I nodded slowly. "Thank you for the conversation, Director. This has been... illuminating."
"I'm glad we understand each other." He spread his hands. "So. Shall we finalize the terms? I have other matters requiring attention."
"Of course." I turned to Vaelix. "Status?"
Voss frowned. "Status of what?"
Vaelix met my eyes and nodded. "Full broadcast confirmed. Live transmission across all corporate and independent channels. Raw data packets were distributed to fourteen major news networks, thirty-sevenindependent journalism collectives, and the Reach archives. Compliance proceeding flag ensured automatic legal preservation across all receiving jurisdictions."
The color drained from Voss's face.
"This channel was never private, Director," I said, turning back to face him. "The arbitration protocols you accepted at the start of our conversation classified this as an official compliance proceeding. Everything you said, the designed colony failures, the trafficking networks, the breeding programs, your arrangement with the criminal syndicates, all of it has been transmitted, recorded, and archived under protected legal status."
"No." Voss shook his head. "No, that's not, you can't—"
"I can. I did." I kept my voice level. "And I'm rescinding my surrender."
"You—" His face flushed red. "This won't stand. The council will suppress it. We control the feeds, we control the—"
"You control infrastructure," I said. "You don't control what people now know. You don't control the independent stations that just heard you explain exactly how expendable they are. You don't control the colony populations who just learned their suffering isdesigned."
Voss's eyes darted off-screen. I could see the panic setting in, the realization that his entire empire of carefully managed narratives had just collapsed.
"The corporate council is probably convening an emergency session right now," I continued. "I imagine your colleagues are very interested in discussing how you just confessed to systemic crimes on a legally preserved public channel. I wonder how many of them will decide you're an acceptable loss."
"You've destroyed everything," he whispered. "Do you understand that? The stability, theorder—"
"I destroyed the stability you designed. The order that benefits you. I gave you the opportunity to speak, Director. You could have said no. All everybody else did was listen."
His face contorted; rage, fear, and desperation flickered across his features like a corrupted data feed.
"Goodbye, Melvin Voss." I let myself smile. "May our paths never cross again."
I nodded to Vaelix. The screen went black.
Silence filled the bridge. The hum of life support cycling, sensors pinging their quiet rhythm, the Starbreaker breathing around us. Through the tether, I felt the weight of what we'd just witnessed settling into each of them; horror and hope tangled together, the recognition that something fundamental had shifted.
I exhaled slowly. My hands were shaking. I hadn't realized how tightly I'd been holding myself together.
Torvyn cleared his throat. "His first name isMelvin?"
The laugh erupted out of me before I could stop it. Harder than I'd laughed in months. The Knights joined in, and soon tears were streaming down our faces. All of it; the raids, Kaedren's injury, the deaths, the weight of everything we'd carried, released in waves of helpless, cathartic laughter.
Through the tether, I felt something else beneath the relief: pride, flowing from all four of them toward me. Admiration. Love.
I wiped my eyes. "I couldn't resist. He was so pompous, and I knew his name wasMelvin, and I just—"
"You just toppled a corporate empire and ended it with a first-name drop," Lyrin said, grinning. "That's going to be in the history texts."
A broadcast notification chimed.
"Put it on the main screen," Torvyn said.
A woman appeared, wearing the olive-green uniform of Independent Station Gamma. Her expression was carefully professional, but I could see the excitement underneath.
"Starbreaker, this is Station Commander Oran. On behalf of Gamma Station and the newly formed Independent Station Coalition, I would like to extend full docking privileges to you, your crew, and especially Doctor Kira Vale."
Torvyn glanced at me. I nodded.
