Hi, I'm Night Hunter and this is an idea that I had in mind ever since I discovered the ME and KZ. and I was really suprised to find al,ost none of such stories here so I've deiced to give it.

So here you go and ME/KZ crossover. First Contact War story!

Timeline…

Year 2390 – The cold war between New Helghan and the Vekta has finally come to an end. With the deaths of Thomas Sinclair and Jordan Stahl on Helghan and the disclosure of the incriminating evidence against both sides, the governments of the two conflicting parties decided that it was time to reconcile before another war escalates.

Year 2391 – With the intervention from the UCN, an agreement was reached. In exchange of Helghast military prototypes, UCN, ISA, and ICSA launched the biggest relief action in human history. Massive resources were moved to begin terraforming Helghan to be habitable again. Also Chancellor Hera Visari stepped down from her office, leaving the position of Chancellor to her daughter Maya 'Echo' Visari.

The position of Director of Shadow Marshals was awarded to Lucas Kellan in gratitude for his efforts to prevent another war and genocide of either side.

Year 2395 – Chancellor Maya Visari conducted a massive reformation of New Helghan. The most significant one was changing the ratio of the budget from 85% to the military to 50%.The resources were moved to the private sector especially for housing and health care. The conditions of living for the ordinary Helghast improved dramatically, the death rate among children was the lowest ever since the fall of Helghan. Also the new judiciary system was introduce with independent judges filing many claims against the most oppressing Helghast soldiers in Helghast army which resulted in many dishonorable discharges and arrests. The reforms caused some unrest among the higher military officials but any coup d'état attempts were swiftly cursed by Anton Saric, who became one of the most vocal supports of new Chancellor much to everyone's surprise.

Year 2396 – Lucas Kellan was elected as a Director of the ISA due to his immense popularity among the people. He won in first round by an unseen sixty seven percent advantage to the second candidate. Immediately after his election he focused on taking the wall between Vektans and Helghast people down with enthusiastic help from Chancellor Visari. Both leaders seemed to work so well that the press started so speculate possible romantic relations between them as they used to spend an awful lot time together in their offices, whenever each one of them visited the other – which was very often.

Year 2398 – The wall was finally taken down and the unification of the Vektans and Helghast truly began. With the passionate speeches from Director Kellan and Chancellor Visari the foundation for true unification had begun. During the following months several racist incidents would occur by radicals on both sides, but as the time passed, they seemed to be less frequent.

Year 2399 – Chancellor Visari is pregnant, the name of the father is still unknown, but most suspicions sails towards Director Kellan.

Year 2400 – An enormous earthquake shook the surface of Mars causing thousands of casualties. During the rescue attempts an ancient alien ruin was found, causing uproar though the whole human race. With the discovery of the ruin brought to light many facts. Finally the theories of the humans not being alone in space were proven, but also proved that those aliens were advanced enough to watch the humanity when it still hadn't left their caves. Upon further research, the name of the aliens was discovered.

The Protheans.

With the discovery of their name came things that shook the humans to the very core. And that wasn't the Mass Effect technology.

Those aliens built an Empire that flourished by conquering other races. All those who wouldn't submit were brutalized and enslaved. The discovery caused a mass panic and a literal flood of near alien invasion theories, despite the ruins being fifty thousand years old.

In the third quarter of the year, Chancellor Maya Visari gave birth to twins. Director Lucas Kellan admitted being a father of the children and proposed to Chancellor causing an interstellar scandal.

They had a small wedding a month later. Due to the Helghan society pressure, Director Lucas Kellan took the name Visari as his second part, while Chancellor remained with just Visari.

The numerous voices trying to remove the Director of his position were swiftly silenced by the President of the UCN Jack Kowalski son who was of one of the soldier's that died during the second interstellar war.

Year-2401 – President of the UCN organized a summit calling all powers in human space to discuss the situation. President Jack Kowalski, Chancellor Maya Visari, Director Lucas Kellan-Visari, and the leader of ICSA Sarah Freeman, discussed the possible threat of the aliens coming back to reclaim their territory. And despite it being slim, they couldn't rule out that possibility.

Thus Human Systems Alliance was born. And history will remember it as most massive logistical military nightmare ever. The unification of four main military powers and dozens of minor ranks, resources, and personnel would take years to shape into an efficiently functional organization.

Aside from forming the largest alliance in human history… series of trade pacts were signed to ensure a stable economy, and as well to prevent any internal conflicts. Also humans decided to not abandon their tech in favor of more advanced alien technology and diverted resources to research both of them simultaneously. Not to mention that numerous treaties to exchange technology were signed between all superpowers, resulting in the largest scientific boom in decades.

