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Ves already knew that the Big Two were not on good terms with the first-rate superstates, but this dignified and important Master made it sound as if the former dominators of human civilizations were one step away from imposing their rule over the rest of human space!

He knew what the Terrans and Rubarthans were like, so this was not an entirely implausible fear. The first-rate superstates were never truly convinced that the Big Two deserved to take over the mantle and guide humanity to a new future.

If the first-raters had their way, the MTA and CFA would make way so that every state could regain their full autonomy and right to operate as a sovereign nation!

"You cannot imagine how much of a threat the Terrans and Rubarthans pose to a human society that we have painstakingly reformed for the better." Dervidian said as if he was under a compulsion to explain his suspicion towards the first-raters. "At the end of the Age of Conquest, we had the option to dismantle the Terran Confederation and the Rubarth Empire entirely. We… did not choose to do so due to how fragile human society had become. Too much death and destruction has pushed our race to the brink of collapse, and we could not afford to wage a ruinous war against the legacy empires that still possessed access to entire arsenals of superweapons."

"Ultimately, the Big Two chose to prioritize the preservation of humankind over the need to remove the star empires that deserve much of the blame for the madness that they unleashed." Ves observed.

In fact, he was aware that a shadow war took place at the same time. The successful rebellion of the Big Two led to the downfall of the Five Scrolls Compact that supposedly controlled humanity behind the scene.

Ves bet that this ultimate confrontation inflicted even more damage to the MTA and CFA, causing their forces to become so depleted that they no longer possessed the confidence to prolong their aggression any further.

"We took the high road while the first-rate superstates used their reprieve to lick their wounds." Master Dervidian affirmed. "We made the only decision that was right back then, but this led to an outcome where the Terrans and the Rubarthans still retained much of their existing institutions and culture. In short, they may have acquiesced to the new order on the surface, but that is as superficial as a pair of murderers exchanging their suits of combat armor for civilian-grade vacsuits. No matter what they are wearing, this does not change the fact that death and conquest are still in their veins."

It sounded as if the first-rate superstates still possessed a lot of leverage against the Big Two.

The latter most certainly held the upper hand after taking over the mandate of guiding after human civilization, but it was possible that the Terrans and Rubarthans still retained enough remnant superweapons to inflict a lot of damage if the Big Two ever came to finish the job!

Ves picked up an extremely crucial detail. Master Dervidian essentially implied that the Big Two failed to disarm the Terran Confederation and Rubarth Empire!

If the power disparity between the two sides was not that great, then it made sense that the Terrans and Rubarthans possessed the guts to retain their possession of warships and weapons of mass destruction!

There was no way the former hegemons of human civilization would surrender their only deterrent against the tyranny of the MTA and CFA.

In any case, the Big Two's retreat at the time led to an unfortunate impasse between the two power blocs. The first-rate superstates were never really convinced that they had to bow their heads against the upstarts that managed to take advantage of the chaos to get on top.

"Do the Terrans and Rubarthans still pose that much threat to the current order?" Ves curiously asked.

This was a rare opportunity to get real insider knowledge on the actual state of human space!

It was clear that much of the lessons that Ves and other people learned in school only scratched the surface of what had actually taken place.

The galactic net was filled with fringe theories and outright lies. It was a lot better if Ves was able to extract crucial information from a more knowledgeable source.

He could hardly imagine getting access to a better source than a Master who was already part of the leadership cadre of the MTA and also happened to possess a working relationship with at least several Star Designer!

The only problem was that this source also happened to be biased towards the MTA. It was extremely unlikely that Dervidian would be willing to paint his organization in a bad light.

Ves already took this into account. He just wanted to know why the Master and his fellow mechers were so eager to subject the Terrans and Rubarthans to cruel and dangerous experiments.

"The Terran Confederation and the Rubarth Empire… are most certainly stronger than you think." Master Dervidian admitted. "We have never obtained solid proof of our suspicions, but we strongly believe that the first-rate superstates were less than honest when they promised that they had deconstructed all of their warships and superweapons. They may have discarded their illegal assets that were already exposed to the public, but we believe that both of the star empires still retain secret reserves of at least thousands of warships and millions of planet-threatening superweapons!"

"That… that sounds outrageous! Shouldn't it be easy to track down all of those warships and weapons? As far as I know, the infrastructure required to research, develop and build all of those huge capital ships and powerful anti-matter bombs is immense. Entire chains of star systems are needed to support the construction of just a single battleship. How could the Terrans and Rubarthans get away with claiming that they went through with disarming their most threatening war assets?"

Master Dervidian waved his arm in a certain direction. "We believe the first-rate superstates have hidden their covert warfleets in the same manner the phase whales isolate themselves from the Red Ocean."

