Chapter two is here. Firs of all I would like to thank ElDani for his help dealing with mass effect technology and should mention that the battle scene in Chapter 1 has been altered slightly to give a more canon representation of the turian technology.

Second I would like to address what some of you have pointed out in regards to the population levels of the rest of the world following the Great war. Know that the information posted was not an oversight on my part and was intention for various reasons that I will now explain in greater detail. As many of you know, twenty years before the Great War there was a huge energy shortage, with most of the worlds energy supply being already used up. Many nations went bankrupt because of this and many most likely became failed states. This caused Europe, heavily dependent on middle eastern oil which still existed, to go to war with the Middle East to ensure its supply of oil. Because of these events the United Nations is disbanded and any hope of world wide effort to combat this energy issue went out the window. This did further damage to smaller nations because they were virtually left on their own. Now eventually Europe and the Middle East stopped fight because all of the oil ran out. This cause the European Commonwealth, an alternate version of the European Union, to fall apart and once again become nation states fighting amongst themselves for what was left. The result of this is that these nations, which were most in the world, lacked necessary amounts of energy resources. While the United States to use what precious they had left to begin altering their manufacturing and infrastructure to a nuclear based system, most nations could not. This most likely resulted in all forms of long distance trade being shut down as well as city depopulation and mass starvation to many areas.

Now the reason I say all of this is because most of the other nations in the world lacked resources to maintain their economy and industrial capabilities they would never have been able to invest in systems similar to vaults that were mean to hold hundreds of people for a very long time. The US government even had trouble funding this and they were one of the only nations left with an economy. Even though these vaults were meant as tests for the Enclave to observe without them the non mutated population of the wasteland would be very limited. And most humans in the fallout world emerged from these vaults. Even with people emerging from vaults population levels were still low until advancements were made such as with the NCR and project purity.

The only other nation that had the resources to create long term shelters for their people was China. But even if they would have then the Enclave would have wiped them out following the dropping of the bombs, as they intended to. Another theory I thought of is that there might have been at least "ghoul" type survivors. But I would have to disagree on that because ghoul mutations require FEV, which was leaked out by the war. Now radiation in the levels following the bombs dropping would be so severe that it could kill in day. So ghouls would of had to been exposed relatively quickly for it to have effect. Seeing as it would take years for FEV to speard around the world on nothing but the wind the chance of humans on other continents being exposed and ghoulified is very remote in the necessary time frame.

So all of that is why I did not make the world population of the world larger and most decedents can from former America. I try to be as canon as possible dealing with Pre 2281.

Of course all of this could become irelevant with the coming, hopefully soon Bethesda, Fallout 4.

Now, please read and enjoy and post what you though of the story good or bad.

Chapter 2

Invasion Invasion

Arcturus Station

The data received from Ellen was deathly frightening to everyone aboard Arcturus Station, command center for all Union forces. The Union First Fleet was being mobilized to embark to assist Ellen in which will most assuredly come under enemy attack. For the past 24 hours analyst poured over the data from Ellen, attempting to understand everything that could be know about the attacking alien species. Immediately following the data burst and seeing first hand for himself Admiral Belmont, Supreme Commander of all Union forces, had been preparing the first fleet for a major offensive, gathering all crew and personnel needed for the mission. Within the hour all preparations would be finalized and the fleet would be ready. All he need now was the approval of the Board.

Admiral Belmont stood in anticipation in the board room waiting for the leaders of the three nations to deliver his orders. A service robot, One of the latest versions of the Mister Handy line, came into the room sporting refreshments. Taking a water the admiral continued to wait at the head of a table hosting four chairs, his eyes scanning the area. One chair for him, as Union Commander with the union flag behind it, and the others for the leaders of the nations, national flags standing behind each chair. The Letter V on a red backdrop was the flag represented Robert House as the leader of Vegas. The two headed bear symbolized the New California Republic on its flag while the old sword and gears represented the Brotherhood. The Admiral's eyes settled on the Brotherhood's flag for the longest for how could one not love their own flag.

Suddenly with a mechanical whir, hardly noticeable to the ear, began emanating from the ceiling over the center of the table. Holographic forms starting taking shape in each seat, each form bathed in a light blue color. Jason Brandy, High Elder of the Brotherhood sat directly across from him, his brown eyes stern and his face still youthful even though he was approaching two hundred. Robert House, leader of Vegas, appeared to his right, projected in his human form just as he was before the war. Finally to his left Deborah Manning, the President of NCR, appeared; her hair in a short blonde military style popular in the NCR these days.

