Chapter 5 - The Morning Review
At 9:55 AM, the executive boardroom on the fiftieth floor of Hutton Aerospace was packed to capacity.
Representatives from the Department of Defense and federal aerospace procurement sat on one side of the massive mahogany table, flipping through dense briefing folders. At the head of the table sat General Thomas Vance, a notoriously strict military liaison who had canceled three major defense contracts that quarter alone.
Sloan Hutton sat at the opposite end, flanked by Paul Gregson and two corporate attorneys. She looked impeccably calm, wearing a fresh charcoal suit, her hair styled in a sleek knot.
"Ms. Hutton," General Vance said, adjusting his reading glasses as he looked up from his dossier. "Our schedule allocates twenty minutes for this review. Given that your previous test runs resulted in structural failure at sector four, my advisors are leaning toward opening the bidding process to Vanguard Dynamics."
A murmur rippled through the corporate team. Gregson swallowed hard, clutching his notepad.
Sloan didn't blink. She reached for her tablet and tapped the screen twice.
"General Vance, before you open any bidding, I invite you and your delegation to view the real-time telemetry feed from our secondary testing chamber downstairs."
Vance raised an eyebrow, signaling his lead technical advisor. A live video feed popped up on the boardroom’s main projection screen, showing the A9 propulsion core running at 100% operational capacity inside the vacuum chamber.
The vibration lines were green, flat, and perfectly stable. The acoustic feedback monitor registered zero harmonic resonance.
The room went dead silent.
Vance’s technical advisor leaned forward, squinting at the numbers on the screen. "Wait... that's impossible. The acoustic resonance curve has completely flattened. Did you redesign the cooling manifold?"
"We did," Sloan said smoothly, her voice carrying absolute confidence. "We restructured the internal geometry, widened the coolant return by two point five millimeters, and optimized the fuel injection phase-shift."
"Who engineered this modification?" Vance asked sharply, staring at the screen in disbelief. "Gregson’s team reported this flaw was insurmountable last week."
Sloan looked across the table, meeting the general’s gaze without hesitation.
"It was engineered by our head of facilities maintenance, General. Because at Hutton Aerospace, we don't just hire people to look at models—we hire people who know how to listen to the machine."
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Vance stared at her for a long moment, then let out a low whistle of appreciation. He closed his briefing folder, stood up, and extended his hand across the table.
"Contract approved, Ms. Hutton. Full procurement funding clears by end of week."
