The Mech Touch

A long time ago, humanity was not the domineering and all-conquering race that everyone in the Milky Way and the Red Ocean was familiar with. When humans escaped the confines of their home planet and spread across the stars, they did so with a lot of hope and optimism.

It was too bad that the galactic scene of the Milky Way was already old. Many different alien races had risen up much earlier than humanity and already carved up everything of value.

The situation back then largely resembled the state of the Red Ocean but at a much larger scale.

Many of the more powerful alien races that had come to dominate a significant amount of territory had reached a stalemate against their neighbors and competitors.

This produced a shaky balance of power that occasionally broke from time to time, allowing different civilizations the opportunity to alter the circumstances in their favor.

Diplomacy and cooperation was therefore just as common as war and conflict. Interspecies communication was common and it was rare for an alien civilization to declare war on everyone else at the same time.

When humanity was still young and weak, there were many among them who embraced the rules of the galactic community. The people who had always dreamt of forging friendships, alliances and other forms of cooperation with different alien races enjoyed their golden age as they threw themselves into their exciting vocation!

These diplomats and communicators largely embraced their work with good intentions. They had all been appointed by their respective star nations or organizations to further the development and ensure the survival of the human race.

This was an enormous responsibility to these diplomats. They prepared as best they could, and a crucial part of that was learning how the aliens worked.

Without understanding their counterparts, how could these professionals possibly forge greater ties between humanity and different alien polities?

This was where things started to go wrong.

When these bright-eyed humans started to go on exchange and immerse themselves in different alien cultures, they began to get assimilated by the alien societies they sought to understand.

The naive humans never realized that the aliens had been playing this game for a much longer time.

These cunning aliens utilized sophisticated strategies and approaches to indoctrinate and bewitch many of these aspiring diplomats!

Over time, many humans became more sympathetic to alien causes and less willing in representing the interests of their own race.

Of course, it wasn't as obvious at the time. The different alien races held back for the most part, so when it was time for these human diplomats to do their work, they merely gave up a bit more ground than usual.

Were they traitors back then? That could never be fully determined as people could easily argue that many beneficial treaties would have never come about if humanity hadn't made so many concessions.

Still, it wasn't until these alien sympathizers became more and more blatant about selling out humanity's core interests that these diplomats and their supporters no longer enjoyed a broad mandate.

Instead of waking up to the reality that they were pissing off their fellow humans, the cosmopolitans remained deaf to all of the complaints and continued to hollow out humanity's fragile pride and independence.

After a few outrageous incidents, the cosmopolitans eventually incurred an enormous backlash, causing them to completely lose all of the power influence they held in human society!

One of the great fathers of modern human civilization, Supreme Marshal Caramond Perle, successfully smashed the cosmopolitan status quo and united the surviving nations and factions of the human race by ushering an explosive new movement!

The death of the Cosmopolitan Movement marked the end of the Age of Stars!

The rise of the Human Supremacy Movement heralded the much more glorious Age of Conquest!

Ever since then, the concept of human supremacy had become baked into the fabric of human society.

Every human had grown up with the uncompromising belief that their race was stronger, better and most importantly superior to all other sentient alien races in their galaxy!

Such an extreme and hostile stance towards the entire collective galactic community should have caused humanity to ultimately succumb under the weight of its own arrogance.

After all, how could a single race in the crowded Milky Way Galaxy possibly survive by provoking so many enemies while at the same time no longer bothering to forge alliances with other alien civilizations?

The Human Supremacy Movement prevailed. Somehow, the human race not only survived, but thrived with the help of this belief!

The unbridled spread of this movement along with the complete prohibition towards its counterweight had caused human supremacy to become the prevailing consensus.

Nowadays, the core values and principles of human supremacy had become so widespread that the Human Supremacy Movement didn't really exist anymore.

There was no need to advocate for human supremacy anymore when pretty much every human agreed with its values and principles!

Many of the powerful human groups that came to dominate human civilization after the Age of Stars consistently supported the ideals of this transcended movement.

When the Greater Terran United Confederation, the New Rubarth Empire, the Mech Trade Association and the Common Fleet Alliance all unanimously agreed to uphold the standards of human supremacy, there was no way for cosmopolitanism to experience a resurgence in human civilization!

The latter had no chance to make a comeback!

Yet just because the Cosmopolitan Movement had been decapitated and driven out of human society didn't mean it had disappeared entirely.

Like cockroaches, the descendants and inheritors of cosmopolitans managed to keep their heavily marginalized movement alive by surviving in the dark.

There were still plenty of regions of space where orthodox humans had no power over. The surviving cosmopolitans either lived by themselves or had actually managed to attach themselves to a 'friendly' alien race!

There were also a lot of secret sympathizers among the people living in normal human society. They never revealed their true allegiances and had become good at disguising their efforts to help their fellow cosmopolitans.