Earth was proclaimed as ever neutral and was off limits to any military action from any side. What's more, all subjects of the pacts were allowed to open an emissary on the planet and were awarded a large donation every year to promote their culture. As a token of good faith, the UCN removed any military potential from the planet leaving only a symbolic world of garrison. The center of UCN was moved to Mars.

With that, Earth became a sacred symbol of peace and unity to every living human.

Later the aforementioned series of pacts would be known as the Treaties of Earth.

Year-2402 – First Ships lead by Jon Grissom were sent beyond Charon relay discovering Arcturus and euphoria spread all across Systems Alliances. The construction of the Arcturus station began the future nest of forming Human System Alliances. Director Lucas Kellan-Visari was re-elected for a second cadency.

Year-2405 – The unification of the human military finally ended. The newly created Alliance consisted of five fleets lead by the powerful Battle-Carriers, the offspring of Stahl's cruisers, courtesy of New Helghan. The Kilometer and a half monsters were the most powerful ships in the human Navy, thwarting even the UNC dreadnought. Aside from the Alliance fleets, each subject of the HSA was allowed to have their own fleet and so four additional fleets were added to human war potential.

Year - 2410-Shanxi was discovered by joint the UCN /ISA/New Helghan expedition. Director Lucas Kellan-Visari finished his last cadency and stepped from his post moving to Chancellor Visari side as her advisor and bodyguard. His close associate, Ryan Smith, was elected as new director.

Year – 2415-Helghan became habitable again. Chancellor Maya Visari held the memorandum for the victims of the Terracide and officially moved the capitol to New Pyrrhus city. The construction of Arcturus station had been completed. All humans celebrate the inauguration of the new nest of the all human government.

Year – 2420-Shanxi's went dark.

Helghan Training Camp…

Colonel Hannah Shepard was looking at the group of soldiers. She was definitely a proud Helghast woman. While she wasn't tall, she was very athletic and agile. She had a pale skin like all Helghast and shoulder length black hair that she kept in neat ponytail. Her eyes had a dark shade of brown, almost making it look like she had black irises. She had a round face and had all the curves in right places, but if anyone thought she was a mere female soldier, then they would be gravely mistaken. She was known to be one of the best soldiers HSA currently had. While she originated from Helghan society where women usually don't sever in army, much rather focusing rather on domestic duties, she managed to break through the stereotype. The fact that Chancellor Visari's reforms greatly helped Helghast women to earn their rightful place in a Helghan society, which meant the army and the respect of her fellow officers, helped greatly as well.

Her soldiers filled her with pride. They were ones of the first truly diverse squad. Even after fifteen years, most of the HSA resembled a rather loose coalition of armies than had a truly unified organization. The divisions and fleets usually consisted of particular factions soldiers and ships with the rare exceptions who desired to experience fighting alongside other factions. And while the circulation wasn't forbidden, old grudges still ran deep.

For example Helghast soldiers hated to work with Vektans and UCN's with ICSA's… but not her squad.

The recruits came from across all human space, from Helghan to Earth. She drilled them to work together, as one unit, and leave all prejudices behind. Of course there were a few incidents between the soldiers, but one night together spent outside with HELGHAN SIPDERS made them bond rather quickly.

Apparently those foul creatures survived the Terracide and adapted so they could live off raw Petrusite… and grew to be the size of a large dog.

But not all things were going smoothly. Hannah had two problems.

One was a perfect justification for Helghast's hate towards Vektans and the other, aside from being a blow to her and all her people's pride, why Helghast shouldn't procreate with Vektans.

First was named Rick Verdon and the second one was Hector Visari.

The nature of the problems wasn't of their skills. In fact no matter how much she wanted to deny it, those two were easily the best out of all her trainees. Together they were literally unstoppable.

Rick excelled in medium to long range attacks; he was one of the best shooters she had seen in all her life. She witnesses him hitting a match box from a thousand meters without optics.

Hector on the other hand was a… she hadn't dared to use word specialist, but in a few years he undoubtedly be one of the best in close combat. He had a fascination with Capture Troops and she allowed him to hone his skills in that area. With the evolution of the personal shielding tech, the class came back to life under the new name of Hunter Troops. And as much Hannah hated to admit it, if he ever got close to her, she would be dead, if he wished for it.

But the roots of her problems laid in their personalities. If one would look in their files they would see that they were filled with dozens of complaints of… sexual harassment. They were the bane of every female in five kilometer radius including Hannah. She couldn't even count how many times she was groped by them, her teeth grinded against each other and face hardened.

In the line of troops, Rick nudged his best pal Hector.

"Hey Scolar! Look, Hannah is thinking about me again," he whispered dreamily. Rick was a tall athletic man with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"I bet it's me, Metrac," Hector replied. Like every Visari he had striking green eyes, pale skin, and dark hair. But the rest belonged to his father. The high cheeks bones and muscular build were the gifts that he received from him, not to mention his larger healthy appreciation for the fairer sex.

