Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Centralizing Power in PATO
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Right now, the point of conflict between the Amphibian Cooperative and Varisa was the treatment of primitive species that hadn't yet reached the space age.
As for this issue, it wouldn't be hard to get the outcome I wanted.
I could bribe the other PATO member states if needed, and besides, Varisa was one of the nations opposing this agenda.
Those cat folk could be persuaded with money alone, so passing it probably wouldn't be difficult.
The problem was that Varisa Space Company's stance often clashed with the Lushaka Kingdom or Deneb Federation's positions, leading to constant disagreements.
The Amphibian Cooperative, with its strong communist leanings, was much the same.
With so many issues to decide in space, I couldn't keep spending massive sums to persuade them every time.
As long as Varisa and the Amphibian Cooperative didn't change their fundamental nature as nations, these clashes were inevitable.
This time, Deneb agreed with me, but eventually, conflicts would arise again.
In the end, I needed to steer PATO without being swayed by other nations' opinions.
My overwhelming advantage over the other countries was time.
Even though more than half a century had passed since I became this hive mind, I still retained those memories and thoughts intact.
I had to see the big picture and plan accordingly.
First, I moved to centralize PATO more.
"What if we grant the PATO Chairman veto power over agendas?"
The 'me's in charge of diplomacy conveyed this opinion to each nation.
The current chairman was essentially just a figurehead with almost no authority.
Unlike the UN Secretary-General, who seemed powerless due to the permanent Security Council members, this one truly had next to none.
Back in PATO's early days, the member states weren't tightly bound, so giving the chairman too much power would have deterred them from joining.
But that was then. Now, it was approaching the 20th anniversary of its founding.
The chairman's term was 20 years, so it was time to elect the second one. Expanding powers at this juncture?
That sweet power would either benefit them or harm them.
One of those two outcomes was certain.
Withdrawing from PATO wasn't an option.
I was delivering ship wreckage from the Holy Nation-Empire War to PATO, and I could share that technology because I was part of PATO.
Credits had already taken root, so pulling out now was too late.
"Hmm..."
"Suddenly, nya?"
"We'll discuss it with our home government."
But if Lushaka suddenly made this proposal? They'd definitely be suspicious.
They'd think we were scheming to claim the next chairmanship!
Why expand the chairman's powers out of the blue?
Even if not, no diplomat would gamble their nation's interests when their country had little chance of becoming chairman.
"And Lushaka will not participate in the next chairman election."
But here, Lushaka voluntarily withdraws from the next election.
I could hear the calculators whirring in their heads the moment they heard it.
The only formal restriction on the chairman was no re-election, but implicitly, the Galactic Peace Committee would sit out PATO chairman elections too.
No one wanted a single nation parked in the seat for 40 years.
The frontrunners were Lushaka, Deneb, Amphibian Cooperative, and Varisa.
Lushaka's dramatic declaration to step aside.
Now it was an even field of three.
Strengthen the chairman's powers and get your own candidate elected? That's 20 years of easy riding.
I didn't know Lushaka's motives, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up.
"Guruk, we'll consider it positively."
"Absolutely, nya. How about giving the chairman exclusive military authority too, nya?"
"We'll discuss it with our home government."
As expected, somewhat positive responses came back.
Concentrating massive power in one person usually led to bad outcomes, so they'd likely attach tons of restrictions.
Agendas with support from a certain number of member states couldn't be vetoed, or vetoes limited per term.
Even so, no one could deny it would be powerful authority.
PATO, where everyone enjoyed equal status and powers.
One nation getting unique authority? It had to be strong.
Before the veto resolution hit PATO's agenda, a sneaky consensus formed among the chairman candidate nations.
Even if their candidate didn't win this time, it'd still be the usual suspects.
Suppose there was one nation.
This nation had just entered the space age and joined PATO immediately upon contact.
Could someone from that nation become chairman?
Possible, but only if they were heavily backed by one of the five major powers.
Compare their mineral mining output to Varisa's—just the gap between the entire United States and a single Amazon tribe was smaller.
The tech gap in extraction, the scale of star systems available—it was an unimaginable chasm.
