Comte, la Duchesse á répondée. Quand? Hier soir, á dix heures. [And why did you not tell me this earlier?] - shouted the Comte at his servant. His calm tone from a moment ago was gone like it has never happened. Without waiting for an answer he began rushing towards his office to check his neural net mailbox.
Claire DeFrance accepted the invitation and is already on the way to Picardy. Arnaud can only have a wild guess about the duration of travel, so he quickly composed and sent a message with a question about what to expect, then turned back to his servant:
Bernard, envoyer cette message pour Le Soldat au Vignoble de Vincent en Salouël: "La Colombe est en route". C'est trés important. Vous-comprenez? Oui, Monsieur, "[The Dove is coming]". Oui, trés bien. Donc, allez. Rapidement. - he watched as the servant left the office and eventually the palace. Five minutes later a shuttle could be seen ascending in the distance.
The layout of the Renancourt Palace resembles that of the Palace de Versailles - not the residence orbiting Meudon from present days, but the palace on old Sol 3 from over a millenia ago -, although with vastly different, simplier external and internal ornamentation. Construction materials included a mixture of old, traditional ones, like stone, marble from New Paris, granite, Blois basalt[1], as well as newer ones, like various plastics and metals, or even as advanced technology, as iPlaSteelTM[2], which dominates a significant portion of internal surfaces. As an example, all of the portraits in the rooms and corridors of the palace are holo-portraits on iPlaSteelTM screens.
The palace gardens are designed differently as well, becoming more of a mixture of utility, function and decoration rather than just the latter. The gardens extend as far as a kilometer from the palace, ending up in a small private port with two platforms and a command post. (This is where Bernard took off from.) The gardens host an extensive array of flora from throughout the Kingdom - this of course means mainly New Paris, as the rest of habitable planets can barely rival the biodiversity of the capital planet. Several groves surround the path to the private port, past them there are two large meadows and stables, housing the count's most beloved pets, aralopes[3].
The palace is located on the outskirts of its eponym, Renancourt, an agglomeration of Saveuse. All of these places reside high enough for the coming tides only to reach them in about an estimation of five hundred years, but not all settlements of Amiens are this lucky. Saveuse was settled in 279 AGS as a mining colony in a mountainous region at about 40 degrees north from the equator as part of an expansion wave once the climate warming begun and had it's golden age during the mid-400s as a mining paradise for various metals. Around 568 AGS the deposts seemed to be running out and by 611 AGS majority of Saveuse's mining halted due to exhausted mines and lack of further resources to exploit. Ever since then the settlement, and the industry around it was in a slowing decline, until recently, when migration from the lower areas of the planet stopped, then reversed this decline. Estimates say Saveuse may see it's second golden age coming soon, now as a potential commercial hub.
[1] Blois is covered almost entirely by a single large ocean, with small volcanic islands breaking through the ocean surface here and there. Majority of these islands can be found within the hot equatorial zone frequently ridden by hypercyclones, only a handful is accessible for basalt mining. The main unique feature of Blois basalt is a hint of glitter caused by diamong microparticles contaminating the rock. This unique feature and the rarity of Blois basalt due to difficult acquisition made it a luxury commodity and a status symbol ever since it's discovery.
[2] iPlaSteelTM is a complex composite of various polymers and steel, sometimes cheramics in addition. The composite is greatly durable, abrasion-resistant, moderately conducts heat, does not conduct electricity. iPlaSteelTM is usually used for screens with a flat HolOLED display layer on top of it and an electrical sensor/detector grid embedded into each piece. This way the screen can be used both as a holo-display or as an augmented reality platform.
[3] Aralopes are horse-like mammals from the moderate temperature regions of New Paris, covered in a thin layer of feathers instead of fur. Shortly after Gallic settlement and their discovery they were used as working animals, a source of cheap labor in addition to human workforce. Over the centuries however they were replaced with cheaply manufactured machinery, and so their role changed to being riding pets. Design followed purpose and with cross breeding involved the once robust animals became agile and elegant in over half a millenia.
