The Mech Touch

The Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy presented many humans who grew up in the Age of Mechs a glimpse of what the Milky Way used to be like in a past era.

Though the alien species were completely different, there were still many parallels.

For example, just like the Milky Way before the Age of Conquest, the Red Ocean was a multi-ethnic and relatively divided space where multiple powerful alien civilizations lived together in relative balance.

The Red Ocean already possessed a long history before the arrival of humans. It went through multiple epochs of rising civilizations, great wars, mass extinction events, golden ages and dark ages.

The human invasion was the latest crisis that befell the native residents of this dwarf galaxy, and it was likely the greatest disaster that they had ever experienced!

Humanity was a threat from a different and larger galaxy. Even though the Big Two did not transfer all of their war-making potential to the Red Ocean, their scale was so immense that they didn't need to do their best in order to push back the indigenous alien empires!

This was a time of great tragedy for the aliens, but it was also a time of great opportunity for the invading side.

[The Mech Trade Association and the Common Fleet Alliance has classified the diverse makeup of aliens in the Red Ocean in three different categories.] The AI explained to the Ingvar siblings as they made their way to the next biome. [There are a total of 13 major races which can be found in many regions of this dwarf galaxy. There are 305 minor races that are mainly dominant in specific regions but can sporadically appear in other areas. There are over 10,000 localized races that are intelligent and have the potential to become threats, but are too young and underdeveloped to pose any serious danger. The count of identified sentient alien races continues to be revised over time.]

Both Casella and Imon Ingvar looked impressed at the numbers. Sure, the Red Ocean might be 64 times smaller than the Milky Way, but that still amounted to several billions of stars, many of which still had the ability to nurture alien life.

The amount of intelligent aliens evolving from this dwarf galaxy should have been much more, but many of them had gone extinct over its long history.

One of the factors that distinguished the major races from the minor races was age. Many different alien civilizations rose up from their home planets throughout the eras. Yet not all of them were able to withstand the test of time.

The minor races were generally upstarts or had settled into their respective niches. They were similar to humanity during the Age of Stars in that they could become stronger but did not grasp the opportunity yet. Many undoubtedly failed, but the few who managed to overcome this hurdle became greater existences.

Major races like the nunsers not only managed to spread throughout the Red Ocean, but also survived several different wars and crises. They were hard to wipe out in their totality and also possessed considerable influence among the other alien races in the dwarf galaxy.

Although the pioneers weren't supposed to contend directly against these powerful alien civilizations, no one could guarantee that their ships and fleets snuck past the frontlines.

It was prudent for every human that planned to enter the new frontier to familiarize themselves with these powerful threats, and that was exactly what the Ingvars were doing at the moment.

They stopped at the next biome that depicted a highly technological city. The environment exhibited a much greater emphasis on technology as it featured floating spheres, exposed circuitry and lots of uncoated metal surfaces.

The lack of sharp angles was quite noticeable. It was as if the alien architects deliberately went out of the way to smooth every corner and turn every steep angle into a gentle curve.

The aliens occupying this exhibit looked frankly silly by human standards.

"Are these… footballs?"

"Footballs with lots of thin and creepy-looking arms."

The resident aliens were roughly the size of a human child but shaped like a ball. They moved around by rolling their bodies. Three to fifteen different arms poking out from their surface allowed them to control their own rolling motion in different ways.

The bodies of the more basic alien individuals were covered by a thick, cushioning leathery hide, but they were actually few and far in between.

Most of these silly-looking ball aliens possessed an extensive amount of cybernetic augmentations. These came in many different varieties, but it was common for them to cover their entire surface in metal and add additional robotic arms to their bodies.

Clearly, these aliens were dissatisfied with their biological weaknesses and loved to compensate for them with cybernetic enhancements.

[The puelmer race consists of small-statured, spherical-shaped mammals that are often underestimated due to their limited size. However, their civilization is among one of the most aggressive and militaristic in the Red Ocean, having caused the extinction of at least a thousand minor alien races.]

"Wow. These ball aliens did all that?" Imon blinked.

Casella frowned at her brother. "You can't underestimate them because they look like balls that you can kick around. Humanity is on the smaller side compared to the aliens who used to dominate the Milky Way in the past, and look what happened."

"You have a point."

The AI continued to explain the basic traits of the puelmers.

[The puelmers have developed a large society that is largely devoid of finer pursuits. Instead, they spend most of their time preparing for warfare or engaging in war. Their favorite pursuit is to fight and conquer rival ‘tribes', which they have done on a regular basis until the arrival of humanity in the Red Ocean has compelled them to stop their infighting.]

"That sounds familiar." Imon noted. "If these puelmers didn't look so damn freaky, I would have thought they were related to our race."

Casella had a different opinion. "The more these puelmers resemble humans, the more dangerous they are. Conflict and competition are powerful drivers of progress."