Initially both males started off very badly. They were trying to peak on their female comrades through the air vents leading to the dressing room, but their weight was too much for the crappy quality steel they had, and promptly fell down, causing an panic among half-dressed females. Blaming each other for the failure, they began beating the crap out of each other until Colonel Shepard came and beat the crap out of both of them, and then forced them to spend a whole week outside the safe barracks.

During that time both males had to fight against Helghan spiders and the planet itself. The fact Helghan was habitable hadn't meant that it was a good place to live. The true turning point in their relation was when Rick started to fall to the sickness caused by the amount of Petrusite in the air. Hector then broke into the magazine and stole a breathing mask and medical supplies for him.

Later on he was caught after an investigation was conducted and Hannah had a half mind to kick him out, Visari bloodline be damned, not that he ever used that fact to his own gain. But then Rick barged to her office and literally begged her to not do it and kick him out instead. Seeing a perfect chance to increase the unity of the unit, she allowed them to stay.

Till this day she cursed herself for her stupidity. Because of that she had two compulsive perverts in her squad and the only saving grace was that they were the stars and poster boys for the unity for all humans groups.

"Listen up!" Hannah bellowed. "Today is the final day of your training here on Helghan! You came here as a wimps and pussies, but during those Five years you grew into a fine soldiers for the HSA!"

All present stood straighter at that compliment. A mischievous smirk played on her lips. "Well expect our favorite duo, they're still the same."

A round of laugh erupted from the crowd, even from the two victims.

"We love you to Ma'am," both men shouted in unison. "We'll miss your ass too," they said in sync, far too perfect to be accidental, making her sent them a heavy look.

"Want to get one last punishment from me for old time's sake?" she growled shutting them up. "No? Good. Now you will go to review you uniforms and I'll escort you to your new post and them drop you on some unfortunate officer's head. God have mercy and don't let it be a woman," she prayed silently making the whole squad laugh.

"Where we'll be assigned Ma'am?" a random recruit asked.

"You will be developed to the border world of Shanxi as per request of General Williams." Loud groans escaped their mouths. "I know it's not the most exciting post, but did you think that you would be sent to fight Pirates and Rebels so soon? It's a standard procedure to send green soldiers to calmer places so they could get some real-life experience before actual combat. Remember your first and foremost duty is to protect the citizens of HSA with your life! To fight an enemy is a secondary objective," she said harshly. While she allowed a certain familiarity within her squad, there were times when she was absolutely serious, and she demanded the same in return. "Is that clear?!"

"Ma'am! YES! Ma'am!" They all shouted.

"Perfect! Now go to the Quarter master office and you will receive your uniforms, dismissed!" She ordered.

All of the squad snapped her a salute and walked towards the Magazine.

They took place in front of newly rebuilt Radec Military Academy. Of course the things they were teaching there were dramatically different than in the previous incarnation of the building. Also the building looked much friendlier then last time as it was painted in white color instead of grey and even had a small park in central plaza.

But the academy wasn't the only thing that changed on Helghan during the reconstruction. Previously the cities were made in a way to contain as many people possible with as little space possible since the resources were mostly diverted to the army, thus creating a literal sea of slums in almost every city. Pyrrhus being prime example, but now under the rule of the Maya Visari, common Helghast could finally experience what true living conditions were. Not to mention she issued the usage of more ecological technologies so the pollution was much lower than in the times of her grandfather.

The group of the soldiers' hopefuls moved to the magazine to get their issued gear. The quartermaster was a middle aged man with dark skin and hair, obviously not from Helghan, but in during these times it wasn't an uncommon sight.

And then came the time for the Hannah's unit gear. This was a cause of numerous frictions between the fractions that made HSA, but mostly Helghast versus the rest, since they weren't budging an inch to even think of changing the design of their uniforms since it was a deeply rooted tradition.

After many months of squabbles, the rest of HSA finally submitted to their demands and allowed them to maintain their uniform code.

So at current date there were two types of official military uniform in HSA army and fleet. One was the modified version of old combat gear of ISA and UCN, with Helghast body armor tech. Like Helghast, the uniforms were a full body suit with independent breathing systems. They were colored in mixture of blue and silver, but due to the introduction of the new camouflage system, they could adapt to the environment, but by no means grant invisibly. The core design was rather utilitarian leaving standard plating and a faceless mask with two blue glowing visors, making the soldiers resemble medial knights. The main reason for that design was to lose the aggressiveness of Helghast design, since even in helmets the Helghast managed to look pissed off.