Meanwhile, the RNS Vignemale had just jumped into the Picardy system in a flash of light. The heavy, armoured transport contrasted the usual civilian traffic near the jump gate, proudly bearing the symbols of the Kingdom and the DeFrance emblem to all those who would observe the ship. Moments later, the ship's engines had cooled down from the jump and began roaring once more, heading towards the trade lanes leading to the slowly sinking planet.
Inside the main office of the ship was a woman of renown, sitting quietly and tapping away at the digital keyboard embedded into the desk in the central part of the room. Just as the exterior, nearly the entire wall behind the woman was proudly displaying the emblem of the Kingdom of Gallia. A holographic display screen was just above the desk's edge, providing the room's lighting with a blue tint as the text grew in length. The tapping stopped, the girl behind the desk reviewed the message. Evidently, it was meant for the Comte of Renancourt, a response that she should be there soon and that it's not necessary to prepare for her arrival, apologising for the late notification. With one final press, the screen turned green for one second, then disappeared. A squiet sigh echoed in the room. She moved a stack of documents bearing the markings of various companies and organisations towards her and began reading into them.
Roughly half an hour later, the seemingly tranquil atmosphere in the office was ruined by a loud ping, followed by a man speaking: "Duchesse, we will begin landing sequence on Planet Amiens soon. Reaching the Renancourt Palace after that will only be a matter of minutes."
Amiens, one of the most beautiful planets in the Kingdom, but plagued by an ecological disaster of worldwide proportions. The last time she was on the planet was years ago, so was a much needed distraction. The woman turned on the holographic screen once more, enabling one of the port side cameras of the ship to catch a glimpse of the atmosphere and the view of the planet as it was soaring towards the Palace. It had just went into the afternoon, showing a bright picturesque panorama of the planet's continents - a sight that leaves most travelers speechless the first time they witness it.
The young man noted how quiet the Palace was at the moment. Even though the news of the imminent arrival should have produced some nervous chatter, everyone was going about their tasks quietly and diligently. He was humming a slow tune that broke the silence as he made his way to the guest suite in the east wing of the building. The automatic doors of the suite slid open with a quiet hiss after the software had correctly identified his card. Stepping inside, he crossed his arms, narrowed his eyes and looked around. The somewhat unexpected early arrival of the Duchesse had made it quite a challenge to get everything ready, but to his satisfaction the suite was in perfect condition.
Moving through the rooms, he inspected each and every one of the hidden microphones, so small to be nearly invisible to naked eye. He did not expect the Duchesse to reveal anything of great importance during conversations inside this room, but they might learn something interesting nonetheless. "I hope you'll appreciate how much effort we put into this, Duchesse.." He mumbled to himself with a smile while leaving the room, taking another five minutes to check the almost identical setup in the adjacent room that was reserved for her entourage.
Afterwards, he took the elevator and headed down to the basement of the large building. One of the rooms was reserved for a small server rack, handling all the incoming and outgoing neural net traffic of every building on the estate. The servers would now also host a small piece of software that would intercept every message sent and received by the Duchesse. Not that she would notice that. Locking the door behind him, he headed up to the parterre, making his way towards the foyer.
Gérard just hoped that the Comte would be able to play his part convincingly. But then again, men like Renancourt most likely don't need to spend even an ounce of effort to act the smarmy subject part in front of a woman of higher standing.
He sighed quietly and stopped to observe the gardens and the landing deck of the palace where the last preparations were made for the arrival of Defrance. In the distance, the armored transport of the Duchesse came into view, heading straight for the palace. He looked on for a moment before being on his way again, finding one of the Comte's servants. "Our guest is arriving soon, does the Comte know already?" He asked the woman, his impatience clearly showing. "Oui, monsieur. He should be on his way already. We expect to receive her in the foyer in 20 minutes."
