Renovations

[Coliz]

"Oh no thank you mesdames Cross, right now we are fine. Rather, let's save some bubbly for the closing of the evening'.
The two Gallic men had settled on two armchairs, side by side.
‘I forgot my manners: this is Luc Montagner, chief engineer of my team’ Luc hinted a smile with a slight nod of his head ‘a pleasure’.
"Well, considering that on the way there a number of further discussions flashed through my head that could be undertaken given the occasion, I'd say let's start rolling up our sleeves right now with tonight's agenda. First, the real reason why we are here: the Lucullus. Luc,’ he turned to him, “this is your moment.”

‘So,’ Luc began, pulling a small datapad out of his jacket pocket and handing it to Cait, ‘I was strongly advised to use as few technicalities as possible and to explain what was done as easily as possible.’ Hector sighed, massaging his forehead.
"The datapad I gave you, director, shows the operational status of the Lucullus in real time. It is currently in orbit, and as you can see, except for one operating system, everything else it is fully nominal. Check for yourself: I'm not just talking about the vital systems, I'm talking about the entire navigation part, defensive systems, auxiliary generators, electrical systems, and so on."
Cait looked at the data, frankly amazed at what was in front of her eyes.
"They've been working on it for years, one system was only operational if all the others were switched off to ensure that it had enough power. That's a damn result, Hector, the first real one since the acquisition of the ship itself"
"Perhaps because until now you have only put people at the top of this project who are incompetent, non-Gallic and totally ignorant of the recent history of my country"
‘There you see,’ interrupted Hector in a half-choked voice, ‘I find it stimulating to get together with him because of his directness and forthrightness. Just a bit excessive at times but what can we do, it is the condemnation of geniuses, that of not being socially acceptable. But please,' punctuating him with a lip-smacking “idiot”, “forgive my interruption and carry on”.
"The approach that has been used in recent years to try to “tame” the ship is totally wrong. All attempts to force the operating systems, to make them ‘talk’ with the Sirian ones or to replace part of them with local products generates and will always generate one and only one response: the almost total blockage of the systems and the activation of a state of lockdow."
Luc settled back in his chair, leaning towards Cait.
"And do you know why? Because it was done on purpose so that none of you, beyond the Orkney minefield, could get your hands on our technologies. Excuse me, can I have some water? I'm not used to talking this much live. I much prefer datapads."