The other Helghan version hadn't changed much since the times of cold war with the obvious exception of the refreshing the overall design, which meant that their uniforms lost their bulkiness without sacrificing the protection, due to access of better materials allowing them to build lighter and more durable suits.

All suits were equipped with personal shields, the Hunter Trooper armor was additionally equipped with an arm shield, that when activated, created a screen similar to one created by OWL.

But the personal weaponry underwent the biggest change. The introduction of Mass Effect revolutionized the weapon production. With the laws of physics previously unknown by human the ME-01 assault rifle was created. Basically the inventors took the designs of a M82 Assault Rifle and StA409 Keyzer and merged it together and added the Mass Effect core, creating a hybrid of Human and Mass effect tech. The bullet shot from this rifle were faster than from any other, yet were slower than ones shot from purely ME weapons. The inventors still wanted to keep the piercing trait of human bullets instead of kinetic effect granted by ME tech.

The soldiers' hopefuls eagerly got their gear and moved to the ship, wishing that they would get some more exciting assignment than calm agricultural world.

They say you have to be careful for what you wish for.

Helghan Chancellor's palace…

Abode of the most powerful of Helghast wasn't by any means humble. The large palace was twice the size of the ancient Chinese forbidden city. The main palace building was designed in the previous regime imperial style, but this time it was even more fortified. The buildings were designed to withstand the orbital bombardment and were protected by a ridiculously powerful shield, powered by two Petrusite Power Plants. Inside the palace complex were barracks for the royal guard, the staff quarters, a pool, gym, the entertainment center, and rather large gardens. Also the amount of the powerful Arc towers was tripled, making the palace look like the ancient European castle with many soaring towers.

Currently, Chancellor Visari and her advisor Lucas were in her luxurious office, that which had a great view on New Pyrrhus. Each of them had their own desk; Maya's noticeably larger than Lucas.

"Lucas, I swear to God that if you won't stop pestering me, I will defenestrate you!" Maya snapped, moving the strand of her hair behind her ear – being retired from active combat for some time now allowed her hair to grow past her shoulders. She was now fifty four, but many young women envied her, her looks. Still fit and agile; time hadn't taken away anything from her beauty.

Time was also merciful for Lucas. He was not sixty, but still held the aura of Shadow Marshal as he actively participated in training of new ones. Aside from the slight graying on his temples, he hadn't shown much signs of aging like his wife.

"Oh come on honey, it's our son's graduation! We should go and embarrass him in front of his whole unit!" He replied with a grin.

"The graduation from military training camp is an important moment in every Helghast life. I won't let you ruin it for our son and that's final," she huffed.

"You were much more cooperative when I was a director of ISA," he mumbled, folding his arms.

"True. But now you serve under me," she said with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, you can be on top today too," he said absentmindedly. "Tell me again, why the hell are you sending him to Shanxi of all places? There's nothing to do there."

"Would you prefer if I sent him to the Pandora system?" she asked rhetorically. The Pandora system was infamous for its rampart piracy and the fact that most of population could be considered psychos.

"It's not what I meant, but he won't learn anything useful there. Alfa Centauri would be a good choice, it's moderately safe, but still needs a solid garrison." Lucas countered.

"I know but…" Maya hesitated. "I want him be safe for a little while longer." She stood and moved to the large panoramic window.

"You know that the day will come that you won't be able to protect him anymore?" Lucas joined her and looked at the city. "His skill will be the thing that will save him, like in our cases."

"Rather mine… I had to save you on a daily basis." Maya deadpanned.

"That's not true… I just had few slipups," he face faulted. "Besides, you're not that worried for Kat?"

"Katharine luckily inherited more my genes and I believe that she can handle herself, besides, she will be graduation from Shadow Marshal's academy in top 5. So I'm pretty sure that she'll be ok," she told him.

"I graduated at top 5 too, and Hector is the best in his whole unit. I fail to see your point," Lucas said with pride.

"Remember the inherited more of my genes part? That's why I'm worried. He's bound to get himself in trouble and he is a pervert just like you. Have you seen his files? He basically sexually harassed every female he came across!"

One tear of pride slid down on Lucas's cheek.

"That's my boy," he choked with his voice laced in emotions. "I'm so pro-GYAH!" Lucas clutched his side when Maya elbowed him.

"That's not a joking matter! Ugh, he's just like you, no matter the situation, you hit on everything that moves and has boobs." Maya growled.

"Yeah like the time I was about to fly off on that ATAC and managed to steal your first kiss. Your expression was hilarious," he chuckled.

"Yours was better when I started making barrels with it," she smiled smugly.

"I admit it was a bumpy ride, but it was still worth it," he wrapped his arms around her. "And by the time we fought with Tyran you seemed very interested in me then… something about us both being outcasts?"

