Does 'Believing they had only a minute or two, the Vice President again communicated the authorization to engage or take out the aircraft.' stand independently of the premise 'The VP thought they only had a minute or two to make the decision.', neither following nor contradicting it?
Believing they had only a minute or two, the Vice President again communicated the authorization to engage or take out the aircraft.###The VP thought they only had a minute or two to make the decision.