"Commandante Warner," XiaoBei was smoking again, leaning against a worktable, his arms crossed and his goggles up. Behind him, crates were being unloaded from one of the Coalitions BWT vessels, the CPW-Minsk.
He straightened up from the table, stubbing out his cigarette.
"We've had a bit of luck on the diplomatic front, we've managed to secure access to one of the Council Controlled Universities, I have ten of our best Computer engineering students currently sifting through the archives to find the relevant data we need on computers..."
"This combined with the shipment of holo-lectures and books obtained by the IND for us, means we can start unraveling some of the mysteries of the Gallic technology."
"We're going to have to start converting some of the factories on Volgograd immediately. The advantages is that Gallic Alloy fabrication and Rubber processing seems... far superior to our own. We can incorporate these advances in our own ship building efforts. There are several design problems that are holding back our XKR project, and I think a side benefit of all of this is that what we learn from the Gallic tech may actually rectify those problems. That, and converting the XKR fighters over to Gallic Alloy will justify the immense cost of converting our pre-fabrication facilities to use Gallic formulas."
He scratched his chin, "best estimate... three months until we can convert the factories, and start producing materials compatible with the Redemption..." He sighed. "Let me clarify, that will be three months until we can start manufacturing rubber seals and hull panels for the Redemption. There are still many other issues, like the fact that even with our brightest computer technicians studying Gallic lectures... no mean feat as they have to first learn French... is going to take far longer."
He crossed his arms again, "Parting the Scylla will give us some additional resources that can be jerry rigged into the Gallic systems, but I need to point something out, the weapon systems on this ship are something completely different... and I have no idea how to get started studying them, let alone figure out how we're going to be able to duplicate them."
Ben accepted both reports, briefly glancing through them as XiaoBei continued his report on the De Gaulle, when the Doctor was finished Ben gave a nod and singalled two Sub-Lt's.
"You two! Yes you! The lazy bastards resting by the Crates, get your carcasses up and find me two porta-Tables and set them up over here, also get me all relevant Data on the De Gaulle we have and a pot of Coffee!" he shouted before turning his attention to the Doctor again, ignoring the men as they leaped into action, not wanting to be on the receiving end of Warner's TT-33.
"Well Doctor, I was not expecting this project to be easy, but it's men like us that make the difference, I know you can pull through and make the results of this project something you can be proud of." He commented with a small smile, reading through the Manifest again as well as older scans of Scylla Class ships on the laptop so he has a frame of reference for the salvage operation.
"I shall try to gather as much salvageable parts from the wreck as I can, but I must warn you that depending on how long it's been there and the extent of the damage to the ship there may not be as much as we hope for, Radiation and micro-meteors will make many of the hull panels either unusable entirely or only good for temporary repairs until fresh plates can be manufactures....Also if your hoping for any electronics I suggest you don't hold your breath, when a ship's power Core overloads like I suspect it did on this one most Electronic Computer Systems are fried by the feedback of the surge, Engine Components should be the easiest to acquire provided the Engine Drives are intact and the builders properly shielded the components so the Hull Panels take the brunt of the march of time." He told the Doctor, a humored smile crossing his face.
"Than again it IS a Rogue-Made vessel so I'm not having high hopes on quality equipment left behind, we'll likely have to patch much of the more usable stuff we acquire." he joked, leaning over slightly towards the Doctor.
"But don't tell Brooks I said that." He commented, a twinkle of mirth in his eyes.
"This is interesting," XiaoBei murmured, leaning over a database console. "In the Botev report it states that the Council utilize A.I. Technology... perhaps our own A.I. could be used to establish contact to the Du Gaulle's computer system... something to bear in mind for down the line, when we're ready to tackle the computers... Right now I am more concerned with getting stable power and restoring full life support to all sections..." he paused.
He instinctively reached for his packet of cigarettes and his mug of tea, "there was a report... a while back... that whats-her-name Silvan, Zoner-Princess, has a hybrid battleship... Zoner Aquilon..." he stepped back from his workstation, puffing on his cigarette.
"Logically that means the Aquilon possesses technology that is compatible with Gallic technology, on some level... If I could get the blue prints for the Aquilon class warship... or as much of them as the Zoners will declassify for us. We might be able to learn something there..."
Ben raised an eyebrow at the thought of their AI interfacing with the De Gaulle.
"I'm not sure, I only get routine reports on BAAL, you would have to talk to Doctor Lenser about that since he designed the AI, once your ready to proceed on that Front I'll grant you access to him as Doctor Lenser is under constant protection of the Commissariat, even I have to schedule a meeting through the Commissariat in order to access the Facility." he commented, tossing a Datapad with the scans of a Scylla on the table beside him and picking up another report on the De Gaulle.
As he reached for his Coffee and took a sip from it he processed what the Doctor said and shrugged his shoulders.
"Well Doctor I wouldn't know about that, the Premier would as he speaks with the Zoners often and might be able to help you there, if we can get any information that will help It would go a long way." he commented before taking another sip of his Coffee.
The flow of data cascaded around him, inundating him with information, bombarded from every angle, he sat in his heavily reinforced chair, his eyes closed, swimming in the seat of data.
Things resolved, professors in huge lecture halls, droning on in French about technical formulas, folding back in upon themselves as they flickered and changed to diagrams, figures and blueprints. Scans of hybridized vessels sat on the periphery of his awareness, the wonderful complexities of the engineering problems that they were facing.
Doctor XiaoBei yawned through his exhaustion, as the chair deactivated, and he slipped off the holoband, rising shakily in his cabin aboard the Du Gaulle. He was pushing too hard, trying to assimilate too much information, trying to get a result out of a near impossible equation.
Too little time.
Coalition High Command were expecting some kind of result, and the most he had been able to get them were promises that it was possible, but that it would take a monumental jump in the Coalition's technological prowess.
They had the base ingredients, scans, samples of the technology, computing power, and of course brilliant scientists and engineers'¦ but for them to grasp the brass ring, it would require so much from all of them.
Of course even if they couldn't get the Du Gaulle operational, the information they were learning was phenomenal. The XKR project was already being impacted by the inclusion of Gallic fabrication methods. The new production fighters, ready to roll off of the line once the alloy refineries were completed, would benefit from Gallic construction materials. And there were innumerous other, side benefits from the research they were conducting, oil fusion was already being discussed as a method of fixing power shortfalls on Volgograd.
The problem was what if the Du Gaulle project failed?
XiaoBei didn't like the thought of what would happen if the ship suffered some kind of catastrophic failure, and they were playing with fire, messing with technology they barely understood.
He decided he needed a cup of tea and a cigarette before he tried to sleep.