The Mech Touch

Ves almost couldn't believe that Lady Romanda Devos was a cosmopolitan.

In his mind, the cosmopolitans were all raving fanatics who believed so much in working together with the aliens that they were willing murder an unlimited number of humans in order to achieve their supposedly utopic goals!

Her descriptions of her radical counterparts sounded exactly like how Ves imagined the cosmopolitans to be. Their resistance against the human order had ceased to be a purely intellectual and ideological pursuit.

Instead, the exiled and hated cosmopolitans had huddled together into cells that had practically degenerated into tribes.

Unlike a more civilized organization, a tribe was mostly held together by superstition and irrationality.

The problem became so bad that the cosmopolitans even went as far as forgetting their original purpose!

The fact that Ves currently had to fear for his life because cosmopolitans were plotting to remove his head from his body was a characteristic decision on their part.

Ves had risen up to become one of the more prominent contributors to red humanity during these difficult times. Now that the native aliens were gaining so much ground, he was one of the few influences that had any chance of reversing the tide.

If the radicals were still as reasonable as Lady Romanda, then they would have recognized a long time ago that they had already done more than enough to grant parity to the native aliens.

Yet these stupid cosmopolitans were so stuck on what they had always done for multiple millennia that they could not imagine doing anything else anymore!

They were going too far this time. It made no sense for them to continue to boost the native aliens and tip the Red War even further into their favor!

This was why Lady Romanda and the cell she belonged to finally became fed up with their radical cousins and decided that they needed to act in the opposite direction!

Though Ves found it difficult to process the truth, he was finally able to grasp the logic behind Romanda's actions and apparent motivations.

He looked at the woman with a bit less suspicion than before. If she was speaking the truth, then she was technically on his side, at least for the time being.

That did not mean she had become his friend again.

"You cosmopolitans are so despicable that it is hard for me to trust you guys." Ves plainly admitted. "I have encountered multiple situations where the cosmopolitans directly tried to screw with me. I am a victim of the many larger plots and machinations of your Movement. The Great Severing wouldn't have happened if cosmopolitans haven't spooked the Red Cabal into activating their emergency escape plan way ahead of time. I really want to believe in your goodwill, but the reputation of your organization as a whole is so terrible that I am struggling to tolerate your continued presence."

Lady Romanda remained calm and tried to present herself as harmless as possible.

"I am not a threat to you. I willingly approached you and revealed myself to you in order to seek genuine cooperation. I am aware that it will be difficult to earn your trust, but for your sake as well as that of red humanity, we must try, or else the extremists among my Movement shall have the last laugh."

She raised a good point. Ves and the Cosmopolitan Movement might not exactly get along, but if the latter was split between nutcases and deranged nutcases, then it was better for Ves to cooperate with the lesser evil in order to eradicate the greater evil!

The issue was that the 'lesser evil' in this situation might not be all that different from the supposedly 'greater evil'!

"Don't think I am fooled by you and your so-called 'moderates', Romanda. Don't think I haven't forgotten that your goal, the original goal of the Cosmopolitan Movement, is to achieve a pan-racial society where humans and aliens can live together in peace. That is a goal that is completely opposed to the ideology of human supremacy that still remains dominant in our society. You don't want to help me because you want to support me. You only want to help our side because we are losing too badly at the moment. Once we have become as strong as the aliens, your help will cease, for fear of tipping the balance too far in the other direction."

To her credit, the cosmopolitan did not deny this rationale.

"I have my own goals, and so do you. Our differences are not important at this time. At this point of time, our goals happened to be aligned. Cooperation is much more beneficial than the alternatives. You may do as you wish with me after my cell has provided enough assistance to red humanity to promote lasting peace between the races. You may expose me to the mechers, take me prisoner so that your own agents can interrogate me or kill me outright. It doesn't matter as long as I have completed my mission."

Yup. She was definitely a cosmopolitan.

Ves crossed his arms. He was still angry about the fact that a cosmopolitan managed to get so close to him without exposing her true allegiance at all. This incident exposed a massive flaw in his security arrangements.

However, the situation was too dire at the moment for Ves to get hung up over these issues. He had to set his priorities straight and focus on the more urgent affairs.

"I take it that you have taken the dangerous and risky decision to tell me you are a cosmopolitan in order to inform me about the ambush that your radical compatriots are plotting, correct?"

"That is correct." She said. "I am a Yellow Shell of the Horizon Cell. It is one of the few moderate cells that have recently decided to oppose the radical cells that have gone too far. We have secretly decided to overturn our prior plan and goals and adopted the Human Resurgence Plan instead. Its name is an accurate description of what we seek to accomplish. We recognize that red humanity is falling so far behind that we must actively facilitate its resurgence in order to fulfill a dream of a society where there are still humans left alive to become a part of a true multi-racial galactic community."

