The Scourge called Humans

[WP] A thousand years after humanity was accepted into the galactic federation at large, other aliens realized one terrifying fact about them, humans are adaptive creatures. Unlike other races, humans have no qualms about learning alien techniques or integrating new alien technologies to their own.

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At first, we laughed at the apex species of Sol III. They were mammals, standing on two legs and having two free arms with claws able of manipulation. They called themselves "humans".

Most of galactic species had solved their own inner differences way before they launched themselves to explore other worlds and stars. Some reached mutual understanding, deleting old national states and joining upon a common cause. Others had long wars until one reached victory over their peers but, ultimately, they reached peace. My species, the Thurin, are blessed with shared emotions and memories. We are not quite a hive mind, but we feel each other, we understand each other, and we finally united under a common cause: peace, prosperity, knowledge.

But humans were different.

They kept fighting. They did it even as they jumped to their own solar system. They did fight even as they colonized other planets within the Sol system. While we had harnessed magnetic and gravitic control to launch our ships to space, humans would use fire. It was as dangerous as ridiculous: they strapped their ships into actual bombs and used controlled bursts of explosions to proper their ships. It was stupid. It was dangerous. We were watching them, as they expanded through their system, as they colonized new planets, and new planetary nations that rapidly starting waging war among them.

We watched the humans in a mix of incredulity, laughter and awe. We thought they would kill themselves way before they could consider even a new way of travelling through the stars. They were too busy building new warship and devising new ways of subduing each other.

We did not expect their sensors to progress so fast. I was in the science ship Progenitor when our sensors shown that we were being scanned. Captain ordered to divert power to the cloak field and to get out of the system, but it was too late. We had been seen. And they watched as we activated our relativistic engines and travelled through a hyperlane towards the star they called Proxima Centauri.

It was decided that we will not go back to Sol. In due time, humans would forget about us, and they would continue to fight each other. But we did completely understate their science for, as we now know, the only thing they needed was to know that it was possible.

Even as the first human ship breached the boundaries of their home system, we could see they were not united in purpose or in harmony: they were still sepparated by their interests, by their social status, or even by random factos such as the family, city, country, or planet they were born into. Even when they figured out how relativistic engines worked, their ships still travelled on fire and explosions! We could not understand it: how could the mix such primitive technology with advance travel systems? It had never been seen.

The humanity's arrival to the galactic community was swift, peaceful, brutal, violent, slow, collaborative and disgusting depending to which group of humans looked. And each one of them learned from different species in different ways:

The Manglor Enclave declared war on humans, and a group of them rose to face them. We later learned they were called "Hindi's Privateers" and they fought for money, a concept forgotten by most advanced species centuries ago. Humans learned new ways of destruction and death.

A diplomatic convoy arrived on earth. They were greeted by leaders of the Pan-Eurasian Union. The result was the humans learned the customs, languages and diplomatic stances of every single species in the galactic community.

From the Astral Union they learned how to harness and manage energy. It is unknown which human group did it, but we know it was done though and infiltration operation done by a master spy.

A religious human cast called "Mormon Followers" joined a community of High Ildrian, the species blessed with telechinesis and telepatich abilities. And they learned it. Through years of study, humans actually learned those abilities, something that was believe to be only natural to the High Ildrians. It was inconcievable, but they actually did it.

And that terrified every single one of us. Even as the Ildrians banned the humans from their territories, the damage was already done.

One fateful day, an Umogian fleet destroyed a human ship, killing in the way an spiritual leader of mankind. The response was swift: a coallition of human groups joined forces against the Umogian directorate in a sort of holy crusade. Only ten years later, the Umogian homeworld had been invaded and the survivors killed or forced to flee to other planets to avoid extinction. They used every single thing they learned from alien species:

Their newly found energy management permitted them to build bigger and more powerful warship.Their new weapons of mass destruction leveled their enemies to an atomic level.They used the knowledge gained by the Pan-Eurasian Union to sought chaos among the Umogian Government.They used the telepathic powers they learned to created terrible armies able to submit their enemies with their minds.

That's when the galactic community chose to withdraw from the growing human empire. Borders were stablished, and a warning to never cross them issued in every single human language we knew. And, surprisingly for everyone, they respected that. "There is much free space", they answered, "we will respect your demmands".

But maybe we learned something from them.

Years later, the Manglor Enclave declared war on the Thurin Consciousness. We are a peaceful race. Our army was not able to face their warships, and our armies were no match for the monstruosities that Thurin warriors were. We desperately fought for years, losing planet after planet in a war of extinction. We tried to understand the Manglor, we pleaded for peace, we pleaded for mercy, but it was all for nothing. No other species would come to our aid, just as had happened when the humans started a holy crusade against the Umogian, each member of the galactic community focused on reinfocing their border systems and preparing for war in case they were the next target.

But we sent messages asking for help. Pleading for anyone to assist us, To save us from extinction. We knew it was for nothing, but we did anyway.

And I was there when our prayers were answered.

The planet I was in had been conquered. The last of our army gathered to try to slow down the enemy, but it was for nothing: the planet was blockaded, any ship departing the planet was immediately destroyed. Explosions got closer and closer as the Manglor artillery and atmospheric fighters destroyed what remained of our civilisation.

Someone said there was a battle waging on the atmosphere. Communications blocked, but it seemed someone was breaching the blockaed. And, few minutes later, the sky lit with fire. Like metheors, the pointy steel and titanium ships rushed through our atmosphere, burning bright red, and turning their engines that worked on explosions to travel through the air. The Manglor fighters engaged the human ships, and as we thought the humans were going to end us as they did with the Umogian, dozens, hunders of dropships descended on the battlefield, releasing numberless soldiers and war machines.

And, finally, communications were reestablished and we got the first message from outside our planet in weeks.

"This is commander Delen, and I talk in representation of the united forces of the pan-Eurasian Union, the Hindi commissariat and the United America. We come here in response for the plead of assistance issued by the Thurin Consciousness, and we DEMAND that all Manglor forces to withdrawn immediately".

A human ship, huge in size and roaring with flames and destruction landed near our position. As it opened, dozens of humans wearing metal armors and carrying boxes rushed towards us. I did not try to run. When the human removed the helmet I recognized it was a female. She looked at me and at the injured Thurin around me and, I swear, I thought my universal translator was failing.

"We are the Medics without borders. We are here to help".

But it had not malfunctioned.

The humans, the horror of our galaxy, the ones who brought the Umogian close to extinction, were the only ones who answered our call.