"No. How many times? No!" A frustrated manager told her, "I'm not lobbying for these new tanks."
"But sir-."
"I mean…look at them Rosemary. They're small, and they look barely armored. Not to mention the lack of weapons is appalling."
"I assure you armor is no issue-" Rosemary tried to insist, but the manager cut her off.
"I'm tired of this. I. Mean. No. No one is going to entertain these foolish ideas of Panzers. Speaking of - isn't that name old Eldian? No military industrialist in their right mind will buy it if its so obvious an Eldian was involved in its making. And a woman no less? We'll go bankrupt."
Rosemary winced, despite being only quarter-Eldian, she and her parents were still forced to live in the Internment Zones as 'normal' Eldians.
As if that was a thing for one such as her.
She had barely managed to get an assistant engineering position, essentially a glorified secretary, in the William & Forester Co, which manufactured military vehicles, including the tanks used by the Britannian Empire and several other nations.
The manager took a drag of his cigarette, "Do yourself a favor-" He handed the crumpled plans back to her: "-and burn these before you get back to work."
Rosemary nodded, barely stifling tears before briskly turning out of the room, but rather than returning to her office, she headed outside.
As Alto and Mina left the palace, Mina looked outside.
"Huh, it's raining now." Mina noted.
Alto looked outside as well, before pulling out an umbrella from under the seat.
"Always prepared." Mina teased, and Alto smiled.
"Who is she?" Mina looked over his shoulder, her eyes landing on Rosemary standing out in the rain.
Without warning, Mina tapped on the driver, "Can we stop her for a second?" The Hizurian shrugged, and pulled over.
"Mina…" Alto sighed, "We can't pull over for every depressed stranger."
"I know, but still…" Mina insisted, "Look at her arm. She's an Eldian."
Alto sighed, "Alright."
Mina grabbed her own umbrella, and got out of the car. "Hello." She approached the woman, and brought her under her umbrella.
"W-why'd you stop…" She asked hesitantly,
"You looked cold." Mina smiled,
"A Britannian wouldn't care…they'd probably laugh." She muttered,
"Who said I was Britannian? I'm Eldian like you." Mina told her,
"You're Eldian?" She asked, "But then where's your armband?"
"We…don't have to wear them." Mina motioned for her to enter the car.
Rosemary slid inside the vehicle.
"I'm Mina Karolina, and this is my boyfriend - Alto Burke." Mina finally introduced herself,
"Alto Burke…as in the Prince of Paradis?"
Alto looked at Rosemary, "Yes. That's me." He nodded, "Why were you out in this cold?"
"Oh…" Rosemary proceeded to explain her dilemma, and only then noticed that she was still holding onto the Panzer plans.
"Huh…can I see those real quick?" Alto asked, and Rosemary handed them to her, and as Alto read them, his eyes widened.
"I've heard of these, they're called tanks, right? But they look different from what I've seen from Hizuru."
"It's a new design I call the Panzer I," She explained, "It's designed to be lighter and faster, rather than having excessive amounts of equipment and weapons that make them overly expensive to produce and maintain, however, they retain a good amount of firepower as well."
Alto nodded, "I've decided. How would you like to work for Paradis?"
"Work…for Paradis?" Rosemary asked quizzically.
"We already poached a pair of aircraft designers, and Hizuru is helping us build our navy. With you, I believe the Eldian Kaiserreich will finally have everything it needs to construct a fully modern army."
Rosemary looked down, this was her dream. They were offering her the freedom to pursue it, however, they were from Paradis. The island that had threatened them for years-
"No. How many times? No! I'm not lobbying for these new tanks."
"But sir-."
The conversation with her manager earlier replayed in her mind. She thought of her mother, who'd steadfastly supported her throughout her career. No, she wasn't going to give this up right now.
"I accept." Rosemary said, "I want to work for Paradis."
Alto smiled, "That's what I'd like to hear."
June 1st, 857 - Reiss Master Inland Dockyard
"-and here we have the first set of destroyers under construction." An in-training Eldian assistant engineer explained. "With help from the Corps of Engineers, the new Zwickau Class is superior to anything Marley has in its arsenal, and more importantly, it's equipped with a new experimental technology, the radar."
"Ray…dar?" Historia repeated,
"You know the radios that have become common on Paradis?" The engineer asked, and Historia nodded.
