AN: Well sorry for the delay on this one, I actually ended up writing most of what will be chapter 9 first, as I intended them (and what is now going to be chapter 10) to be part of a single large chapter, but in the end I decided it resulted in something that was almost too disjointed as it jumped between multiple perspectives operating on different timescales (blame me seeing Dunkirk for that one.) Finally decided to just cut them up and deliver them in pieces. Hopefully chapter 9 and 10 won't take as long to get out as this one did.

To make up for the delay I decided to give some extra codex entries to give you all some more world building.

Disclaimer: Still don't own Mass Effect.

Chapter 8

Boots on the Ground: Aratoht, Landing Zone X-Ray

Cynthia Shepard didn't know what she was expecting her first landing operation to be like. Maybe something more glorious? Not desperate like this: clinging to her seat as her landing craft shook violently to dodge an stream of ground-to-air rounds. Beside her, Private Jenkins was trying to swallow his fear, but if they got hit he could well vomit it all out.

Even Sergeant Hane looked half terrified as the fire stitched by the view port in the doors. Really, only the pilot seemed to be keeping his calm. Speaking in a steady voice over the vehicle intercom.

"Okay ladies and gentlemen, we should be touching down in sunny Aratoht in t-minus forty. Please exit the craft in an orderly and calm fashion. Hope you brought your umbrellas, we have a hail of gunfire out there."

Up front, in their own compartment, the side gunners could be heard blazing away as the craft around them slowed rapidly, shaking this time from rounds hitting the shield instead of air turbulence.

"O-On your feet!" The sergeant barked and the group responded with well trained, if a bit shaky action. A moment later, just enough time for Cynthia to utter a short prayer to God above, the light beside the door went green, the door itself throwing open a second later.

"G-" The sergeant started before a round came in through the open door and removed the man's head. Cynthia froze up for a moment, and so did everyone on the craft as they were splattered with blood and brain matter.

That pause long enough for the corporal to take a round himself, collapsing onto the deck of the lander even as Cynthia finally got her wits about her. "Out! Go Go Go!" She shouted to everyone nearby as instincts kicked back in. The group vacating the craft without another casualty as the door gunners suppressed the Batarian position nearby.

Hitting the dirt of Aratoht for the first time, the landing craft pulling away behind her, Cynthia was presented with a scene near straight from hell. The landing zone was supposed to have been cleared by rapid aortillery bombardment, but whoever had thought that hadn't realized just how tenaciously the Batarians dug their defenses. Layer after layer of shielded bunkers and machine gun emplacements, supported by heavy anti-air guns that folded out of the ground. Machine gun and assault rifle fire was impacting everywhere across the landing zone around Shepard. The woman diving into cover in a crater made by the aortillery, Private Jenkins landing in beside her.

Momentarily in safety, Cynthia looked up to the sky above, watching as an anti-air missile crashed into another lander. The craft bursting into flames as its engines blew out and it plummeted to the ground, exploding into a ball of fire somewhere nearby.

"Shit! this was supposed to be a clear LZ, wasn't it?" Jenkins said, his gaze evidently having followed the same sight.

"Someone fucked up." Cynthia didn't have much else to reply with. Pulling herself to the lip of the crater she leveled her A-55 rifle toward some Batarian fire and let loose. Compared to the rifles used on Shanxi, the A-55 was significantly more effective at dealing with the threats of the modern day. The first two rounds were shield breakers, flashing against a Batarian's defenses before the following two normal rounds took the four eyed bastard out.

She ducked back into the crater a moment before return fire hit their position. "Batarians must be dug in deeper than ticks. Look at this crater we're in and somehow they are still up here and fighting."

The large crater was likely caused by one of the heavier guns up in space, a 203mm or a 320mm cannon. Since Cynthia had crawled up and ducked back down, the population of the trench had risen from two, to nearly ten. None of the corporals or any sergeant from the other squads were there with them, just her fellow recruits. Cupping her ears she tried to hear anything over the radio, but all she was getting was static and panicked shouting by unprepared units.

Overhead, another lander went down, and Cynthia bit her lip. If they didn't do something, the LZ was going to become a cemetery. Peaking back over the lip of the crater, Cynthia saw the Batarian machinegun nest had turned its attention elsewhere, and was in reality, barely fifteen feet from them.

"Grenades!" The idea came to her as she dropped back in, reaching into her webbing to pull free one of the circular explosives. "Get your grenades ready and follow my throw!"

Pulling the pin on the bomb, Shepard readied herself and rushed halfway up the sides of the crater. Just enough to get sight on the position again as she threw the grenade. A moment later Jenkins and three others followed her lead. The five bombs landing in amongst the Batarian nest drew cries of terror a moment before they went off.

