"The Military has finally developed cloaking devices? Damn it!"
He paused to regain his composure.
"This is very bad news for us, then. As far as we know, Liberty started this was on the premise of preventing Rheinland from developing exactly that kind of technology. I believe they even managed to capture part of Rheinland's key laboratory and physically remove it. Evidently, the Military had more cards up their sleeve than the Joint Chiefs knew about."
Captain Hargraves cleared his throat.
"Sir, do you think it's possible that the Navy may very well be attempting to build their own cloaking devices? It would be a natural evolution in the arms race between Liberty and Rheinland."
Meanwhile, the ace had taken a bottle of Stuttgart wine down from the shelves and placed it on the table, along with enough glasses for those present. He gently uncorked the bottle and began pouring as the discussion continued.
"Indeed, Captain, it would be a logical step forward if the Joint Chiefs intend to crush Rheinland swiftly. Otherwise, they will likely be subject to an extended war of attrition against the Military, and have to act defensively against cloaked assault manoeuvres. I am unsurprised that they managed to recapture the Westfalen; the Navy was too over-extended to hold that position properly. It puts Liberty's position back to where they were nearly a year ago. However, Yvonne, we need to know if the Military intends to use its new advantages to fortify the border, or push further into Texas? I know that you may or may not have any contacts within the command structure, but even an educated guess is better than nothing."
Yvonne nodded at the ace as he poured wine in her glass.
[indent]"Thank you."
She raised her glass and took a small sip, giving herself a second to formulate her answer.
[indent]"Judging from their current behaviour they do their best to use their current tactical advantage. They've been quite aggressive in their latest skirmishes against the Liberty Navy and managed to push them as back as planet Houston. The Navy seems to play their cards cautiously as they fear the enemy could be anywhere..."
She stopped for a second, remembering something she thought was important.
[indent]"Though even if the Rheinwehr has developed cloaking technology it still isn't as efficient as it perhaps should be. From what our scans have showed, they use MOX fuel to power their cloaking and due to the instability of the MOX fuel for longer skirmishes they seem to call cargo transports to supply their fleet with fuel. Perhaps that weak spot in their fleet can be used to our advantage?
"Ah, how insightful! Their utilisation of transports, even combat-ready vessels, will definitely be a weakness we can exploit."
Admiral Kinnaird stopped to write some notes quickly on the tablet.
"I would guess that this type of interdiction would be best suited to our lighter combat assets, such as Gunboats and Bombers. They would be able to strike hard and fast, and then evade back into the nearby asteroid fields for cover, while avoiding hostile Capital craft. Fighter escorts would handle the smaller problems."
At last, the Admiral relented and took the glass of wine poured for him, taking a sip. He smiled slightly to himself and nodded at scarface.
"Go on, Captain O'Brian."
"Right then... Miss Eberhart, do you know anything about the new Carrier-class vessel the Military has deployed?"
Yvonne's eyes and attention turned to the scarred man.
[indent]"A Carrier class ship by concept, made to house snubcraft and launch them in the middle of the battlefield. Though the way it was designed gave the Carrier gave it a few new uses that the ageing Bismarck models could not do. Unlike it's 'big brother' this ship is a lot smaller and more agile, but less heavily armed and armored which allowed it to deal with smaller threats that the bigger battleship had problems with."
She stopped, seemingly a bit annoyed. After giving out a short sigh the woman continued.
[indent]"We'd love to give you more detailed information on the ship, but we never had the chance to have a detailed scan of the ship. Perhaps if you give us some time we could get more detailed information on the ship."
Yvonne looked back at the Admiral.
[indent]"We would also be interested on any information you have on the new Battlecruiser model the Navy has employed. It's seems the newer changes to it had made it a lot more used ship now."
Waiting for a response she picked up her glass again, taking another sip.
"Of course, this is but a natural request. We can't let this turn into a one-way discussion, now, can we?"
Kinnaird leaned back in his chair, brow furrowed as he remembered the new ship's specifications.
"The old Battlecruiser was an ugly brute, built to fight in slugging matches and grind down the opposition. The new Battlecruiser, however, is quite the opposite. It has a sleek, redesigned hull, intended to give it an edge in agility over the larger Capital ships that it excels in hunting. To this end, it bears a powerful and versatile array of weapons, with the possibility of mounting multiple Cruiser Torpedoes, Cerberus Cannons, or Mortars, in addition to a pair of Battleship-grade turrets. When keeping its target at arm's length but within range of its own heavy weaponry, the Battlecruiser can severely punish its opponent. However, on the flip side, the Liberty Battlecruiser is not the toughest Cruiser; shielding is comparable to smaller Cruisers. Additionally, it sacrifices certain defensive firing arcs in order to fit the heavier guns, leaving it vulnerable to bombers when not properly escorted."
