Chapter 7285: Tacit Approval Ves felt as if he was suffering a minor crisis of confidence. For a long time, he had always held the Fist of Defiance in good regard. Sure, the god pilot might come across as a brainless meathead when he spoke, but his heart was always in the right place. Ves had always assumed that the Fist of Defiance was an upright and honorable god pilot. Now, he had become a lot less certain about this assumption. Had he always misunderstood the Fist of Defiance? Or had Ves overestimated the god pilot's honor? 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂 He grew disappointed when he learned that the Fist of Defiance and the Xenotechnician made a secret accord about engaging in diplomacy with the cosmopolitans and the native aliens. Ves hated the Cosmopolitan Movement. While he understood that it was fractured into many different cells and that not all of them hailed from the radical faction, that did not change the fact that the cosmopolitans had been responsible for massively closing the technological gap between the two sides of the Red War. The 5 defensive bands collapsed much sooner than they should, causing entire territories and zones to fall to the predations of the native aliens. The Red Cabal gained a much better understanding of their human enemies due to the crucial intelligence leaked by the cosmopolitans. More importantly, the cosmopolitans attempted to assassinate Ves personally on several occasions! Though the human traitors had seemingly given up on these attempts after the last one had blown up in their faces, there was no way that Ves could look past these incidents and forgive them for their transgressions! As far as he was concerned, his conflict with the Cosmopolitan Movement was not an abstract clash between ideals. It was personal! Even now, Ves could not say for sure whether the cosmopolitans had given up on claiming his head. Even if they no longer dared to strike him directly, they could still manipulate the native aliens into launching an ambush against the Bluejay Fleet. There were good reasons why his escort force had grown so strong and numerous. Ves did not choose to bring along 30 Ascended Giants because he wanted to form an exaggeratedly strong honor guard. He hated the fact that he needed to remain on guard against the machinations of the cosmopolitans. He also hated it that his wife and children also required a lot of protection due to their animosity towards himself. Perhaps the Fist of Defiance may be able to authorize a secret collaboration between the Xenotechnician and the Cosmopolitan Movement, but then again there was no way the human traitors could threaten his life! "Doesn't the Fist of Defiance know how much he is betraying the collective spirit of human supremacy by making such a decision?" Ves asked. Jovy made a helpless shrug. "I believe that is one of the reasons why this arrangement remains classified. The main reason why we are able to learn about this at all is because your galactic citizenship has reached the threshold where you need to be informed. If you did not manage to get promoted, then you would have remained in the dark for many more years. The same applies to the public. Politics at the highest level is much more... flexible than the masses realize. When each decision has enormous implications for the lives of trillions of red humans, you cannot afford to make a mistake. Blindly following the rules will not always lead to a good outcome." "Spoken like a true Survivalist." "We do what is necessary." Jovy freely accepted the label. Ves felt as if his previous closeness with the Survivalists had always been a farce. Though he understood their motivations and respected their primary missions, he could not bring himself to support them on an unconditional basis anymore. It turned out that the Polymath was not an outlier. The other leaders of the Survivalist Faction could be just as radical and extreme as the female Star Designer. Ves grew disappointed with the faction for this reason. He had always known in the back of his mind that the Survivalists were dangerous, but it was only now that he realized how little they stuck to their principles. Out of all of the mechers, the Survivalists possessed the weakest bottom lines! Not even the Transhumanists were willing to violate the rules as egregiously as the Survivalists! As long as they could argue that their actions promoted the survival of red humanity, they possessed the license to do virtually anything! "What do you think, Jovy?" Ves asked. "I need an explanation. You know how much I dislike the cosmopolitans. Why... is it still necessary to pursue the Diplomacy Plan?" His friend grimaced. Answering this question could easily land him in trouble depending on what he said. However, out of his friendship with Ves, Jovy still tried to give a possible theory. "One of my personal theories is that the Xenotechnician planned to work together with the more moderate cells of the Cosmopolitan Movement regardless of what others thought. Rather than let him operate without any form of accountability, the Fist of Defiance decided it was better to power the Xenotechnician to operate under supervision by his peers. This can ensure that the Star Designer will still get his way, but prevent him from exceeding acceptable boundaries. So long as this is the case, the overall result should end up as a net positive to red humanity." The argument sounded logical. Ves could believe that the Fist of Defiance may have made this calculation when he granted his provisional support to the Xenotechnician. That did not make this deal any more tolerable to Ves. "I can understand the god pilot's perspective." He slowly said. "The cosmopolitans have done great harm to our people and civilization. If they can be used to form a bridge between red humanity and an open- minded major alien race, then that might result in a historic treaty where we do not have to fight against as many aliens as before. It