The existence of these two groups ensured that the Cosmopolitan Movement never truly died out. No matter how extensively human supremacists tried to exterminate these bugs, more always seem to crawl out of the cracks!

Right now, Lord Pearian's expression grew ugly.

As the slow elevator was on its way to ascend to the upper decks of the alien homeship, he realized that he had the distinct pleasure of meeting one of the cockroaches his clan had always warned about.

Though Pearian admitted to himself that he hadn't always been diligent in learning his lessons, he still remembered quite well collaborating with cosmopolitans was a death sentence!

If the Big Two hadn't come around to chop off his head, then his own clan would surely do the deed itself to prevent others from exploiting this scandal!

"What is wrong, Lord Pearian?" The silver-masked man asked in a synthesized voice that sounded much more ominous to the captive scion than before. "Are you experiencing difficulties with comprehending the logic of our actions?"

The wisest decision that Pearian could make in this circumstance was to shut up and avoid any entanglement with a cosmopolitan.

However, he had become so socially deprived in the past few weeks that he couldn't bring himself to remain silent.

"It's not your logic that's the problem." The disgraced scion spoke up. "It's your values and your goals that are flawed. Do you have any idea how many humans will die because of your actions? Arming hostile aliens with superior human technology is crazy!"

"My fellow compatriots and I have an understanding with the local residents of this dwarf galaxy." Mr. Jugal Meren reiterated. "We only gifted them with the means to close the gap against the Big Two for the express purpose of regaining their rightful territories. We have been quite careful about our actions. It is not our purpose to threaten humanity in the Milky Way, so we made sure that the aliens will not have the means to fight any further. We merely wish to strike a blow against the Big Two."

This sounded incredibly dangerous to Lord Pearian! These cosmopolitans hadn't learned anything from the Age of Stars. They were making the same kind of mistakes all over again as far as he was concerned!

"There is no way these nunsers and puelmers will help you reform humanity because you gifted them with our toys. They will just accept everything you give them but continue to kill as many of us as possible! If you're not careful enough, you might make the native aliens so strong that they may even launch a counter-invasion! The feuds that we have forged in the past years have become so severe that the Red Ocean aliens won't stop until our race is wiped out in its entirety!"

Mr. Meren crossed his arms. "Humanity is not weak. That is a belief that we happen to agree with the human supremacists. Our race is much more entrenched in much of the Milky Way. No alien incursion will be able to do much damage before our collective might will repel the invaders. This is especially the case when we have succeeded in freeing human society from the bondage of the Big Two. As long as the Mech Trade Association and the Common Fleet Alliance are overthrown, states can finally take their destinies in their own hands, allowing them to field proper warships and regain their true warmaking potential!"

"That's mad!" Lord Pearian gasped as he almost couldn't handle how many taboos Jugal Meren violated in a single minute. "We can't go back to the dark days of the Age of Conquest. The times where humans will wipe each other out en masse will return if you and your cosmopolitans succeed in your insane conspiracy!"

The mysterious cosmopolitan chucked in his eerie artificial voice. "He. He. He. I respectfully disagree. Just like any other intelligent alien, humans have the capacity to learn from our mistakes."

"You make it sound as if you are doing all of this for the good of the human race, but I don't believe you." Lord Pearian deliberately spoke in a provoking manner. "Everything you and your deranged friends are doing will cause humanity to become weaker and less united. Everyone's lives will deteriorate as a result of pursuing your grudge match against the human supremacists. You're only doing this out of spite, not for any noble and honorable reasons!"

He may have lost his implants, but he still retained enough awareness to recognize that he could extract useful information from the alien sympathizer by poking and prodding at his cosmopolitan beliefs.

Sadly, Mr. Meren possessed way too much self-control to blow up after hearing Lord Pearian's provocative accusation.

"You are too blind and ignorant of the truth." The silver-masked man said in a pitying tone. "Humans have become too arrogant over the millenia. The enduring belief in our own supremacy has caused our race to lose the ability to respect and compromise with all other sentient alien races in this universe and beyond."

"What's the problem with that, cosmopolitan?"

"The fact that you cannot recognize the threat of this development is proof of your ignorance. You see, maintaining this belief only works as long as humanity only comes into contact with weaker alien races. While we are all fortunate enough that we have met nothing but alien powers that cannot catch up to our comprehensive might, that will not last forever."

"Do you know something about that?" Lord Pearian suspiciously asked.

"Perhaps. Sooner or later, the human race will make first contact with a much more powerful alien race that can never be defeated on the battlefield. The only way to preserve our race is to persuade the overpowering aliens to cease their aggression, but how can we possibly do that when our only acceptable form of diplomacy is waging war?"

"...We'll just have to win, then."

"And when that has failed?"

"We keep fighting...?"

"I rest my case."