"Does he even sleep?" someone whispered from the back row.

Jake leaned toward MJ, eyes glued to the podium. "He’s assassinating them politely."

MJ nearly choked trying not to laugh.

The starship continued rotating slowly above Neville, its shimmering hull casting blue reflections across the hall. Neville’s expression never changed, even as tension thickened across the hall.

Director Hannel’s mic blinked on.

"And the cost of maintaining three separate AI systems?" he asked stiffly. "This is already a resource-heavy initiative. Are we expected to—"

"Already included in Phase Two’s budget allocation," Neville said, not missing a beat. "Page forty-seven of the documentation."

Director Hannel actually paused. "Page—?"

"Operational costs are twelve percent lower than comparable single-AI structures due to efficiency gains from the Compass architecture," Neville added politely. "I can walk you through the calculations if you prefer."

Jake mouthed, Oh, damn.

MJ elbowed him, but he was also biting his cheek to keep his grin from showing.

Director Hannel’s cheeks reddened, his darkened. "Even so, your timeline is still aggressive. You’re proposing prototype vessels within—"

"Scaled prototypes, Director," Neville replied politely before he finished.

"Smaller models will be built and tested before full-scale production. Safety and durability remain our top priority. We have no intention of cutting corners." His tone sharpened just slightly. "The phased approach was built exactly to avoid that. We don’t intend to rush anything."

Hannel shut his mouth, clearly thrown off his rhythm.

But then, another mic lit up.

It was Director Luther Anderson.

MJ muttered, "Here we go," under his breath.

Director Anderson was older than most of the board combined and twice as stubborn. A man who believed the world should listen simply because he had survived long enough.

Director Anderson leaned forward, voice dipped in oily condescension.

"These projections assume optimal conditions," Director Anderson said, voice thick with patronizing weight.

"I understand you may not have much experience with real-world operations, given your—background." His smile was a sharpened hook. "But we deal with existing variables here. Political interference. Supply chain disruptions. The Imperial Military’s procurement bureaucracy. Unpredictability is a fact of life."

A soft ripple moved through the room. A few heads lowered. That jab wasn’t subtle—it targeted Neville’s background directly. But Neville ignored it completely, or did he?

"Which is precisely why the contingency fund represents fifteen percent of the total budget rather than the industry-standard ten," he replied smoothly.

"Fifteen won’t be enough if—"

"We’ve built flexibility into every phase specifically to account for ’real-world’ variables." Neville continued, still perfectly polite. "As someone with extensive experience in ’real-world’ operations, I’m sure you appreciate the value of preparation."

Jake slapped a hand over his mouth.

MJ exhaled sharply. He parried that as he expected it.

Anderson’s nostrils flared. "Fifteen percent might still fail to account for—"

"Director Anderson." Neville’s tone stopped him cold. "The contingency scenarios are detailed in Appendix C. All forty-seven of them. After reviewing them, I believe you’ll find your concerns accounted for. But if you identify specific scenarios you think we’ve overlooked, I’ll gladly review them with you."

A few people sucked in quiet breaths.

"Forty-seven?" someone whispered.

Even MJ felt a chill. This rookie really had spine—rather, he had come prepared for a war.

The questions kept coming, and they weren’t friendly.

"Mr. Hope," John Hannel drawled, leaning back in his chair. "You’ve mentioned efficiency gains twice now, yet your report offers no concrete margin for operational risk should the projections fall short. Are you telling us this plan has no vulnerabilities?"

His tone suggested he already believed the answer should be yes.

Neville didn’t blink and answered, "The vulnerabilities are addressed in Appendix C, page forty-three. The probability spread is modeled against the last ten years of fluctuation data. We built in a twelve-percent buffer."

Director Hannel’s jaw tightened. "A buffer which, in my experience, is barely enough to cover administrative lag, much less unforeseen system strain."

Neville tilted his head slightly. "Then it’s fortunate that this project isn’t modeled on your experiences, Director Hannel, but on data."

A few muffled snickers scattered across the table.

Director Hannel’s eyes sharpened. "Why wasn’t this flagged earlier? Who approved this assumption?"

"Some of the details were mentioned in Specification Set Beta," Neville replied instantly. "The engineering already confirmed it."

Deputy Director Lu Mingye cleared his throat. "Interdepartmental conflict has historically hindered projects like this. How will you ensure that the cooperation won’t cause a delay?"

"The collaboration protocol was finalized last week," Neville said. "Section 12-B outlines shared decision authorities, escalation paths, and mandatory conflict-resolution windows. With those in place, Engineering signed off on this timeline."

Deputy Director Lu was surprised to be answered so directly. "Oh."

Someone from Finance—definitely one of Director Williams’s people—spoke next. "Your projected ROI is optimistic. What model produced this output?"

Neville clasped his hands lightly on the podium.

"The same model used for the Kestrel, Horizon-9, and Tian-Rho," Neville countered. "The data is included for verification."

The finance rep muted immediately.

Jake whispered, "He just kicked Finance in the teeth."

"He’s kicking everyone," MJ whispered back.

Neville remained steady the entire time.

Then Grayson’s mic turned on.

Quiet fell over the hall.

"Mr. Hope," Grayson said. "One question."

Neville straightened. "Yes, sir."

"Is this design deliverable?" He said with no judgment, just expectations.

"Yes, sir," Neville answered. "If Phase Two receives uninterrupted support."

"And if it doesn’t?"

"Then it will be delayed," Neville said without flinching. "But it will not be compromised."

A soft hum spread through the hall.

Grayson nodded once. "Good."

George raised an eyebrow. "You’re giving him a great deal of freedom, CEO Maxwell."

"If he weren’t capable," Grayson replied lightly, "Phase One wouldn’t have delivered results this early."

Jake muttered as he observed. "Hope strolled into a tank of sharks... and started removing their teeth one by one."

MJ swallowed a laugh. "He’s—Hold on."

A new light flicked on.

The room seemed to drop ten degrees.

Director Elias Cox’s mic light blinked on.

MJ felt his stomach sink straight to the floor.