“Lord Marmaduke, Lieutenant Mira Choi, Jane’s Defense Weekly,” she said crisply. “V’ren military doctrine is based on naval supremacy and rapid orbital denial. You now command their loyalty and their infrastructure. But Earth doesn’t have a unified planetary defense, and the big players are watching. So here’s the question: Are you planning to build your own deterrent force, or just hoping you never need one?”
“It’s early days, Mira,” Matt said, resisting the pull toward command voice. “We’ve started the conversation, but right now we’re still in the pre-meeting coffee-and-donuts phase. Everyone bullshits about everything except the meeting we all know is coming.
“Do I hope we never have to defend the Sol system? Absolutely. But none of us are blind. We’ve begun studying who our adversaries might be, on Earth and beyond.
“These V’ren? They’re exactly what they claim to be. A colony fleet, attacked en route and forced to divert. Any government could have reached out and said, Welcome. Here’s a new option. I did.
“And with the help of a few neighbors, I could, on paper, absorb every V’ren now arriving. Not just onto my lands, but into the holdings of the family trust.
“So I made an offer to the so-called major players, the ones still calling the Heartland a wasteland. I told them, you’ve each got hundreds of thousands of square miles you haven’t touched since the Collapse. You’re tired of fighting each other over whose forgotten corner is whose. Let me take it. I’ll make it productive. And I’ll put a timeline on that promise your defense contractors can’t.”
Before Mira could follow up, a ripple along the press line drew both their attention.
A girl in cargo shorts and a sunflower-yellow tee jogged up the side path, her stride easy but her expression pure mission mode. She didn’t raise her voice. She simply walked straight up and tugged Matt’s sleeve as though she had done it a hundred times before.
“Sorry to interrupt,” she said, glancing politely at Mira. “It’s important.”
Matt bent to listen. His brow ticked upward, not alarmed, just informed.
He straightened.
“My goddaughter,” he told Mira. “She’s just reminded me that even in a system with a seven-thousand-person chain of command, sometimes the fastest way to get something done is to cut straight to the top.”
Mira arched a brow. “Field dispatch?”
“Close. Raccoon invasion at the koi pond near the west pavilion. Apparently, it’s ‘ruining the vibe.’”
Matt handed the girl his glass.
“Find Gary. Tell him about their evil imperial ways.”
She nodded, spun on her heel, and disappeared back into the crowd with swift, sure steps, no mud on her shoes and no wasted motion.
Matt turned back to Mira, the half-smile still there.
“Deterrence is good. But knowing whose kid will come find you when the pond’s gone sideways? That’s what keeps this place running.”
“That kind of trust,” Mira said, “doesn’t come from systems. It comes from people believing you’ll show up when it counts.”
She paused, studying him.
“So here’s my last one. You’ve built a place where the lights stay on, the kids run to the boss instead of from him, and no one’s afraid to tug your sleeve in front of the press. But if the world outside still sees this as a fluke, or worse, a fiefdom, what do you call it?”
Matt’s eyes followed a group filtering in from the promenade. V’ren silhouettes, already familiar even in the soft lantern light. Their movements were fluid, clipped and practiced. Guests drifted aside without needing to be asked.
“Home,” he said simply.
Then he looked back at Mira.
“Would you like to know something personal? Me to you?”
“I sense I’m going to get it whether I say yes or not.”
“Of course you are.”
His smile barely moved.
“And you’re also getting a briefing tomorrow. I’m being brought up to speed on what sort of galactic neighborhood we live in and what kinds of dangers Earth might actually be facing.”
“My publishers will love that.”
Matt lowered his voice until it belonged only to the two of them.
“So will your real paymasters, Major Tian Xuefeng, Google Security Directory Intelligence Division.”
He watched the color leave her face.
“Me to you,” he continued quietly. “I almost tried to recruit you once because I thought you were cute.”
Mira said nothing.
“That was twenty-five years ago. Shenzhen. Rainy night. Noodle shop. You were with your handler, and you had just failed at something. One of my security people identified him, not you. But once they did, I needed to know who you were.”
Mira held his gaze.
“So why didn’t you?”
“I also wanted to take you to bed.”
A beat.
“That is bad tradecraft. It would have been though.”
Matt gave her a small nod and a quiet smile.
“Excuse me. My other family’s come to collect me.”
Mira stepped aside, composure returning with a knowing look.
“I’d say they’ve earned it.”