Weak nations like that joined PATO for protection from external threats, stable economic zones, and tech trickle-down benefits. It was clearly worth it.
But they couldn't aspire to more.
So, it always came back to the usual players.
Thus, passing this resolution was a ladder-pull that also boosted the five majors' gains, and opinions naturally aligned.
After that, it was smooth sailing.
PATO adopted democracy with one vote per nation, despite power disparities, so those weak states' yes votes were needed.
Deneb, Varisa, and the Amphibian Cooperative didn't even need coordination—they rounded up nations under their influence.
"We hope Tabelsa agrees to the next agenda. On the pirate suppression, we've decided to dispatch the fleet to the Tabelsa star system first."
"We'll build an orbital ring on Truyebek III Planet, ong. In return, there's something we'd like your cooperation on, ong."
The bribery was quick and efficient.
With or without veto, real weak states saw no change in their lives anyway.
Wasn't that the lot of powerless nations?
Still, they were enjoying PATO's benefits. Be content with that.
The day the resolution was tabled.
A few oppositions, but it passed smoothly and swiftly.
From the next term, the chairman could veto resolutions referred to the PATO committee, unless two-thirds of member states approved.
The veto nullification threshold was pretty loose, but that didn't matter.
What mattered was power gradually accruing to the chairman's nation.
And that my turn would inevitably come someday.
That was enough.
I'd laid the foundation to steer PATO my way in the future.
I'd keep submitting agendas to gradually strengthen the chairman's powers.
Extend terms, increase major powers' votes, change election methods, add new authorities, and so on.
Eventually, the goal was a chairman who could spam vetoes, serve 7 million-year terms with re-election possible, and hold military, diplomatic, judicial, and economic powers—me sitting there.
Lushaka Kingdom's class limits would mean nothing then.
PATO as a whole would be mine.
This was true diplomatic resolution.
But that was future talk.
Something important was still unresolved.
Discussions on handling primitive civilizations continued.
The Amphibian Cooperative and Varisa still insisted on immediately providing knowledge to uplift them to interstellar civilizations, while I and Deneb maintained they should be left alone.
The Amphibian Cooperative's view had some merit, so I engaged earnestly to the end.
Personally, aggressive intervention felt too inconsiderate.
Default to non-intervention, and for civilizations eager to jump to interstellar status, gather opinions case-by-case?
With that in mind, I debated the Amphibian Cooperative, but they wouldn't budge.
Even that selection process smacked of elitist chosen-people ideology, ignoring equality.
The Amphibian Cooperative had subtle conservative streaks.
Wasn't suddenly "equalizing" medieval folk living peacefully by force-uplifting them to space age also elitist?
Anyway, they showed no sign of yielding, so I considered using a cheat key.
Fly near Saturn, have a satellite mouth gape wide open dramatically—they'd bow on their own.
But space-age tech was hard to keep secret.
How do you catch insiders sharing opinions from across the galaxy?
Secret trump cards only shine when no one knows.
Varisa ended that dilemma.
"How about this, nya? Varisa will support Lushaka's next agenda, nya. In return, Lushaka supports this one, nya."
Maybe because I wasn't fanatically pushing this agenda, they came to buy me off.
Not bad?
So this was the thrill of being bought.
Unlike the Amphibian Cooperative's ideological stance, Varisa was 100% about profits.
It was tricky: if a planet with natives hadn't entered the space age, who owned that star system?
Usually, upon space entry, the entire system went to the natives.
Without a star system, a single planet couldn't do much.
It was like giving them one system out of conscience.
Varisa, however, uplifted them and secured passage rights, asteroid mining rights, etc., via contracts.
They'd built mining bases and space stations, only for natives to claim it all upon advancing—disaster.
After such experiences, they got meticulous with contracts.
Bans on intervention made that impossible, hugely constraining expansion.
Thus, Lushaka dramatically compromised with Varisa, siding with allowing native intervention.
Good deal, Varisa friends.
The next agenda—union minimum wage hike—looked promising.
Stronger labor meant stronger Lushakans, the absolute majority laborers.
A corporate nation wouldn't renege on the deal, right? I trusted they'd vote yes.