sweating, if turians could sweat, Galna would be doing so right now. Luckily they didn't. That made things much easier as he tried to hide what he had done. The STG had guaranteed his family at home a not insignificant amount of money. All they had asked was that he converted one of the probes the admiral had sent out to instead broadcast data to them. Well, it was doing that now, he just had to keep himself from getting caught…

-WoE-

The Citadel

Councillor Caelus Druscus was not in a good mood. Nor were the primarchs. Nor was any of the other councillors. Indeed, it might not be a lie to say nobody was in a good mood right now. Of all the ways he needed to learn about this, it was not from the Salarian councillor and his thrice damned STG.

"A war, Druscus. I don't know how much more I can stress this. Your admiral has caused a war with a previously unknown species." Councilor Tevos, the longest serving member of the current council by virtue of being an Asari, said.

"A policing action." Druscus returned stoically. Even as he watched messages flying over his tablet. It looked like nobody was able to get into contact with the spirits damned Bromraka and call him back. "Admiral Bromraka encountered the aliens activating a mass relay. As you all know this is against council laws. He was well within his remit to enforce citadel regulations."

"Citadel regulations do not include ground invasion. Nor shooting without warning." Councilor Ibam replied. His speech quick and short like the rest of his short lived kind.

"According to Bromraka's reports." Which the Primarchs were only receiving now since the Blackwatch stole it off the STG. Druscus still didn't know how the Salarians got their hands on it before they did. "The vessel that exited in Citadel Space was armed like a small cruiser. A warning shot may have endangered the patrol vessels that engaged it."

"Shooting first got the patrol fleet annihilated shortly thereafter." Ibam commented. "Bromraka's fleet may go the same way."

"What?" Druscus growled, glaring at the Salarian. "Explain!"

"Probe 17. The aliens appear to be gathering a fleet of their own." Ibam commented with a frown. Druscus should have known this already. The Salarian councilor hoped that the STG had covered their tracks well.

Druscus opened the report Ibam pointed out, and so did Tevos. It didn't look too bad. It seemed these aliens were attempting to muster a rather pathetic force of barely two dozen ships to assault Bromraka's now one hundred and thirty vessels. Even as he watch though, his eyeplates rose, and so did Tevos and even the Salarians. One hundred and thirty vessels was not much compared to say, the entirety of the Turian fleet, but it should have been more than enough to deal with a new species.

Instead even as they, and the Primarchs back on Plaven, watched the feed, the aliens numbers were swelling. Two dozen rapidly growing into three. As vessels ranging from frigate to battleship size appeared in the system. The numbers continued growing, passing Bromraka's fleet size and still going.

"Spirits." Druscus muttered to himself. The utterance picked up by his microphone and broadcasted to the other two councilors. Tevos muttering something that actually stayed hidden under her breath.

Three hundred vessels, and the number was still increasing by the minute. Nearly thirty vessels that matched Bromraka's Unbreakable in size, and nearly that number again that were nearly as large but appeared to be lightly armed. Not to mention some monstrous vessel that was nearly two kilometers long. Whoever this species was, they had more dreadnoughts than the Turian navy!

Ibam gave a sharp intake of breath. His eyes scanning over the report. Tevos just putting the probes data up on the center console so they could all see it. "Space militarization implies this is not first contact. Or these aliens are as warlike as the krogan."

"Alternatively, look." Tevos pointed to the displays of the various dreadnought class vessels that the VI on the probe was providing. Her finger touching where there was large paintings on the sides of the vessels. "These look like national flags."

"Disunified. Internal conflicts could explain fleet development." Ibam nodded. "Still using turreted designs, fascinating. Either new to space, or a doctrinal mentality."

Druscus meanwhile was not focusing on the other two councilor's conversation. Instead he was focused on the one he was having with the Primarchs. Watching as messages streamed by about how nobody could get in contact with Bromraka's fleet.

Then the relatively titanic alien fleet started to head for the mass relay at the edge of the system. There was no doubt where it was going, as Druscus looked to the other councilors. Trying to steel himself back into a stoic demeanor. "Councilors but I believe this calls for a general mobilization of all citadel forces. These aliens are evidently a threat to the galaxy beyond their borders."

"No." Tevos said with a glare. "The Hierarchy has tried to deal with this with war. We will not risk another Rachni War. Cut Bromraka loose. We will prepare a diplomatic alternative. We can only hope they will take it after this."

Codex Entry: The League of Nations

The League of Nations stands as a rather unique body in modern politics. Having lasted for over one hundred years, it is an entirely human organize that served, and still serves, as a localized version of something like the Citadel. The League has significantly less power though, serving more as an oversight board then a ruling body. Intended to assist with avoiding another Great War (see Great Trench War/The War to End All Wars), the League is meant to be an open platform for each nation to present issues and complaints infront of an international audience. Working through disputes without resorting to force of arms. In this capacity, the League has been quite successful, having manged to avert the Danzig Crisis, the Ideta crises and the aftermath of the destruction of Sol System. The League rarely steps in in the small border skirmishing that is known to happen between major powers in the reaches of space, but has avoided another major war. Initially, in the 1930s it looked like the organization was on the way to decline, when Germany and Japan both left the league in in 1933, followed by Italy and Spain a few years later. Instead though, in assistance at providing a negotiation platform for the involved parties in Danzig. The lost member states soon rejoined, with Japan being the last state to rejoin the League in 1951. America, having long stayed out of the League, would join in 1963, and soon after almost every nation held a place on the League.

The Leagues second purpose is to provide a platform for nations to appeal for aid. Either economic, or military. The most recent use of the latter was the Empire of Japan appealing for aid against Renegade Admiral Bromraka's forces, while the most recent use of the former was an appeal for aid following a solar flare wiping out all technology on a Yugoslavian colonial world. This does highlight another difference between the League of Nations and the Citadel, in that the League controls no military forces. It does not even maintain its own police force. Security for the League at its headquarters station around Sol Relay is provided in parts by each member state. Assistance in military matters is provided by the member states in whatever capacity they believe fit.

After the Turian war, there have been stirrings and rumours that the League may be beginning to commission its own version of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance agency, but nothing official has been confirmed. Ontop of this it seems unlikely to gain much traction as few member states would allow another member state to be able to send agents into their territory.