5569 Terminal Cell

Before humans invaded the Red Ocean, the dwarf galaxy enjoyed a long era of peace and stability.

The 13 major alien races of the Red Ocean had already carved out their respective territories a long time ago. Waging war on a civilization-wide scale did not make any sense because none of the races could overpower each other quickly enough to prevent others from interfering in the conflict.

Every race implicitly or explicitly maintained the status quo for that reason. This produced a relatively internal state of the multiracial galactic community where the only incidents of fighting came in the form of small controlled conflicts and lawless activities.

This galactic state happened to match the state of the Milky Way before the Age of Conquest.

The Seven Apex Races maintained a persistent balance of power and mostly remained content to rule over their own separate star empires.

Alas, the spread of the scourge known as the human race had ruined both of these idyllic states!

The upstart humans did not play by the rules. They refused to bow down to their betters and fought without even considering the option of compromise.

Humanity's favorite means of growth was by relying on stealing, cheating, robbing and deceiving anyone who wasn't a part of their own race.

In fact, humans were so outrageous that they did not even let off their own people!

To the cosmopolitans that admired the old galactic communities of the Milky Way and the Red Ocean, they lamented the fact that humans simply could not get along with the other powers of those galaxies.

How could all of these ignorant and greedy humans be blind to the magnificence of multiracial cooperation?!

How could they not yearn for the relative calm and prosperity that so many different alien races managed to produce by respecting each other's strengths and boundaries?

One of the central assumptions of the Cosmopolitan Movement was that the fault did not lie with the aliens.

It was the humans that held all of the blame for the death and destruction that their arrival had wrought onto the galaxies!

Humanity was afflicted by the curse of original sin. Many cosmopolitans believed that their own race was tainted from the onset. This was why humans never found a way to get along with their peaceful and more civilized alien neighbors.

They were no different from barbarians!

Instead of appreciating the many benefits and enrichment of becoming an equal member of a true multiracial galactic community, the human race always yearned for more.

The human race was not satisfied with rising up in the galactic stage through gentle and peaceful measures.

People wanted to attain power quickly, so they gave into their primal urges and resorted to violence to gain what they needed!

This had led to so much horror and brutality that no one could keep track of all of the war crimes anymore.

The Milky Way had already become ruined by the scourge of humanity. Many cosmopolitans had dedicated centuries of their lives to repairing the deplorable relationships between humanity and the remaining surviving alien races of the galaxy.

Suffice to say, the cosmopolitans made virtually zero progress.

As much as they believed in their enlightened cause, not even the most optimistic member of this secret society could maintain their enthusiasm after millenia had passed without any positive developments!

At best, the cosmopolitans might be able to prevent the aliens from hating the humans even more, but the efforts of all of their cells were so scattered that it was hard to determine whether they had made any difference.

"The Cosmopolitan Movement regards the Red Ocean as our second chance." Master Xieliq Quan elaborated on the motivations of his overarching organization. "We are not bogged down by millenia of continuous insults, genocides, humiliation and misplaced human superiority. Before the Age of Dawn, we had faith that the transgressions of our flawed and ugly race had not become severe enough to plunge the relationship between humans and the prevailing galactic community of the dwarf galaxy below the point of recovery."

Though Ves was still reeling from learning about the shocking plan of the Indigo Cell, he had to admit that the plan of the cosmopolitans did not sound entirely outlandish.

Compared to the countless deeds that the human race had committed in the Milky Way, its footprint in the Red Ocean was much lighter.

Humans had only conquered a relatively modest slice of the galactic rim of the Red Ocean.

Many of the natives of the Red Ocean had never even met a human, let alone suffer any damage from their arrival!

Though the Big Two had secretly built up their presence in the Red Ocean for an unknown amount of decades, the human race only truly came into prominence in the last decade.

From the perspective of galactic history, that was an exceedingly short time interval!

To the phase whales who had lived for hundreds of thousands if not millions of years, a handful of years was just a blink of an eye from their perspective.

Even if humanity had made an exceedingly poor first impression upon their arrival to the dwarf galaxy, the cosmopolitans still hoped that they could overcome this damage and move closer to the goal of allowing humans to integrate with an existing multiracial galactic community!

"Wait." Ves briefly interrupted Master Quan's eager attempt to share his organization's ideals. "Did you guys push the native aliens into triggering the Great Severing far in advance? According to common sense, there is no way the Red Cabal would resort to such an extreme measure when humanity had yet to truly ramp up its invasion of the new frontier. Did you and your crazy compatriots somehow cause us all to get cut off from the rest of humanity?"

Master Quan did not make any attempts to hide his smug and proud feelings at the mention of this dramatic turn of events.

