Ascella paused just outside the door, taking time to breathe. In for three seconds. Hold for four. Out for three. She did it again, the tiny ritual providing her some small comfort on what was about to become the most important day of her life. Steeling her nerves, she lightly tapped her knuckles against the office door - three times, just as they taught back in Whitehall.

The door opened before her hand had even left its steel surface, scraping her knuckle in the process. Making a mental note to put in a recalibration request to the relevant department, she walked in and took her spot next to the holoboard. Syncing it with her armHUD, she turned towards the assembled Directorial Committee, headed by none other than Director Iris herself. Staring directly into the fire-red eyes that had made her so famous among her division, she cleared her throat.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Imperial Science Division's Committee of Directors. My fellow intellectuals, brothers-in-arms in our war against the concept of the unknown. Six cycles ago, you asked me if I could provide any proof for my claims, beyond the theoretical. I am here today to answer that question with a resounding 'Yes!'"

Without another word, she pressed a button on her aH2 and listened as the holoboard hummed to life, followed by the mechanical whirring of her ancestral workshop. She had spent weeks on that video, tweaking settings and conscripting friends to help get it looking just right.

After the video finished, she continued, "As you can see, my efforts have reduced time-to-contact between the A and M ends by approximately 12 nanoseconds - placing it just below the threshold for a sub-nought-point-2 failure rate. In other words, my esteemed colleagues?

The stars are ours."

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