Marshal Selann Ironwave read the report twice before setting it down.
The implications required a second pass to believe — that was why she read it twice. She sat in her office in the Iron Citadel's military wing — a room built for function, not impression: stone walls, an iron desk, maps of the Dominion's borders pinned to every vertical surface. The report bore the Sovereign Eyes Only seal and had arrived via military courier from Ironhold at dawn.
Prototype 9. Rifled stonesteel barrel. Cinnaite-lined. 50-meter effective range. Penetrates hardwood at full distance. Barrel survived 9 firings without structural failure. Accuracy: two shots within hand-span at 50 meters.
She set the report beside the earlier one — the black powder assessment from four weeks ago. Two reports. Two breakthroughs. The same sealed classification.