Ves noticed an important detail in her explanation. "Are you sure that you managed to keep your change of heart a secret from your radical colleagues?"

"We are fairly certain." Romanda said. "I cannot explain to you why I think so, or whether our methods are reliable, but this is the assumption that we are working with. What is important is that the other cosmopolitans, which includes moderates as well as radicals, are not aware of our secret shift. This has allowed us to receive important clues and information about the ambush that they have prepared against this fleet. The Brown Mandibles that personally deliver the details of the plans as well as instructions meant to progress them should not have been able to detect our change of heart."

Now that certainly caused Ves to become interested in what Romanda had to say. "Can you share all of those plans with me? It would be incredibly helpful to know exactly what they have in store."

"Ah, I cannot do so. I do not have access to the files, and the communication method that I rely upon to maintain contact with the Horizon Cell cannot transfer so much data. I have only received a miniscule amount of information that is relevant to your immediate situation."

"Okay? Tell me what you can share. I hope it is not a waste of time."

"I can assure you that this is relevant and pertinent information."

The cosmopolitan and Terran activated a projection that showed a familiar star map of the route between New Constantinople and Yernstall.

The projection zoomed in to the Bluejay Fleet's current location as well as the next FTL travel stops.

"At our current junction, there are three likely destinations that the Bluejay Fleet will travel to next in order to reach Yernstall in a timely manner. They are the Tjella System, the Nilhart System and the Mazepan System. The radicals have predicted this as well and made preparations to waylay your fleet in each star system."

Ves narrowed his eyes. "Our route was supposed to be fuzzy and random enough to prevent what you have said. How could the cosmopolitans have known this in advance?"

"I am not certain. I do not have the answers. What I can tell you is if you visit one of these three star systems, your fleet will fall into a disadvantage."

"Okay. Then shouldn't our response be simple? We can just take a detour. There are way more star systems that we can move to instead. Sure, the route will become so suboptimal that we may arrive at our destination at least a day or two late, but that beats getting caught in a trap."

"I do not advise you to do so, Ves. The cosmopolitans have prepared… other measures if you take a detour that will delay your arrival by such a large extent. It is better if you pass through one of the three aforementioned star systems and spring the trap on your terms."

"That doesn't make any sense! Isn't this exactly what the radicals of your Movement wish to see?"

Romanda lifted her finger and pointed at the Nilhart System.

"Not precisely. Whatever source of prediction they have consulted, the radicals believe that there is a 60 percent likelihood that your fleet will pass through this particular system."

Ves could see why that was the case. Passing through the Nilhart System was faster and more convenient that moving through any other star system.

"That mean that the cosmopolitans have put a lot more eggs in this particular basket?"

"That is one way of describing it." Romanda responded. "Your fleet will become under assault by the strongest coalition of cosmopolitans and aliens. Your chances of surviving this battle are poor."

"What about the other two star systems?"

"The cosmopolitans and the aliens they are cooperating with have prepared ambushes in these star systems as well, but they are not as overwhelming. Your adversaries will still maintain a slight advantage in the Tjella System and the Mazepan System. For this reason, if you wish to pass through the gauntlet prepared by your foes, I advise you to run through the easiest gauntlet and defeat one of the comparably less numerous opponents arrayed against you. As long as you defeat this enemy force fast enough, you can quickly depart and make your way to Yernstall while preventing the much larger force lurking in the depths of the Nilhart System from catching up to the Bluejay Fleet. Avoiding contact with this fleet is your greatest priority."

That… sounded serious. Though Ves did not know what the cosmopolitans had managed to scrounge up in the Nilhart System, if Lady Romanda's warnings could be trusted, then he had a much higher chance of suffering defeat if the Bluejay Fleet moved to this star system!

"So let me be sure about this. You, a cosmopolitan, do not want to see other cosmopolitans succeed in their plot against me. You therefore warn me that we should absolutely avoid the Nilhart System, but not avoid confrontation entirely. Instead, in order to keep our fleet moving forward quickly enough, we should instead pass through the Tjella System or the Mazepan System. Once there, we can blitz through the relatively weaker opposition and move on quickly enough to avoid the executioners arriving from Hilhart."

"Correct. That is the gist of it. I cannot guarantee the veracity of all of the details that I have shared, but I am willing to stake my life on the message that I have been instructed to share with you. Please believe in our sincerity. We are not your enemy. Our Horizon Cell never sought to become an enemy of the human race. We have not forgotten our own humanity, which is more than what I can say for the radicals."

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