Henze stared at Kunrad for a moment, considering. 'Sholtz will need a tighter leash for the future.' He thought, with some irritation. Kunrad was a solid officer, but for every one of him, two others on both sides would take issue with a similar speech, which would certainly sour future cooperation.

Henze scanned the room again, but did not see the tell-tale cluster of white uniforms which would announce the Grand Admiral's arrival. Resigning himself to another sleepless night, he moved in the direction of the entrance, where he earlier spotted a likely prospect in an ostentatious uniform.

"This wine, Mein Herr. A local vintage, perhaps?"

Pierre looks up as the Rheinlander approaches, taking note of his rank and the plethora of medals decorating his chest, then glancing down at the glass of red wine in his hand. "Local to Orleans, Admiral, not to New Paris. From Chateau d'Éguilly actually, one of the first vineyards to be founded on the planet."

Pierre reaches out, offering his hand to the older man. "Pierre MacMahon, Admiral, a pleasure to meet you." He turns his head to his side, indicating towards the blonde standing next to him. "This is my wife, Marie."

Henze's glance flicked to the woman with disinterest, as Boll stepped closer to prevent an incident, however unlikely. Henze took the outstretched hand. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance. And yourself, mein Herr?" he said, waving Boll off with a minor gesture. "Did you travel far to join the celebration?"

"Only from Burgundy, my wife met me along the way from our home on Orleans. Fortunately travel to the capital is fairly safe these days, we don't see much out there except for an occasional flight of Royalists, certainly not like what you and yours went through."

"It is understandable. There are many in both Rheinland and Gallia who would prefer that our Houses did not grow closer." Henze chuckled drily, looking closely at the man. "It seems that they have failed for now, thanks to the strong escort I demanded."

"Yes, I'm sorry we couldn't send more of our people to assist your own, but Intelligence assets are still extremely scattered and not yet cohesive. Any of our ships that you may have seen would only have been operating on their own initiative sadly, we don't even currently have a centralized command structure."

He takes a sip of his champagne, then rolls his shoulders again. "I'm glad our houses are at the very least cooperating, though I hope you would excuse any ill tempers regarding the recent speech your emperor gave."

Henze winced at the last pronouncement, and knew he couldn't leave it unanswered. "The Emperor is a young man. I remember myself at that age, eager to prove my worth against the Libertonians." Henze looked off into the distance. "We all change as we grow older, and acquire more responsibilities. You will understand, if you remain in the service."

"I might not look it, but I've been with Intelligence for almost fifteen years now. I understand his zeal, but the populace will take a while to forget his missteps, particularly the nobility." Pierre places his free hand back around Marie's waist, giving her a slight nod to let her know that she should mingle, then looks back at the Admiral. "Enough about the failure of politicians though, perhaps I could inform you about some things?"

"Your experience does you credit, mein Herr. It is men like us who will have the true responsibility in ensuring the success of this alliance." Henze gazed steadily across the room. "For their sake, I would value any information you can provide."

Pierre grins at him, giving a slight inclination of his head at the kind words. "I'm sure I could tell you much about many things, but perhaps there is a particular topic you would like me to shed some light on?"

"My question is simple, but perhaps not so easily answered." Henze turned the full weight of his gaze on the younger man. "Our civil war is over now, and we are once again a united people. Can you say the same about the Gallic Union?"

Pierre lets his gaze sweep across the room, making sure that nobody unsavory is too close at hand that they can overhear him. "Ah, I had suspected you might ask about such things. While the open hostilities are certainly gone, excluding the occasional flight of Royalist ships in the fringes of our space, we are as of yet not a united people again. The Royalists might not be much of a direct threat to Gallia, but they have many sympathizers among those that hold sway in the Union, and the current leadership is already seeing a decline in popularity."

"As you may be aware, we have already received a denouncement of the cooperation between our Houses." Henze said, watching closely for any reaction.
"It is ever the gamble of how many assets one should invest in deterrence against threats which may never materialize. Are all in the combined fleet loyal, do you think?"