"Sirs, Madam, thank you for joining me. To keep it short, the Fleet ready within the hour and all we need is Board approval to begin operations." Said the Admiral sitting down in his own chair, his tone polite but stern ready to begin and eager for the necessary permission. The three leaders looked at each other, eyes meeting before Jason Brandy answered.

"Admiral," Jason began. "Before we give you your permission, all of us would like to hear your personal take on the enemy. The information we received from you was useful but lacked your personal assessment, understandable due to the time restraints. Since you are the leader of all Union forces I would like to hear your opinion of our new enemy.

Leaning forward in his chair and after a moment of thought Belmont began. "To start off I believe that this enemy is both technologically inferior and at the same time superior in different fields. When it comes to weapons, ours are not only stronger but more effective against their defenses but their rate of fire is much greater and proves to be the biggest threat. It seems that they are not geared to combating enemies with energy directed weapons as shown by how much damage our frigates did to their superior class of ships. However while our shield which are made primarily for energy weapons do suffer from their high rate of fire using mass projectiles. I surmise that as long as we go in fast and hard we will be able to win against a superior first. This should be our strategy against this enemy until we can make large modifications to our shields."

"Is it their rate of fire that leads you to believe that they are technologically superior to us?" asked the President.

"No ma'am. I believe that this new species has more sophisticated computer based technology than we do."

"Why do you think that, admiral?" asked House.

"Because their technology is completely based off of the Prothean technology we found on Mars. As you known the Protheans were more advanced than us and system designs we pulled from the data matches what the enemy is using, almost identically. It seems that they have completely copied their technology. While we have assimilated some Prothean technology into ours, the enemy who has apparently fully adopted this technology is still advanced in some areas.

"While I know that these species are not the same as the Protheans based on our visual data, "said House", is it possible that they are their successors, or perhaps there conquerors? Or perhaps maybe they are in a form of alliance with them?"

"With the information we have I cannot answer that question sir."

"Do you believe we can beat this enemy, Admiral?" asked Brandy.

"Sir, I don't know. While I am certain we can beat them if evenly matched we have no idea how large their civilization or the amount of resources they have to utilize. It could be that they have a small fleet and are small themselves but I personally doubt it. I potentially see us in a long and bloody war, one we may not be able to win at this time if the enemy is large enough, But we have no choice. There are citizens of our nations that are about to come under attack and we have to act. Even if that is just evacuating the planet in the event we cannot defeat or hold the enemy."

"One last question." said Manning. "While the VS Rolo was attempting to activate Relay 314, why were there only two ships, and small ones at that, escorting it. Shouldn't we have a larger force present for that type of activity?"

"The reason we only had the two frigates is because we don't know what might happen. It could be that the relay might malfunction and cause our ships harm. It is also possible that something unfriendly could jump through and do great damage. We only have three fleets and if something were to attack us through the relay it would be better to be able to react with as much knowledge as possible. In some cases it might be better to abandon a few planets and form a stronger defense. We also cannot be everywhere at once and putting an entire fleet to cover one small area would leave other areas to vulnerable. Those two ships were part of the Second Fleet and try to cover all areas while spread out. We have our First Fleet stationed so that we can engage anywhere in our nations in large force quickly."

With a smile Brandy said "Well said, all of it Admiral. Now as for our decision..." The Admiral's pip-boy suddenly came to life displaying a priority alert. A few seconds later so did the pip-boys of Brandy and Manning while House, mostly a computer himself, received the message without physical notice.

"Data burst from Ellen has just informed us that an enemy fleet has just jumped into the system. Over two hundred ships with two capital ships are present. They have already wiped out all fleet support in the area and are moving close to the planet. Elder Rayvon has request all available assistance," the Admiral relayed to the Board. He looked at the images that came with the data and worried when he saw the might of the enemy. Data transmission appeared to stop mid-stream, most likely from communications being jammed. This would be no easy victory.

"Admiral," said the High Elder, "You are to order First Fleet out and get them to Ellen. Begin preparing Second Fleet as quick as you can to provide assistance to third. I want you to attack as soon as you come out of mass space and I want every one of those ships blown from the sky. Getting rid of that fleet is our first priority. With those numbers First Fleet should be able to beat them. Show these bastards what the nations of the Union are made of!" House and Manning nodded in agreement, determination of in their eyes.