"I admit that you held a certain allure then," she said mischievously.

"Held? So now I lost it?" Lucas grinned and leaned to capture her lips.

"Then why don't you remind me of it?" Maya purred.

Aboard the HSAS – Grey Dawn…

The Grey dawn was a seasoned ISA cruiser that the organization donated to the HSA project. Aboard it all five thousands trainees from Helghast were transported towards their destination at Shanxi.

Currently the recruits were spread through all ship, but the biggest concentration was in the ship's canteen.

"Ok, full house," Rick said.

"Oh screw you," one of them dropped his cards.

"Thought you were lucky Rodriguez?" he grinned and took his cards and a sizeable amount of money. "Don't worry I'm sure you win this back… one day"

"Now watch this! Four of a kind!" Hector said grinning. "Tough luck Rick," he mocked him. And was about to take the cash when Hannah who sat at the far end of the table cleared her throat.

"Don't be so fast 3rd class Private," she showed her cards revealing a royal flush. "Pure luck," she smirked. Hannah deiced as it was probably the last time she would see them in a few years so she cut the formalities and socialized a bit.

"I can't believe that," he mumbled dropping his cards. "It was a good thing that you never wanted to play during at the training camp."

"That would cause too much problems with discipline if I got too familiar with you lot. You two already caused me countless headaches. I hadn't needed to follow your bad example." She sighed and took the money. "Listen; as we soon arrive at Shanxi, I have a few words for you all and the pervert duo as well. So listen up!" All fifty recruits from Hannah's squad gathered around her. "You will soon get into real life situations and from your decisions, will have an outcome on the lives of your comrades. And while Shanxi is a calm agricultural world, after two or three years you will be re-located to more dangerous areas, so take the most you will learn here and learn from more experienced soldiers as Shanxi literally became the retiring post for old soldiers. So you will be serving with Bloody Hawks, 5th Rangers Regiment, and Black Raiders."

Her declaration caused a round of whispers among the crowd. The three armies she mentioned were legendary among the HSA. Bloody Hawks were ICAS's army famous from their pirate suppression campaign and the siege of their fortress on the Tartaru's moon.

5th Ranger Regiment was consisted of the westerns from the second Extra Solar War that took part in the defense of Vekta. That would be something amazing that people that took part in war that happened over 60 years ago, but with human life-snap reaching one hundred fifty on average, it wasn't anything unusual. Lastly Black Raiders were Helghast army that held the defense of Pyrrhus when the join forces of UCN and ISA attacked Helghast, dealing horrible losses to the invaders.

"Whoa! Whoa! Why the hell are guys like that are on Shanxi?" Hector exclaimed. Among the Black Raiders were the last of the Original Capture troopers, thus, he was excited like a little girl to meet them.

"Like I said after that mission, those guys are going to be disbanded and retired since they are mostly old gramps now, but they are still able to handle themselves. That is why you're going there to mostly learn from the best and let them pass some of that knowledge on. So make the most of your time there and listen to what they have to say… except when they tell you to kill each other… they are an old squad and hold many grudges," she hesitated. "So don't let some of them poison your minds with hate. We're now working together and we're not enemies anymore, so keep that in mind."

She eyed her men, "Good… Now private Rick and Hector, follow me to some where more secluded. I have a few words for the two of you," she said with seriousness.

Both males looked at each other and gulped, that look usually spelt trouble. They followed her stiffly as she led them to an empty corridor.

"So you took us to secluded area, wonder what –?" Hector started.

"Hector shut up," she snapped, quietly making him shut his mouth. "Listen despite all things, I… don't dislike you two," she started. "But you need to promise me that you will take into the consideration what I'm about to tell you."

Both of them nodded with unusually serious expressions.

"Ok for first off, you perv-antics needs to be seriously limited, not every female officer is as patient and easy going as me. And believe me; you will suffer consequences if any of them decided to make complaint to your superior officer. You can even go to jail for it, or if you're lucky be dishonorably discharged. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

They nodded again.

"Ok, now even more pressing matters. When I told you about those vets you will serve… I skipped a few things… Listen, whoever put the 5th and Raiders together had to be fucking insane." she surprised them. They never heard her swear, ever. "They hate each other and there had been more than a few…incidents. Some of them lethal."

"What does that have to do with us?" Rick asked.

"I was getting to that," she replied. "With your predisposition as a sniper and Hector's as a Hunter trooper, there is a high chance that you will end up with those two groups respectively… and your friendship will be a problem there. They are old soldiers and they are stuck in the old way of thinking. That's why they were pushed here on the edge of our territory with the excuse to protect the place since there's relatively little active relay here. The truth was that they had a negative influence on the unification progress within HSA, so they needed to be… push aside. The Bloody Hawks are here mainly to prevent open fight between them and pacify them if necessary, but luckily General Williams are keeping them on a short leash."