"Well, they work by producing a type of energy called Radio waves, however, when the radio waves hit a solid object, some of them are reflected back towards the source. The machine then reads the reflected radio waves and tells the operator where the enemy is."
"Why would Hizuru give us such valuable technology?" Historia wondered aloud,
"Maybe they see value in Paradis as a strategic position. We're right on Marley's northern flank, which is where all their important structures such as factories and mines are." Erwin explained,
"Continuing on, the dockyard is finally ready to support construction of heavier ships, such as battleships and heavy cruisers." The engineer explained, but Historia's eyes fell on something else.
"What is that?" Historia pointed at a partially complete flat-topped ship.
"It's called an aircraft carrier, and it's meant to revolutionize naval warfare in combination with radar technology. Essentially, it allows for planes to be launched and landed on the large flat-topped deck you're seeing, and then below that, there's a hangar where they'll be maintained."
"You're saying we'll be able to launch planes from the sea?" Hanji asked eagerly,
"Er…yes, to put it in layman's terms." The engineer shied away from the over-eager Scout.
"Wow…" Historia breathed, if she was being honest, she felt that Alto had more to do with all this than anything. He'd secured greater support from Hizuru, and was undoubtedly getting more allies in Britannia as she spoke. The least she could do was manage things here.
She squeezed Ymir's hand beside her, and the girl turned away, blushing. This came as something of a surprise to her, as Ymir never blushed before.
Historia snapped back to the task at hand, "Keep up the good work." She nodded, "Next, I believe we should check in on how the dockyards are doing, after that, I believe Alto is returning from Britannia today, so we should visit him."
For the past few months, Dina had been wandering around Paradis, trying to gain her bearings on the strange new world she'd found herself in.
For now, she'd settled in with a group of detitanized Eldians who'd formed a community within the walls, she managed to reunite with several of her Restorationist comrades as well. As the only known remaining restorationist leader and a woman of Royal Blood, Dina had become something of a leader for the detitanized Eldians.
"I believe we should approach the leadership of Paradis." One restorationist mentioned during a meeting, "If you were to approach them as a member of the royal family, I'm sure they would listen."
"You might be right, but will they help us?" Dina asked, "Will they even trust us?"
"Maybe not, but still…for our fallen comrades, we have to try!" One restorationist insisted, and the others nodded in agreement.
Dina rubbed her head, the past nineteen years had felt like nothing but a long dream. She vaguely remembered entering the wall when the Colossal Titan appeared.
'Grisha…' Was he alive? Or was he among the ones to be killed before they reached this point?
She had a feeling she would get her answers soon…
June 14th, 851
As Alto predicted, Britannia was quick to seize upon the offer. However, a more unexpected consequence was that other nations had heard about it as well, and were doing the same. Before long, Eldians from around the world had begun pouring onto the island. Whether to escape discrimination or by other means.
Of course, there was extreme distrust between the resident islanders and the immigrants. However, when they saw the detitanized Eldians, the Hizurians who'd chosen to permanently stay on the Island, and Marleyan POWs adjusting relatively well to the island, they managed to settle in as well.
However, an effect none could've predicted was the economic boom that came after. With the ships of immigrants finally beginning to pour in, so did trade ships, entrepreneurs, and other forms of opportunists flooded onto the island. While governments themselves were not interested in seeking negotiations with the island, the same could not be said for private entities. Many had heard of the legendary glowing stone that could make one rich overnight - as long as they were careful not to heat it or leave it out in the sun - and could not resist the possibility of wealth.
This was furthered by the fact that - to everyone's surprise - ships from the Western Union began to flood into Paradis. While Historia was quick to catch on that they were only a pawn in a trade war between Marley and the Union, it was nonetheless much to their advantage, as the ships arrived, so did demands for resupply, a task those like the Reeves and Marleen companies were happy to take up.
"You really are something." Carly lit herself a cigar, "Never in a thousand years did I think I'd see profits like this. Or find myself being a minister of anything."
"I wouldn't say that. All I did was say the right things a few times and everything fell into place." Alto told her,
"My Pa used to say that was all one really needed to do." Carly replied, "So don't sell yourself short. Speaking of- that Rosemary girl is a hard worker."
"We'll need her and her tank-making expertise. Apparently, she worked a while for a Britannian tank manufacturer, but they never treated her well. Which is why she was so quick to join us."
