Published at 28th of April 2026 6:14 am

Chapter 4081 Civil Conflict

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"Alright, you have convinced me on the sovereignty matter, but what about the ultimate purpose for why I want to expand to ten thousand stars in ten years?" Rui raised an eyebrow. "Remember, the underlying motivations for all of this are not greed for power, land, or resources. It is for self-preservation. There are threats that are incoming. And we should assume that they will come sooner rather than later. The goal is to build up great military power by expanding our civilization to other stars so that we will be able to fight back harder. We can't do that if we give away the cosmos to private entities. The military will largely be under their control."

"Correct, that is why you need to condition access to outer space under a handful of core conditions, and one of them being the absolute commitment to the defense of human civilization," she replied smoothly, expecting the pushback. "As long as you properly communicate and build the expectations that private entities will have an absolute commitment to protect human civilization in the case of an attack."

Rui frowned. "I don't think just a 'commitment' means anything by itself. People can commit and not follow through. I don't have any faith in the patriotism of these people."

"It builds expectations, and most investors will adjust to fit that into their plans," she remarked. "However, you are correct, verbal or even contractual commitments do not mean anything. When push comes to shove, it is entirely possible and perhaps even likely that these people will abandon their home world and allow Gaia to perish."

"Then…?"

"That is why you need to create an integrated system that doesn't give them leeway not to defend Gaia and human civilization when the time comes," she spoke with a serious tone of voice. "There are many ways to this. For instance, creating and controlling the interstellar financial system. Right now, Gaia does not have a global reserve currency, but if you create a global currency that is regulated by the Gaian Alliance and serves as the only legal tender for vital goods and services, then you will have full control over the finances that sustain future star states and star empires. You can mandate that all parties must trade in this Gaian reserve currency and threaten sanctions to cripple their estates if they fail to come to the aid of Gaia when the time demands it. But that's not all."

She raised a finger. "You can also integrate the Gaian Alliance into the private property and nationalize certain elements of the expansion projects. For instance, you can say that all negatron matter distributed from this point forth must exist under the joint control of the Gaian Alliance and the third parties that seek to expand to the stars. You could also say that only the Gaian Alliance is allowed to control telecommunication infrastructure. Allowing free rein but maintaining absolute control over certain vital systems will make it impossible for any private entity to resist adhering to their absolute commitment to protecting Gaia.

That was a very pragmatic solution that appealed to Rui's instincts. Indeed, if they could centralize absolute control over vital systems such as communication and currency, then turning a blind eye to when Gaia needed their help would not only be impossible, it would not be in their interest.

For if Gaia were to collapse, then so would the financial system and the communication systems. That was a good way to 'bind' their fates together, even if they were extremely distant from each other, separated by many light-years.

Rui nodded with more vigor. "That is a very compelling solution. But…"

He turned towards her with a raised eyebrow. "What about infighting?"

That was another major concern that he had. After all, if he gave largely free rein to the many forces that would expand into the cosmos, then there was no doubt that many private entities would start fighting each other for claims over territory.

It would lead to war.

"We should strictly ban any in-fighting if we do go down this route," Mother Alicia insisted.

She sensed that Rui had already been won over by the underlying principles that the Shepherd espoused. Even if he didn't go through with everything he said, she suspected that he would likely implement some version that adopted the solutions she proposed.

She was extremely against war and didn't want human civilization to waste resources and energy fighting itself.

"Wrong," the Shepherd shot back with a confident tone of voice. "We should permit in-fighting to occur."

Not a single person in the room, save for Lord Narsimha and the Deputy Commander of the Evolutionary Army, looked pleased with that suggestion. Even Secretary Claris winced at the suggestion.

Even the very thought of humans fighting each other for territory and resources in outer space was extremely unpleasant. It also sounded like an awful idea when it came to bolstering human civilization's safety.

"Why do you say in-fighting is good?" Rui gave her a chance, his eyebrows furrowing with a hint of confusion.

"Because in-fighting incentivizes military power for the sake of security," she replied with a tone of certainty. "Think about it. Let's say you completely banned all in-fighting. Such that Your Majesty would intervene yourself if anybody dared to try and pick a fight with another. What impact do you think on the preparations of various private entities seeking to expand into the cosmos?"

Rui's eyes widened with realization. "They would have much less of a reason to be battle-ready. But I would imagine that the alien incentive is probably quite strong, no?"

"Not strong enough." She shook her head. "You said your goal for all of this was the security of human civilization. Then you shouldn't prohibit in-fighting among various private entities because that will encourage people to invest in their security. Because they know that if they are too weak, they will be overwhelmed by their competitors. They will also be forced to create alliances with others, since it would be very difficult for one entity to control an entire star system without any help. All of this would greatly strengthen human civilization."

Rui fell into thought as he pondered her suggestions. The model that she proposed for the expansion of human civilization throughout the cosmos was very different from what he had initially envisioned when he decided that as a goal.

But the more he thought about it… the more he felt compelled by it.

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