A/N: Well this came out much faster then expected. The end of the SHanxi war is approaching soon, but don't worry. There's still going to be plenty of chaos caused by, and to, Humanity in the future though. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed, as always, if you like this chapter, hate it, or see something you want to comment on, leave a review!

Disclaimer: I do not own ME

ORP Orkan, Unknown System, Non-Human Space

Captain Jaskulski stood on the bridge of his destroyer. The elderly man looking at the local map before him as it displayed the other ships in the impromptu scouting fleet. The Orkan and its sister ship, the Huragan, were both present, serving as the flagship of the fleet. The rest of the fleet was comprised of two Commonwealth frigates, a Korean sensor boat, and a Yugoslavian armed survey ship. Together, they were one of the multiple scouting fleets sent out through the Shanxi relay. Comprised of light ships from a variety of navies in a deliberate attempt by each nation to avoid any state using this as an opportunity to advance to far past the others. Really, even with aliens breathing down their necks everyone was out for themselves first.

Thank god for translator VI's, otherwise this would have been a complete mess before it began. Jaskulski was also quite thankful that they hadn't encountered another alien fleet like the one that had been over Shanxi. Oddly enough none of the three scout fleets sent out along the relays paths had reported anything yet. Unlike the systems that had connected of Sol. It seemed that habitable world were few and far between along this stretch of relays. There was a few, but they'd require such extensive terraforming that it really wasn't worth it. It made him wonder where all the aliens, currently dubbed 'Plates,' were.

Was it just happenstance that they had happened to run into that alien fleet? Was it just wandering through the galaxy and came across the Zhang He? Jaskulski doubted it. Maybe the Zhang He had run into a long distance patrol and that patrol had summoned that fleet. It'd make more sense with the way the engagement had happened.

"Sir, sensor contacts! They look different than the plates ships though." Came his sensor captain from just a bit to his right.

Turning to look at the readout he saw that indeed, these ships looked much different. At least most of them did. There was four in all, one that looked much like the smallest of the plate vessels. The other three bore much more sloping designs, looking more like fish then the arrowheads of the plate ships.

"Sir, they are...targeting us with laser communications." Came his sensor and communication officer simultaneously.

Jaskulski could only guess the other ships in the fleet were getting the pings too as he saw his communication console flare up. Messages coming in from the other ships in the fleet. He pinged them to hold fire and wait further orders.. "Line up our receiving dish with theirs." The captain told the communications officer. "If they want to talk we might as well see what they have to say."

After all, he wasn't here to shoot, only to scout. But if the aliens wanted peace? Who was he to not let his name go down in the history books?

"Dish aligned, communications coming in now." The officer said, and a moment later a video came on screen, gasps coming from the rest of the crew. These were well different from the Plates, the race that had attacked Shanxi.. Where the Plates had been covered in well, plates, these aliens looked startlingly human. There were enough differences to know they weren't, from their blue skin to their head tentacles, but none on the deck could deny their human, maternal faces.

'The biologists are going to have a field day with this one.' Jaskulski thought to himself, before he realized he could understand what the alien on the screen was saying. His eyes narrowed as he looked to the side of the screen; the language being translated through was Japanese. An extremely poor translation, but Japanese nonetheless.

The old man took a moment before it clicked. The Plates must have figured out the language off the Japanese during the fighting, and had given it to these aliens. Evidently they hadn't really managed it. The speech was broken and jarring, but it was better than nothing.

More specifically it was good enough that they managed to get "Peace" out of it somewhere. Probably off some Japanese soldiers a few seconds before the bastards pulled a pin on a grenade, or something. Really, the rest of the message was a mess, but the word peace kept coming through and he couldn't help but smile, hidden beneath his heavy beard. "Looks like we beat 'em right good at Shanxi. Send out a message back to that mess they are calling joint command HQ."

"On it, sir."

"And let's give them a reply why don't we."

