The following morning, a professional yet fashionably dressed young Korean-American woman sat across her mentor, Mike Krieger, reviewing the F-35 joint project outline on her Infinity Notebook as the Luxury 787 flew towards Washington DC.
The Future Tech Softworks executives traveled to Lockheed Martin as representatives for the trillion-dollar agreement between private corporations and the US government to deliver a fighter jet that met all the metrics specified by Air Force General Bogdan.
Though American corporations were traditionally restricted by the government in employing foreign workers involving national defense, this wasn't an issue anymore as provisions within the "Protection for Domestic Innovation" bill now allowed it with a few limitations.
The fifth-generation fighter had been a pain in the ass for Bogdan and the Pentagon for years while its budget inflated to unacceptable levels.
Bogdan required the three F-35 variants to pass reliability tests on its operating system software, flight capabilities, power unit, and maintenance with a February 2014 hard deadline.
Allied nations such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and Israel had already committed billions of dollars to pre-order the new stealth fighters. Still, they were now regretting it as gamers would after a disastrous launch, i.e., No Mans Sky or Dragon Age: Inquisition.
The 787 touched down at the Ronald Reagan National Airport before they boarded a CAV dispatched by the local Future Tech branch, followed by four FS operators as their escort.
The airport was dead center of the city, so it didn't take long before they arrived at Lockheed Martin's main headquarters.
It seemed like a vast modern federal building but was actually owned by a private defense company, like many of their neighbors in DC.
Mike Krieger disembarked from the AV looking like a genuine megacorp executive after purchasing exclusive Future Couture outfits he recently unlocked with his promotion.
The relatively young man was proud of his achievements but followed Vince's example and remained humble not to lose focus of the actual work.
A lovely Caucasian-American woman in her early 60s amicably welcomed the entourage and said, "Good morning to our guests. My name is Marillyn Hewson, the CEO of this establishment. I've heard great things about your corporation from General Douglas. Come join me at the conference hall to deliberate the new plan of action for our joint project."
Future Tech was still a young company, only operating for nearly two years since 2011, but already gained a reputation for discipline, tact, respect, and effectiveness due to its efforts in the business and security sectors.
Lockheed Martin allowed the FS operators to remain armed but was restricted in some regions of the office complex.
Marillyn wasn't surprised to meet Jessica Mirae, the young coding savant, because of her corporation's research about Future Tech.
They couldn't take the F-35 program lightly as so much of their business was stifled by complications, one after another, so the board of directors decided to take the chance and partner with the rising Austin tech giant.
The Lockheed Martin suits hedged their bets on Future Tech based on its vast potential instead of the idiots in the tech and entertainment industry like Sony remaining petty at the cost of self-detriment.
Marillyn discussed her corporation's role in improving the entire F-35 package, such as providing all relevant data Lockheed Martin had already gathered to expedite Future Tech's work in refining the necessary aspects of the aircraft.
The topic moved on to the three variants, and Mike bluntly interjected, "The biggest obstacle in this project is the vastly different jet fighters planned for production but share the same bid. I've spoken to my fellow executives regarding this issue and propose realigning the program's focus on one stealth fighter capable of meeting the criteria set by the Air Force, Navy, and Marines.
The US military had always meant to replace many of its aging aircraft with the fifth-generation F-35, but such a high bar to attain wasn't easy for Lockheed Martin.
Marrilyn thought Mike was joking and skeptically replied, "Mr. Krieger, if it were that easy, my corporation had already considered and done what you've proposed. It was simply deemed impossible."
Jessica hated the word "impossible" after two years of making the impossible a reality and confidently interjected, "The US government is paying us to assist Lockheed Martin in the best way possible, so please have faith in Future Tech with assisting your highly-qualified engineers in redesigning the F-35."
Mike added, "My protégé speaks the truth, Mrs. Hewson. Our corporation is ready to gather more assistance like subject matter experts from other divisions such as Kevin Lawson of Future Tech F1 and Elon Musk of SpaceX. I'm confident we can find success together, where others stumble in failure."
Simple words rarely moved the experienced and aged Marrilyn, but the confidence the much younger people in front of her exuded was enough to change her mind for the meantime and approve the complete redesign.
If her staff couldn't do it before, maybe a different outcome would surface with Future Tech at the helm. But, it didn't matter to her as long as Lockheed Martin could finally rid itself of the F-35 program and move on to other lucrative endeavors.
