The Governorâs office was quiet, but it was the kind of silence that precedes a landslide. Thompson sat behind his massive mahogany desk, looking significantly older than he had just two weeks ago. When Ethan walked in, the Governor looked up with a weary but respectful nod.
"Ethan. I wasnât sure when youâd drop by," said Thompson.
"I wanted to see how you were holding up, Governor. And to thank you. Your intervention during the attack didnât go unnoticed," said Ethan.
Thompson let out a dry, hollow laugh as he poured two fingers of bourbon into a glass.
"It was my duty, Ethan. I couldnât sit back and watch people be slaughtered in the streets. Though, looking at the data, it seems my men were mostly cleaning up the mess your team had already handled. You were remarkably prepared," said Thompson.
"Preparation is the difference between a tragedy and a statistic. But tell me, how has the federal government reacted? My sources tell me thereâs blood in the water," said Ethan.
Thompson sighed, leaning back until his chair creaked.
"You have good sources. Crulâs digital footprints are everywhere, arenât they? Yes, Iâve seen the internal memos. Several factions in D.C. are pushing for my immediate removal. They want me out for âfailing to maintain order,â but the truth is theyâre terrified of how little they actually know about what happened here," said Thompson.
"And the evidence?" said Ethan.
"Buried. Deep. Thanks to your... associates... we managed to spin this as a contained terrorist cell. Most of the high-level footage has vanished from federal servers. But that doesnât mean theyâre letting it go. Theyâve decided to starve us out instead," said Thompson.
"Starve you out? Explain," said Ethan.
"Theyâve cut off all federal subsidies. Every cent of national funding for infrastructure, healthcare, and emergency services has been frozen. Worse, theyâve ordered a full withdrawal of federal forces and the National Guard from state lines. Ethan, we are completely alone. Weâre an island," said Thompson.
Ethanâs eyes didnât flicker with worry. Instead, a slow, cold smile spread across his face.
"Alone? Thatâs not a crisis, Governor. Thatâs a divorce. And in a divorce, the one who keeps the house wins," said Ethan.
"You donât understand the scale of the disaster! Without federal backing, my budget is being devoured just by basic payroll. The largest corporations in the state are packing up and fleeing. Weâve lost seventy-five percent of our tax revenue in three weeks. Unemployment is at sixty-five percent. People are panicking, Ethan. There are protests in every city, and my reports show âself-defenseâ militias forming everywhere. Itâs the prelude to a civil war," said Thompson.
Ethan stood up and walked to the large window overlooking the capital.
"Let them panic. We will give them a reason to be calm. First, donât worry about the money. I will transfer enough funds to keep every public service activeâpolice, fire, hospitalsâall of it. Second, I want Royal to buy every single building and factory those fleeing corporations left behind," said Ethan.
"Buy them? With what? Theyâre abandoned shells," said Thompson.
"Issue an emergency order for the expropriation of abandoned assets. They can take their executives and their logos, but they arenât taking the bricks and the machinery. That infrastructure belongs to the state now, and Royal will manage it. As for those âmilitiasâ... theyâre just opportunists and rioters. Iâll deal with them personally. You just focus on keeping the general population fed and quiet. This isnât a collapse, Thompson. Itâs an opportunity," said Ethan.
Thompson stared at Ethan, the glass of bourbon trembling slightly in his hand. He wasnât a fool; he knew exactly what he was hearing. This wasnât a business expansion. This was a coup dâĂ©tat wrapped in a corporate buyout.
"Ethan... this is basically a declaration of independence. Youâre talking about carving out a sovereign state. Do you honestly think the federal government will just watch? Tomorrow, they could send the entire army to crush us as traitors and usurpers. How can we possibly resist the weight of the entire country?" said Thompson.
Ethan turned away from the window, his amethyst eyes glowing with an intensity that made Thompsonâs breath catch in his throat.
"The battle has already been won, Governor. The world just hasnât received the memo yet. I have the resources, I have the technology, and soon, I will have an army that makes the federal forces look like children playing with sticks. As long as I am standing here, the money will never run out. We arenât just resisting the government; we are replacing it," said Ethan.
Thompson looked at the young man before him and realized he wasnât looking at a CEO. He was looking at a King in the making.
"I hope youâre right, Ethan. Because if youâre wrong, there wonât be enough ground left to bury us all," said Thompson.
"Then itâs a good thing Iâm never wrong. Get the paperwork ready for those factories. We have a world to build," said Ethan.
The weeks that followed Ethanâs meeting with Governor Thompson were a masterclass in logistical conquest. While the rest of the nation watched from a distance, expecting Massachusetts to crumble into a lawless wasteland under the federal blockade, Ethan was busy building a self-sustaining fortress.
Money was no longer a constraint. With the federal government having retreated and the local economy on the brink of collapse, Ethan moved with a speed that left traditional bureaucrats dizzy.
"If the world wants to starve us out, we will simply grow our own world," said Ethan.
He didnât just look at the empty factories; he looked at the land. Massachusetts wasnât traditionally known as an agricultural powerhouse compared to the Midwest, but Ethan wasnât playing by traditional rules. He used Royalâs capital to seize thousands of acres of dormant land in the central and western parts of the state. Within days, massive, high-tech greenhouse complexes began to rise, powered by the same energy efficient technologies that drove his secret plants.
"But we canât wait for the first harvest. We need to fill the shelves now," said Jason during a morning briefing.
"We have the Atlantic. The federal government pulled their troops, but they donât have enough ships to blockade every mile of the coast without declaring an official act of warâwhich they are too cowardly to do yet," said Ethan.