"You are correct to assume that our movement has played an integral role in enlightening the aliens to the true threat posed by our greater civilization. Alas, our Indigo Cell does not dare to claim any credit for this fantastic initiative. The Terminal Cell is chiefly responsible for executing this particular plan. It is the only cell that has won a measure of trust from the Red Cabal. Its members remain embedded within the core of alien society to this day. It is through their unceasing diplomatic successes that red humanity has gained a chance to wake up to the truth and acknowledge the falsehood of human supremacy!"

Crazy!

This was crazy!

The Indigo Cell already sounded whacky enough, but at least it did not directly engage in any measures that led to the deaths of lots of humans.

The Terminal Cell was completely different! Ves did not need any further clues to determine that it was made up of a bunch of radicals.

These extreme cosmopolitans wanted to break the unflinching belief in human supremacy so much that they went through extreme measures to put red humanity in a dire state!

They deliberately increased the threat posed by the native aliens by arming them with superior human tech and enacting a plan to isolate red humanity!

All of that had changed the lives of human colonists in the new frontier for the worse!

Even though certain people such as Ves benefited enormously from entering a medium-energy environment, there was no doubt that the lives of the vast majority of humans had worsened after this dramatic change!

Not only did they lose contact with their family and relatives from the old galaxy, but they had to live in constant fear that the native aliens would pour into human-occupied space and reciprocate the genocides that humanity had wrought onto other races in the past!

Under the threat of these dire nightmare scenarios, no human was in the mood to think about how they merely reaped what they sowed.

Red humanity faced an existential threat! Trillions of recent arrivals were constantly on the verge of losing their homes, their livelihoods and their families because the Terminal Cell deliberately engineered this crisis situation!

When Ves was thinking about all of the harm that these radicals had wrought upon innocent humans, he developed the urge to punch the smug Master Mech Designer in the face.

He didn't even want to hold back the prodigious strength of his true body!

Even though Master Quan doubtlessly sensed Ves' rising fury towards the cosmopolitans, the older man did not take it seriously at all. Every cosmopolitan had so much hate flung in their direction that they had become immune to criticism and recriminations!

No member of their great movement was able to cling to their convictions if they actually paid attention to the ignorant opinions of the unenlightened masses.

Everyone who believed in their cause must remain unwavering in the face of hostility from their own race!

"I can understand why a child who has grown up under the auspices of the Big Two such as yourself finds it difficult to agree with our stances, but you do not have a choice." Master Quan claimed as he continued to convey his words through the spiritual connection. "Red humanity is in a much more dire state than at the start of the Age of Dawn. As I have mentioned before, Operation Night Jazz has almost ruined the original intentions of the Terminal Cell by dramatically increasing the hatred that aliens hold towards our race. Many other cells have stepped up their plans in order to mitigate the damage that the Red Two has caused by slaughtering and humiliating so many alien gods."

"And I am supposed to play an integral part of your insane scheme, is that right?" Ves skeptically responded.

"You are a much more suitable candidate than you think. You are still young, which means that you are still open to other viewpoints. Your humble origins ensure that you are not completely in lockstep with the mechers and the fleeters. Your complicated background and eventful rise has trained your flexibility and adaptability to new and unexpected situations. You also have far more contact with aliens than the average human. Many times, you confronted them in a position of weakness, which made you recognize the futility of human supremacy far in advance. Do you truly think that the Fist of Defiance's Deep Strike Plan can help red humanity grow fast enough to fight the Red Cabal to a standstill? Be honest, Professor Larkinson. What is your judgment?"

It was difficult for Ves to respond with a lie. Spiritual communication was much more direct and intimate than the alternatives.

Just as Ves was able to sense the total conviction and sincerity of Master Quan, the older mech designer should also be sharp enough to do the same.

Ves mentally sighed.

"If I am being completely honest, I think that the Deep Strike Plan is a desperation measure that has less than 10 percent chance of success. It is just that the other plans are worse in my opinion. At least we will be able to remain true to ourselves when we fight the native aliens to the bitter end. The hope is that a change in circumstances in the coming years could dramatically shift the trend of the Red War. The greatest aspiration of this plan is that all of the pressure will lead to the rise of many new god pilots. We can defend our territories so long as long as we manage to raise enough powerhouses."

"You are praying for miracles that will not come, at least not in a high enough frequency." Master Quan retorted. "You should have voted for the Diplomacy Plan. You may not like it, but the Xenotechnician understands the threat posed by an entire galactic community. Your decision to throw your support behind one of the most impulsive and brutish god pilots has pulled us away from the brink of ultimate salvation!"

The mention of a certain Star Designer suddenly caused Ves to dig up an old suspicion.

"Wait. Is the Xenotechnician a part of the Cosmopolitan Movement?"

"...I cannot respond to your inquiry. Even if I do supply you with an answer, you will not believe it. You are still too ignorant of the realities of our flawed civilization. If you wish to become enlightened to the ultimate truths, then cooperate with our plan."