They were not completely similar to humans, though. Apparently, puelmers lacked several distinctly human traits such as empathy, an ability to have fun and an appreciation of culture.

They made up for it with excellent motor skills and a penchant for building lots of spherical warships.

Unlike the nunser upright cylindrical ship homes, the puelmers built and operated dedicated warships. This meant that these dangerous metal balls were armed to the teeth and did not contain a lot of inefficient elements.

The puelmers regularly dedicated the majority of their lives to war. Unlike humans, they had no need for ark ships where they could unwind and start families. They did their jobs without complaint and had no problem spending the rest of their lives on duty.

The AI showed several projections of puelmers in combat. Hundreds of not thousands of giant metal balls zipped by and strafed their opponents with a mixture of energy and kinetic armaments.

[As you can see, the puelmer combat doctrine largely emphasizes quantity over quality. The puelmers prefer to construct many warships that are all specialized in different configurations. We have identified millions of unique offensive, defensive, supportive and logistical configurations. Individually, a puelmer warship is not an insurmountable threat. However, a fleet of puelmer warships exhibit strong teamwork and cooperation that allows them to exert greater power.]

"Damn, that's another thing these aliens have in common with humans."

[As a major alien race, the puelmers pose a particularly significant hindrance to humanity's conquest of the Red Ocean.] The AI tour guide informed the museum guests. [The puelmers are a competitive, technologically-advanced race that have exhibited a disturbing degree of adaptation towards external threats. After decades of warfare against the Mech Trade Association and the Common Fleet Alliance, the puelmers have achieved limited success in reverse-engineering human high technology. They have already begun to update their warships with advanced human weapons and systems while at the same time changing their configuration to put up a greater resistance against human warfleets.]

Everyone who heard this became shocked! This was a frightening development!

Many humans learned the early history of their race. When humanity had just begun to explore the stars, their technological development was incredibly primitive compared to the galactic norm.

Yet by encountering and assimilating many different instances of alien technology, the human race rapidly ascended in power, allowing them to contend against successively more powerful alien civilizations.

This exceptional rise to power has made a lot of humans proud of their racial strengths. They might not be individually impressive or powerful, but their ability to learn and adapt from their enemies was one of the key traits that allowed them to gain supremacy in the Milky Way!

Now, the tech-oriented puelmer race exhibited similar tendencies. The difference here was that it had already erected a mature alien civilization that was much more capable of assimilating incredibly advanced high technology at a relatively fast pace.

If humanity didn't wipe out the puelmers fast enough, a day might come when their spherical warships might achieve parity with human warships!

[One of the persistent shortcomings of the puelmers is that they are lacking in diplomacy. Their xenophobia towards other alien species, their tendency to hoard technology and their unwillingness to engage in inter-species trade has resulted in relatively little technology transfer to the other indigenous alien civilizations in the Red Ocean. Currently, solicitations from several diplomatic alien races such as the nunsers have failed to persuade the puelmers to share their superior technology, but this is liable to change.]

All in all, each major alien race of the Red Ocean possessed strengths that forced humanity to take them seriously.

None of the nearby museum visitors laughed at the silly-looking ball-like aliens anymore. These diminutive organisms were aggressive, good with technology and demonstrated a scary degree of adaptation.

If they ever realized that they couldn't resist humanity by themselves and needed to cooperate with the other indigenous alien civilizations, then the conquest of the Red Ocean would surely take a radical turn!

"You know, I think the clan patriarch might actually like these ball aliens." Imon remarked with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"Oh? Why would you say so, brother?"

"Our clan patriarch loves playing with advanced technology, and capturing a puelmer warship is a great opportunity to get in touch with them. Even if he can't reverse-engineer all of that alien stuff, he can probably take out the best bits and stick them onto his mechs or something."

"That… sounds stupid. Do you truly think grafting random alien components onto human mechs will work? Look at the size of these puelmer warships. Each of them is bigger than a mech. Grafting their weapons or other alien systems onto mechs is not only impractical, but also illegal. We are better off selling all of our salvage back to the MTA."

Imon's unrealistic fantasy of piloting an awesome mech that was augmented with alien technology were dashed. His sister had a point. Though the puelmers didn't field any enormous capital ships, their combat vessels were designed and built to fight against warship analogues.

A strange idea came to mind, though.

"Hey, since the MTA likes to deploy their mechs in combat, do you think the Puelmers will develop their own version of mechs?"

"That's unlikely." Casella shook her head. "Without any special factors, mechs are much less powerful than warships. They're too small and inefficient. I doubt they can nurture their versions of high-ranking mech pilots and mech designers that can give their mechs a greater edge."

"You never know, sister. If they ever decide to build their own mechs, will they come in the form of regular humanoid mechs or will they turn them into metal balls with different limbs sticking from their surface? I think I might get sick if I ever have to confront the latter on a battlefield."

"Shut up, Imon."