Announcement

"Miss. Are you ready?"

Hina was as cool as ever, and perhaps I was the one who was actually nervous here. 'The Next Big Thing', a.k.a. Unmanned Fast Attack Craft tender has just been announced. The tender explanation was attended by a small team headed by Dr. Jin, the Head of the R&D department, and a few others from various departments, such as Project Management, Manufacturing, and Business Development. There were zero surprises. Dr.Jin came back to report only what we've already known. As Managing Director Yan revealed in the last management meeting, the whole program was conceptualized by Chairman Chan. We knew what the technical requirements were going to be, and we knew how everything fit within the bigger picture of serial production to come later. 

"No problem, Sin. Let's do this"

Hina smiled back as usual. This kid really doesn't get scared of anything…

The reason why I was nervous wasn't because I had no faith in Hina, or that I felt our company was lacking in any way when it came to winning this tender. I knew exactly how things would develop once we were in the meeting.

I opened the door and everyone waiting in their seat rose and bowed to greet Hina, to which she replied politely. 

Of course, one person did not bow, and that was Jisoo, Hina's eldest brother, the Director of Business Operations. He was the one that everybody expected would take over the Chan Group after the passing of Chairman Chan, but it did not go that way and it was now Hina, his much younger and inexperienced sister, who had the right to the seat at the head of the table. 

"Good to see you again, everyone. Please be seated"

Hina walked to her seat nonchalantly. She had many flaws, and I probably know them more than most other people here, but one thing she really had going for herself was that her body language never showed defeat or any sign of timidness.

Everyone took their seat and I stood where I normally stand. Time to be that 4 O'clock Sin now. 

"So, I have been briefed that the Unmanned Fast Attack Craft tender has been announced. What does everyone think?"

It was such an open-ended and nonspecific question, that made it hard for anyone to answer. Except for Jisoo that is.

"Ms. Chan, have you read the tender document?"

"Yes. Every single word of it"

I saw that some people here were a little surprised. They clearly didn't think that Hina would actually keep up with all the details of what was going on.

"Do you have any comment to make?", Jisoo put her on the spot this time.

"I have my ideas. But I would like to gather everyone's ideas first"

"Very well. Dr. Jin, please summarize what has been announced at the tender"

Normally he would not be attending this level of meeting, but today he was here as he was the one who actually went to NDDC to listen to the tender announcement. 

"Yes, Sir. Everything was as expected. But just to recap - What we are looking to develop is basically a 27m length Unmanned Surface Vessel - USV but with heavy armament and increased operational range, seaworthiness, and speed. The main weapons will be two 20mm Remote Controlled Weapon Systems, which can autonomously identify and lock on to enemy targets. The main hull shall be made in carbon composites, which should allow reaching the speed of 75knots - that is nearly 140km/h. The propulsion system is not specified. It's up to each company to investigate and decide the optimal configuration. The operational range has to be over 300km"

"Thank you, Dr. Jin"

Jisoo acknowledged and moved on to ask Dr. Chide, the CTO.

"Dr. Chide, can we meet all the requirements of this program?"

"No problem, Sir. We have already done preliminary studies and can be certain that we could achieve these targets. We knew these requirements for a long time after all"

"Good. How about in terms of production, Mr.Hong?"

Jisoo asked the Chief Production Manager this time.

"We will be ready to make the prototypes of the hull as soon as the working designs come out. We already have good experience in dealing with carbon composites"

"Very good. Do you have any comments to make, Mr. Lau?"

As Jisoo moved on to ask the Chief Business Development Manager, I knew this was exactly what I feared. Hina sat at the head of the table, but Jisoo took it upon himself to run the show. There were two ways he could have approached this situation. The first way would have been to take a step back and let Hina fail in this important project. The second way was what he was doing now - taking charge of the project himself to show that he was the real qualified boss. 

"Not at the moment, Sir. All the commercial sides of the tender were as expected and followed the standard NDPD terms and conditions. But of course, we will support the project team in any way we can whenever we can"

"Excellent"

Jisoo then looked at me, not Hina, and spoke

"Is there anything else that needs to be said at this stage?"

He was calm and collected. Cold but seriously engaging eyes. A handsome man with well-defined features. Years of experience behind him and an army of supporters everywhere in the company. He's been working in this company for around 15 years, and because everybody saw him to be the heir, they all lined up behind him for the long term. He didn't have quick opportunists surrounding him. He had loyal soldiers. 

"I believe Miss. Chan might have something to say"

This was all I could say for now.