-WoE-

Asari Republic Ship Nefrane, Demtri System, Citadel/Turian Space

"Ma'am, we're getting a response."

Matron Benezia gave a soft smile to herself. Maybe this would actually work and there wouldn't be any shooting. Then she could home and see Liara again. Really, the nerve of Tevos. Calling her out for a mission like this, one so fraught with danger.

Still, duty was duty, even if she didn't like it. If this all went well, she was sure she could leverage it back on Thessia for some serious influence. Matronity wasn't far away afterall. She shook her head to keep from getting ahead of herself. A response was just step one. One of a few hundred that one misstep could end up with them all dead and this war continuing.

"Let's see it. Hopefully we didn't insult them using that translator the turians gave us." Benezia said from her seat. A moment later an image of one of these 'humans' popped up. 'Human'; the STG had managed to dig that little tidbit out from some of Bromraka's data. Looking at the human on screen, she noticed the obvious similarities. They looked stunningly like asari without the head tentacles and with pale skin. She had been warned of that before by Tevos though. The information currently on a 'need to know' basis that extended little past the councillors and this mission. No need to worry the public about a potential renegade branch of Asari.

The other thing that stuck out to her was that the human looked much more like a wizened salarian or krogan then the images she had seen before. Evidently the figure on the screen was old. Much older than the average human soldier. She wondered if they aged like the Asari and Krogan, or if they were more like the Quarians and Turians, or maybe they were as short lived as the Salarians.

The message was currently muted. The translator VI working its hardest to 'fix' its own programing to adjust to what the human was saying. Iterative technology truly was a wonder. Finally it spat something out, and with a bit of creative changing of words on her end she figured out the base of the message.

"This is Captain Jaskulski-" Now wasn't that a tongue twister? Really, she hoped not to many of them were named like that. "-of the Commonwealth of Poland." One of the many states these humans apparently had; perhaps they were in a civil war state like the Turians once were? "We received your message, though the translation was poor. We assume it meant 'we want peace.'" At least they got the general gist of it. Stupid Turians, putting them all in this spot. "I cannot speak for the other nations, or even my own, but we will not fire upon your vessels if you do not target ours. I have informed my leaders and they will likely send direction soon."

Benezia sighed. It was better than nothing, and really, it was what was expected. The humans were too disunified to make this easy. She could practically feel the headache coming as she watched the collection of vessels drifting in space across from her fleet.

"Well, you heard the human." Benizia addressed the bridge crew. "Looks like we're going to be here for a bit. I'd rather not test their paranoia and leave for the next system." Benezia looked at her bridge crew. "For now, you might as well all take a break. Hopefully we won't be waiting too long. Also someone tell the Turian ship that if it fires I'll personally make sure to strangle their spirits on the way to the afterlife."

-WoE-

Taetrus, Mactare system, Citadel/Turian Space

Taetrus, one of the newest colonies of the Turian Hierarchy, was bustling with activity. The definition of 'new' among Citadel species meant that the colony was in fact, the better part of a century off the ground. Among the squat colonial buildings on its surface, there was hundreds of millions of Turians going about their daily lives. In space volus trade ships, turian patrol vessels, and civilian ships of all different kinds darted around the star system. Going to and from mining colonies on the less habitable worlds, or down to the spaceport below.

Among their number was one vessel that passed unseen. Unseen and unknown, despite its odd appearance. It was not turian, nor was it of any kind of citadel species vessel. Narrow and short, almost too narrow. No citadel species would send anyone out on what looked like such an uncomfortable vessel. Indeed, anyone who saw it would likely ridicule the thing and whoever designed it.

But nobody saw it.

The Type III L-Boat drifted past a turian patrol ship near undetected. Its well shielded mass effect core didn't appear on the patrol vessels' sensors. Its general shape just being picked up as a very odd asteroid or space debris. The L-Boat series was the effort of decades of work with EZ engines; they'd been working to make them undetectable to the myriad of sensor arrays most human systems had. Useless in a battle line, hard to make, they at least did this right. Against the sensors they knew of, at least.