"Yes sir!" responded the Admiral. The holograms then fades as he superiors left the station. He then proceed to head to the bridge of the station. While on the way he order First Fleet, under the command of Admiral Robinson, to head immediately for Ellen with orders to open fire as soon his fleet exited mass space. It should only take a few hours for them to arrive. For the first time in history, the Union forces were being sent to war and his men, never experiencing combat on this scale, would be tested. He only hoped they would hold together and gain victory.

Bright stars and the blue and green orb of Ellen greeted General Arton's eyes as his ship, along with both fleets, exited mass space. In front of them was their next enemy. His primary objectives were to take the planet and collect any and all possible technology to ship back home.

"General," said the communications officer. "The enemy has not yet spotted us. With no ships close enough to detect us coming out so mass space it will be a few minutes until we are detected."

"Very well," the general replied. "On my order have every ship in the fleets target those frigates and cruisers orbiting the planet. I want them down before they have a chance to fire on us. " A few seconds passed by after he gave is orders to the bridge.

"Sir, all ships are reporting ready," said the communication officer.

"Fire," said the general. There was no anger in his voice, simply a cool calmness at what he had to do.

Vibrations were felt through the ship as the dreadnought Last Will began firing. Through the view screen the general watched as hundreds of slugs left the fleet, all aiming for the few ships guarding the planet. Finally the rounds hit their mark, fireballs took the place of the ships, debris was flung everywhere. A quick death for all those on board. Following the successful barrage the general issued his next set of orders.

"Begin moving towards the planet. Begin jamming all enemy communications and target all apparent communication structures. Order General Arterius to load up. As soon we are close enough launch the ground invasion." With this he sat down in his chair and watched his fleet work.

Those outside in the city of Insignia could see the faint flashes of light that appeared in the sky. All knew what it meant and all knew what would come.

Inside the command center Elder Rayvon sighed as the attacks were reported to him. He hoped that this would not happen, that either the enemy would never show or they would be delayed enough to allow enough time for the fleet to arrive. As the ships were finally detected on the scanners immediately following the initial attack he ordered for a priority data burst be sent to Union Command. Halfway through the burst, communications were knocked out and while local communication was still possible, getting information out or in was impossible. They were on their own.

"Elder, we have detected hundreds of smaller ships leaving the enemy fleet. It appears to be the beginning of a ground invasion." said a member the command unit. "They are heading about a few miles out of the southern side of the city. ETA is five minutes."

"As soon as they land I want the assault team deployed." Ordered the Elder. He knew that they could not solely rely on the walls and defensive units stationed there. If they began to advance it would not be very long before the city was overrun even the decent air defense the city had. No, the best way to hold out the longest was to attack while they were most vulnerable before they had a chance to bunker down. They would lose a lot of good men and women, but they would lose even more if the city was overrun. It was a matter of time now, waiting for the enemy to begin advanced, waiting for the fleet to arrive.

"Sir the enemy has landed and is know deploying ground forces and the assault team is now launching." The faint whine of engines could be heard as the vertibirds carrying the troops passed overhead. Most of them, if not all, went to their death and the Elder gave them a prayer and wished them luck as they went to war.

Paladin Ashley Monroe looked down over the city as her vertibird left base to face this new enemy. The vertibirds were different than those of years past. No longer were the engines prop centered but instead relied on vectored thrust powered by the birds cold fusion reactor. The heat emanating from the engine gave the city a dream-like look and she hoped she would see it again.

She led Rayvon's Pride, a company of over one hundred men and women, all clad in steel colored power armor of the latest mark. They were a pride, an elite special forces unit who only answered to the Elder of Ellen. Accompanying them were sentry bots, one for each v-bird. Her team knew what waited for them and hoped that they be able to get the job done. Her job wasn't to defeat the forces but to simply hold them up in hopes the fleet would soon arrive.

The captain's voice came over in her helmet. "Ma'am we are approaching the enemy and they should be visible in a few seconds. You still want to land in the center of all that?" She said as the thousands of enemy soldiers and numerous vehicles began coming into view. They had just begun unloading their transports, men and vehicles rolling down the ramps.

"You bet your ass I do. Our mission is to delay the enemy until back up arrives. We are going to land in the center of their forces guns blazing and causing as much confusion as possible."