"Right, Ms. Hina Chan? What are your thoughts?"

Now Jisoo's eyes were on Hina, who had been sitting in a Gendo pose this whole time.

"It seems everyone's doing an excellent job and knows exactly what needs to be done"

Hina brought her hands down to the table and spoke cheerfully.

I could hear everyone thinking in their mind "As expected. She's just a figurehead".

"I suppose that concludes the meeting then"

Jisoo announced and stood up from his seat. 

How insolent. He does not get to call the end of the meeting. It's Hina's right and authority.

"Not yet"

Hina lifted one hand to stop anyone else from getting up. Jisoo then got stuck in an awkward situation of only him standing up while everyone else was still seated. 

"What do you think about the whole thing, Director Chan?"

Hina asked Jisoo.

I knew he must be mildly annoyed, but didn't show that at all. 

"I believe we can get this done"

"Please be more specific"

Now Jisoo actually showed a slight sign of irritation.

"What do you mean, if I may ask, Miss. Chan?"

"What makes you think we can get it done? What are the possible risks that could make us fail? We obviously have competitors entering the tender, is there any reason that neither of them can win?"

Jisoo took a deep breath in but did not sigh.

"We have developed this concept in advance, ahead of Wanda and KAK, because it was a project that Chairman Chan initiated some years ago. We had a head start. KAK is ahead of us on autonomous technologies, but they will have a hard time with the weapon system. Wanda could match us in weapons technology, but they have no experience in designing naval platforms"

"We have never built a ship before either"

"But we already have a nearly finished design and the tank test results have been very good. With the ample time we have for the research phase, we should be able to get it done"

"How about price competitiveness?"

Hina's questions were very rudimentary, which only required rudimentary answers from Jisoo. To some extent, it might have come across as offensive to get Jisoo to answer such rudimentary questions, and he was answering them all now while standing straight, not perched in his seat like he was the boss. I highly doubt Hina orchestrated this scene, but it was satisfying to see, yet also worrisome considering Jisoo will not forget this any time soon. 

"Ms. Hina Chan. We have personnel that have done hundreds of open bid tenders and secured the contracts. With all due respect, we are not kids here. The same goes for Wanda and KAK. None of us will lose based on the price submitted"

"Excellent. It seems you have complete faith in our success, Director Chan"

"Yes"

"Very well. Director Chan. Please take complete charge of this tender, and the project itself which we will inevitably win"

"As you wish"

Jisoo was still standing, but since Hina didn't end the meeting, everyone was still seated. 

"Sin"

Hina called for me.

"Yes, Miss"

"Could you just briefly explain what we intend to do with the Fast Track Acquisition Program?"

Everybody in the room was puzzled, including Jisoo. This was so random for them. It was a 25 million dollar budget pilot project that hasn't even been approved at the parliament yet. 

"What is this?", Jisoo asked in confusion.

"You are not aware of FTAP that the National Defense Procurement Department is pushing for?", Hina asked in return. 

"I AM aware, but what's this got to do with what we are discussing now?"

"Sin, please"

"Yes, Miss"

Now all eyes were on me. Hina did not tell me that she'd bring this up in this particular meeting, but this was something Hina and I had created completely by ourselves. There was no unexpected difficulty for me here. 

"FTAP program is about to be passed at the parliament, but we got an intel that the parliament will send it back to NDPD for review. Ms. Hina Chan wanted NDDC to get involved in this program to expand its scope so that it won't just be a fast procurement of almost finished product, but will also enable fast track budgetary support for R&D programs"

"Did you do this, Sin?", Jisoo asked me with a bit of a condescending tone, but I was used to such things. 

"No, Sir. This was completely Miss. Hina Chan's idea"

"What do you think about this, Director Chan?"

Hina opened her arms with palms facing up. It looked as if she was asking for some kind of acknowledgment or praise from her elder brother. This pacified Jisoo a little. 

"I think it's an interesting and creative idea. I hope it works out"

"Hehe, thank you"

Hina laughed like a kid, which made everyone in the room more relaxed as they were relieved from the tension and confusion of the past few minutes. 

"So, thank you everyone. That will be it for today. I have complete faith in Director Chan. Please support him as much as he needs to make this a success"

Hina then got up from her seat and politely bowed, which everyone reciprocated. 

Jisoo made his way out first as he was already standing, but when he was passing me by he whispered just about loud enough for only me to hear, without breaking his strides.

"Don't get any fancy ideas, Sin"