AN: Well this took a bit longer then I would have liked to post but I wasn't quite able to finish it. On good news though. The next chapter is already completely written and likely will be out next week (or earlier depending on how I feel.) With the chapter after that already half written. The writing block I was going through for the past few months seems to have come to an end. I plan to end off Aratoht and the Batarian-Entente war with chapter 11 and we'll be on to the proper ME timeline events for Chapter 13.

Disclaimer: Don't own Mass Effect, Space Battleship Yamato, or any other things I may reference knowingly or unknowingly in this story.

First Ones In: Aratoht, Outskirt Regions

John Shepard took in a deep breath as his pod plummeted through the atmosphere of the Batarian world. Drop pod landings were used only in limited numbers, either to slip through radar undetected, or in this case, to get behind enemy lines quick. As it was a shuttle could have probably worked too given how much traffic was over Aratoht at the moment, but command hadn't wanted to risk it.

The sensation of falling from orbit was quite hard to describe. The closest relation was one of those drop rides at an amusement park. Yet even they didn't do the jostling and stomach churning trip justice. It didn't pass on the feeling of the pod's violent vibrations that made it seem like it would fall apart at any moment. It failed to convey the view of the friction fire at the windows as the plates on the bottom of the pod burned away in the atmosphere. The ride, all two minutes of it, gave him quite a panoramic view of the hundreds of ships in atmosphere. It also gave him just a brief window to watch the thousands of landing craft dropping through the atmosphere. Anti-air from the batarians sketched the skies and he saw shields flickering among the landers.

Then he hit the cloud layer and lost sight of everything, till he was just moments from touchdown. John got one last look at the local area before his pod slammed into the ground, his stomach feeling like it was thrown clear out of his body and his bones creaked. Then it settled. Quiet filling the air for a moment until with a crack the pod door jerked, and went nowhere.

"Bloody jams." Shepard growled. Bringing his foot up with a whir of machinery he kicked the door free. Stomping out of the pod he rolled his shoulders and patted down his suit. He could hear the light hum of the shield generator and strength boosters as he stepped forward. Pulling his HS Model 1 battle rifle from the pod he started forward. The contact was supposed to meet him around here.

-WoE-

Castis Vakarian was in a rather dour mood to say the least. The C-Sec captain had been on a routine case when some pyjak had slipped up behind him and knocked him out cold. The next thing he knew he was on a ship bound for batarian space. That had been two weeks ago.

Needless to say the experience turian wasn't going to take being a slave to a bunch of barely tolerated batarians laying down. As soon as he had been sold off to his would be owner he had started working on his escape. The batarians had almost made it too easy.

The only surprise had been when he had gotten a radio and beamed for help the only response came from a nearby human vessel which had given him these coordinates and the date.

Then came another surprise. News from human space travelled rather slowly to its Citadel equivalent, and while he had heard that the Batarians were launching raids into human space, what he was seeing today was not anything he thought was going to happen.

The skies had lit up with an invasion force he was fairly sure hadn't been seen since the Krogan Rebellions. It was impressive. The humans response was what he had wished the Citadel would do to the lawbreakers for years.

Didn't mean he had to like it though. It also didn't mean he didn't get a bit annoyed when a dozen or so feet from the rocks he was hiding behind a pod fell from the sky and kicked up enough dust to damn well near blind him.

He heard the whirring of machinery and a door falling free as the dust obscured his vision. When it finally faded Castis would actually get his first good sight of a human. The newest entries to galactic politics were a near mythical beast on the Citadel. They maintained embassies but in their own area of the station that they insisted was patrolled by their own guards.

The human was shorter than himself, but not by much, and he couldn't tell its gender. He had heard the humans were very close to eachother in appearance, and given the full body covering armour this one was wearing he doubted he'd be able to tell till he heard their voice.

"Human. Over here." He said with a twangy growl as he stepped out from the rock. The figure turned toward him and he had to admit the bright red visor that covered it's eyes, mixed with the rest of the armour, cut a rather intimidating figure.

The human ran over to him and said. "Vakarian?"

Low and rough, so this was a male then. The turian nodded. "Yes, you 'Trooper Shepard' then?"

