Elara held the small, encrypted memory chip between her thumb and forefinger as if it were a physical piece of a star. The cold, matte-black surface belied the sheer, astronomical weight of the data it contained—the keys to the Shadow Hawk array, the crown jewel of the nation's defense capability, and the bridge to the billions of dollars that would transform VanceTech from a struggling defense firm into a global sovereign power.
She looked at me, her mind racing through the implications. "You’ve been negotiating with the Joint Chiefs of Staff while you were scrubbing the hydraulic lifts? While you were taking insults from my board members?"
"I was waiting for the right moment, Elara," I replied, my voice steady and grounding. "The Syndicate needed to reveal their hand. Kain needed to be
