The Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy was only 1.56 percent as big as the Milky Way. As a dwarf galaxy, it held a lot less stars and therefore much less territory for humanity to conquer.
That still consisted of billions of stars! Even if a large proportion of star systems contained nothing of worth, many remained that either provided ideal colonization opportunities or rich exotic deposits.
This meant that from the moment the beyonder gates between the galaxies opened up, the competition for territory had already begun!
The two biggest players in this struggle for territory and conquest had to be the two old elephants in the room.
The Greater United Terran Confederation and the New Rubarth Empire loomed as giants in human civilization.
They existed long before the Age of Mechs and had partially adopted the MTA and the CFA in the past.