Dane took a deeper gulp from his wine glass.
"Mmm, an excellent vintage, Yvonne. You have good taste. Taking notes, Captains? I mean about the ships, not the wine."
"Of course, Admiral. Oh, Miss Eberhart... if you have no further questions about Libertonian technology, we do ourselves have inquiries to make about your own ships. Otherwise, I would be most obliged to answer any other questions you may have."
She carefully listened to the Admiral's description of the ship, trying to write down every important detail in her mind.
[indent]"This would most certainly come in handy. It seems the new design while better dealing with bigger ships is now more fragile to our snubcraft wings."
Yvonne found the Admiral's last sentence regarding the wine a bit funny, but decided to show some restrain and only smiled.
[indent]"Thank you, Admiral. These bottles usually go to luxury planets, for the rich to enjoy, but our friends from the LWB think the common folk should also have the chance to taste said luxury."
Noticing she got a bit carried away from the main topic she took another sip from the wine and continued.
[indent]"Nah, Captain, we're familiar with the rest of Liberty's shipline. So what exactly do you want to know about our own space craft?"
Captain Hargraves walked over to the ace and said a few words to him quietly, while gently gesturing towards the remaining chairs. The ace shook his head while the Captain shrugged his shoulders and took a spare seat on the other side of the Admiral at the corner of the table.
"At the moment, the Legion finds itself in an unusual position, which we have not experienced very often. We have a moderate surplus of materiel, including processed and manufactured goods, thanks to some expansion in our resource-gathering operations. This was necessary to accomodate the significant repairs for our older Capital-grade ships, and to support the full implementation of newer fighter craft and Gunboats. Despite these relative improvements, however, the Legion is short on manpower due to a high rate of attrition amongst enlisted officers. To that end, we feel it is necessary to refine our front-line combat groups in order to have the flexibility to respond to any threats they may encounter."
Captain O'Brian leaned in with an enthusiastic look on his face - on the parts which were still able to show expression.
"We've heard about recent developments in your own line of snub craft, namely the CTU-6500 Arbeiter and the CTU-19500 Solidaritat. We are particularly interested in finding out more about your bomber, which has the potential to fill a niche in the Legion's combat requirements that we cannot fill on our own. Currently, we have a large quantity of CZ-series Cutlass Bombers, which are suitable for hit-and-run tactics thanks to their relative agility. In comparison, we have a much smaller number of 'heavy' bombers in the form of a few Warans and Barghests, which are fielded for torpedo support against enemy capitals. What the Legion lacks, however, is a 'medium' bomber - something in the middle ground between these two sets of bombers with vastly different combat performance. We were hoping that the Unioner Solidaritat might be what we need."
[indent]"The 'Solidaritat' indeed could fill the middle ground role you're looking to fill. To describe it best I'd say it's a heavier version of the Arbeiter - a mix between Rheinland Military technology and the civilian CTE series. It's armor is strengthened and the powercore is more generous. Though due to these characteristics it's also slower then both the Arbeiter and the civilian Roc bomber. From it's 'field testing' most of our pilots are happy with how it performs, though as it's more generous powercore capacity has served good purpose to our bomber squadrons, giving them a better edge over capital ships."
She took another sip from her glass.
[indent]"Perhaps if you're interested in testing it yourselves, I could arrange a ship or two to be delivered to you?"
Her face filled with the same enthusiasm as the Captain's, there was something she remembered.
[indent]"That reminds me, Captain. We've seen a few of your new Gunboat models in Texas, the "Inquisitor" model, if I remember correctly. And considering at this given time we lack any Gunboat model of our own, rather using and repairing ones from our allies, some of our men would be interested to know more about said ship."
"Miss Eberhart, that would be perfect. If we could acquire whatever you are able to spare, that would be excellent. We were considering offering some of our new Prosecutor multi-role fighters, but it seems you have your eye on a different kind of prize. Captain Hargraves will gladly elaborate on the Inquisitor-model Gunboat."
Hargraves cleared his throat.