"Good my translator didn't get damaged on the way down." The human nodded. "Well then I've been told you can lead me back into that city over there."

The human jerked a thumb toward the walled fort 'city' they were practically in the shadow of. Inside was thousands of batarian soldiers, and many more slaves that hadn't been able to escape like Vakarian had.

"Yes, though I figured they would be sending a larger force than just a single human." Vakarian replied with obvious skepticism. "They did understand the amount of work that will be involved correct?"

"Yeah I'm not here to get them out directly, that's those blokes job." Shepard replied and nodded toward the active invasion zone on the far side of the city. "They're having a rough job of it though it seems. Still I'm here to make it a bit easier on them."

"That was not what I was told." Vakarian growled. "I-"

"I know what you were told but this is all you're getting. The other forts don't have someone to sneak us in so they needed more manpower." Shepard started heading toward the walls. "Now are you going to show me in or am I going to have to do this myself?"

Vakarian thought about it for a minute, before clacking his mandibles together and sighing. "Fine. Follow me."

"Don't worry though, you've got SAS on your side. Those batarians won't know what hit'em." Vakarian got the feeling the human was smiling under his helmet. Though he was a bit surprised when the human hit the side of his pod and another rifle popped out. "Here take it, better to have two guns then one. We'll scrounge you up some armour as we go."

Well, maybe this could work out.

-WoE-

A batarian soldier was running ammo down one of the corridors of the fortress wall of Aratoht. The invasion alarms ringing out an annoying tone around him. The annoyance was cut off a moment later when an armoured fist shot out of one of the side rooms and sent the Batarian into an unconscious heap on the floor. Shepard stepped out of the side room and put a round through the Batarian's head.

"There you go. Take whatever gear that can fit and we'll move on." Shepard said to the turian behind him.

"Hmph, at least you're efficient." The turian looted the corpse, grabbing the batarian's shield belt.

Two more batarians rounded a corner down the hall and just as quickly they were dead. Shepard's gun had barked four times and knocked them both down. "By jove I love this new rifle. Now let's get moving."

The human rushed ahead, Vakarian keeping up behind him. Examining the rifle in his hands he had to scoff at the almost barbarity in it. The weapon was big and bulky compared to C-Sec's rifles, though it was even bigger than the ones he had heard the humans normally used. "What is this thing anyways."

"New gear, be happy you're one of the first to test it. 13mm semi-auto rifle." The human said back as the corridor they were in seemed to be empty now.

Definitely bulky then. Vakarian could swear that the humans were in a pissing contest over who could make larger caliber rifles. Still he couldn't argue with the effectiveness he had seen so far.

A batarian slipped out of a room between him and the human. Well honed instinct kicked in and a second later Vakarian depressed the trigger. At the range they were at the round punched through the Batarian's shield, armour, and torso. It also knocked Vakarian on his ass.

"Shoulda warned you about that recoil." Shepard turned back and pulled the turian to his feet. "It's meant to be used with an armoured suit like this. Comes with recoil dampeners and all that."

"Yes that would have been useful." Castis replied drolly. "It certainly works quite well but I'd still take a Vanguard any day."

The two continued along, Vakarian leading the way from the back as it were. Directing the better armoured human through the corridors till they found their destination. During his escape Castis had found a map of the fort, and just around the corner was the main defensive command room.

There was a squad of Batarians guarding the entrance, and undoubtedly many more inside.

"Heh, this'll be simple. Stand back." Shepard said quietly, pulling a grenade from his belt. It was a rather odd looking one though.

Tossing it around the corner the grenade slowed to a stop in midair, a side of it opening and a barrage of sub munitions blasting down the hallway. The veritable tide of rounds dropping the batarians shields and then the aliens themselves. The grenade sputtering out and dropping to the ground a moment later.

"Boys back in the lab'll be chuffed about their chaos grenades working." Shepard chuckled and turned the corner. "That'll certainly wake 'em up so let's get on it."

The batarians obviously hadn't been expecting an attack to actually reach this far, or they just cheaped out as the door opened as they came. The sliding panels revealing a room full of stunned batarians at screens. Including one in rather fancy garbs that was likely the local commander.

"Good day ya buggers, hope you're ready for some fun." Once again Vakarian could practically feel the smile radiating from the human.