"Come on, that position's probably got better cover than here." She called out to the men and women around her as she pushed herself out of the crater. Not everyone followed, but seven of them did, including the four that had thrown their grenades. Rushing across the way they made it without a casualty as they dropped into the Batarian gun pit. The corpses of the previous occupants scattered throughout the place.

Dropping down into the constructed position the group propped their guns on the far side and began firing. Aiming for any Batarian they could see from the new position. Taking out another dozen or so of the four eyed creatures before they were forced back into cover.

Private Amy, the only other women from Shepard's squad, noticed something the others had missed. "Cynthia, there's a hatch. The four eyes must have had tunnels."

The rest of the group followed her words, and looked at the currently half open hatch. Cynthia and another private from the group, Oran, shifting over to the entrance. The two not peaking in, instead Cynthia held onto the hatch and Oran pulled out another grenade. The man pulling the pin and dropping it down the hole as Cynthia pushed the thing down to near fully closed.

One boom and a fair bit of dust later, Cynthia threw the hatch open. Oran pointing his gun down the opening only to find another dead Batarian at the bottom. "Looks clear from here. Anyone want to go first? Maybe we can use it to ambush some of them."

Even as he said that, Cynthia took a moment to get stock. More troops were pouring into the LZ, their lives a little easier with one of the close-up defence nests now cleared. A few soldiers from another unit jumping into the gun pit with Cynthia's own group.

"They got tunnels all through here, probably." Cynthia said to the new arrivals. "Think you guys can hold up here, we'll go see if we can't root them out."

A corporal that was leading the new group paused for a moment. Looking at Cynthia's force. "Where's your guys' sarg? Or the corporal?"

"Both dead sir, didn't get off the lander." Amy replied.

The man seemed to be chewing over integrating their group into his own for now, but eventually said. "We'll hold up here, clear out those tunnels best you can. Shout up if you're being overrun."

The group nodded, and Cynthia looked to Oran, before jumping down into the hole. It wasn't too terribly deep, and she had the Batarian's body to soften the landing. By either luck or divine force, the hallway below was clear. No batarian pointing his gun at the woman.

Taking a moment to move out of the way she called up "Clear!" Aiming her rifle down the hallway as she waited for the rest to jump down and join her. With a thud Oran landed behind her, followed by the rest of the squad as they started to spread out along the tunnel.

To say the fortification was cramped would have been an understatement, for a Batarian, in full armour. For the humans in what amounted to fabric uniforms with a bit of reinforcement in them the tunnels were actually quite generous. It was fairly obvious the Batarians had intended to cram as much fortification and earthworks into the area given the designs. Approaching the t-section at the end of the path Cynthia covered the right even as Oran took the left.

"Contact!" The red headed marine saw a Batarian coming down the tunnel their way. The bark of her gun filled the tunnel as the alien seemed caught off guard and didn't get his own gun up in time, falling to the ground after a short burst. "Clear! They'll know we're here now so let's get moving!"

At Cynthia's words the squad started to move. The group barreling down the tunnels only pausing for long enough to check their corners. They passed another fighting position. The sounds of machinegun fire echoing from the short side hall. Stacking up at the entrance Cynthia and two others looked to eachother. Reaching into their belts they drew a grenade each before tossing them down the hall. At the muffled booms the group started moving again. Passing through the larger gate Cynthia looked up to see they were on the lowest floor of a proper bunker complex. Easily two or more floors up from where they were. There was also a solid half dozen Batarians at the top of the stairs. The group had to have heard their grenades, as they were pointing their rifles at them.

She heard Oran shouting something beside her. She saw the Batarian rifles shifting just to make the last adjustments of aim. She felt an electric static in the air, her hair standing on end. Then everything was lost in a roar through the bunker. The batarians, and the stairway they were standing on, collapsed and caved in. A large explosion forcing its way through the falling rocks. Dust and fire hitting their group. The explosion throwing her and her squad back into the tunnel they had just come from. She heard her helmet break as she hit against a loose chunk of debris. Her vision got fuzzy. She felt hands on her arms and heard something about orbital bombardment.

Unfortunately before she could actually piece her head together she felt the earth shake. Another explosion. She saw another wave of fire heading their way. The girl managing to dig her feet into the ground as it came toward them. Grabbing at the arm holding her, she pushed whoever into a side path. She had to hope they were safe as a moment before she felt a burning pain and everything went black.

Various Parts of the Galaxy, 25 minutes after Aratoht ground invasion began.

