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Quoi??? - turning a tired general into one wide awake and surprised can be easy if you know the correct words to say.
C'est vrai, mon Général. Roussillon est connecté á l'Edinburgh. - came the repeated response from lightyears away.

Several months ago the Gallic Royal Navy constructed a forward operations base within the Edinburgh system relatively quickly. Bretonia and her allies realised the threat Issoudun Drydock posed, and began planning a counter-attack for its removal soon enough. The Council's part in this whole act was to build up a small fleet out of whatever they can spare from the defenses of Roussillon, send this support contingent through the Tau-31 gateway, then to Edinburgh, meeting up mid-way with whatever forces Bretonia can send against the drydock.

Général? - Pierre was brought back from his depth of thoughts. He looked up at the image of the other person.
[Arrange a conference call between ourselves in ten minutes from now on. We have much to discuss.]
Entendu, Général.
Oh, et Théo, [make sure to bring Adjudant-général Marie with yourself.]
Oui, Monsieur. - Théo nodded, and finally disappeared as the communication channel closed.

Pierre took out his Aurel contact lenses so he can rub his eyes and take a deep breath before getting up and moving on to attend his next tasks. It seems there will not be much sleep tonight.

Théophile Durand is an adjudant-colonel in his middle twenties, average height, slim like many of his age. His short brown hair is still long enough to cover a thin, long scar on the side of his head, just above his left ear, a memento of an almost fatal dog fight with a royalist pilot during the earlier years of his career in The Council. That was when he decided he would rather command capital vessels than die in one those tiny flying coffins.

He has been the acting commander of the CLN Chasselas since April, effectively leading the entire Flottille Rebelle Rouge. As such, he was also tasked with keeping track of any development regarding the operation against Issoudun Drydock in the absence of Général LaFlamme. Théo knew this amount of responsibility was unlike anything he was ever trusted before, but he also knew if he passes this test, it will reflect well upon his career in the movement.

With doubts, hopes and curiosity about how they will proceed from now on, mixed in his heart and mind, he proceeded to hail Adujdant-général Marie in a private channel.

Adjudant-générale Marie, c'est Adjudant-colonel Théophile Durand. Général LaFlamme [requested our presence during a conference call within...] - Théo looked down, probably onto his watch, - [... four minutes from now. I will be waiting for you in Conference Room AA-23, I trust you will find your way there,] Adjudant-générale. - with a quick, brief nod he closed the communication channel.

Finalement. - Théo sighed once he saw the woman arriving. He opened up the glass door next to him. - [This way.]

The AA-23 conference room wasn't big, it was one of several small ones along a long and wide corridor. The room had three big screens almost entirely covering each of the three short walls, a round table in the middle and six seats around it. The fourth, glass wall, separating the room from the corridor could be turned from transparent to opaque with just a single switch next to the door. Dim ambient light lit the room, the lamp on the ceiling projected its light sideways.

There was also a small drawer in one of the corners, the first thing Théo approached when they entered. He took out two things resembling sunglasses, albeit slightly heavier. - [I suppose you've already became familiar with the AuRel system. In case you haven't, you will now. Take this and have a seat. We will begin shortly.] - He offered one of those devices to Alice and motioned towards the two chairs closest to the door. He took the other device and sat down next to her. Upon putting and turning on the VR devices, after a brief retina scan, the holographic representation of three figures appeared on the semi-transparent screen, three ghosts sitting on the chairs opposite to Alice and Théo. One familiar and two unknown faces, at least to her.

Tard, mais pas de plus. Bonsoir, et bienvenue. - Pierre tried to hide his tiredness, but his most recent coffee has yet to make an effect. He began introducing the conference members to eachother. - Mesdames et Messieurs, Adjudant-colonele Véronique Moreau, capitaine suppléeant de la CLN Aix-en-Provence, et de la Flottille Aigle Bleu, - he motioned to his right, the woman nodded briefly. - Adjudant-colonel Victor Jules Peyran, capitaine de la CLN La Vérité, et de la Flottille Lame Bleu - the man on his left nodded as well. - Adjudant-colonel Théophile Durand, capitaine de la CLN Chasselas, et de la Flottille Rebelle Rouge, - Théo nodded as he was addressed. - Et finalement, Adjudant-générale Alice Roxanne Marie, bientôt capitaine de la RNS Vauqueline Royale. Encore. - Pierre took a short pause, then tapped a few times on the table, made some strange motions, pulled upa holographic map of the stellar surroundings of Roussillon, then began briefing.

[We've received reports approximately forty minutes ago that the interstellar wormhole next to Le Boulou outpost reconnected from the Tau-31 system to the Edinburgh system. The patrol, which made the discovery, reported a dense purple nebula upon arrival instead of the usual ice asteroid field. Furthermore they reported briefly spotting a terrestrial planet, a dual star system, hostile patrols, and fleets converging around an installation outside the cloud. Descriptions matched previous intelligence about the Arran ice cloud, Gaia, Issoudun Drydock and the nearby royalist forces. It appears the GRN did not notice us yet, which would allow for a surprise strike, although I do recall our attack was scheduled for sometime in December. Moreau?]

[Preparations would require about a week more, or two, General. On the other hand, if we can exploit the element of surprise well enough, we could beat the royalists even now. According to our most recent intel they are spread around the system and could be easily beaten bit by bit. Of course that would require at least two flottilles, if not three. And organisation.]

[I'd say two decent flottilles are enough. As such, I volunteer the Red Rebels to lead the attack alongside you.]

[That makes two flottilles then. With that, Flottille Lame Bleu can stay back as reserve at Le Boulou. Is that good for you, Peyran?]

Oui, Général. [We will stay in contact and my flottille will intervene anytime, should it be required.]

Trés bien. - he said, and with another few strange motions he zoomed the map in on the Edinburgh system, containing a layout known to The Council. A few more taps here and there and two orange blobs appeared to represent the two Council flottilles at the Arran cloud. More taps and the latest intelligence regarding hostile forces, their location, arrangement,and movement speed and direction was added to the map.

[The RNS La Riche might pose a significantly delaying obstacle in Gaia's orbit, we might lose the element of surprise before reaching the drydock.]

[How about attacking from two sides?] - he began motioning around the representation of Gaia, without triggering any change in the map. - [We would approach from behind the planet, the Blue Eagles would fly around from one side, us from the other, we would surprise the royalist pigs and shred them to tiny bits in no time. They won't be able to focus well enough on two opposite sides, and we wouldn't waste a lot of time with the La Riche.]

[That doesn't sound that bad, I could see it work.]

[At the same time you would spread out too, and become just as vulnerable.]

[Indeed it sounds effective and risky at the same time. They could just as well focus one of your flottilles down in a charge, while keeping distance from the other.]

[And with that they would risk collision. I would rather expect them turning around and fleeing to Issoudun, alerting the rest and calling for reinforcements.]

Adjudant-générale Marie, [what do you think about it? Considering it is important that you reach the drydock alive, on board of either flagships, I would like to hear your thoughts about this tactic Durand proposed.]

After several minutes of just listening, it was her turn to speak.