The Farming Saint in the Starry Wasteland (Elizabeth Schofield) novel Chapter 430

Chapter 430 The Rules

Melton picked up from there. “Under Interstellar Route Authority standards, a qualified private route has to have at least thirty certified escort personnel and a corresponding number of pilots. Five mid–size ships, each requiring a minimum of two pilots and five escorts. That’s the baseline.”

Elizabeth ran the numbers quietly in her head.

Two pilots times five was ten.

Five escorts times five was twenty–five.

Combined: thirty–five.

She looked up and swept her gaze across the nine people sitting in front of her.

“How many people do we actually have right now?” she asked.

Melton was quiet for a beat.

“Boss,” he said, “the people we can field are the nine of us.”

The conference room went still for a moment.

Tyson opened his mouth, seemed to think better of it, and swallowed it back.

Tiffany’s expression grew heavy.

Tobin through Hexo exchanged a look and said nothing.

Elizabeth leaned back in her chair and tapped her fingers lightly against the table.

“What about the new recruits?” she asked. “Where are they in their training?”

“Progress is fine for what it is, but training just started. There’s not enough time.” Melton exhaled. “Their baseline is too low across the board. A month of training, and being able to manage basic operations is already a win. Putting them in front of an armed inspection is setting them up to fail.”

“And the inspection committee won’t count them anyway,” Desmond added. “Armed inspections require certified registered escort personnel. The new recruits don’t have their certifications yet. They’re not even eligible to participate.”

Elizabeth went quiet.

She’d known staffing was going to be a problem, but not one this severe.

Nine people.

Against a standard that required at least thirty.

Even if every one of Desmond’s team could pull double duty, they were still short by more than half

“Is there any way to bring in outside help?” Tyson ventured. “Like… Owen and the other veterans?”

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Chapter 430 The Rules

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Tiffany shook her head. “Owen and the others are retired, but they don’t frald current escort certifications. And Tyson, don’t glare at me, I’m being straight with you. Owen is not in the physical condition to hold up in an armed inspection. His mental resilience has genuinely improved, but the demands of this kind of assessment would break im.”

Tyson opened his mouth and closed it again without a word.

Melton thought it over. “What about borrowing personnel from Military Command?”

Desmond looked at him. “Borrowing from who? First Military?”

“Chief Quimby did make that offer,” Melton said. “Borrowing a few people might…”

“No.” Elizabeth spoke, and the word cut cleanly through the room.

Everyone looked at her.

Elizabeth shook her head, her tone calm but absolute. “First Military has already done a great deal for us. Having them apply pressure behind the scenes for the lane application was already a significant favor. Asking to borrow their people on top of that isn’t appropriate.”

She paused, then continued. “And think about who sent this inspection. The Route Authority. And who’s backing the Route Authority? The Fifth Military. The Fifth Military would love nothing more than for us to slip up somewhere. If we turn around and borrow First Military personnel to handle the inspection, we’re handing them exactly what they want. ‘Tycoon Farm leveraged military resources to pass the inspection. Procedural violations.‘ We’d have no defense against that.”

The room fell quiet again.

Desmond nodded. “The boss is right. We can’t borrow anyone.”

“So what do we do?” Tyson pressed, his frustration edging through. “Just the nine of us? They’re looking for thirty, and there are nine of us. How do we make that work?”

“Not by faking it,” Desmond said, correcting him. “By holding the line.”

He looked at Elizabeth, his gaze steady and unshaken. “Boss, an armed inspection isn’t a head count. It’s a capabilities assessment. Nine of us is nowhere near the required complement. But if we demonstrate strong enough performance during the evaluation itself, the inspection committee may have room to exercise discretion.”

“Walk me through it,” Elizabeth said.

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Desmond organized his thoughts. “For the single–ship defense against small–scale Pirate vessels, we can run lean. Two of us covering one ship, coordinated properly, won’t be any weaker than five. For the fleet defense simulation against a large Pirate force, we can distribute our nine across all five ships, with our core people anchoring the critical positions, and use the new recruits in supporting auxiliary roles…”

“The recruits aren’t qualified to participate,” Tiffany reminded him.

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