"Yes ma'am!" was the captains' response, a bit of nervous excitement in his voice.

As they got closer to the enemy the side doors of the sixteen vertibirds opened up. Brotherhood soldiers began firing green hot plasma and red stinging lasers into the mass of invaders. Vertibirds joined the shooting firing energy guns, significantly bigger than what the soldiers had, and launches mini nukes. Small mushroom clouds began to dot the field below them, the enemies ,unable to withstand the force of the nukes detonating all around them, fell by the scores.

The laser an plasma took its toll as well. The shields couldn't stop the energy being fired at them and while the armor protected the aliens from splash damage from the plasma weapons, laser and plasma shots that landed a direct hit was an automatic kill. Enemies exposed to the attacks were either obliterated, incinerated or became piles of goo. Limbs were thrown from their bodies and blood splashed to the ground. Enemies by the hundreds already died by the air assault, all in the span of a few seconds.

After the initial shock of the first few seconds of the attack, the aliens came together, their response and teamwork amazing after such an opening attack. Their individual guns fired rounds upon rounds of projectiles. The sound of slugs pinging off of the v-birds and armor assaulted the Sentinel's sense of hearing. Finally some of the aliens, seeing small arms fire wasn't enough, began firing the weapons mounted on the vehicles. Missiles and larger rounds meet the birds in the air. While the v-birds could take several hits, eventually the weapons began to take their toll.

V-birds began smoking. Some lost control, ramming into the ground and taking more enemies with them. As the rest of the v-birds began their landing Ashley could see her fallen brothers rising from the wreckage of the downed birds, firing madly into the enemy attempting to meet up with the rest of the company. The captains of the now landed v-birds continued to man the ships guns and staying inside due to them only wearing basic suits of armor.

"All units, take defensive positions around the birds. Fire at will and take as many as these damned lizards as you can with you. For the Brotherhood!" Monroe yelled into her comm. Through it she heard her brothers yelling in agreement. Pride coursed through her body knowing she would die with honor in this battle.

Plasma and lasers streamed for her men taking enemy upon enemy with them. Sentry bots now active and out of the v-birds began firing the Gatling lasers and missiles into the enemy forces. Mini nukes were launched behind the enemy lines sending the lizards flying into the air, bodies ripped apart by the nuclear blast.

The aliens surprised Monroe. They kept coming, relentlessly carrying on their attack even though they lost man upon man. While most would use their fire arms, some attempted in hand to hand combat. While from her perspective admirable, these were easily knocked down, their strength nothing compared to that of the armored Brotherhood. But still the aliens line did not break, nor did they retreat. They just kept attacking.

Fires rages all around them, smoke filled the air. The aliens began using larger weapons after a more minutes of combat and growing losses. Missiles streaked at her men and, after continuous strikes many did not rise back up. Her team was losing the advantage and with that the battle that was just a moment ago seemed one sided.

Bodies lined the areas of their defense like sandbags. Dark blue blood covered the ground seeping from the fallen soldiers. More and more of the blue was joined by red, swirling together as if continuing the fight after their bodies had stopped.

Tears came to her eyes as a piece of shrapnel penetrating her armor and entered her stomach. She began to taste blood but pain was brief as her armor began injecting pain killers keeping her on her feet. Her vision blurred and her head began to spin but still she kept firing. In her mind anger coursed through her thoughts. Anger at these aliens for attacking. Anger at herself as she watched her brothers died with little she could do to save them. Anger at the Union for taking so damn long in getting her. But most of all sadness, knowing this to be the end and never being able to see your family again.

Large explosions began to rock her as the v-birds began blowing up from sustained fire taking their brave captains with them. Her display in her helmet told her she only had five men and two bots left, the rest critically injured or dead. "To me," she yelled, her men leaving their scattered positions and forming with her. Man and machine fired into the enemy, their backs to each other in a circle. Every one of them was scared of dying, even the bots who possessed a small measure of awareness thanks to their onboard AI.

After over an hour of combat the end dawned. Fires raging, bodies burning and shots filling the air. The slugs pinged off her suit like crazy. She noticed that no other guns besides hers were firing. All those who, what seemed like seconds before, were on the ground, their vitals flat. She looked at her own body and saw blood, her blood, leaking from the suit. She thought how they looked like small rivers as they ran down her suit and into the ground.