Onboard the boat, the German crew was nervous. Even if their stealth systems seemed to be working, they had no idea how long they'd hold against the alien equipment. They were here on the orders of the Fuhrer himself;not even the human fleets in Shanxi had spotted them. They were to do as much damage as they could behind enemy lines before withdrawing. Whether they could leave an actual dent in the enemy's war effort mattered not: the attack would be filmed and shown at home. The Reich could use such a victory as great propaganda to galvanise the people for decade to come.

They certainly weren't lacking for targets. Their captain had one in mind though; a titanic freighter that was drifting slowly toward them. Its sides covered in odd bulb protrusions that they could only guess where fuel tanks. If those were loaded with EZ then it'd certainly make a spectacle. Not to mention, the sensor pattern it'd leave would help cover their escape.

For now, they just had to wait. Wait and hope nobody detected them. The L-Boats were, to say the least, one of the worst postings you could ever be on. Each man wore bulky 'Überlebende' suits. The outfits providing two week's worth of air, daily food intake and waste storage from large backpacks. The vessels themselves were not even pressurized for the most part. The hard vacuum around them serving to mask their presence better than anything else. The men themselves spent the entire time on quarter rationing. Intake cut down to the minimum to avoid stressing their suits too much and to extend running time. The ship had only two mass effect entirely powered light guns on the top and bottom. It's main armament coming in the form of two near ship sized torpedoes with more advanced guidance systems than normal.

Doctrine called for the torpedoes to be launched at a range that would have been suicidal for any other ship. They only had two shots, and they had to count. The men held their breath. Their skin crawled in their suits every time an alien sensor passed over their ship. The few dozen meter long vessel slowly drew closer and closer to the freighter, its size absolutely dwarfed by the giant ship.

Finally they were close enough, and a thruster assisted push sent both torpedoes away.

Each torpedo carrying a nuclear warhead.

The volus onboard the ship detected the two blips on their sensors as they approached, but with no obvious source they figured they were just space debris; nothing their ships' immense hull couldn't deflect.

But when the two torpedoes hit along its hull, there was a blindingly bright explosion: Every Element Zero tank on the ship's port side exploded. The freighter jerked in space, shearing in half for an instant before the chain of damage caught it's other side, and the tanks there went up a moment later.

As the sky above Taetrus lit up with a short lived start, the L-boat was already turning and fleeing back to the system's relay. Missed in all the chaos and the sensor blackout caused by the Element Zero explosions. By the time the Turians realized what had caused the death of the freighter the L-boat was long gone. The titanic explosion of the freighter having cleansed any real evidence of their presence.

-WoE-

Asari Republic Ship Nefrane, Demtri System, Citadel/Turian Space

"Mmmmm, now isn't that interesting..." Benezia tapped a finger against her cheek as she watched a feed Tevos sent her from the Council. The intent of the video was to make it easier for her to get up to date information for the incoming political dealings. Instead, she was getting a front row seat to Councilor Druscus' fast track to a brain aneurysm. The turian's jaws twitched even when he wasn't talking.

"The humans just annihilated one of our freighters. Even worse, they used atomics! They are even more savage than the Krogan! You saw the footage from the groundside battle at 314 as well." The Councilor shouted to an unphased Tevos, and a bored looking Ibam.

"Already been over this. Council well aware of the human's use of chemical agents. Only used them in what seemed to be last ditch effort." Ibam replied, looking at the image of the remains of the freighter between them. A video approximation of what the turians thought had happened displaying beside it. "Atomics is interesting though. Extremely effective. Much more refined than the Krogan's if they fit into missiles that large."