She looked into their eyes, "Look I know you two bonded… but… please try to keep your friendship secret, because you will be an object of hate… you, Hector, a little less since you're Visari, but you Rick don't have that kind of protection. So don't brag about how good friends you are with him because the guys in 5th will make your life miserable. And I don't want to see the report that either of you died in unknown circumstances or in an accident."

Rick and Hector looked at her in silence procession what she just said. They exchanged a glance and reached an understanding.

"That you for that Colonel Shepard," Rick said, and both of them gave her a perfect salute.

"We'll miss you," Hector smiled and extended his hand.

Hannah smirked and shook it firmly. When she grabbed Rick's hands she was pulled into an affectionate hug with the man resting his head on her shoulder. Before she managed to snap at him his hand travelled to her butt and grabbed it, squeezing it firmly.

"Just for old times' sake," Rick chuckled, but was interrupted with solid knee to the liver. "My liver!" He cried, grunting, and falling to the ground.

"On you other hand, you can die asshole!" Hannah snapped and walked angrily from them.

"Hannah," the other standing still started. "Take care of yourself."

"Likewise," she replied without turning back.

Shanxi – Capital city, New Hong Kong…

General Henry Williams stood at the top of the small mountain that gave him a perfect view of the bustling city below. New Hong Kong was built next to the river that parted into two branches, creating a delta that acted as the city center. The delta itself was unique since it was a small mountain that had the higher edge facing the land, and was slowly decreasing until it reached the coast of the sea. So the city center was climbing up as the mountain rose. The large government skyscraper was built at the highest point, towering over the city with its two hundreds floors. But luckily the builders of the city wanted to preserve as much as possible from local sub-tropic fauna and bothered to make large gardens with exotic plants.

And from one of those gardens, Williams was enjoying the view of his city. The city's population reached to the ten million which was one-fourth of the whole planet's population. The city was built with many scrapers made of glass that also served as solar panels powering the city itself. Yet the main power source was the large dam one hundred kilometers down the river.

Form the height Williams stood; he could see the farms with their golden wheat on the edge of the horizon. As always a smile crept on his scarred face as he saw that.

This was the best last job he could have asked for. He had fought enough in his life and needed a rest and Shanxi was perfect for it. Except from the problems with 5th and Raiders… things were mostly calm here.

He counted himself as a lucky man. He had saved enough money to last him till the end of his life, not to mention the high general pension. He persuaded his son to move here with his family and his adorable granddaughter Ashley who just had her second birthday.

He looked up to the sky and saw the ISA cruiser descend upon the star port with the newest batch of recruits bolstering his forces. With an expedition beyond the relay going on, he requested additional support in case of trouble, with that alien tech you just never knew.

Space near Shanxi-Theta…

A fleet consisted of one ISA, three Helghast cruisers, and one science ship, orbited near the relay, preparing to activate it.

"Attention all ships, this is Captain Pomorov of the HSAS Event Horizon. We're activating the relay now." As on cue, the enormous rings started to spin around with blue Mass Effect Energy glowing inside. "We're going through the relay now, following the standard protocol. If we encounter any extra-terrestrial life, do not shoot! I repeat do not shoot! Pomorov out!" The link cut and everyone watched as his ship was shot through the relay.

"You really had to repeat it twice?" his female Xo asked.

"Helghast tended to be quick tempered," he replied.

"Those are just Helghast ships," she deadpanned. "The crew in mixed."

"Better be safe than sorry. I don't want to be remembered as a guy that started an intergalactic war with an alien empire."

"You read too much of that fiction sir with all due respect," she smirked. "We'll leave the ME field in about… now. 'Welcome to new syste – oh my god!" she gasped when she looked at the scanner. "S-Sir we have a problem…"

"No shit…" he mumbled numbly, watching the screen which showed… an alien armada

"How many?" he whispered, but everyone on the deck could hear him as it was deadly silent.

"O-over a thousand ships… Captain they're moving towards us… what, do we do?" She asked trying to calm her nerves.

"Send the first-contact package," he ordered and turned on the com. "Attention all ships under any circumstances, don't shoot! Anyone who breaks the order will be court marshaled and executed! Pomorov out!"

"Sir, the alien ships are hailing us." Xo said.

"Put it on the screen," he ordered and an alien face appeared on the screen.

A green four eyed alien face appeared on the screen. Pomorov noticed how this alien literally took a double take when he saw what was on the other side.

"Greetings I'm Captain Igor Pomorov from the Human System Alliance. We came in peace and hope that you did so too," he started.

"Horok et'it arak!" Alien growled showing his thin needle like teeth. "Aru'buk sokires ibbit udrak at hun do karos!"