Gérard checked the time and then nodded, walking away wordlessly, hoping to find the Comte before the Duchesse would exit her ship.
Nom? - asked a neutral, almost robotic voice of an otherwise seemingly biologically alive woman through the comms. Durand, Quentin. Origine? Port de Poulainville. Raison de la voyage? Euh, tourisme, peut-être? Peut-être? Est-ce que vous étéz uncertaine, Monsieur? Eh, non, c'est tourisme, certainement. Alors. Bagages? Juste un, portatif. Trés bien, Monsieur Durand. Bienvenue á Salouël, vous étéz autorisé faire atterir á Quai E35. - despite the warm content, it was still a cold toned welcome. Merci beacoup, Madame. - and with that, Bernard landed at Platform E35, as was instructed.
St. Thérèse lied at the outskirts of Salouël, but his destination was in the Ville Vieille. Acquiring fake credentials isn't difficult for a servant who works for a noble with connections, but with communication between the spaceports it doesn't take long to reveal no Veau[4] departed from Poulainville with a pilot named such. Bernard knew he had to act quickly. Luckily it shouldn't take more than ten minutes to reach the Vignoble by taxi.
Despite it's age Salouël doesn't look as developed as it once used to be. Apart from a few skyscrapers in the inner city the settlement is more expansive horizontally than vertically. Salouël was also settled near a rich deposit in 348 AGS, specifically a few kilometers to the north and a few hundred meters above, both lying somewhere between 13 and 15 degrees south of the equator and 27 degrees east from Saveuse. Unfortunately lying closer to sea levels, Salouël Mines had to close in 529 AGS not because of depletion, but because the rising tides came critically close and endangered further mining operations. Today the whole shaft system is underwater with the lowest lying district of Salouël also becoming flooded in the past decade.
Out of the plenty of districts of Salouël only a few are notable: the Ville Grande or Great City, which is the most extensive one of the primarily housing districts; the Ville Nouvelle or New City, an old attempt of a commercial district in the center of Salouël to complement the local industry, development halted after the construction of a few skyscrapers shortly before the closure of the mines; the Ville Vieille or Old City, lying closest to St. Thérèse Space Port, more or less a mixture of the previous two, a tourism center for lower class citizens and behind the scenes a hub for the lowlive scum and quasi-outlaws; and lastly, the Sous-Ville or Undercity, already flooded by the moment.
The Vignoble de Vincent was one of the plenty of wine cellar styled pubs of the Old City, nothing extraordinary, surrounded by various other copies of the same idea. One of the best places to hide in plain sight. Upon entry a moderately steep stair leads down a few meters below street-level to the first room, which is extending towards the left of the stairs with the bar occupying the whole wall just right of the stairs, facing left. A small stage occupies the opposite, far left wall, haven't been used in years, between them chairs and small tables fill the space with 3-3 booths at each longer wall. Accessible from each side of the bar counter are two other rooms of the same size and furnitures sans a bar. There is also a door between the shelves behind the counter, it probably leads to the storage room or some other private areas.
Vignoble de Vincent, Salouël
Amiens, Picardie
12:20 SMT
2 Aôut, 824 AS / 740 AGS
The taxi stopped right in front of the pub, Bernard paid, then got out. The driver helped him get his suitcase our of the car, then once they bid farewell to eachother he descended into the cellar. Even around noon a moderate amount of people was present, not really a mass in which even breathing is difficult, yet the place couldn't be considered empty either.
Bonjour. - he greeted the bartender. Bonjour. - the bartender didn't even look up from cleaning an empty glass. Je voudrais boire de sept-cent-un Château d'Yquem, s'il vous plaît. [Are you kidding me?] - first time he looked up at Bernard he stopped clearning the glass, surprised by the request. Euh, donc, est-ce que vous avez Château Margaux Rouge? Oui. Bouteille? - he looked back down, taking away the clean glass. Non, juste une verre. Trés bien. C'est vingt-trois francs. - the bartender reached down again to get the glass from below the counter, the same he just took away after cleaning. Merci beacoup. - Bernard paid at the neural terminal on the counter while the bartender turned around to look for the right bottle of wine. Unknown to either a man approached Bernard from behind discretely through a mass and whispered in his ear before disappearing again: [First booth on the left.] Cinq minutes.