Marrilyn directed her guests to a deeper and more secure office building area, containing crucial research data related to aviation, missile systems, and even legacy documents from Skunk Works about the SR-71 Blackbird dating back to the 1960s codenamed Archangel.
She instructed staff managing the sensitive documents regarding the F-35 and approved a complete data transfer over a secure physical connection layered with different types of encryption.
Lockheed Martin didn't mess around and even impressed Mike. The latter had become quite familiar the Future Tech's security standards by writing a few programs for Anthony, the FCS Director, from time to time.
Mike retrieved his Infinity Notebook to accept the data transfer while LM's security agents monitored the process to ensure the sanctity of the deal.
A few minutes later, Mike requested permission to store the F-35 files he received on a satellite data bank, as Future Tech's standard protocol in securing classified information like FS intelligence.
Marrilyn was okay with it and considered the idea as further protection for Lockheed Martin's intellectual property and even asked Mike if her corporation could also avail of satellite data bank services from Future Tech.
Mrs. Hewson got on well with Jessica as a breath of fresh air. But unfortunately, she mainly dealt with old fogeys in the defense industry instead of young, insightful, talented people like the Korean-American programmer.
Now that Mike had done what he came to Washington to do, there wasn't much reason to remain, and then he said, "Thank you for your hospitality and cooperation, Mrs. Hewson. Rest assured, our corporations will work together in harmony to get the F-35 into the skies and out of our ways."
Marrilyn smacked the young man as she chuckled and replied, "I very much hope so. You have a smart and mature protégé, Mike; I envy you. Nevertheless, I'll keep faith in our partnership until next year's hard deadline. Have a safe trip, you two."
Their entourage exited the office building, where a CAV was already waiting for its passengers. Though Jessica demonstrated poise and confidence in front of Lockheed Martin's CEO about redesigning the aircraft back into one variant, she didn't exactly know how as she specialized in software development, not aeronautics, but kept up the charade by following her mentor.
Jessica curiously asked Mike, "Umm, I thought Future Tech Softworks was only tasked with developing a non-proprietary flight control system for the F-35. So why did it suddenly turn into a full redesign?"
Mike waited until they were both inside the CAV and honestly replied, "Your childhood friend is quite the schemer. As you said, Vince agreed to an initial deal with General Bogdan. Still, he requested me to pitch the new proposal banking on Future Tech's current reputation to ultimately gain access to everything F-35 related, instead of only the flight systems and weapon deployment schematics."
Future Tech lacked the in-depth and decades' worth of Fighter Jet research and development Lockheed Martin had poured into the F-35 program and was limited in producing bulky AVs like the Stingray, FAV-1, and the FT-05 Super Galaxy.
Vince would be a fool to let an opportunity to legitimately acquire the information his corporation required slip away, so he asked Mike during the promotion dinner to write a compelling enough proposal to get Marrilyn onboard with the dream of achieving something they couldn't before.
Vince Dalton has had brighter moments, but he thought this method would be much better than releasing Network Creepers and forcibly hacking into competitor's systems like how typical online criminal scum and Anarchy would operate. However, the young man disdained going that low to get ahead of his contemporaries.
Jessica was sharper than most and quickly understood what her mentor meant and asked, "So we duped the nice old lady into handing us research data worth more than half a trillion dollars with only a proposal? Isn't that a little too much?"
After Jessica put it that way, Mike felt a bit embarrassed and said, "At least we asked nicely. Right?"
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Stats last time checked:
Future Tech current valuation - $300 billion
15 million BTC (currently trades at $25,000)
$11 Billion cash in Future Tech
105,000+ employees (FT Broadcasting, FT Softworks, FT AI, Future Studios, Future Records, Hive Mind Manufacturing, FT Micro Devices, BitCash, FT VR, FT F1, FT Investments, Future Arms, Future Med, Future Tech Robotics, Future Education, Epic Games, 60% of SpaceX, 10% of Tesla, 10% of Koenigsegg)
20,000+ operators under Future Security
Personal Vehicles: Klassen Phantom, Agera R, Agera SFV, Boeing Luxury 787 Dreamliner, The Longhorn, Flyga
Collaborators (Epic, Koenegisegg, SpaceX, Tesla, Hyundai C&E, Disney, Lockheed Martin)
Numerous subsidiaries under Future Tech Holdings (i.e., Instagram, Twitch, Big Hit Entertainment)
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