Bill then pointed to a gray-haired, slightly stout older man and introduced him, saying, "Come here, let me introduce you. This is Liam O'Shea, the deputy director of our research institute."
"Nice to meet you, Director O'Shea," Nick said, quickly reaching out to shake Liam's hand with both of his.
"Haha, Nicholas, right? Welcome, welcome. I've heard your name from old Bill Dye so many times I've practically got calluses on my ears."
"And this is our military liaison, Director Reese," Bill added, introducing a man in his forties with military bearing, wearing an Air Force blue short-sleeve shirt and Colonel's birds.
"Good to meet you, Director Davis!"
"Likewise. I'm sure it was a long trip. I've heard a lot about you, but I didn't expect you to be so young. You're a real prodigy."
Everyone laughed. "And this is Professor Callum Patel, Sebastian Keller, and..."
After the round of intros, both sides finally sat down. Compared to the big, high-profile team across the table, Nick and Zack looked pretty outnumbered.
Liam saw how stiff the two of them were and said with a smile, "Nicholas, Zack, don't be nervous. We aren't monsters; no need to be scared. Just take a load off."
"Thanks, Director O'Shea," Nick said, trying to shift his posture and actually relax.
Liam nodded and looked at them warmly. "I watched the video of your press conference and read through the technical specs. To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised—and pretty shocked."
"I didn't expect such high-level tech to come from a couple of guys in their early twenties. It makes those of us who've spent our whole lives in R&D feel a little embarrassed."
"But I'm also thrilled because this was built by our own homegrown talent. It shows that our domestic research scene has a bright future with a new generation stepping up."
"For us old-timers, nothing beats watching young people kill it like this."
Once Liam finished, Reese leaned in and said, "Nick, we're really interested in your tech and have done some deep dives into it, though there are still plenty of things we're scratching our heads over."
"We did some digging on you guys. It looks like you haven't really touched this field before, so how'd you suddenly get the idea to build something like this?"
Here it comes!
Nick's heart did a little jump, but he kept his cool. "Hehe, it was actually kind of a fluke. I'm a huge military buff, and I'm always geeking out over gear and tech online."
"So in my free time, I'd just mess around with research. It just so happened my roommate—Zack here—is into RC planes and drones, so we kind of just fell into exploring this together."
"So you were basically just messing around with hobby drones and didn't expect to actually pull this off?" Reese pressed.
Nick shook his head. "It wasn't exactly 'messing around'; it was pure passion. Plus, I'd been following swarm control tech for a while, and I wasn't impressed with the drone light shows out there. I figured I'd try to build something better myself, and I guess I got lucky."
"You probably know the rest. I got rejected from a bunch of jobs and felt like a loser, so I dragged these guys into starting a business. Since I already had the research done, I just focused on finishing the project."
"Then we saw the listing for that expo, so we signed up to see if we could find any VCs or buyers interested in the tech."
Everyone laughed after hearing his story.
Reese glanced at a file and kept going, "We noticed that besides the core tech, you've also filed for sixteen domestic and international patents?"
Nick nodded. "That's right. I didn't really think about that stuff at first; I only did it after a friend told me I should."
"Actually, since we were broke and didn't have a legal team, we only filed for the sixteen big ones. If we really dug into it, we could probably file a lot more."
"Are these patents going to leak the core tech, or could someone reverse-engineer it through the filings?" Reese asked, sounding concerned.
Nick shook his head confidently. "No way. The core tech is the 'Sky-Wing' system we built. The whole thing has multiple layers of encryption; unless you have the source code, it's a nightmare to crack."
"We're going to need the complete source code for this system," Reese said, getting serious.
Nick met his eyes and nodded. "That's fine. As long as we sign the deal and my few small requests are met, I'll hand over all the materials, the system, and the source code."
"You guys can build whatever systems you need based on our tech. You can even re-encrypt the whole thing yourselves so that even we couldn't get back in."
Everyone cracked up at that. The kid was clearly still sweating his requirements, even if he was being low-key about it.
"Don't worry, Nicholas, we're going to take care of you. Plus, for research teams building high-end tech like this, the government has rewards and support packages ready," Liam said with a big laugh.
Nick and Zack finally flashed real smiles, their racing hearts finally slowing down.
At that point, Reese pulled out a folder and said solemnly, "We've looked over the requirements you proposed, and in principle, we're on board. However, we've made a few tweaks."
"First off, once you hand the tech over, you don't get a say in how or where it's used. We can promise it won't be sold on the open market for commercial gain."
Nick nodded. "That's fine, as long as it stays out of the commercial market."
"Second, once the tech is ours, you have to work with us to finish the necessary R&D. The whole process is strictly classified, and you can't leak anything you learn."
"No problem," Nick agreed.
No matter who the partner was, he knew he had to keep his mouth shut. Especially with the military—staying quiet is just part of the job for any citizen.
Seeing Nick agree so easily, Reese nodded. "Third, we're okay with you doing normal business with domestic companies using this tech. But the catch is you can't leak the core secrets or the source code for the 'Sky-Wing' system to them."
"Basically, you can do technical partnerships, but you can't transfer or sell the core info or the code."
"And you have to keep the core tech and source code locked down tight on your end; it can never get out."
"We have the right to monitor you and your partners. If there's a leak or anything shady happens, we have the right to step in and throw the book at whoever's responsible."