Zara turned to him as if considering her words, "I would like to apologize for earlier. I lost control of myself and failed to uphold my duties."
Red's hand froze where he had been rubbing his neck. That was not how he had expected this conversation to start. He really hadn't known how the conversation was going to go at all, but this was definitely not it. He stumbled over his words, not really sure what to say.
Eventually, he managed, "Uh, sure."
"I want to clear up this misunderstanding before it goes any further. There is a reason I help out people like you, and it's because what you do is important. Others may not see it that way, but I understand. I've helped dozens in your place achieve success instead of being left behind."
Red stiffened and let his hand fall from his neck. He felt like he should say something as well. He hadn't meant what he said either. His anger had simply gotten the better of him, and he'd spewed out whatever came to mind. Red turned away, facing the wall, shoulders tense.
"Well, for what it's worth, I'm sorry too…about belittling what you go through."
He glanced back and found Zara smiling slightly. His eyes narrowed despite him trying to keep his face neutral. Why did it feel like, even though they'd both apologized, he was the one getting chastised?
"I think we'll be able to get along."
"I hope so," Red replied stiffly.
"Now that doesn't mean I'm going to let you run out there guns blazing. I'm willing to give your plan a shot, but I won't be letting you into the thick of it."
Red scowled, "I thought we just had this whole apology session for a reason."
"Oh, we did. I don't consider your problems to be any less simply because they don't involve combat. But that means you will have to deal with your engineering problems, and I will deal with the fighting problems. We each have our roles to play in what's to come, so instead of stepping on each other's feet, we should accept what the other is best at."
"I…that makes sense," he couldn't argue when she put it that way. Zara was the soldier after all, and he was not.
"Good. Now let's look at the real reason you're here."
Red reached into his pocket and removed his design. It had sustained water damage from the daunting swim to shore, and then more during their trek through the jungle. He was glad that, for the most part, it was still readable. All the details had been memorized by this point, but it was better to trust a plan than his mental image. That's how things blow up.
"Can you explain to me why exactly I'm showing you this? All Ayjax told me was that you would be able to help me, but he never gave details or anything. It was really damn frustrating actually," he grumbled.
"Sounds about right. He has a habit of losing track of the important details because he is too busy thinking about everything at once," Zara stepped closer as he began spreading out his sheet onto the table.
"I will help you patent your design through me since you need someone with an actual degree from the academy to do so. Then, we can sell your patent rights to companies. That will make you a…" she trailed off as the entire shielding design manifested itself across the tabletop, "Is this a…"
"Minaturized shielding device," Red said proudly, "I'm surprised you were able to tell so quickly. Ayjax had no idea what I was building, even when I tried to explain it."
Zara whistled, "He wasn't joking. You know what you're doing. Most of this is beyond my understanding, but I can get the gist of what you're doing here. Have you made a prototype yet?"
Red grimaced, "Not an updated one. I had an early test design, but it kept overheating. Vizim helped me fix some major bugs I had, but I haven't had the chance to build a new version."
"You could probably build this with the materials we still have here."
Zara began running through a list of components, and Red pointed out extra parts he would need. He was totally surprised by how much she actually understood. Red mentally reprimanded himself for blowing her off earlier. She may not have been an expert, but she knew enough to understand. That was all it took for her to recognize the significance of what he had made.
"Damn. You need to get this patented asap and sold. If this design is fully functioning, well, you would probably become rich overnight."
"That seems a little far-fetched," Red scoffed. He knew he could make decent money from selling the design, but that seemed a bit much.
"Red. I'm going back to what I said earlier. I am a soldier, and you are an engineer. We each know our fields very well, it seems, and this…this. Well, it would revolutionize our battle techniques. Boarding enemy ships has always been one of the most dangerous parts of any fight. These shields would reduce that risk to only extremely powerful fire. It would make ship boarding not only a viable option, but even more important than it already is."
"With what's currently going on in Valencia. Every military contractor is going to be desperate to snatch up this design. With how easy this will be to make. Manufacturing a large number of these will be easy. What I'm trying to say is…what you have made is not some cool idea for your record. It is going to change the way wars are fought across the seven seas."
Red stared at the shield design before him. He knew it was something new and special. He wouldn't have spent so much time making it if it wasn't. But Zara made it sound as if this simple design would change the world. He didn't know how that was possible, but then again, she was right. He was no soldier, and she was. She could already envision scenarios where the shield would be useful in true combat.
"You think you have all the materials here?" Red asked, still not taking his eyes off his masterpiece.
"You might have to dig around a bit, but I can pretty much guarantee it. But, I'm going to have to ask you to hold off on that."
The way she said those last words made Red turn to her, "Why?"
"I'll be honest, I didn't really believe Derrin when he talked you up so much. It seemed something a friend would do to help out their friend. This is enough for me," Zara's eyes met his, "I think we actually have a chance now."
"Okay."
"You've made some bombs before, right?"
"Nothing overly complicated."
Zara began to explain the rest of her plan. As she spoke, Red couldn't help but feel his eyes widen. Not from shock. Not from fear. From excitement. They were going to cause some damn big explosions in the coming days.