If there was one constant in the galaxy, it'd be that no matter what happened, people would watch the news. Either from major companies, independents, or those in between. Every species that had joined the galactic community, even the Krogans, had a hint of natural curiosity buried in them somewhere. In the face of the coming news, humans across the galaxy already had their sets turned to various sources to hear reports of the ground war. For aliens, some had heard through human contacts, or other means, and had tuned in themselves to watch.

Despite the channel though, anyone tuned into the western news media would see the same footage. Shot by an, as some might say, rather suicidal news crew. Some might say the free press has no purpose being on an active battlefield, those people have evidently never heard of Westerlund News.

"This is Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani reporting live from Aratoht," An arabic woman wearing a combat helmet spoke into the camera. Judging by the scene she was currently ducked behind the wreckage of a crashed lander. "I'm here at Landing Zone X-Ray with elements of 5th Marine Division."

The woman ducked as rounds pinged off the wreck behind her, followed by the sound of a heavy machinegun chattering from somewhere just off camera. "The landing zone has been heavily contested by Batarian defense units, but the Marines have been slowly gaining ground."

Once again the sound cut out as a lander went in hard in the background, one of it's engines breaking free and rocketing off screen. "I have heard that the other landing sites are already being cleared but-"

This time Khalisah was cut off by a noise like a rolling thunder, before there was a bright flash and dirt being kicked hundreds of feet in the air in the distance. In a short break in the fire she managed to say. "It appears Allied Naval forces have begun launching orbital bombardments to dislodge Batarian defenses-"

Khalishah, and a number of marines with her had to cover their ears and eyes a moment later as dozens more orbital rounds impacted around them. A rapid bombardment that chewed up the scenery and send such a large amount of dirt into the air that it started to fall among the soldiers. The camera drone obviously taking a few hits from the falling clods before it crashed into the ground, its camera pointing upwards as the bombardment stopped and a ship with "FS Bombarder" emblazoned on the side came out of the dirt clouds barely more than a hundred meters above the battlefield. Turrets lining its bottom starting to blaze as cannon and machinegun fire raked toward presumably the remaining batarian positions, and over the audio commands to start advancing again could be heard before the feed cut entirely.

Returning to various news stations pundits and reporters began talking about what they had just seen. Some criticizing the military for what seemed to be sending in forces into a meatgrinder, or for using orbital bombardment. Others praised the Allied forces for continuing to fight, and the last images of FS Bombarder would start to circulate across the extra net only a few minutes later, turning into one of the most iconic images of the war then and there.

Unknown Location, 3 days after Aratoht ground invasion began

Cynthia felt herself stir awake, her eyes still blurry and unfocused, and her vision oddly narrow. Trying to move her hands, or anything, she found herself unable to. She couldn't feel anything either.

Ohh god, it's a good thing I can't see, I don't want to know how bad it is. She thought to herself, a moment before she heard a voice to her side.

The voice was obviously feminine, and had an accent, though it was a bit hard for her to make it out in her current state. "The damage is extensive, but nothing we can't work with. Not to mention she's come awake. She's definitely mentally tough enough."

"We're just lucky her squad managed to pull her free, otherwise she'd have died and gone to waste." Another voice to her other side, smooth and obviously a fair bit older added.

Then two figures entered her small field of vision. Darting between a young feminine figure with raven black hair. The woman couldn't be older than her. Meanwhile the man had closer cropped brown hair and skin that was somewhat worn with time, and his eyes seemed...wrong.

"She even has eye movement. You are quite a trooper Cynthia Shepard." Said the older man. "We'll have you back up on your feet and with your squad again soon enough."

"For now, just sleep Shepard. The surgeries will begin soon." The female added, and she saw her tapping at a nearby medical device, before her vision started to fade out and once again she was asleep. The last thought crossing her mind was that the female figure seemed almost too perfect to her foggy mind.

Codex Entry: The United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations

"It's impossible to consider the United Kingdom without considering the Commonwealth of Nations, and vice versa. Anyone who does so is committing a grave error." -Évrard Poirier, French Politician 2060

The United Kingdom has been a dominant power in human politics for hundreds of years as of this time. Initially creating a global colonial empire before the advent of space flight, the United Kingdom was generally considered the 'strongest' nation for much of this time. It was only during the early 1900s following The Great Trench War that its position of dominance began to be properly challenged. During this time frame, especially in the immediate period following the War, the United Kingdoms world wide empire began to fracture. Though most parts of the empire wanted to remain tied to the United Kingdom they still wished for independence. The result was the formation of the Commonwealth of Nations. The five 'Major' Members of the initial Commonwealth of Nations were Canada, India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Soon after more states including Egypt, Malaysia, Burma, and other former earthly states joined.