"Yes, I saw the feed, the Maquis are by far the most vocal of the opposition to the Union at this time." He rolls his shoulders again, the tight jacket still rather uncomfortable. "The officers in the combined fleet certainly claim to be loyal, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some of them change allegiance if the wind were to start blowing in a different direction. Many of them have already had varied loyalties before now, much the same way that I'm sure your own forces have those that still feel loyalties to their old ideals."

Henze smiled politely, his demeanor becoming markedly cooler. "Those with uncertain loyalties will find that their future is less assured than even they believe," he said. "As long as those at the top are on the same page, the rest will fall in line, or they will wish they had."

"Quite so, but I fear that for Gallia as a whole, the combined fleet may be a hindrance more than a benefit at this point." He looks around again. "Our trade agreements with Rheinland are certainly beneficial to us, but our economy is in shambles, and with the deaths of your ministers who were meant to be negotiating with our own, I fear that we may be looking at a rather large economic downturn."

"I would not concern yourself with the unfortunate fate of the various functionaries." Henze chuckled grimly. "You will find that they serve merely as the mouthpiece of our corporate masters, as I believe is true for all Sirian Houses. Besides, I've heard that the search & rescue of the last delegation has achieved a substantial degree of success."

"Hopefully they recover some worthwhile people then." Pierre lets out a low sigh. "Our economy needs all the help it can get. The workforce is still reeling, and unemployment is increasing steadily. We quite simply don't have jobs available that people are willing to do at this point. Our largest industrial sector is still on Marne, but the people there are no more loyal to the new government than they were the old one. We lack natural resources, much of Gallia was stripped clean by the Crown to fuel the vast war machine that was launched against the Sirians."

He takes another sip from his champagne, finishing off the glass. "Said fleet lost a significant amount of its force in the fighting against the Bretonians and Libertonians, then the Kusari came in and destroyed a substantial number of our reserves. More losses were suffered during our own infighting, and our shipyards are currently spending more time dismantling a large portion of our remaining fleet. Gallia's economy was almost exclusively devoted to the building of a war machine vast enough to sweep over all of Sirius, and now that same economy has nothing to produce for internal use."

Henze waited politely, letting the other man's words wash over him. It was not so different, he thought, from the state of Rheinland itself after the False War. 'Are we to serve the role of the Libertonians?' he wondered, with a chill of premonition sweeping down his back. He approached the man more closely, slowly resting a fatherly hand on one of the ridiculous epaulets.

"As a student of history, I believe you will have heard of what occurred in Sirius over thirty years ago." he said, mildly. "I will ensure that we will not make the same mistakes, and I would be obliged if you convinced your superiors to do the same."

Pierre nods his head again. "I will do what I can, but I also cannot guarantee anything. My greatest concern is with the combined fleet having widespread mutiny at this point, and I don't speak for them. Many of our junior officers and ship's crews are losing their commissions as our fleet restructures itself, and they have nowhere to go, Admiral."

Henze nodded, looking over the sea of uniforms. "With increased trade flowing between our borders, there will be many vermin looking to take advantage. If the Union does not see fit to retain a navy, the same offiziere will find ready employment in corporate security. I have seen it happen many a time." Henze straightened. "For the rest, I will endeavor to form closer ties with our counterparts. All I need is willingness to cooperate. I believe we both have much to think on."

"Yes, we do. I wish you luck with the rest of your visit Admiral." A wry smirk comes across his face, glancing around at the nobles scattered around the room chatting up the visiting military officers. "Also patience, you may need that more than the luck."

Henze nodded gravely, and said, "Thank you for the pleasure of your company. I believe it will be a long evening ahead of us."

"Far too long of an evening, I'm afraid." Pierre gives the weathered warrior a final nod, then steps away to rejoin his wife, who had spent their conversation chatting with the Admirals entourage a short distance away.