Short #3: For Our Eyes Only

Status: Canon, aprox. Five Days in.

General James Ironwood's office was sparkling clean as he sat as his desk. Near the front of the room, a ding reminded him of why he was here.

"James, I… I need you to start on a few research projects for me. Did you receive the E-mail I sent?" His new specialist asked.

Cinnabar A. Ferrous, a village-raised, huntress-level combatant who was accepted as the youngest recruit to the military's program yet.

Well, that's what her file said. What wasn't black ink anyway.

The truth was much more… dangerous.

"Yes, although I couldn't understand it. What do you need, Ms. Ferrous?"

"Give me access to the scroll port real quick, and you'll see. I coded the encryption myself, based off a separate OS, off a device I have with me that… anyway… Its plans for a few things you may want for future use."

"What exactly?" He asked as she pushed her scroll into the port. Immediately, schematics, plans, mathematics formulas, and other files popped up on the screen.

"A project I've been working on the past week, called the 'Thunderbolt III'. It's a fighter-jet capable of supersonic flight, a small, two person cockpit, tilt-able jet engines, a 30 mm GAU-8/A seven-barrel Gatling gun, (GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling Gun. Look it up, it's crazy big. Imagine what that would do with Dust propulsion and Dust payloads.) 12,000 lbs of blast explosives, guided missiles with laser designation. And I need it by the Breach."

"And how, exactly, do you propose such a thing to work?" He asked, eyeing the files on the screen.

"Because I have schematics, chem-work, projected costs, and most of the information you'll ever need. You just need to build it. It was early planning for my grad project. Have your guys work on it, get a prototype up and running soon. We may need it."

"I'll look into it. Anything else?"

"Two things: One, the SDC will take care of weapon developments. Winter has already called contacts, and the project was blacklisted, white-listed, and removed from even her father's eyes. She doesn't even know what I'm having them develop."

He nodded. His men should be able to design what she has in mind if she has that much done already.

"Two, Remove all traces of it. No internet access, no CCT access, nothing. No one can access these files without the correct cypher, this needs to be classified beyond top secret, above the eyes of even the councils. This is a very dangerous machine, and if even one part of it fell into the enemy's hands, it could be reverse engineered. We do not want that. Compartmentalize parts, the frame, the wings, the jets, the armor, all separate groups, little contact to each other, that don't know what they are building. The only people who know exactly what we're building are you, and me. Not even Winter, my partner, knows about the final goal of this project. The SDC is told to contact me for questions, comments, and any help they may need."

James whistled. If everything she plans is true, this could take out a full warship in one on one combat.

"Well, the first flyable prototype for the aircraft alone should be ready in a little more than a month. Minus the guns of course."

"I'll get the estimated weight so you can add ballast. Tell them to call my scroll if they need any help. Oh, and one last thing. Find and track Blake Belladonna, get her scroll number, and give her a full pardon when the train robbery concludes. It should help us a lot."

Ironwood sighed, and leaned back. "Will do Cinnabar. I'm trusting you."

"And I'm trusting you with tech that works in space, and can down Atlesian warships with ease. This will change the world, James. Thank you. It could mean the safety of Vale, of Remnant, if done correctly."

James just nodded, and sighed one more time as she left. This will take a lot of work to keep under wraps, and could backfire horribly.

Why did I add this? Well, Remnant seems to not be able to do super fast flights, and I planned this from nearly the beginning. Remember, the prototype for the flyable FRAME is what could be completed in a little over a month. The weapons, balancing due to the weapons, and the armoring, all that will take more time. This is the base minimum time to make it flyable.

Cinnabar needs an army. If they don't have what she needs, she'll do anything to get it. She's determined to get it.