Comm. Array Deux, Communications Center, Council Headquarters Grand Ramier, Toulouse, Roussillon
Donc, you can send it now.- LaFlamme ordered one of the officers once he was done replying to the transmission of Commander Anders. He was glad the Colonial Commander has notified him about the meeting Golanski wants to schedule. It seems not even Malta is immune to things such as a civil war, and knowing one of the main enemies of The Council is weakening itself lighted up his mood a bit.
Alors, bonne nuit mesieurs...- He was just about to leave the room, when suddenly... -Ah, excue-moi, mon General.- an other officer shouted after him. Oui? Qu'est-ce que c'est... Bramard?- LaFlamme asked while walking back to the officer. Bramard began speaking: -General, I've noticed something étrange when I looked at le size du transmission. Le transmitted data package est bigger than what was displayed as la message, et any time I try to access cet additional data, it only plays noise. Did you check it isn't just the cosmic background radiation spiced with a little ion fluctuation what is playing with you?- an other officer commented on Bramard's notice jokingly, but the answer of the latter was serious. -Non, c'est just too complex for that. I need more time to analyze it. Plus bon, officer.- Pierre frowned. -Strange... Keep working on this et tell me if you find anything new. I might forward this transmission to our hackers if this turns out to be more than mere noise.
Comm. Array Deux, Communications Center, Council Headquarters Grand Ramier, Toulouse, Roussillon
Any news, mesieurs?- Pierre asked while walking in. New transmissions are always relayed to his personal wrist-mounted computer, but lately he finds it better to reply from the Communications Center, in case any of the officers have something interesting to say... like it happened last time.
Just a few transmissions, General...- Bramard was quick to reply, and continued. -Et again a few étrange discoveries. With which of these do you intend to start with, mon General?
Let's see the transmissions first.- Pierre began reading the reply of Commander Anders first. He let out a smile when the commander congratulated him. Then he went on the transmission the commander gave them access to, and his smile disappeared quickly. As Anders invited him at a later point, he was able to read only the initiative message and what's been sent after the Council gaining access, but that was enough for him to bring back the old feeling of mistrust he was hoping he won't feel again. To keep his emotions at bay, he sighed a huge and asked Bramard: -Donc, et what are those discoveries?
You see, mon General, I was able to confirm that le additional data I found yesterday est indeed part du message, only with different encryption, I have no clue why. Additionallement to that, I've found other, seemingly similar streams going through le channel du transmission, mais I was not able to trace down ces origin ou destination. Not sure si mon capabilitées est sufficent to compare les streams.
No need, officer.- The general walked up to the main console in the middle and opened a local channel to the EOS Center. -C'est Durand, mon General, how may I be of your service?-Could you send over one of your hackers, s'il vous plait?-Pas de probleme, mon General, Agent Xavier Bertineau est en route.-Merci beacoup.
The agent arrived within ten minutes, after which LaFlamme briefed him and gave out instructions. -Not neccessaire, but if you can crack the second encryption, do it. Et notify me once you are done with it.-D'accord.
To the rest of you, keep a watchful eye on any transmission coming in or going out to which the Colonial Republic is also having access to.- gave Pierre away the orders.
Cantina, Recreational Center, Council Headquarters Compertrix, Marne, Champagne
Agent! Quoi?- Rouge was about to leave the Cantina after his first proper meal for weeks now. His latest assignment has just finished recently, letting him arrive home only hours ago. After dinner he was hoping for some rest, due to this his response may have sounded grumpier than should have. C'est votre.- the man coming after him handed over a small metal tube. A tube looking too familiar. Merde.- he thought, knowing well what it was. -Merci. Bonne nuit. Vouz aussi. Et bonne chance. Yeah, I'll need that.- with a nod he left to his room with the tube in his hand.
Room 7-423, Dormitory Block B, Council Headquarters Compertrix, Marne, Champagne
He was sitting on his bed for minutes looking at the tube before he decided to open it. He took a tome out of it, made out of some kind of metallo-plastic foil, folded around a central rod with two buttons on the two ends of it. He took the tome in between his two index fingers, pressed the buttons to unfold it and began reading the message glowing in bright orange on it's inner surface. The text contained the informations about his next assignment, location, instructions, tasks to complete, date and time of departure... tomorrow, before dawn.God damn it.Not all of the fugitive transports head to Roussillon, there are a few flying past to Pittsburgh in Liberty's capital system, New York, for those who wish to start a new life there. The next transport departs at 4.00 in the morning, he'll have to leave with that. It won't be the full night sleep Rouge was hoping for, yet it's still something.
The message also contained a timer on the top of the tome, counting down from 30 seconds before self-ignition and combusting into nothing like it would be nitrocellulose. It didn't take more than half of that time for him to read the message though, putting it into the trash bin afterwards, and before getting to sleep. Within a few hours he'll be on his way to Liberty, and will hopefully arrive in the first days of the next week.
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.
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