Page 237 of Reaper Said Mine

Our work becomes harder immediately.

Every packet we publish now has to fight the gravity of the protectorate headline. Every appearance I make begins with the same questions.

Did your lover betray you?

Are you defending a Coalition-aligned warlord?

Can your reporting be trusted after his decision?

Do you condemn the signing?

Do you condemn Alliance intervention?

Do you condemn Gnash?

By the third interview, I want to condemn everyone and move to a moon without transmission access.

The IHR host, a severe Pi’Rell woman with silver eyes and no patience for sloppy answers, leans toward me across the holo-link. “Ms. Ramone, your critics argue that today’s signing proves Gnash was never seeking independence, only legitimacy through whichever major power offered him weapons first.”

I sit in Vale’s annex office with the rain still running down the windows behind me and force myself not to glance toward Bellamy. “The signed text does not support that interpretation.”

“But he did sign.”

“Yes.”

“After days of your reporting warning that Coalition aid could become dependency.”

“Yes.”

“Does that not undermine your credibility?”

“No. It proves the central point of my reporting.”

Her brows lift.

I lean forward. Exhaustion has burned away my ability to sound pleasant, which may be an improvement. “This crisis has been engineered so that every available choice becomes evidence for someone else’s agenda. If Gnash refuses Coalition aid, civilians die and he is called a butcher. If he accepts limited aid, dependency grows by increments. If he signs a protectorate agreement under bombardment to secure evacuation corridors and defense obligations, the Alliance calls it expansion, the Combine calls it proof of aggression, and the Coalition calls it partnership. The question is not whether the signing matters. It does. The question is who created conditions where signing became the least deadly option.”

The host studies me.

“And do you believe it was the least deadly option?”

I hear Gnash saying, I did what was necessary.

I hear myself telling him not to use those words.

“I believe civilians were dying,” I say. “I believe the treaty text contains defensive limits that matter. I also believe every emergency agreement deserves suspicion because power loves a crisis. Those statements can all be true at the same time.”

The host’s expression shifts with something like respect.

“That is less simple than many viewers may prefer.”

“Wars usually are.”

The interview ends eight minutes later.

Bellamy lets out a breath. “You survived.”

“I sounded exhausted.”