"I don't know what the hell it is saying, but I don't like its tone." Xo mumbled.

"Quiet! We don't know their mannerism. That can be their greeting." Yet he too had a feeling that something was wrong. "I don't understand what you're saying."

The alien looked at him and sighed. He turned his head to the side and snapped a few orders.

"Sir! We have a coded message coming from the ship… it appears to be… Prothean?" One of the officers said.

"Translate it now!" Ever since the discovery of the ruins on mars, every ship was equipped with the basic Prothean code that allowed them to decipher and activate relay. It also helped them to unlock their language.

"Translating now," the officer pushed the button and a synthetic voice filled the deck.

"Shut up primitive! Strike the engines now or we'll do it for you!"

Silence again filled the deck.

"Unfucking believable," Pomorov said, glaring at the screen. "I'd rather die you alien scum!" The captain cut the transmission. "Attention all ship! The aliens are hostile; I repeat the aliens are hostile! Civilian vessel ICSAS Newton return back to our space, we'll cover all your shi –!"

The mass accelerated around to hit the rear of his ship. "Raise the shield!" he roared. "All ships! Battle ready! Protect the civilians! XO damage report!"

"The slug hadn't penetrated our armor, but created a one meter deep dent. The electronics on deck 7 and 8 were ripped apart and there are casualties from the shards from the hit. Aside from that, no more damage," she said quickly

"Fuckers are toying with us," he growled. "All ships armed retreat! Permission to engage! Xo give 'em the taste of Snow Missiles!"

"Aye Aye sir! Snow Missiles fire!"

A volley of missies soared towards the nears ships. Some were shoot by their point-defense cannon and some ended being blocked by the shield, but those which hit destroyed their targets in one hit.

"Without their shields they aren't so though –!" The ship shook violently,"What the hell was that!"

"HSAS Raven just exploded! It was hit only once! It's mass accelerated round but more advanced that anything we have! It came from the enemy's dreadnought-size ship!"

"How long till we enter the Mass effect field!" he asked hastily.

"Five minutes," she replied numbly. "ICSA's ship and HSAS Dawn needs only two…" The whole bridge fell silent, Pomorov closed his eyes.

'Sorry Kate, but I won't be coming back.' He steeled his resolve, "Attention HSAS Mississippi, cover the retreat of Dawn and Newton Dawn! Initiate Black Sun and Rug protocol and send the warning to Arcturus… the Prothean are back to reclaim their territory," he said grimly.

"Aye Captain," came the response. "It was an honor serving with you and Godspeeds!"

"Farewell…" Pomorov mumbled. "Attention all! We need to buy them… two minutes. Lets' give those alien bastards hell! All forward!" Two cruisers shot forward towards the oncoming armada. Shooting all they had. As they closed in their shields were drained and the hulls breached, but the crew pushed forward. Pomorov's ship deck was now filled with smoke and fire and the damaged slowly crippled the ship to the point of…

"ALL HAIL HUMAN SYSTEM ALLIANCE! ALL HAIL HUMA –!" Pomorov couldn't even finish.

BOOOOM!

And thus the Human expedition beyond the Shanxi – Theta was no more.

Half an hour earlier relay 314. Aboard BHS Khar'shan's Might…

Admiral Arnak'Tornak was one very happy Batarian. He had the green tone of skin with white stripes giving him the impression of the Batac, the predator that Batarians originated from. He was nominated to lead and expedition beyond the relay 314 and colonize the words or enslave the species there. Since no one activated it the cluster was either empty of the species there was too primitive to use it.

He was now leading a fleet consisted of over a thousand ships with four hundred fifty belonging to the Batarian army. The rest being a merc fleet from the warlords of terminus. His ship was the freshly off-line dreadnought and the principle of Batarian combat tech able to take on any Turian ship.

His superiors reminded him over and over again of the importance of this expedition. The Hegemony economy had been in recess due to the citadel sanctions and Turian intensifying the pirate hunt.

The economy flourish created by enslaving the pre-spaceflight species of Raloi started to die out and the Batarian Hegemony needed a new source of income. Using their connection inside the citadel, they removed the Turian patrol from the area for a full month; before the time was up, they would have few strong bases established there.

Arnak grinned. All clusters where the main relay led were usually filled with eezo. By the end of this expedition he will be the one of the richest men in the whole hegemony.

"Master," his Asari slave and current Xo bowed, ripping him out of his musing. "We're ready to activate the relay."

"Good Eri, active it on my command." He wanted to savor that moment.

"Yes Master," she said and moved to the console. "I await your order Mas-huh?" the servant gasped at the console.

"What is it?" he snapped impatiently.

"M-master the relay is activating!" she said quickly, wanting to avoid her masters wrath.