The batarians never stood a chance.

-WoE-

"I get the feeling you are enjoying this." Vakarian replied as he worked at one of the terminals in the command room. Batarian corpses were littered everywhere while the human had pulled his helmet off and was currently smoking something. What it was Vakarian didn't know but the human said it was called a cigarette.

"And you aren't?" Shepard grinned. "These wankers have been kidnapping our settlers and like hell I won't make them pay for it. They deserve this. Might as well smile."

"Well there, the batarians should have no clue what they are doing now. I've sent out multiple automated retreat orders as well as 'stand fast' orders." Vakarian didn't reply to the question.

"Good, now let's go see about those slaves. The boys and girls'll need to know where to go afterall." Shepard replied, throwing the cigarette away and putting his helmet back on. The mechanical tinge in his voice returning. "Lead the way again Vakarian."

Setting the terminals to all crash Vakarian would grab the rifle he had been given and nodded. "Yes, this way. There shouldn't be many guards between us and them."

-WoE-

"Go go go!" The sergeant waved his hand forward to emphasize his words. "The slave pens should be just this way."

Past him a company of soldiers rushed through the streets of the Aratoht. Boots thudded and guns clacked as they ran. So far they had encountered no resistance, just dead batarians and signs of battle.

Ahead of them they could hear some more gunfire and that just made everyone redouble their efforts. The hundred or so men finding themselves in an enlarging path. A gate at the far end. The sounds coming from the far side.

"Get that gate open!"

Charges were laid, cover was taken, a plunger depressed. The gates blew open.

No enemy greeted them, though, for every Batarian had been gunned down.

A Turian and a black armoured human, laughing over a joke, looked their way. Large pens of unharmed humans and aliens filling the area.

The human turned to the collected marines and shouldered his rifle. "Hell, lads, you missed the party."

-WoE-

Illium May 3rd 2085

"This is Khalisah Sinan al-Jilani bringing you news from the front." The TV blared in Eternity. The bar's patronage had skyrocketed as news started to come in once more. Aethyta was both happy at the extra business, and exasperated that the many krogan, turians, salarians and asari that were making bets on what the news would report. Not to mention the damaged chairs from a few krogan fighting before she managed to literally throw them out of the bar.

"Following heavy fighting at Landing Zone X-Ray, the marines have now advanced on Aratoht itself. Thanks to the efforts of special forces operators the fortress city was unprepared for combat compared to the landing area and the marines managed to push into the city with minimal casualties." The human woman seemed to be notably less on guard then before. Her helmet was still on her head but behind her human soldiers and tanks were rolling past the city gates. Many of the soldiers cheering to the camera at having survived past the landing area. Others were more solemn as they walked by.

"While fighting continues in many areas of the city one of the first places the soldiers pushed to were the slave holding pens. Once again thanks to special forces operators the area was already cleared of resistance and even now slaves, both human and alien, are being freed and cared to."

The camera panned to a collection of humans and aliens in rags being fed from cooking stations. Watching over them was a number of resting soldiers as well as one black clad and heavily armoured human, as well as an armed turian beside him.

-WoE-

Aratoht, outside the fortress city

"Told you the lads would manage to get them out all safe." Shepard said to Vakarian. Given he was currently in the presence of a large amount of soldiers and aliens the human had elected to keep his helmet on.

"So you did." Vakarian looked over the huddled aliens. The humans had actually brought along some dextro amino food. "I'm amazed they brought provisions for turians and quarians."

"Of course we did. The colonials took in the Quarian fleet after all, probably a bunch of them at the other landing sites." Shepard chuckled. "Didn't think I'd ever fight alongside a turian, but you lot aren't bad when you're not on the other side of the rifle."

"Indeed. This was a rather enlightening encounter. Under better circumstances," Castis replied with a slight grin. "I would not mind fighting alongside you again in the future."

"Same Vakarian." Shepard offered a hand for Castis to shake, and unbenounced to them when the alien took it Khalisah's camera caught it all. A small symbol that maybe there could be some unity between the separate powers.