"Are you talking about pocket spaces?"

"That is our primary suspicion. Pocket spaces are not unheard of in the Milky Way. It takes a prohibitive amount of resources, effort and technology to create artificial pocket spaces without phasewater, but the possibility still exists. Former star empires that used to be as powerful and dominant as the first-rate superstates most certainly possessed the means to create at least a handful of isolated pocket spaces in several different secretive locations spread across their territory. These hidden forces can serve as powerful reserves against alien invaders, but they pose an immense danger to our current order."

This was a massive piece of information!

Although it sounded weird that the MTA wasn't capable enough to confirm this crucial suspicion, Ves fully believed that the former star empires were capable enough to amass and retain a formidable amount of threatening weapons and assets.

"How much effort and resources did the first-raters put into updating and expanding their secret arsenals?"

"That is difficult for us to say." Master Dervidian replied. "The first-rate superstates cannot transfer as much resources and manpower to their arsenals as before, but they are so large that it is impossible to track every single minor transfer of goods and personnel. For example, a convoy filled with high-quality construction materials might be lost to pirates on day, but actually diverted to a secret location where they transferred the items needed to retain or expand the hidden warfleets."

"Much of those warships should be aging rust buckets by now, right?"

"A warship is still a warship, Mr. Larkinson. The power of a battleship that survived the Age of Conquest is still capable of destroying entire planets if they are fully equipped. Besides, first-class technology can easily be utilized to maintain the condition of older warships or update their specifics to modern standards."

"Ah."

In short, the battleships of the first-rate superstates may not be that far behind from the battleships at the hands of the Big Two!

This was a rather honest but also depressing admission from a mecher. Dervidian clearly despised the Terrans and Rubarthans, but that did not mean he underestimated their threat!

He was a lot better than the Hexers in that regard.

Ves still remembered hearing the Hexers express their hatred against the Fridaymen, but also refused to accept the fact that their archenemies were formidable opponents!

"Does all of this have anything to do with your policy of hunting down rule-breaking first-raters in the Red Ocean and putting them to use in human experiments?"

The Master nodded. "The Terrans and Rubarthans are rebellious and dishonest by nature. They do not see others as their equals. In their perspective, every other individual is inferior to them. Our efforts are meant to remind the first-raters of who is truly in charge of humanity in the current age. By keeping them on their toes, they will show more restraint towards others and more respect towards our demands."

That might be true, but Ves figured that all of these actions only bred further hatred and resentment towards the Big Two!

There was no way the Terrans and Rubarthans would look favorably at the dehumanization of their fellow citizens!

Ves had the feeling that this was not a sustainable pattern. While he understood that it took a lot of force to keep the first-rate superstates honest, beating them over and over again would eventually invite a reprisal!

Whatever might take place in future, Ves hoped to be as far away from the flashpoint as possible!

"I don't mean to question your Association's policies, but is it truly the right choice to strip the captive first-raters of their human rights?" Ves tentatively asked. "I acknowledge that the criminals probably deserve this treatment, but shouldn't the MTA put more effort into setting a positive example to the rest of human society?"

Dervidian shook his head. "My conscience is clean, and so are the consciences of all of our fellow researchers. Killing a fellow human is murder. Killing an inhuman individual is no worse than killing an alien being. What we are doing is fully permissible according to our rules. There is no conflict or ambiguity in our laws. We hold humans as sacred, but that does not mean that anyone who resembles us is entitled to their human rights. Those that violate our most important taboos have voluntarily waived those very same rights. After all, one of our legal principles is that any individual who shows a callous disregard for another person's rights cannot call upon them for protection anymore."

This was a simple but drastic legal principle.

What if guilt or innocence couldn't clearly be determined?

What if the MTA didn't possess the full picture?

What if the mechers harbored such a great incentive to declare a group of first-raters guilty that they never seriously sought evidence that could absolve them of guilt?

There were so many potential problems and complications from this stance that Ves found it difficult to understand why the mechers thought it was a permissible approach.

They were one of the strongest defenders of human rights ever since they came into power after the end of the Age of Conquest!

Their advocacy of protecting humans against arbitrary attacks and injustices was one of the main reasons why their approval ratings remained high!

Ultimately, it came down to treating their enemies as outsiders.

To the MTA, every human belonged to a common group that was entitled to their rights.

If the mechers wanted to go against this principle without breaking them, then they could just kick an offending human from the in-group!

From the moment the mechers labeled a Terran or Rubarthan as an outsider, they could rightfully do whatever they wanted to any supposed criminals without feeling any guilt!

It was pure self-deception at the highest order!