The Farming Saint in the Starry Wasteland (Elizabeth Schofield) novel Chapter 434

Chapter 434 An Monor

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The interstellar Route Authority staff seated behind him helped themselves as well, and the conference rooms filled with a wave of

Deon sat in his chair with the fruft platter in front of him completely untouched.

Elizabeth glanced at him and didn’t bother pressing. She just smiled.

After a few strawberries, Dwayne remembered why they were there and cleared his throat. “Ms. Schofield, we’re here today primarily for the armed inspection. Per standard procedure, the evaluation runs in two parts.”

He nodded to one of the staff members beside him, who immediately opened a device and projected a document onto the wall.

“The first part is facilities and equipment inspection,” Dwayne said, gesturing at the projection. “That covers ship count, classifications, weapons configurations, and whether the ground infrastructure meets safety standards. That portion falls under us, the interstellar Route Authority,”

Elizabeth nodded. “Understood. We’re ready whenever you are.”

“The second part is armed capability assessment,” Dwayne continued. “That section is under Colonel Barron’s oversight. It primarily involves simulating a Pirate ship attack to evaluate the farm’s escort capabilities.”

He paused, glanced at Deon, and pressed on. “Traditionally, the Interstellar Route Authority brings in contracted personnel to serve as evaluators for this part. But in this case, the Fifth Military voluntarily offered to take on the evaluation role. And Ms. Schofield, everyone knows Military Command outperforms contracted personnel in terms of raw capability, so for the purposes of the assessment, this is actually… a higher standard…”

His voice trailed off.

Even for someone with his level of practiced composure, there was a limit.

Desmond’s expression had already darkened.

“Mr. McGee,” Desmond said, his voice level but carrying unmistakable weight beneath it, “under Kingdom navigational management regulations, the evaluating party for an armed capability assessment is required to be a neutral third party with no conflicting interests relative to the party being assessed. The Fifth Military and this farm do not appear to meet that condition.”

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Melton followed. “And the capability gap between Military Command and contracted evaluators is something I think everyone at this table understands clearly. Using Military Command to assess a newly formed farm escort unit seems like it might be… somewhat unbalanced,”

Dwayne’s smile froze on his face.

He knew it was unbalanced.

But this was what the Fifth Military wanted, and what exactly was he supposed to do about it?

He looked toward Deon in quiet desperation.

Deon finally moved.

He set down the cup of tea he hadn’t touched and raised his head, letting his gaze sweep across Desmond and Melton before

11:16 am ● ● MA

Chapter 434 An Honor

settling on Elizabeth.

“Unbalanced?” he said, bis voice completely flat. “Ms. Schofield, you believe this is bnbalanced?”

Elizabeth held his gaze, her smile entirely undisturbed, though something new had entered her eyes. “Do you believe it’s balanced, Colonel?” she returned, answering his question with one of her own.

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Deon looked at her, and something shifted at the very corner of his mouth. It was the closest thing to an actual expression he’d shown all morning.

“The standards for an armed inspection are fixed,” he said. “The capability level of the evaluating party is not a factor under consideration. The regulation specifies ‘a qualified third party,’ not specifically contracted personnel.”

He paused, his tone remaining perfectly even. “The Fifth Military volunteered to take on this evaluation out of our deep commitment to navigational safety. Ms. Schofield, you should consider that an honor.”

An honor.

Elizabeth heard those two words and very nearly laughed out loud.

She looked at Deon’s cool, composed face and those utterly calm eyes, and she understood exactly what she was dealing with.

This man hadn’t come here to conduct an evaluation.

He’d come to make trouble.

Or more precisely, he’d come to win back some dignity for the Fifth Military.

She stood slowly, walked to the window, and turned her back to the room to look out at the ten ships sitting peacefully in the port.

“An honor,” she murmured, repeating the word once, then turned around, her smile bright enough to be almost blinding.

“Colonel Barron, you are absolutely right. We should consider ourselves very honored indeed.”

She walked back to the table and sat down directly across from Deon, her hands folded loosely on the surface in front of her, her posture completely relaxed, as though she were chatting about the weather.

“The officers of the Fifth Military must be extraordinarily busy,” she said, her tone warm and cheerful. “Traming, exercises, protecting the Kingdom. And yet they’ve carved out time from all of that to come all the way out to our little farm and play…” she paused just a beat, “Pirate spaceship. Or rather, to serve as our evaluators.”

She put deliberate emphasis on every syllable of “play Pirate spaceship.”

Deon’s expression shifted, just slightly.

“We’re such a small operation,” Elizabeth continued, her voice still light as if she were sharing an amusing anecdote. “What have we done to deserve Fifth Military officers setting aside their dignity to personally come down here and participate in this kind of exercise with us? We’ll treasure this honor dearly.”

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