Bernard turned around, but was unable to inspect who this mysterious person was. Looking at the first booth on the left he found it empty, the man probably took off from there before approaching him. Having no other ideas, he decided to follow instructions and sat down to the booth, waiting out the next five minutes in the companion of his glass of red wine.
His appearance and actions were the preset signals for the contact. A man dressed like any of the lowives frequenting the place, yet with a suitcase uncommon around here, first asking for one of the most expensive wines in the Kingdom, then for a common red, all these confirmed for Le Soldat that he is the courier who just brought information from the Palace de Renancourt regarding the developments of the Council's plans.
After five minutes only a small sip was missing from the wine when the figure came back with his own glass. Bonjour. Bonjour. J'ai un message pour vous. [Of course you do, you wouldn't be here risking death if you wouldn't have a message for me.] - Le Soldat said it with a light grin, like life and death would be light chat topics of everyday life. For some they are though. - Et alors? La Colombe est en route. - Le Soldat's grin disappeared quickly. Quand? C'etait le message. C'est tout. [That's all.] - he echoed the words of Bernard. - [Anytime then, I guess. We need to move quickly.] Vous aussi. Moi? [Where?] - it was Bernard's turn to be surprised. [Away from here, as fast as possible.] [I'm not going anywhere.] - defensive anger began creeping into his tone. - [My task lasted until I delivered the message, now my duties call me back to th...] - he was interrupted by Le Soldat quickly standing up, stepping forward and grabbing him by the collar. This little commotion would have drawn serious attention, but the Vignoble was a place of frequent brawls, nobody was really bothered by them. [Maybe I wasn't clear enough, so I'll explain.] - he pulled Bernard up to standing, then leaned close to whisper. - [I don't like loose ends, so you either come with me or I shoot you down like a dog in the first dark alley I can find on the way to the port.] Compris? Oui, oui, compris. - He was now frightened, and obeyed without question. The duo left to the space port in haste.
Le Soldat wasn't like how he imagined Council officers, he wasn't the romantic hero of the people, maybe a bit more of the kind who thinks the ends justify the means. Or just someone hardened in combat, becoming amoral. He didn't know, but he was too frightened at the implied severeness of the situation to care about his image of people working for the Council at the moment.
Palace de Renancourt, Saveuse
Amiens, Picardie
16:30 SMT
2 Aôut, 824 AS / 740 AGS
Three hovercrafts, a carriage and two regular cars were already prepared at the palace's entrance to the gardens. An entourage of servants, common guards, four of the Comte's personal guards and the Comte himself watched the descent of the Duchesse's ship from afar. Minutes before the ship's landing Arnaud entered the carriage while his personal guards got into the cars, two in each, and the three-vehicle convoy left towards the landing pads to greet the Duchesse in time.
Oú est le Comte? - Another servant approached the little entourage left behind at the palace entrance. Déja départée. - one of the maids responded. - [You have just missed him. Where have you been?]
Gérard looked at the leaving convoy without response.
[4] The Veau-class shuttle is a custom variant of the Aurochs-class freighter designed for passenger transport instead of cargo ferry.
The roaring, high-pitched engine sound came closer as the Taureau came into view. Slowly, the bulk of pure armour descended down onto one of the larger landing pads. The convoy of vehicles was still in the distance, however, the passengers would be able to see and hear the impact of the ship hitting the ground, landing feet outstretched. The rumbling engines of the ship began changing to a lower tone, and eventually stopped to allow the sound of nature fill the atmosphere once more. Moments passed, and one of the doors of the ship lowered itself with a loud hiss, the sound of air being decompressed.