"Evidently they haven't blasted themselves into a desolate wasteland, Druscus. Else they couldn't be in the position they are now." Tevos glanced at the image for only a moment before looking back at the turian. "It seems they use much more restraint than the Krogans at least. Even then do you want another Krogan rebellion on our hands? We know next to nothing about this species. It took centuries to develop the genophage and that was when we knew the entirety of the Krogan biology."

"All the more reason to start developing now! If this is them now, what will they be like in five hundred years? Even if we make peace with them for now, how long before they come back for more?" Druscus' arms flailed in impotent rage. Though he did at least get a reaction. Ibam nodding along with him.

"Yes, no harm in starting now. This time though the genophage will not be used in offense." The salarian glared at his turian counterpart. Remembering what had happened with the krogan genophage.

Benezia on her end raised an eyebrow. She certainly hoped the humans never caught wind of that little bit of information. She doubted they'd take such knowledge well. Though she watched as Tevos calmed down Druscus and they moved past the talk of the destroyed tanker and genophage.

Pulling out a tablet Ibam would lead the conversation once more. "Yesterday STG probe slipped through the relay. The humans caught many of them though, but some got through to monitor their communications. They seem to be orienting toward defense over offense."

Benezia looked at the, admittedly rather blurry image displayed. Coming from a probe, and then being broadcasted by video could not have helped it. It looked like the humans has pulled a number of defensive stations into orbit around Shanxi, along with their fleet. She couldn't help but whistle to herself at the sight of the behemoth among their number. It nearly was as big as the Destiny Ascension. Given its dimensions it might have had more internal space then the Asari's lead dreadnought if she was going to be honest. A small spark of curiosity couldn't help but make her wonder what it looked like up close instead of through the blurry image? The human ships she was still drifting through space opposite of were quite small. They'd have been like gnats beside that things bulk.

"Going by communications network. We have very rough estimates on human space." Ibram continued. Switching to a map of the galaxy. Citadel space took up most of the entirety of the galactic south-west. The largest single political union in the galaxy.

Benezia sometimes wondered if people forgot that it was the only such entity in the galaxy, which really hurt the 'largest' argument, might be more worthwhile now though. The map display of human space was...worrying to say the least. The humans controlled a space that was nearly one half the size of Citadel space, and that was a rough estimate.

The matron had to bite back a bit of a laugh at Druscus' reaction though. Really, the turian needed to understand that things didn't need to happen now. Even the Krogan rebellions had taken hundreds of years before they had become too pressing.

The turian was twitching. Literally twitching. Looking closer Benezia could almost swear Tevos looked worried the other councilor was actually going to suffer medical complications. Even without speaking it was obvious what he was going to bring up, and Ibam did it for him. "Projected size is worrying. Going by their ship designs and technology, couldn't have been using element zero for more than 200 years. Unlikely to have been space faring on a grand scale before then. Human home clusters must be highly networked by relays. Must also have high quantity of garden worlds."

Tevos looked over at Ibam with a raised eyebrow, ignoring the still silent turian councilor for the moment. Ibam tapping a button and switching the projection to an image of a planet. "The world Primarch Bromraka invaded was apparently a relatively new colony for the humans. Somewhere around 30 years of age. Extrapolation over controlled space. Very rough estimate of about 39 billion humans. Possibly as high as 55 billion."

Well, not as large as any of the big three, but that'd put them very much in the 'fourth' slot for galactic population easily. Considering Ibam's earlier comment about them being less than 200 years old that was actually more worrying than their use of atomics. Still, Benezia was starting to get a mental image of the species as a whole instead of just the one human she'd seen on screen and the pictures and videos from the battle on that human planet. If they were growing that fast they probably reproduced like the silarians. It seemed a bit odd that they'd lay eggs but really it was the only thing that'd make sense.

The humans also probably didn't live that long. She'd take a guess maybe they'd live into their 50 or 60s like the silarians too. That human on the other end was probably in his late 40s. Though she had to wonder what that was coming out of the human's face around his mouth? Was it some sort of plate thing like the krogan? It seemed to denote old age going by how most of the humans from the images that had had it looked older as well.

