Work Text:
Humans have a weapon more powerful than any other species could dream of, one that has toppled empires, laid low tyrants, and pushed their technology farther and faster than anyone in the galaxy could comprehend. The worst part is that it's a weapon no one who initially - foolishly - tried to conquer the humans knew of.
This weapon is hope. It's not an alien concept to the galaxy. Indeed, when humans called it a weapon, many assumed there was a mistranslation, or simply a euphemism, or just a name. We were all wrong.
The hope humans have isn't like what the rest of the galaxy knows. Our hope is slow, passive. The idea that things could become better, the willingness to push for positive changes, to hold on during less prosperous times. Human hope is stubborn, relentless. It is their absolute refusal to die, both on a personal and species-wide level.
In situations where all odds were against them, where all logic dictated surrender or giving up entirely, even when they were torn limb from limb, perforated, infected, crushed, bombed, or occupied, they stubbornly refused to give in. Some may, of course, but most won't.
This may not seem like a superweapon, but anyone who has seen a human whose limbs have been mangled and is gushing their crimson blood standing back up and fighting and winning knows the terror of hope. Anyone who has seen a small team of humans topple century-spanning empires knows the terror of hope. Anyone who has seen humans take scraps of technology from a superior race and transform it into weapons and tools that surpass those it came from knows the terror of hope. Anyone who has seen humans do the impossible time and again knows the terror of hope.
Worse than this, their hope is transmissible. Due to their incredible empathy and social aptitude, humans have been known to pack-bond with, and then rally the disaffected of any species they have a mind to. Simply put, despite not being truly exceptional in most any category one might put them in, humans are unstoppable, for the mere fact that they believe they are.
If you think you can beat them, you cannot. If you think you have won, you have not. If you think you control them, you do not. If you have decided to anger them… run. But even then, not even in the furthest reaches of the universe can you hide without the humans finding a way to track you down and get their revenge.