The vehicle convoy, meanwhile, had reached the entrance to the landing pads and was in full sight of the transport bearing the crest of DeFrance. The surrounding area was mildly forested, the facility itself located on one of the bigger hills of the beautiful region. Guests that came to travel and visit this private landing area were treated with an impressive sight of the rolling hills that surrounded the region - many would pay a handsome amount to see the natural beauty of the planet from these sort of locations.
The personal guards of the Comte exited their vehicles, making way to the carriage in the centre to escort the Comte to greet the guest directly. Just as they had gathered closer to the ship, they could view a pair of armed guards hurry down the stairs leading to the landing pad from the ship. Following them was the visitor in question - Claire DeFrance. Noticing the Comte standing in the distance, she hurried her step just a slight bit, heels clanking on the metal below. As she left the shade offered by the ship, the sun accentuated her blue and white dress' features. The soft gusts of wind occasionally waved her blonde hair - while it was fantastic weather, it was still relatively cold - Saveuse was far from the planet's equator. The guards by the entrance to the ship began following her after she had passed them. She stopped by the noble and politely smiled.
"Bonjour, Comte. We haven't seen each other for quite a long time, have we?" she spoke, extending her hand outwards. The last time she saw Arnaud was probably when she had visited her palace years ago, as one of the formal events were organised here. It felt like such a long time ago for her.
Gérard narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched the convoy speed away from him. Had he been forgotten? Had he been left behind on purpose?
With his eyes still focused on the carriage, he wondered if the Comte was playing another game here.
That sly weasel of a man was supposed to be loyal to the cause, but everyone knows that nobles are turncoats by nature.
Otherwise they wouldn't be able to stay afloat in their power games and intrigues. "Just blow the carriage up when they're both inside.." He mumbled quietly to himself. "That would be the easiest sol-"
He stopped himself and looked over at the maid he had spoken with just seconds ago and who was know giving him a concerned look as if she was questioning his sanity. "What are you looking at?" He snarled with a frown. "Go and try to look busy."
Without waiting for her reaction, he turned away and headed back towards the entrance of the palace. He would not chase after the Comte just for the chance to act all excited about the arrival of the Duchesse and instead just calmly wait here.
The carriage in the meantime was turning smaller and smaller, stopping at the landing pads in the distance. There was nothing he could do now except for observing from a distance and hoping that the count wouldn't mess it up.
Thankfully, patience was one of his virtues and therefore his frustration at the current situation remained within reasonable limits.
Docking Terminal 2B
Saint-Quentin Space Colony, Picardie
16:15 SMT
2 Aôut, 824 AS / 740 AGS
[Didn't you say you were not being followed?] - Le Soldat was quite displeased by their newest finding. [What are you talking about?] [I've just heard police radios a few meters from us. They are looking for two people who fled from Salouël, who do you think they mean?] - they were traversing the crowd, and while Le Soldat didn't talk loundly, he wasn't calm either.
Leaving Amiens wasn't difficult, the duo hopped on a passenger transport towards Saint-Quentin and reached their destination in just a few hours. The problems started once they arrived: Bernard's fake credentials apparently weren't fake enough and the mischief was revealed by the time they were still in transit. Through public cameras they were tracked until the ferry, and thus the manhunt began once local police forces were alerted and informed. To their fortune they were already past the regular checks when the GRP relayed the information to the Saint-Quentin garrison. To their misfortune the entire garrison was deployed. The entire station was crowdy as usual, thus the lawfuls done their job discreetly as not to draw attention and cause panic. Staying low profile may help Bernard and Le Soldat as well.
