General's Office, Adminstration Center, Council Headquarters
Grand Ramier, Toulouse, Roussillon
Entrez. - Pierre responded upon hearing the beep signaling the arrival of his guest. He didn't look up from his work when the professor entered the office, after finishing a transmission just minutes prior the General sent it to the Communications Center for broadcast. He only looked up at Charles once done with that.
Bonsoir, Mon Général.
Bonsoir, Doc, [have a seat. And we are among ourselves, you can call me Pierre. I'd like to thank you for the latest upgrades. Oh, may I offer you something to drink?]
Merci, mais non. [And yes, it was great luck to find the Oublique Battlegroup defect with their cruisers already upgraded to battlecruisers, but even with the blueprints at hand upgrading all our Obstinates in the past few months was quite a chore. Though I assume there are other reasons behind you calling me here than that,] ne sont pas? [You were quite secretive.]
[Indeed, there are things I better like fewer people to know about.] Par example... Est-ce que tu te souviens Spectre?
Oui. Pourquoi? - Docteur Lavoisier asked back, trying to figure out what the General wants from him. The project has been abandoned for an indefinite period a while ago as the research teams turned their focus towards other related subjects of research. There were also a few technical and financial difficulties in the way, but Charles wanted to know a bit more of Pierre's intentions before briefing him about the status of Projet Spectre.
[I haven't received any meaningful reports about that project lately, and I was wondering if something happened. Do you mind answering some of my queries? For a start, could you brief me on the current status of the device?] - but of course Pierre asked for it, as was expected. And thus the professor had to explain.
[Well, the project was put on hold after a failed recalibration attempt and my boys were assigned to other tasks involving smaller equipment - offensive and defensive alike - based on these materials. The new settings resulted in more energy consumption which the core of a mere Vache couldn't handle, and we couldn't reset it to it's earlier state.]
[How so?] - interrupted Pierre.
Je ne sais pas. [I suspect when we first tried it out after the change, and failed with it, there must have been a change in the inner structure of the lens rendering our modification irreversible. Sadly we couldn't conduct tests to find the answers for lacking the necessary equipment, and it was around the time when the attempt of increased spread of propaganda throughout Gallia occured.]
Oui, [I remember. That operation required a big chunk of our funds, but sadly ended up far worse than how I expected.] - after looking into the distance for a few seconds of remembering the mentioned propaganda campaign Pierre turned back to the scientists and asked him: [So what's the current required power core capacity for the device to properly operate?]
[If I recall correctly, it jumped about two or three magnitudes from prior to adjustment. Now it wrecks the core of a Vache in seconds.]
Quel est le nombre exact?
Je sais pas, Pierre. Trois ou trois et un half millions des unités universel d'énergie, [I don't remember. Perhaps if the relevant documents would be at hand...]
[And how powerful cores do our new Battlecruisers have?] - He interrupted again with a now obviously rhetorical question. Both of them sat there silent for at least half a minute, Charles finally grasping what the other was on about, Pierre watching his reaction, slowly developing a slight grin in the corner of his mouth. Lavoisier broke the silence:
[Are you really suggesting experiments on Battlecruisers?]
Pourqui pas?
[What if it ends up as a huge catastrophe? It didn't really happen yet when we experimented with a Vache, but anything could have and I am more concerned about losing a Battlecruiser than a mere transport. And perhaps you should be too.]
[The GRN already have been using cloaking technology on not so few of their ships, and I'm liking it less and less that we fall behind them in terms of not only numbers but also technology all the time.] - The debate began becoming a bit heated, realizing this Pierre toned down his volume a bit. - [We need to at least keep up closely with them if we want to win this war. Seeing how well they countered our propaganda I'm not willing to make that mistake again. I would like you and your teams to return to developing and manufacturing cloaking devices, and do your best at that. In return I'm ready to reallocate the necessary funds and materials as well as to assign the CLN Courageuse, the CLN Puissante and the CLN Taquine to your experiments.] - upon finishing, he looked at the other in a wait for response.
At first Charles didn't know what to say, then began thinking through what may be necessary for his teams to continue working on the devices. - [Well, Pierre, that sounds great. But I think there may be something among our needs even you couldn't get us that easily.]
Quoi?
Les tissous aliens.
That was indeed unexpected, but Pierre didn't have to think for long who he may have to contact. While he was unsure about his success, he knew he has to take this step.
Alors, [but perhaps your men won't have to sit idle until I make sure we'll get those.]
Charles liked Pierre's riddles less and less, almost with annoyance he asked: [What do you have on your mind again?]
[Prevention or negation of GRN's ability to cloak themselves away from your eyes. I like an opponent better if I can see them.]
D'accord, [I'll see what I can do.] - with that both of them stood up, left the office, and bid farewell to eachother as both of them went on their own ways.
Docteur Lavoisier went for the main hangars of the compound to travel back to Bagatelle Mountains, where the secret facility lied in the carved out heart of a peak, while General LaFlamme went to the Communications Center to send a transmission from there directly, just as how he liked with the more important ones.