What can be said of the humans?

They are a stubborn species, quite possibly the most stubborn any of my kind has ever seen. They can be brash, bullheaded, and at the worst of times some of their own managed to show more arrogance than even the most snobbish of our Magistrates. Yet, why can we not manage to defeat them? Is it because of this bullishness that they find the strength to resist our might, that unnatural amount of stamina that allows them to fight for days on end while our own troops can only handle such exertion for a day or two? Or is it from their cunning that they manage to outwit and outmaneuver us when we least expect it? Certainly we've had our victories, but their losses only seem to rally them in the end, resulting in defeat after defeat until we, by a small margin, barely hold them back. My predecessor, the late Khenka Szetschu, may the Divine bless her soul, found this out the hard way when a small crew of their militia shot their way through the Capital Dreadnought Ashaton and struck the Empress down where she stood. They did not even allow her any final words, though I cannot blame them. Any one of our assassins would have done the same. After that, the war ended and we retreated back to our space thoroughly defeated and dispirited. It has been some time since then, but the wounds of that time are still fresh among my people, awaiting with eagerness at reclaiming the honor that the humans took in their victory. Eager, but cautious nonetheless.

Yes, I too must admit that there is some desire to engage with the humans in these old bones of mine, but if we are to ever hope for a chance to defeat them, we must understand them as a people first. Perhaps, by chronicling the conflict with the humans since our first contact with them, I can find some insight to what makes a human... a human.

For starters, humans are a very individualistic species. Indeed, for much of the Second Galactic Civil War the humans were not even part of the Coalition. They kept to themselves in their own little section of the Galaxy, interacting with whoever bothered to contact them but never reaching out. That is, until the Battle of Genos Prime. But I suppose I should lay the groundwork for how this whole conflict came to be. The Coalition of United Species claims their reasons for the war were independence from the Rezenaga Empire. The usual claims of oppression and injustice were made, and the war began. I shall admit, for a while they managed to do fine on their own, but there is a reason the Rezenaga remain supreme in the galaxy. Soon the Coalition found themselves teetering on the point of collapse, and the Empire was already in the process of marking the dates of execution for much of the Coalition's leaders. In a year or two, things would return to normal, like the whole mess would have faded away like the nuisance that was the First Galactic Civil War. That is what we all believed, and perhaps in that moment of arrogance we overstepped our boundaries.

The human colony of Genos Prime, located in fringe space, was the closest colony that came to Imperial Territory. My predecessor, in a fit of arrogance, foolhardiness, or a combination of both, ordered a small fleet to conquer the planet as a warning to the humans to remember who was the supreme power in the Galaxy. Fleet Commander Idra Atesj led the charge, and at the time it was estimated that the whole process would take a mere four days, including travel. As per the usual tactics, bombardment of Genos Prime lasted for an entire day until the settlement was nothing more than a pile of rubble. Ground troops were then deployed to eliminate or capture the survivors.

It was then that the Empire learned of the tenacity of the humans. The concept of shelters and bunkers is not something that is foreign to the Rezenaga, but the amount of which was located at Genos Prime was... puzzling. Their population could not have been more than a few thousand, so to have a large amount of shelters, fit for one of our cities, was truly a puzzling sight indeed. But the most confusing thing was that each of these shelters were empty, and in the remains of the city there were no bodies to be found. Then the humans emerged from the forests.

If I were to describe the technology of the humans, I would describe it as a simplistic. Not crude or unsophisticated, but easy enough to use that even the Empire has numerous pieces of human technology out of pure convenience. Their weapons were no different, but just as effective as any plasma blaster. Our armor, designed to deflect and diffuse the heat of a plasma bolt, was not very effective in blocking the human's rail-based weaponry. The first squad to encounter them was wiped out in a few seconds, but by then we were wary of them. After that, they disappeared. It was decided against the good of the empire to bombard the forests of Genos Prime, but in retrospect perhaps it would have been better to sacrifice the resources of the planet to quickly smite your foe. Then again, even that might not have been effective, for humans have been documented to survive far worse attacks over the course of the war.

The second squad fell a few days after the first, their disappearance so quick and so silent that it was only after they did not report into the fleet that their elimination had been noticed. Soon after the third squad fell, and the ground troops did not step another foot into the forests, instead posting up in the destroyed colony for refuge. That proved to be a major mistake. It was not revealed to us until later, but in the haste to check each bunker for survivors, the ground troops were not aware that each bunker in fact had a hidden room that connected to an underground system of tunnels. The humans attacked at night, and within a matter of hours contact with the ground team was lost. Commander Atesj, who as I remember as a rather temperamental woman, ordered another bombardment on the colony, which proved to be ineffective once again as the humans retreated back into their bunkers.

According to a dear friend of mine, who was present at the battle, there was much confusion over the reasons the humans were fighting. By all means Genos Prime was, and is no treasure to the Galaxy, and still, as far as I'm aware of, a simple farming colony out in the Fringes. It would have been far easier to find some way of escape, or to hide longer to fool the fleet into thinking they were dead, as most of the other species had when the Legions overpowered them. But no, they did not flee, they fought, and fought, and fought until Commander Atesj had to request more troops in shame. The humans suffered casualties themselves, of course, but they proved to be just as, if not more effective at defending than attacking. The rubble of their colony served as their shield, and it served them well.

Finally, after a long, hard fought battle, harder than any Rezenaga could remember in recent memory, the humans ranks thinned enough to allow the ground forces to sweep in and capture them. Many wished to execute them on the spot, but the Commander had to know, what drove them to fight so hard? She never found out, for as the ground forces took the city, the Human fleet appeared and shot her out of the sky. Whether that was a planned move or just luck, I will never know, but it drove the fleet into a panic, losing more ships than necessary before they retreated. My friend, luckily, had survived the ordeal, but not before receiving a message from the human fleet. It took some time to translate, but it said:

"We lost some good people out here. Prepare to lose a lot of yours."

I remember the feeling I had as the words were relayed to me. I was... excited. Finally, there was a foe that could match us, a foe that had enough courage to stand against us, as futile as would be. Finally, there would be a challenge, a challenge I had so longed for in my younger days. Now... now I would take such words with caution, and be afraid; very, very afraid.