[So what now?] - Bernard asked while on their way to the elevators. [We need to get down to the private docks. I have a ship at 3A5, if we can get away unnoticed, we are safe.] - he explained the plan. - [But the way there is challenging, which means you keep doing what I say if you want to live.] - Bernard is slowly getting used to the direness of the situation, the wording did not surprise him by this point. For a brief minute they got out of the crowd to approach a tiny shop booth. Trés bien, [what are we doing here?] [Buying an energy drink for me. I need to think and this thing helps at it more than you do.] - the snarky remark hurt Bernard's ego, yet he knew he wasn't in a position, nor were they in a situation, to argue. - [We need an info terminal.] [Would you explain your plan to me,] s'il vous plaît. [You don't like leaving loose ends behind, well I don't like getting left in the dark either.]
D'accord. - when they approached the nearby terminal Le Soldat took a small datacard out of his pocket and insterted it into one of the free slots. He began hacking the station's network system to get the full detailed map of the space colony, an information sensitive enough to be kept away from the public. In the meanwhile he quitely explained: - [We need to get from the commercial section into the housing section, because the private docks are attached on top of that, but we are being sought by the police, so we need to avoid them. I need a thorough map to know which shortcuts we can use to avoid patrols. Ah, there we go.] - they got what they wanted, the map has shown less frequently used alleys, service passages, private areas, the most of what they needed and could acquire with the options available. Le Soldat downloaded the information to the data card, took it out and inserted it into his wrist-mounted PDA, then the duo moved on.
Getting through the commercial section wasn't too difficult, public areas were spacious enough to spread policemen apart far from eachother. The plazas in the center also drawn the crowd to dilute lawful presence quite well. According to the map the private section is similarly traversible, what posed the real difficulty was the junction between the two: a few corridors running parallel, eventually ending up in a great hall in the middle, spanning through the entire width of the narrow connection, a true bottleneck most of the people on the station usually has to pass at least once a day. They knew it, the police knew it. A frequented place as usual, now with extra protection. Le Soldat tried to figure out how to pass this seemingly unpassable obstacle on the way, but couldn't find a good solution by the time they got there.
[I need more time to think, but not here, we are too much out in the open.] - he looked around quickly. - Ah, la. Allons y. - he chose the nearby toilet to hide form unwanted attention for now. Once they were in he checked the booths to see if anyone else is in there, then began inspecting the map on his PDA again once they were surely alone. [Is there anything I can help?] [Stay silent?] - another slight snark while he tried to concentrate. [I feel useless doing nothing but just trying to keep after you.] [Still better than being harmful. Although if you don't shut your mouth, then ...] [Then what?] - Bernard has apparently had enough of being looked down, although justifiably, perhaps Le Soldat is not the right guy to talk back to. He looked back up from his PDA, at the servant, then pushed him to the wall with his lower arm and gave the answer not everybody would like to hear. [Then I shoot you down like I promised back on Amiens. Look around where we are now. Hiding from police because you couldn't cover your tracks properly.] - he released Bernard but continued his rant. - [The place has been crawling with GRP officers ever since the last time I had to work with an rookie like yourself. The imbecile drawn attention to our operations and Council's increased presence within the system, and now the station is crawling of royal lapdogs. I will not take the same risk, so you better shut up already.]
Tout est d'accord, messieurs? [We've heard some dispute in here.] - just as Le Soldat finished his rant two police officers entered the toilet. - Great, good job. - he thought. He had to assess the situation as quickly as possible: they have sidearms, good, might need, should get, let's cause chaos. He also had to conceal their previous discussion so he quickly punched Bernard in the face and began shouting: [The next time I see you with my wife you'll get way more than this.]
One of the officers moved forward to detain him while the other loosely prepared his handgun and handcuffs, both smiling at the apparent dispute over a woman, not taking the situation any more serious than that. That's exactly what Le Soldat needed. With a swift move he twisted out the hand of the approaching officer, turned him around, and held in front of his body as a meat shield to protect himself and Bernard behind him. The few seconds it took was enough for the other officer to realize and assess the situation, take out his handgun and fire a few shots before his colleague was thrown onto him. Both of them fell and Le Soldat took the dropped handgun to shoot both in the head.
