The Mech Touch

The story had become a lot clearer now that Cynthia unveiled the struggle for dominance.

Veronica had no idea that the galaxies or rather their heavenly authorities tried to conquer each other as part of a deep and enormous conflict!

The Milky Way, the Red Ocean and Messier 87 were not as isolated from each other as Ves thought.

In particular, the Milky Way and the Messier 87 had entered into a direct competition with each other. The Red Ocean just happened to become the contested lands they were competing over.

The Milky Way originally sought to establish its claim on the Red Ocean by unleashing the scourge of humanity on the dwarf galaxy.

However, the major alien races refused to let that happen. They panicked and prematurely triggered the Great Refuge Plan, which somehow displaced the Red Ocean all the way into Messier 87's orbit!

While this desperation move had certainly crippled the invasion attempt of the Milky Way, the greater consequence was that the Red Ocean became targeted by a much greater predator!

Even though no subject of Messier 87 had yet to step foot inside the hapless dwarf galaxy, the much stronger galaxy had already begun its 'invasion' by flooding the Red Ocean with exotic radiation!

All of the E energy radiation that red humanity was happily using to power up their mechs, starships and other tech was not as free as they assumed.

The greater truth of the matter was that E energy radiation belonged to Messier 87. No matter whether the humans or aliens of the Red Ocean actively made use of this resource or not, their continuous exposure to the power of a foreign heaven would slowly cause them to become more related to the giant golden galaxy!

What did this mean for the future?

Would red humanity still seek to maintain its attachment to the Milky Way, or would people gradually forget about their roots of their original galaxy as they began to interact more with Messier 87?

What of the native aliens? Would the phase whales and the other major races remain loyal to the Red Ocean to the end, or would the power of exotic radiation succeed in turning them against their own home galaxy?

All kinds of complicated questions welled up in Veronica's mind. She was no longer able to see the conflict between red humanity and the native aliens of the Red Ocean in a simple manner anymore.

So many additional factors came into play that Veronica could not keep track of everything anymore!

The sides had become too ambiguous!

This was what her mother meant by referring to the curse of knowledge!

A powerful human hand caressed Veronica's head.

"Do not think so much about these overarching issues, my child." A motherly tone soothed the cyborg cat. "You are not directly involved in this struggle. You are a chess piece, not a chess player. You need to focus on your own immediate interests first. The greater struggle between heavenly authorities is most definitely relevant to you, but its scope is far too great for you to agonize over. For now, it is already enough for you to become aware of the allegiances and intentions of the people around you. Think about which heavenly authority they belong to and how that affects their decision-making."

Veronica paused in thought. The most immediate subject in mind was the Red Association. The mechers were not monolithic, but he bet that their leadership had probably come to a consensus on this matter.

The leaders of the Red Association were probably aware of this universal struggle for dominance. They had to be as they largely consisted of True Gods just like her mother.

"Given that the mechers of the Red Ocean purposefully severed ties with the Mech Trade Association, 1 think that the former has no intentions of maintaining ties with the Milky Way anymore." She guessed. "You once told me that names have power. The decision to embrace the name of Red Association means that it is likely meant to encourage red humanity to develop its own separate identity that is separate from original humanity. The same goes for the Red Fleet."

"It is more than that." Cynthia said. "The Red Two have not only adopted a strategy that seeks to diminish the ties between red humanity and the Milky Way, but they have also taken action to embed the humans into the Red Ocean. What is curious is that the Milky Way may still be able to retain a weak claim to red humanity, but it will undoubtedly become much weaker over the coming years."

Veronica couldn't help but scratch her head with her paw. "That sounds... risky. Doesn't that mean that red humans will essentially become native to the Red Ocean in a few generations?"

The Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy was clearly too weak in the face of the two larger galaxies. It sounded a bit stupid to side with the smallest and weakest player in contention!

"The strategy of the Red Two is much more profound than you think, my child. The mechers and the fleeters are purposefully using their control over red humanity to shift its allegiances. Try and guess what they seek to accomplish with the information that you have obtained. Do you think it is pleasant for people like you to become the unwitting footsoldiers of these powerful authorities?"

"No." Veronica immediately shook her feline head. "This is especially the case when we were never given any choice in the first place."

If there was one pet peeve that annoyed her the most, that was answering to a higher authority!

"Think about all of the god pilots and Star Designers who owe enormous debts of karma to the Milky Way but have become stranded in a Red Ocean that has moved far beyond the reach of the former. Do you think these august figures are eager to find a means to reconnect with the old galaxy?"

This was a more difficult issue to Veronica. "Ido not know what goes on in their heads. I think that god pilots and Star Designers are honorable enough to repay all of the favors that helped them in the past. That said, the Great Severing has made it a lot more difficult for them to do so. These leader figures will probably do whatever they can to help the Milky May out, but not as its vassals, but as normal business partners who have engaged in fair transactions."

