Andrea listened without interruption, fingers lightly steepled beneath her chin. Unlike some of the department heads she’d met so far, Eager didn’t seem interested in defending his budget or selling a vision. She actually liked that about him. Not that she'd ever tell him, but it was refreshing. When he finished, she glanced down at the project summaries again.

“So, let me make sure I've got everything... straight. Silo One is building spacecraft components. Silo Two is building advanced locomotion systems. Silo Three is building hardened cryptographic infrastructure. And Silo Four is developing 'specialised' materials.” She tapped one finger against the edge of the document. "Those don’t sound like four independent research programmes.” Her eyes lifted back to Eager. "They sound like pieces.”

Andrea was quiet for a moment. One thing she’d learned in operations was that organisations never spent years [i]accidentally[/i] moving in the same direction. People talked about bureaucracies as though they were chaotic, but genuine long-term projects required sponsorship, coordination and intent. Someone had signed off on these expenditures repeatedly. Someone had protected them from review. Possibly her predecessor. Possibly someone above him.

“Before we discuss cuts, restructuring or commercialisation, I want to understand what problem these teams thought they were solving.” She leaned back slightly in her chair. "Not the official project descriptions. The real answer.”

Her gaze moved briefly across the reports.

“Because from where I’m sitting, it looks like somebody spent years assembling a toolkit for something very specific.” A faint frown crossed her face. "And given some of the things I’ve inherited recently, I’m becoming increasingly suspicious of projects that don’t make sense until you know what they’re connected to. So please, save us both some time and just tell me. I'd certainly appreciate it, and that kind of appreciation can go a long way."