Eh bein, c'etait intense. Oh et excusez-moi pour votre figure. - he looked back at Bernard, only to see him sitting on the floor with his back to the wall. [I'm afraid I have bigger issues right now than my face.] - and indeed a palm-sized bleeding gunshot wound on his side was sure worse than a broken nose. Je suis trés désolée. - Le Soldat said and lifted his hand holding the gun.
Palace de Renancourt, Saveuse
Amiens, Picardie
16:45 SMT
2 Aôut, 824 AS / 740 AGS
Bonjour, Duchesse, et oui, [it indeed has been a long time, although your beauty did not diminish ever since at all, if I can say so.] - he leaned forward to greet her with a handkiss, then escorted her to the carriage. The personal guards reunited as well, and got in the other two cars. The convoy slowly began pacing towards the palace.
[I was unsure about the time of your arrival and the duration of your stay, so my servants have prepared a suite for you already.] - he explained. - [How was your flight, by the way?]
"I apologise for my abrupt arrival, I hope this didn't cause much issue. I just so happened to have the time with no pressing matters to attend to when you've sent your original invitation. I understand how much this means to you and everyone else involved, so I hurried to make sure no further time is wasted." Claire spoke to the Comte calmly, with a concerned tone of voice. She took a moment to look out the window of the carriage - the green rolling hills were something that she hadn't seen much of, and they really did bring back memories of simpler times. She turned her gaze back to Arnaud with serious intent after a few seconds of nostalgic reminiscence.
"Comte, from what I've heard from both you and the news, something very bad might happen soon. I really don't want to see this happen, just like you. I'm very curious to know what's happening here. I have no power over the Duc, but I may be able to help him if there's an opportunity."
Truth be told, the Duc of Amiens has never seen eye-to-eye with Claire, as they would usually be fighting over influence in their own way. He would certainly not be happy if he learned that she had arrived to his holdings to meddle with them, but this was something that she couldn't have ignored.
[There is really no need to apologize], Duchesse, [but while I welcome and appreciate your eagerness, I really doubt you'll have any success with the Duc.] - Arnaud said. - [Do not be offended, I do not mean that because of you, but because the stubborn nature of the Duc himself, even if it's disrespectful of me to say such. I have my reasons to discuss this subject with you instead of him.]
They finally arrived to the palace and got out of the vehicles. A young, about 20-25 year old servant stepped forward to announce: Duchesse, Comte, [both the library as well as the Hall of War is prepared, the dining room will be ready in an hour.]
The Libraire is a medium sized room on the first floor of the West wing, the walls are mostly full of data disk storage shelves, with a few holo paintings and holo sculptures as decoration. In the middle of the room is a table with a holo projector on it, extrudable screens on its edges and four chairs around it.
The Galerie de Guerre on the other hand is a quite long, but still only moderately wide room situated on the southern facade of the palace. It is mainly designed for banquets involving a few dozen guests, but is still a good place for a meeting of two with decent view on the gardens and the landing pads in the distance. The walls are mainly decorated with paintings of historical figures of war, notable generals and commanders of the Kingdom's past. Small tables with few chairs for each are set up along the walls.
Merci, Jacques. - the Comte then turned to Claire. - Duchesse, [where shall we discuss our matters?]
"That would be entirely up to yourselves, Comte. However, I'm very eager to hear your opinions and stances regarding this topic, I feel that the Galerie de Guerre would be more suitable." the woman eagerly replied.
Even after visiting it, she hardly remembers the architecture of the palace as the last visit was quite a long time ago. Each palace within the Kingdom was unique in its own way - designed to either be grandiose or humble, streamlined or as if a maze. Every single one is the pride of a renowned architect, serving as the perfect location for the resident nobles and their intentions. It was easy to get them confused if you were a frequent guest to many.