John listened in silence as Kevin finished, then gave a long, slow nod. His expression darkened—not with anger, but with intensity. Then he snapped upright, scowling at the hologram.
"You brat," he growled, his voice rising in a sharp, mock-angry tone. "What do you take me for? Some greedy old warlord hungry for power?"
Kevin raised his hands again, half-smiling. "Didn't say that…"
"Hmph," John grunted. "I may love my warships—but even I know better than to play politics with a gift like this. Especially not from someone like him."
He leaned back again, but this time with steel in his gaze.
"And now that you've told me all this… more reason not to mess it up."
His eyes narrowed, then gleamed with something rarely seen in hardened veterans—hope.
"Tier-7 technology… You realize what this means, don't you?" he said, voice low. "We've been stuck at the edge of that frontier for decades. No breakthroughs. No progress. Just walls we couldn't punch through."