Originally the member states of the Commonwealth were independent of both the Kingdom and eachother, though the Treaty of Fredericton resulted in the Commonwealth becoming a more united entity of its own. While each state controls internal affairs, they act as a single political bloc externally. An integral part of the current Commonwealth's charter is to assist in the defense of the United Kingdom, and in return, the United Kingdom provides protection and political weight to the Commonwealths actions. Most recently the Commonwealth has also become the only human state to officially recognize aliens as full citizens.

The United Kingdom as it stands, especially with the back up of the Commonwealth of Nations is the single largest power once again. With multiple planets, to the point where even with the losses from Braun's War, they remain the power with the most colonies. Though the United States, Soviet Union, and Germany are all rapidly closing the gap, leading many to believe that while the space race gave the British Empire a new lease on life, it only delayed the inevitable fall to newer nations.

Codex Entry: The United States of America

"Since when have we Americans been expected to bow submissively to authority and speak with awe and reverence to those who represent us?" -William O. Douglas 1972

The United States of America was once a colony of the United Kingdom, though it attained independence following an armed rebellion that ended in 1783. Since then the United States has consistently grown until it reached the point of competing for the title of the 'greatest' power. For a short period of time during the initial periods of the space race it was even considered such. Though since the resurgence of the United Kingdom the USA has fallen into a continuous second place, having to deal with Germany and the Soviet Union nipping at its heels. Operating as one of the only full republics in human space, a fact that the average american citizen is quite proud to comment on. During the 1950s and 1960s, race relations reached a boiling point though following the dissolution of Jim Crow laws, the Space Race and even more so the discovery of aliens, has more or less ended racial tensions within the United States. Similar to the Commonwealth, the United States is generally seen as one of the 'friendliest' nations to the Citadel Species. Its not unusual to see Citadel Species in American space, or vice versa, especially as many American corporations make significant profits operating trade lanes with the Citadel.

Militarily, the United States was the only nation to come out of The Great Space War with a larger navy then it started with, though following the war it allowed its lead to atrophy. Currently it stands on near equal parity with the fleet of the United Kingdom, though with significantly less colonies to cover. The United States ground forces have been heavily specialized, with the 'United States Army' serving as something closer to a Planetary Defense Force, and the 'United States Marines' being used for offensive operations.

The United States is also one of the two countries (along with the Commonwealth) to fully embrace the 'Homesteader' Policy. Allowing enterprising citizens to venture out and establish colonies of their own. While these homesteader colonies fall under US jurisdiction, many of them have drastically different local laws to account for their relatively unsupported law enforcement. This gives many people the idea that the average american colony is a lawless land along the lines of the old 'Wild West.'

STG Archive Entry Excerpts: Human Reproduction Habits

STG Report Compiled 2080

In response to the noted rapid human recovery from their 'Great Space War' (hereafter referred to as the XX Human War depending on the existence of any later Human Wars.) This report concludes that Human Reproduction habits may be one of the species greatest 'strengths.' Similar to Asari and Turians, Humans generally establish long lasting Male-Female reproductive pairs. The large difference comes in reproductive capability and social norms of an 'average family.' For sake of clarity for future readers. An Asari bonded pair may produce usually one through five children in a hundred year timescale, and children take decades to mature. Turians generally will produce a similar amount in a few decades. With the average Turian family having two to three children.

Human opinions on family size differ drastically based on if its a colonial or developed world, but most colonies consider ten to fifteen children to be an acceptable 'family.' Many countries even go so far as to impose either legal requirements (Soviet Union, most 'Axis' powers) or soft benefits (United States, Commonwealth of Nations, China) to having larger families. This appears in many ways to be a hold over from an era where human life expectancy was low, around that of Salarians, and child mortality rates were high. Even on developed worlds, its generally considered 'strange' to have families with less then three children, and in most cases its closer to five. In the cases of family pairs that are incapable of reproduction (either due to genetic disorder, physical damage, or male-male pairings (Post Compiling Note for clarification: Female-Female human pairs generally reproduce through artificial insemination)) are usually expected to adopt.

Given rapid advancements in medical fields to drastically reduce child mortality and childbirth related deaths, this has resulted in a significant population boom. This boom is seemingly only being driven further by the significant amounts of 'free space' that are available, as humans moved to reclaim damaged colonies and spread to new ones. Inaddition humans general disregard for the climate and generally inhospitable conditions of most worlds allows them a near unending upper bound of population.

Estimation: At current reproductive rates, humans will likely reach population parity with Big Three Citadel Races within the next century assuming they don't engage in another major war.

Threat Assessment: High, while not to the same extent as the pre-genophage Krogan, current Human reproductive rates are an inherent danger to the stability of Citadel Space.

Recommendation: Increase funding and resources of the Human Genophage project.