That was a more insightful answer than Cynthia expected from her child!

"Your words already touch upon the true motives of the Red Two." The Oblivion Empress spoke in an encouraging tone. "Many people yearn for power. The more powerful they become, the less they are able to tolerate subservience. The Great Severing is both a calamity and blessing to the leaders of the Red Two. They have lost most of their connection to the Milky Way. How do you think the vassals of a powerful kingdom will act when they have become stranded in a distant colony?"

It did not take much effort for Veronica to imagine the likely outcome.

"There is no reason for those vassals to maintain a strong allegiance to a kingdom that cannot help them anymore. The colony will undoubtedly declare independence to its former master. Though red humanity cannot sever all of its ties to the Milky Way, the relationship between the two will become much less unequal than before."

Veronica grew fascinated by what she heard! She could see the hidden meaning behind many of the moves made by the Red Two. It turned out that they proactively sought to change this relationship from the moment the Great Severing took place!

In fact, she could even see an angle where certain people who may have learned about the Great Refuge Plan in advance deliberately choose to let the native aliens have their way!

"So what now?" Veronica asked her mother. "Red humanity may have gained an opportunity to weaken their ties to the Milky Way, but that still leaves them vulnerable to both the Red Ocean and Messier 87. The latter especially poses a great threat to the independence of all of those people."

Cynthia smirked. "That is why the Red Two are playing an exceedingly dangerous game. Are you still not able to figure it out? Think about it. What happens to a territory that is contested by three different powers?"

"That territory... will either fall into the hands of one of those three powers, or is able to maintain its independence through clever diplomacy. Wait, is that what the Red Two are aiming for? Are you looking to play the three galaxies against each other to the point where none of them can lay claim to red humanity?!"

"I cannot be certain that this is their ultimate plan, but this is the strategy that I would embrace if I was in their shoes." The Oblivion Empress replied. "Red humanity is looking to deepen its integration into the Red Ocean so that the dwarf galaxy can keep Messier 87 at bay, but I am certain that the mechers and the fleeters will control this process to prevent their people from becoming completely assimilated. Messier 87 is the greatest threat that you and your people must confront, but as long as you are able to use the power of the Milky Way and the Red Ocean to resist the progressively greater influence resulting from the widespread usage of E energy radiation, it is possible to produce a stable middle ground!"

This was a daring plan, one that went so deep that the vast majority of people weren't even aware of this greater ploy!

"If this daring plan comes into fruition, red humanity will no longer become slaves to any heavenly authority!" Veronica realized. "Our civilization will become detached but not completely hostile to any of the galaxies, thereby allowing our people to control our own fate!"

She had only glimpsed a part of the truth so far, but what she learned was so shocking that she looked at all of the major events that happened as of late in a whole different light!

For example, Ves began to suspect whether the Xenotechnician's Diplomacy Plan was an attempt to gradually assimilate red humanity into the Red Ocean.

"The Red Two are playing a dangerous game, and they are not unopposed." The True God elaborated. "For example, the Terrans and the Rubarthans retain a much greater desire to maintain their existing culture and heritage that originates from the Milky Way. So long as they are able to cling to these old traditions, these first-raters will continue to maintain a much stronger association to their old galaxy for many ages."

"That can happen?"

"Oh, yes. A cultural invasion is still an invasion. It does not matter if thousands of years go by and no living human exists anymore that has ever resided in the Milky Way. The history, the memory and all of the other emotional attachment to the old galaxy will ensure that its heavenly authority will still maintain a partial claim to red humanity."

Damn, this game was growing more and more complicated!

The more information Veronica received, the more convoluted this struggle became!

She thought about another variable.

"Is this fight even fair? What I mean by that is that the strength of these heavenly authorities are way too far apart. As far as I am aware, the Milky Way suffered a massive calamity that crippled it to the point where it is no longer able to produce the power of heaven. The Red Ocean has a lot of phasewater, but it is too small and weak to do anything else. If nothing shocking happens, I think it is likely that Messier 87 will gobble up the Red Ocean sooner or later."

"That is the most likely outcome." Cynthia acknowledged. "It is one that the Red Two is resisting with all of their power, but they face an uphill battle. The Red Ocean may be a small and weak dwarf galaxy, but it is an incredibly strategic prize to the greater heavenly authorities. Phasewater is a rare specialty resource that can massively facilitate long-ranged travel and transportation. Messier 87 may be powerful in absolute terms, but I doubt it is able to expand its influence to distant galaxies so easily. Once it is able to take over the Red Ocean..."

"The powerful natives of Messier 87 will be able to make use of all of that phasewater to invade a lot of other galaxies that were previously out of reach!"

Whether the aliens of Messier 87 knew about it or not, their explosive conquest of the surrounding galaxy clusters would serve to fulfill the ultimate ambitions of their heavenly authority!