"I've told you to activate it on my command you daft!" He raised his hand to hit her.

"B-but Master… It's from other side!" she shuttered cringing.

That gave Arnak a pause.

"What?" he asked quietly.

"S-someone's activating it from the other side… it's a passable first contact scenario," she said stiffly.

"Admiral?" A deck officer moved to him." Five ships have entered the space, all of them have a faint reading of eezo, indicating that they only discovered the ME technology recently…" he started but was interrupted by another officer.

"Admiral, those primitive ships have sent us some data package. VI scan shows no signs of cyberware fare. So it's probably the first contact package."

"On screen with it," he ordered.

And the message showing the human race played.

And images of a planet with four continents named Shanxi showed.

"That must be their home world," Arnak mussed. Then he saw the image of actual aliens and his jaw dropped and head turned to his Asari slave/Xo who was equally shocked.

"That's impossible," he choked. "There's no way that something like this is possible…"

The gears in his head spun. Those aliens looked almost exactly like Asari aside from their skin color and the fur on their head instead of crests.

"So that's how a male Asari would look like," he commented aloud from the image of a pale human male that appeared on the screen. HahahaHEHAHAHAH!" The admiral suddenly started to laugh manically. "Can you imagine it!? We hit the jackpot! A race of primitives that looks like Asari and have males! MALES! Who would be able to do the heavily lifting the females aren't able to! That's even better than the whole planted of eezo! Xo hail them!" He ordered and composed himself. Again he was only mildly surprised when the face of alien appeared. The alien had dark brown fur on his head and around the mouth as well. Behind him was a blonde female with round face and green eyes.

Arnak barely stopped himself from licking his lips; he couldn't wait to taste what this species' females had to offer.

"Greetings, I'm Captain Igor Pomorov from Human System Alliance. We come in peace and hope that you do so too?" The alien smiled at Arnak or what he guessed was smile. He wasn't certain if this wasn't the sign of anger between that alien species. Yet their mannerism seemed to be similar to Asari since he hadn't felt hostility in that alien voice.

'Oh, soon you won't be smiling,' Arnak opened his mouth. "Shut up…"

Ok here you go! Sorry for the long descriptions but I needed to establish a few things. The proper action will start in the next chapter as you probably noticed, I hadn't killed Lucas off because frankly, I hated that moment…. and the story of how he and Maya came together might be told one day… maybe.

Also, I'll me making a dictionary below the chapters if I feel that few things needs to be explained.

Oh, and for the military ranks, I'll be using USA ranks, but I'm no expert in it since it's much more developed then the rank system in my country. So don't hesitate to correct me.

Ok, now the ship classifications. From now on I won't be using the, ISA, UCN, and Helghast names, so here you have the classifications.

Carrier – The largest ship in Human System Alliance fleet. The size varies from 1.6 kilometer to 2 kilometer. It can take at once 15000 soldiers, 400 tanks, 500 fighters, and 300 bombers. It lacks the main battery, but the hull is literally one large net of GARDIAN.

Combat-Carrier – The new class created after introducing Stahl Arms Prototype Cruise into official military. The ship is considered the most powerful in the whole human armada and is a flagship of every main human fleet. With the powerful Petrusite Cannon that is capable of taking down an ISA cruiser in one shot and an UNC dreadnought in two – the reputation is well earned. The length stands alone at 1.5 kilometer. The Combat-Carrier is capable of taking 10000 soldiers with heavy support and around 300 areal crafts.

Due to astronomical cost of manufacturing and upkeep there are only nine in existence.

Dreadnought –New class introduced for the UCN cruises as their length and tonnage by far outclassed other cruisers. They are spine of HSA might, their number currently at 40. With a powerful direct energy based cannon, they are able to tear though anything on their path. their size varies from 900 meters to 1.1 kilometer.

Cruiser: New class for former ISA and ICSA cruisers. They are the bulk of human fleets with powerful missiles they possess the power to level cities many times over. their sizes varies from 700-900 meters. These ships differ greatly from their UNC counterparts as they can change their positioning in-flight from combat operations in space to acting as on-station support in atmospheric conditions. An automated deployment system allows the Cruisers to rapidly send Intruder troop transports to a planet's surface, ensuring total planetary containment.

Frigates: New class for former Helghast cruisers . Light and fast ship with primary role to deliver a quick strike to the enemy's flank. Their size varies from 300-500 meters.

Dictionary:

UCN - United Colonial Nations

ISA - Interplanetary Strategic Alliance

ICSA - Independent Colonial Strategic Alliance

HSA - Human Systems Alliance.

UCNS - (and so on) - United Colonial Nations Ship

Ok for now I think that is all. If you have questions or need to clarify something do not hesitate to ask.