Codex Entry: The Third French Republic

"The Third Republic has stood the test of time. Taking up the mantle during one crisis and surviving many more. It seems the French have finally had a stable government since the fall of the Ancien Régime ." ~Braidy Hepburn, English Author 1972

The Third French Republic, formed in the wake of the Franco-Prussian war in the 1870s, has managed to maintain a consistent string of governments all the way into the current era and remains in either 5th or 6th place among the great powers. It has not been a path without difficulties though. Early in the Third Republic's existence the system was characterized by a heavy divide between the political left and right. These divides reached a head in the later 1900s before eventually faded into a more measured centrism, though far right and far left parties remain and occasionally hold seats within the Republic. While the space race helped pull the country free of the 'malaise' that many believed it had been taken over, in recent years many worry it has returned. Following the Great Space War and the loss of multiple core territories to Germans politics have started to push toward the extremes once again. Revanchism runs high through the Republic and the country underwent a major rearmament and rebuilding campaign following the war.

During the war itself, the Republic fought valiantly, nobody could say otherwise. Unfortunately its equipment was not up to compete with its rivals. German vessels managed to breach through the Republic's primary defensive line. French vessels that hadn't been destroyed in the breach tended to be caught off guard which allowed the German forces to advance through multiple jumps before the French and British could rally up enough forces to hold the line once again. La Marche became a major battle ground where both nations threw ships into orbital battles for months on end. Even to this day the space above La Marche, and the planet itself, are being combed over and cleaned of the wrecks and battle scars.

The Republic currently stands at a tipping point, its dreams of reclaiming the lost lands risk throwing human space into another great war that will likely either see it triumphant or occupied entirely.

Codex Entry: Stages of a Human Colony

Due to the layout of human space, by the time the Citadel encountered humanity the species had already become quite set in their ways when it came to colonies. A result of this is that Human colonial mentalities are drastically different than most Citadel species approach to the matter. Citadel Species, other then occasionally the Turians, usually take their time establishing colonies. Usually a Ctiadel species begins colonization by sending a large wave of automated drones. These drones would then prepare the planet and build infrastructure before the colonists arrival. Citadel colonies usually 'start' with hundreds of thousands or millions of colonists in one large push, occupying drone built and prepared cities. Human colonies meanwhile instead

The definition of a colony also varies. For example Illium still stands as a 'colony' of the Asari at approximately 50 million settlers. For a human world this would classify as a 'middle ring' world. The average human colony has under 1 million settlers, with many having populations in the hundreds or thousands. This is partially why human space appears extremely large on galactic maps, as most human colonies are very sparsely populated. Part of this is that humanity relies on regular and rapid pulses of colonists and human laws allowing the original colonists to a world to effectively have ownership over the entire planet. The opportunity to have literally a large percentage of a planet to later sell to incoming business is a very large draw for down on their luck humans.

Humanity's general disregard for the conditions of many planets results in drastically different lifestyles among the colonies. In general the first colonists on most worlds live a surprisingly sparse life. Amenities are rare and usually they are expected to provide for themselves, or trade with nearby colonies. Few if any support is given from the various governments other then at best a transport ship and monetary benefits. The Soviet Union is the only nation to avert this as colonies are controlled centrally by the government directly from inception.

The results of leaving colonists to fend for themselves means that most early colonies are heavily agrarian, and Rye and Barely have become some of the most extensively cultivated crops in the galaxy. Large families are the norm and mortality rates can be high depending on local weather and fauna. In Commonwealth and some American colonies it is not unusual to see Krogans hired to assist in protection from local dangerous wildlife. Even with this, failed colonies are not unusual, and usually old failed colonies are taken over by the next waves of colonists, using the existing infrastructure to reduce their workloads.

Once the colony begins growing and developing cities, life becomes similar to that seen in many citadel worlds. In general humanity seems to disfavor the single large 'hive' style cities that dominate Citadel worlds. Usually modern human colonies begin by developing a single few thousand person city before starting to establish secondary population centers. Even the most extensively populated human worlds usually have populations under 2 billion and are relatively spread out. Whenever planetary populations start to reach approximately 100 million it is common to see large emigration waves begin to form as young humans look for new opportunities. Currently human space has stopped growing to new planets for the most part, and colonial waves are building up the outer rim colonies instead. It is unknown how long this period will last until population pressures spread them out further.