Mmmm, maybe she could see where her daughter was getting all those thoughts about becoming an archaeologist from. Maybe she should just let Liara go into that field. She was going to be going out into the galaxy soon so it'd be better than her going and whoring herself out in the terminus systems.

Shaking her head she refocused on the council conversation. It seemed that Druscus had taken his leave for the day, and the other councilors looked like they were leaving anytime now too. Though Tevos did turn to Benezia's video feed and asked. "Any news from your end Benezia?"

The matron unfolded herself from her chair and looked over to her communications officer. The asari being in the middle of giving her a shake of the head when the console beeped. "The humans are sending us a laser communication."

"Looks like there's your answer councilor. Let's see what they have to say." Benezia said with a small grin. Really, she couldn't have timed it better. The goddess must have been playing with them a bit today.

She shifted her feed to the council. Focusing the camera drone on the video screen as it lit up with the grey and weathered human again. "Asari Republic Ship Nefrane, this is Captain Jaskulski. I've received a reply from the League. They agree to discuss peace terms but on the grounds that such discussions happen in neutral human territory. They want me to escort you and your group to the League station in Sol."

She could take a quick guess the League was some human equivalent to the Citadel going by its name. Looking at the councilors she didn't even need to ask before Tevos nodded. "Take their offer. If you can try to get a projector and recorder linked into their systems so we can negotiate with them directly."

Well guess that was that. Benezia nodded. "As you wish ma'am. I'm signing off to comprise the response."

"May the goddess be with you Benezia." Tevos said before the link cut out and she turned to the communication officer. "Well, get us ready to send. Looks like we're going to be going into the belly of the beast."

Less than an hour later the citadel group was on the move, escorted by Jaskulski's fleet. Though the group would pick up more escorts when they crossed into human territory proper.

Benezia did get to confirm one thing. The human titan was indeed much bigger looking up close.

Codex Entry: The German Reich

The German Reich stands as one of the Great Powers of human space. The Reich placing, depending on opinion, in either 3rd or 4th place among the 7 states. Controlling some 77 worlds of various populations it also stands as the leader of the Tripartite Pact that contains Germany, Italy and Japan along with their client states. Considered a military powerhouse, the German Reich is looked at with worry by its non-aligned neighbors, and in general is seen in an even more negative light then Japan. While more likely to play within the 'rules' (See Human Rules of Warfare) as they stand, the Reich is generally considered one of the most ruthless human states. During the 1900s the Reich purged itself of anyone who was not an ethnic German and physically and mentally healthy. A massive exodus of minorities both religious and racial occurred in the 1930s and 40s and the initial 'purification' of the Reich was considered complete in 1957. Information of just how this was done was not discovered till decades later thanks to spy satellite imagery. As it became public knowledge of the Reich's ongoing humanitarian crisis, the state became ever more militaristic and jingoistic in the following years.

Prior to the Shanxi War, the German Reich had undergone a period of mellowing internationally. Until the rise Jochim Braun many had almost wondered if the Reich was going to become a 'normal' country within a the century. Unfortunately with the rise of the current Fuhrer the German Reich began a new period of uparmament and many assume purges within the Reich may have begun once more. With the H-258 being constructed and the German Navy and Army in general undergoing rapid modernization. This modernization project continues to this day, and while it has almost became standard course in Human politics, many wonder just when the modernization will stop, and the fighting will begin again.

In general the Reich maintains extremely poor relations with any state that is not part of the Tripartite Pact. Foreigners from other states are banned from entry into much of the Reich, and it's believed a low, near constant state of war exists in German-Soviet border territories. It is only thanks to galactic geography that the Reich has minimal presence in the Terminus or Citadel Space. As it lacks control of a relay to such territories of its own, German colonization efforts are required to go through Japan. These colonies are few and far between, but they do control a few small colonies throughout the Terminus.