is just..." "Such a deal violates the principles of human supremacy." Jovy acknowledged. "One of the disputes that is taking place at the highest levels is whether it is still appropriate to cling to this ideology. Since the Age of Stars, humanity has achieved great success by eschewing diplomacy and treating every alien civilization as hostile. However, you know as well as I do that humans secretly received the help of the Five Scrolls Compact. We were far stronger back then than was obvious on the surface. Nowadays, our situation is much worse as we cannot count on a secret backer. The Red Collective may be mimicking the methods of the Compact, but the impact is not nearly as great." He was right for multiple reasons. Red humanity did not enjoy the services of 5 Sacred Scrolls or the Shrines that used to be a lot more powerful in the past. The Red Collective did not have any True God-level qi cultivators in its service either as far as Ves was aware. The MTA and CFA had done too good of a job of preventing such a dangerous entity from passing through the greater beyonder gates. All of this meant that red humanity's foundation was far weaker than original humanity during the start of the Age of Conquest. Since that was the case, people could argue that clinging onto human supremacy was pure overconfidence! While Ves was more than willing to believe in this ideal himself, he could not bring himself to dismiss the potential merits of the Diplomacy Plan. This was especially the case after the latest events had overtaken the Deep Strike Plan. The temporary absence of Bridgehead One combined with the sudden emergence of the mutated voribugs had placed great doubt on whether the plan could even continue. Ves still wanted the Larkinsons to participate in a deep strike operation, but it might not make as much strategic sense as before. Maybe the only valid reason to commit to such an action was to raid the location where the Red Cabal was producing its alien-grade superdimensional matter. The mission issued by Jovy made a lot more sense in this context. "I still do not like what the Xenotechnician is doing." Ves voiced his feelings about this entire matter. "That said, I am willing to trust that the Fist of Defiance and the other tier 1 galactic citizens are keeping a close eye on the Star Designer. I do not think that any of you guys are eager to see him inadvertently make the native aliens more dangerous than before. If he can successfully melt the hostility between red humanity and at least one major race, then that is already a boon." "The appearance of a third major threat in this dwarf galaxy will significantly boost the Xenotechnician's chances of forming an interspecies accord." Jovy sounded encouraged. "The mutated voribugs cannot be reasoned with and have nothing in common with the native aliens. Since it is becoming increasingly more obvious that the alien insects pose an existential threat to all other life in the Red Ocean, there is a much stronger basis of cooperation than before. I believe that more and more alien races will become open-minded towards a temporary cease-fire." Even if it was temporary, this was already massive progress! If a major race no longer chose to throw its armed forces at the frontlines, then that would relieve a lot of pressure on the human defenders! Casualties would plunge. The shortage of reinforcements would become a lot less acute. The remaining hostile alien races would find it a lot more difficult to make attainments. All it took was the defection of a single major alien race. Ves grew more and more appreciative of the Diplomacy Plan. He disliked it, but he could not argue with the logic of it. That made him hate it all the more. This was why he voiced his earlier opinion. He could logically deduce that the Xenotechnician's attempts to work together with the enemies of red humanity might bear fruit. Ves would benefit and so would his family, so why should he complain? He just felt that the Cosmopolitan Movement did not deserve to be treated with respect. Ves would love nothing more than to root them all out and exterminate each of their members, particularly the ones belonging to the radical cells! Unfortunately, nothing was black and white in this reality. Yesterday's terrorists could easily turn into tomorrow's heroes. It all depended on what red humanity needed the most. The two mech designers soon moved on and discussed the disposition of other god pilots and Star Designers. "The Terran and Rubarthan tier 1 galactic citizens are easy to categorize." Jovy said in a more relaxed tone. "All of them have proven to be more loyal to their colonial star empires than the Red Association. While they are still willing to participate in RA affairs on a nominal basis, they have already made it clear with their actions that they are ready to sever their ties to the Association if a fundamental conflict occurs. This will probably happen sooner or later due to the Terran and Rubarthan willingness to violate certain taboos." The RA was first and foremost a regulatory trade organization. Over the centuries, the mechers came up with a lot of restrictive rules. The Terrans and the Rubarthans would definitely not be willing to abide by all of these pedantic restrictions now that they had declared their independence! Maybe they might still abide by the most severe and important taboos due to mutual interest, but Ves could easily see them violate the rules that prevented mechs from making use of support link technology or directly connecting themselves to the power systems of warships! Ves decided to voice his own opinions. "The Terrans and the Rubarthans have grown up. It is true that people during the Age of Conquest needed to be reined in, but 4 centuries have passed. I am sure they know better this time." "History often has a tendency to repeat." "I think we need to solve our external enemies first before we address our internal ones." (More chapters in Buyers club for TMT)