She finally felt how fatigued she was. As she kept firing her arms and legs began to shake. She fell to her knees, her gun slipping from her gloves. Enemy firing around her had ceased. She looked up into the sky and saw three missiles coming down, long trails of white smoke following them. She watch for a second as they came closer and closer. Then she felt nothing.

From the chaos and rubble the turians pulled themselves together. Gathering what supplies they had left and after counting the dead they began preparations to advance onto the city.

General Arterius looked down on the carnage from the top of a transport ship. Seeing his recently appointed second in command, whom he did not trust with all of his plans, approaching him he climbed to the ground. Upon arriving to him, Colonel Victus gave him a salute. "What is the toll Colonel?" asked Arterius.

"Sir," Victus said ending his salute. "We have lost a third of our forces both to injuries and to death. We have begun loading up injured men into the transports and all will be loaded and on their way to the fleet within the hour. The majority of our vehicles remain fully functional however and as soon as our wounded are launched back up we will be ready to commence the attack on the city."

"Spirits Colonel. There were only a hundred of them. We came with a force of over fifteen thousand men. How on Palavin did they do so much damage?" the general asked, anger seething from his voice at the loss of over five thousand men.

"Well sir, you saw their weapons. Hand held energy weapons. No one in citadel space has every managed that. We came here thinking that as soon as we took out the ship we were wrong, because as small as the population is on this planet no matter their tech they should not have proved much trouble with our numbers. But if they would have had only double their number with as long as they lasted, there is a good chance we would have lost this battle. And, well... there's more sir and its bad."

"With what you already told me colonel, I don't see how that's possible." answered the general.

"We did some initial examinations of the combat mechs they brought with them before we loaded them up for transport to fleet. We detected that the machines had, before their destruction of course, partial awareness." Victus looked worried as he said this knowing what it meant.

The general gave a deep and loud laugh. "By the spirits Victus, you're telling me that these creatures not only killed a third of our battle hardened men but that they also posses machines that they allow to be aware as well as armed. It is a good thing we are here. A plague such as this should be wiped out before they can spread. What of the enemy soldiers? Were there any survivors?"

Yes sir, there were sixteen. We have pried them from their armor and have begun providing medical aid although we aren't use to the anatomy and are having some trouble and will need to move them back to fleet as soon as possible if they are to be saved."

"No need colonel. I want every one of the survivors shot. Store their bodies so we can examine them later along with the tech. Understood?"

"But sir, I..." the colonel began

"Don't "but" me colonel. I gave you an order and you either do it or I will have you shot for treason. Now, Understood?" The general really did not like Victus. He was too honorable for his taste, not willing to do what was best for the betterment of their race.

Fire burned in the colonel's eyes but he accepted the order after a second of hesitation. Seeing that his orders were understood the General turned the subject to the attack on the city.

"Now colonel listen carefully, I don't want to have to repeat myself again," said the general chiding the colonel softly. In one hour we will begin our assault on the city walls. We will go on vehicle and foot and will not have any air support because we have detected an extensive array of AA batteries. I will personally lead a team in during a main assault. I know that is uncommon but let us just say I have a special mission to perform. Now my team will not be part of the main assault, keep that in mind. You will be in charge of handling the assault until I return. Are you up for that Colonel or should I look somewhere else?"

"No sir, I can handle this without any trouble." Said the colonel, irritated how the general was explain this too him even though he knew full well their plans and possibilities. May I ask what your personnel mission entails sir?"

"No you may not colonel, that is need to know only," said the general with a smile on his lips. With that they departed. The general gathering his team and the colonel preparing for the coming assault. Unfortunately the attack had pushed them behind schedule by over two hours but they would make up for it.

And there is the second chapter. I admit that I enjoyed writing this one. Please tell me what you think of the battle scenes, they are knew to me and would like and help if you have it.

I plan to be done with the First Contact War era by the next two chapter but I want it to be a good read, not just quick passage, as well as establish humanity in the galaxy.

I also plan on hopefully releasing at least one chapter a week, maybe two. I am off from college for the summer and have some free time outside of work so I will do my best.

Anyway like I said post what you though. If you have anything that you think I could improve up let me know. Thanks. :)

And thanks to all who favorited and are following this story as well as the positive post. Knowing that I am producing something that is actually liked makes me much more willing and happier to work on it and pump out more for you guys.