[ WP ] A peaceful alien race is besieged by another race in the same galaxy . As their last planets fall and their home-world comes under threat they do the unthinkable . They ask for aid from the only known creatures more brutal than their foes in exchange for FTL technology . Humans accept the deal .

Upon reflection, the decision to save the galaxy might have been a mistake. The Eholim evolved on a gas planet whose composition allowed for liquid water to rain into the depths. Gossamer wings and antennae and organs of helium sacks allowed their bodies to survive forever in flight. Their home-world was so large that their population was staggering in comparison to species who evolved on Terrestrial worlds. 
 
 The Banadii, a race whose individuals looked like a large wishbone and evolved on a planet not quite unlike Earth, uplifted the Eholim into The Galactic Society with the presentation of dirigibles that housed education computers and manufacturing facilities suited for the gas giant, but would naturally never have been able to be made from scratch on the planet. The Banadii claimed it was the poetry and music of the Eholim that gave them the right to be uplifted. 
 
 However, it turns out the only reason why the Eholim was so peaceful and poetic was because they really did n't have the means for physical conflict in the form that they evolved into, and what the Banadii perceived as beautiful compositions of sound and light, were actually poisonous vitriol of one Eholim insulting another about one thing or another. For example, the Cantabile of the Gates of Heavens, so named by the Banadii, was composed by an Eholim about his neighbor always blocking the sun, getting in the way during feeding, and generally being unacceptably unhygienic. The first mistake was not realizing that the Eholim was a race of mean spirit, selfish intention, and possessed a disregard for everything but their immediate interest. 
 
 The population pressures of the Eholim's homeworld was so intense that once they had the ability to leave their planet, they instantly started colonizing other worlds, and terraforming gas giants throughout the Galaxy to meet their needs. They drastically changed the mass and compositions of those planets and by doing so, disrupted the orbits of the terrestrial planets of most of the home-worlds Galactic Society was based on. Something had to be done. But what? No other race had nearly the numbers the Eholim had, well, accept one. Humanity. 
 
 Up until now, the only contact The Galactic Society had with Humanity was to occasionally pick up one that deviated from major population centers, abduct them for study and deposit them back into whatever cornfield or forest they were found in. But with the whole galaxy in disarray because the Eholim, the decision was made to uplift Humanity as well, and turn their energy towards defeating the Eholim in a war of extermination. It was not a repeat of the previous error as such, but an attempt to set the two uplifted races against each other so the rest of The Galactic Society can get back to their parties, and return to the usual business of proper socialization. Humanty was given FTL technology along with the information that the Eholim had colonized Jupiter. This was enough to get the ball rolling. 
 
 The second mistake was not realizing that Humanity actually liked war. They like it a great deal. More than anything. Humanity breeds and fights. The Eholim breeds and fights. The two have been at it for centuries now. Galactic Society is but a pale reflection of what it once was. There can be no parties where there is orbital bombardment. There can not be proper socialization when fleets of barbarians are in your Heliosphere. The Galaxy will never be the same.