"I find the easiest comparison to be made between the Liberty Gunboat and the Inquisitor. The Libertonian craft is a slim and agile vessel, able to outmanoeuvre most vessel of the same class while keeping its turrets locked on at all times. Its forward gun helps when a more direct approach is required to combat enemies. In comparison, the Inquisitor... is the definition of the direct approach. Quite frankly, our ship is brutality harnessed in a metal frame, designed to crush and obliterate all in its path. In addition to the generous seven turret mounts, it features the Legion's signature ramming blade, designed for the closest contact with hostile ships. Heavy-duty hatches on the Inquisitor's prow permit it to be used as a boarding vessel, should that be your objective. The only potential disadvantage is the ship's larger size relative to other Gunboats, rendering it less agile and more vulnerable to enemy bomber packs. However, effective fighter cover will usually neutralise that threat."
Content with the Captain's exposition, Kinnaird took another sip from his glass, draining the last of the wine. Setting down the glass, he tapped on the tablet with his stylus and summoned a schematic of an Inquisitor with some other details written underneath. The title reads: HF-HFGB-908-I4-alpha.
"I have here one new Inquisitor which rolled off the production line a mere five weeks ago. It was originally planned to join Task Force Gladius here in Bering, but its constrution was initiated before we sent the orders to withdraw. In the interest of furthering our cooperation, I can have that ship brought to Pacifica for exclusive use by the Arbeitergewerkschaft Unioners. I will keep a skeleton crew on board until such time as your people can confidently operate and maintain the ship on their own. Does this seem like a reasonable exchange; two Solidaritat Bombers in exchange for one Inquisitor Gunboat? I would be unsurprised if you think it is heavily in your favour - which it is, for a good reason, and I will elaborate on that shortly. Perhaps you might permit some of our pilots to experiment with your Neutron weaponry in exchange for some of our own Plasma-based weapons, but that is a tangential subject."
The Admiral scribbled a note at the bottom of the page and was about to hand the tablet to Captain Hargraves, but paused as another thought came to him.
"Yvonne, since the I4 is already in the Legion's shipyard, perhaps you might like us to outfit the ship with weaponry before we bring it to you? We have access to most of the Gunboat weapons that anyone with enough money could find on the Sirian black market; but we do also manufacture our own energy turret. They pack a bit more punch than a basic turret, but consume more power. Your technicians might struggle to keep them running at absolute maximum capacity, but I will leave that decision up to you."
She silently waited for the men to finish, carefully thinking over all of their different bits of information.
[indent]"Those characteristics seem quite different compared to the RA-4 Pirate Gunboats we've been using from our Libertonian friends. The heavier frame and bigger firepower would indeed fill the gap that the lighter gunboat model we're using now leaves us with. As for the ship's ordinance, I'd prefer if you perhaps leave it weaponless, but perhaps ship us a few of your guns with it. We'd like to see if our technicians can make sure the powercore stays running smoothly and efficiently first. If that happens we'll gladly switch to your more advanced weapon weapons. I hope you don't see that as problematic?"
Yvonne picked up her glass and glanced into the red liquid inside it, before leaning back into her seat and continuing.
[indent]"As on the topic of fighter weaponry - I see no harm in exchanging them as well. It would be beneficial for both of us if we make our range of armaments more diverse as that way we'll be better equipped to deal with different shield designs. Hopefully our different engineering approaches won't cause too much problems when mixing our technologies."
Finishing her last sentence she finally took a sip from the wine, leaving the nearly empty glass back on the table.
[indent]"The deal sounds more then fair. I'll arrange to get you two Solidaritats bombers straight from Düsseldorf. You'll find their cargo holds filled with our "Protector" Neutron Cannons. We could get the shipment to Pacifica for you to pick up or deliver the ships and cargo all the way to Vespucci. Oh, and speaking of Vespucci - back when Bernd Schuster was still actively representing us, both of our sides signed a contract to put the Vespucci-Düsseldorf jumphole into use as it offered a convenient way to move between Rheinland and Liberty while skipping most of the more populated systems. Sadly said jumphole collapsed a few months ago, removing the possibility of fast and safe travel between our two groups."
Eberhart leaned forward on the table, crossing her fingers in a pyramid-like shape.
[indent]"The reason I'm bringing this up, Admiral, is because we used to exchange manpower, as agreed on between both sides, to help the Legion with ship construction on Monterrey base and we would like to know if you would still want us to continue doing so, even with the recent complications?"