Carly didn't reply, but simply took another drag of her cigar before changing the subject "Nonetheless, we need to set up some boundaries. We can't allow our economy to be flooded with shit but cheap foreign goods."
Alto threw his hands up, "Your area of expertise, not mine."
Carly chuckled, "You're right. I'm here for a reason, aren't I? You and Eren need to relax and keep us all safe, I can handle things at home. I still owe you a favor, don't I?"
June 27th, 851
"Alright! Everything looks good!" Hanji shouted, Lyla - who had returned from her training in Hizuru and was now in a pilots cap and flight suit - gave her a thumbs up from inside the new Mezen-Shafter Model 1-09 Experimental or MZ-109X for short.
One month after the arrival of the two aircraft designers, Paradis already had a functioning aircraft prototype. Not only were the Corps metallurgists extremely helpful in developing material for the plane, but the ODM developers helped make the aircraft fuel efficient, and helped develop the ability for the plane to run on both fossil fuels and iceburst stone.
Thomas breathed heavily as the plane smoothly taxied onto the runway.
"Alright, lets not push anything today. Take it smoothly, all we want to do is make sure its not underperforming." Thomas told Lyla over the radio.
"Relax! I'll bring this baby back safe and sound!" Lyla said cheerfully.
In the audience of engineers and Paradisian officials, Historia and Alto watched with bated breath as the aircraft proceeded to pull up from the ground, and it's landing gear folded inward.
"Alright! I'm going!" Lyla said eagerly, pushing up the throttle, she slowly but surely accelerated the aircraft.
Okida gasped as the MZ-109 shot off into the sky, he rushed to the radio "Lyla! What are you doing there's no way-"
Thomas stopped him, and pointed to the sky and Okida almost dropped the receiver.
In the air, the MZ-109 was a solid acrobat. Pulling off death defying curves and maneuvers with terrifying speed, Historia clapped as the MZ-109 skimmed the top of the crowd, blowing several hats clean off the heads of their wearers.
Thomas clasped his hands to his mouth, they had done it. Him and Okida had finally achieved their dream, a new era of aviation had been brought about by their hands, and no one else's.
Alto clapped them on the back, "I knew I wasn't wrong to put my faith in you." He smiled at the two men, who smiled at each other before wrapping each other in a hug and a kiss.
Several Eldian reporters held cameras in their hands, desperate to record the historic moment.
'Everything looks so small and silly from up here.' Lyla smiled to herself, watching the crowd run around, trying to get a better look at the plane reminded her of ants when one stepped on an anthill. She was flying high, far higher than her primitive flying machine or ODM gear could ever take her.
Beside her, birds squawked with annoyance at the intruder to their domain, Lyla couldn't help but smile. The clouds looked white and fluffy, and below her, she saw the faint outline of the 109X on a cloud.
"Alright, bring it back in." Okida said, "We didn't load up a full tank, so we don't want you running out on us."
"Roger that." Lyla said, diving back through the clouds and landing smoothly on the runway.
"One month!" Hanji cheered, "That's all it took and we put the shock of god into the Hizurians' faces."
"Rightfully so." Onyakapon pointed out, "I've never seen any aircraft move like that."
"We should begin producing a fighter immediately," Alto noted to Historia, "Then Thomas and Okida agreed to establish a new military firm to handle its production, as well as develop different kinds to fulfill different roles."
In the background, Lyla approached her lover Rene, who beamed with pride.
"You were wonderful up there." She smiled,
"It felt…great. Even better than last time, my only regret was that you weren't with me." Lyla told her,
Rene pulled her in and kissed her, "One day."
Lyla kissed her back, 'Yes…one day.'
MZ-109: The MZ-109 is the equivalent of the BF-109 used by the Luftwaffe. (Yes I'm basing most of Eldia's military off the Wehrmacht. Yes, I am a wehraboo. No, I do not support their warcrimes or the idea of a clean wehrmacht. Not every wehraboo is a Naziphile.)
Panzer I: Speaks for itself, the Panzer I introduced in the early 1930s.
A/N: As you can see, we have Eldia on one hand which been advancing by leaps and bounds. Not only are they showing signs of becoming an economic hegemon, but through a series of coincidences have become one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world in about half a year.
Meanwhile, on the other Marley is seeing cracks in it's great Empire and is falling behind technologically.
Official Wiki Link:
the-official-flare-titan .fandom. com
