'If you want me to be practical about Gallic Junkers, here goes: don't deal with them. They're scum of the worst sort. Lawful facade but everything bad behind it.
As far as entrances to Gallia are concerned, minefields aren't your best bet. Sure, you can try sneaking through, but it's a dangerous operation. There are two other ways. One of them is a jump gate to Languedoc in Tau-29, it's guarded by stationary battleships on each end but it's possible to get through with a smaller ship. The last way through is a pretty safe route that we're taking right now. '
Jacques pointed at dense cloud behind the ship's window.
'Rishiri's cloud is very difficult to penetrate for the scanners, but it contains a jump hole to Lyonnais, that has yet to be discovered by royalist forces. The exit is in another, equally dense nebula on the other side. Council sometimes use it when they need to get something very secretly to Champagne. The obvious disadvantage is that you need to fly a lot longer way.
I heard a bit about that operation to Leeds last time I was at Haven and I would happily join you. House of Cards has a lot of empty space that could be used to get these poor people to some safer place.'
Fynn turned and watched the Rishiri clouds swirl and conceal everything behind the ship.
We could not only use youe ship, your knowledge about Gallic tactics and their ship types could save lifes.
Also I seldome met such an experienced crew. <he sighed> as my Junkers tend to be quite... individualistic.
Oh well. It ceeps life amusing even though I never know what will happen next.
He smirked over to Jaques, pointing to the next window and the heavy cuurtain beside it.
If you have another bottle of that fine wine stacked here somwere I suggest we liberate it and ponder some plans for future travels. Or perhaps tell some more stories.
I must return to the Haven soon and will probably not find much time for history or philosophy in the next few weeks. We are nearly finished with the construction of the Memorial Clinic so there will be 200 new crewmembers storming into my office soon. All at once I fear.
He looked out again, contemplating the clouds astern of the ship.
Jacques took out another bottle of wine and uncorked it. The red beverage ran down the glasses and soon both of them were sipping the product of Gallic vineyards.
'I believe tomorrow we'll reach Champagne. I don't think we'll have the time and reason to go on Planet Marne, as I personally dislike it quite a bit. It's not necessarily the best place to spend your vacation on, to put it differently. Instead we'll visit my old home on Montmirail. It's a base to the west of the system, one of the oldest Council have built. It became pretty much abandoned after the takeover of the entire system, for that it's a very peaceful and quiet place.'
He looked at Fynn and smiled slightly.
'I also have something special for you waiting at Montmirail, but I'll leave it as a surprise for now. On our way back we'll be going on full speed so the way back to Liberty shouldn't take much longer than a few hours.'
Then he looked away, into the blindness as he sometimes did and said under his breath.
'Every journey has an end, a place from where you can only go back.'
Montmirail was a surprise indeed.
And visiting the Champagne while hearing about the second Gallic war was quite an experience.
Fynn was absorbing this stuff , concentrating on understanding the lessons Jaques gave him so expertly, asking about fine points, fitting this piece and that information into the great puzzle of sirian politics.
If you do not learn from the past you will repeat it
Jacque´s words haunted Fynn like an oracles spell. There was much he did not wish to repeat. Many ghosts wanting to be heared, as many as mines in the fields up here.
So as the House.of.Cards finally turned back and they flew to Cortez again,
it seemed to him as if his horizon has expanded. Not only about Council affairs only. They had discussed Bretonia and Gallia, Kusari, Liberty and Rhineland, and many more topics.