Can I Look At Your Notes? (Franerre-Ashinara)

[callmedelta]

Robin looked over the papers containing his orders one last time before the meeting with the Ashinarans. He wasn’t the best with people, but all he should have to do would be to answer some technical questions. Clovis would be handling most of the diplomacy work, given that he was the actual diplomat, and Robin was the scientist. The diplomacy work should be simple, though. All Franerre needed was to inspect some Ashinaran tanks to gather details on their armor, and perhaps purchase a few of their smaller mortars for testing to see if they might have any place in the Franerri army. The only question could be what the Ashinarans wanted.

---

The pair approached the Ashinaran embassy, ready for their scheduled meeting.

[aimway921]

Ambassador Tevpenko sent an urgent telegram to Kyograd relaying what the Franerri have been requested. Not long after, Kyograd sent out a response approving Tevpenko to negotiate a price, as well as dispatched documentation and several examples of the requested hardware, along with an Army representative, by the fastest transport ship in Ashinara's possession. All in all, between the first note Franerre gave to the Ambassador, and the actual meeting, a week and a half would pass.

As the embassy staff let Robin and Clovis in, they'd see Tevpenko and an unfamiliar fox in a Royal Army officer's uniform hunched over a bunch of papers and opened manila folders on Tevpenko's desk. As they noticed the door open, the two looked up, and the officer quickly gathered up the papers and closed the folders.

"Ah, you must be Monsieur Covier and Monsieur Delafonse?" Tevpenko said in fluent Franerri, albeit with an audible accent. It was clear that years of being stationed in the foreign country have been rubbing off on him, as he picked up the language and even was wearing a Franerri-made business suit. "Please, take a seat," he motioned towards the two padded chairs on the outer side of the desk. "Any refreshments, before we begin? Also, please meet Monsieur Garchenko," he then motioned towards the officer, who responded only by a nod, and a motion somewhere in between an soldier salute and a civilian tipping their hat. "He does not speak Franerri as he never been stationed here, unlike me, however he is fluent in Commons and Gaelian."

Once the pleasantries were exchanged, refreshments served by the embassy staff, and everyone was seated, Tevpenko would begin the meeting. "So, Messieurs, how can we help you today?"

[callmedelta]

“Well,” Clovis began, “Franerre’s been undergoing a military modernization, courtesy of Lusatia. One of the key areas Franerre wishes to innovate is anti-tank capabilities, seeing as Kumo tanks were used to great effect in the Notch War. The main problem, as I’m sure Monsieur Delafonse can tell you, is trying to develop specifications for such a weapon. We were hoping that we may be able to send a team over to see the Gaelian tanks you had purchased and use them as a model to derive specifications off. The second matter is purchasing some of the…hand mortars, I believe you had called them?” Clovis looked to Robin, who nodded. “We received some reports of their effectiveness in the Tafatu War. Franerre may potentially be interested in purchasing large enough quantities to field entire units with, but to start off with we only want a small enough batch to experiment with — say, twenty five of them. We were simply wondering what Ashinara would be willing to exchange for Franerre’s needs.”

[aimway921]

Tevpenko and and Garchenko would turn to each other and convene for a little bit, before turning back to the Franerri.

"We can sell the hand mortars - or the AM-27, as they are officially designated. A low batch of 25, we can sell them for an equivalent of 500 Gaelian Pounds each - so a total of 12,500 Pounds. For an additional cost we can also send a specialized attaché who would explain and demonstrate their tactical application."

"As for the tanks... The information on their armor is classified, as you may imagine, however we may be able to come to a deal to let you come take measurements of them - as long as, of course, you guarantee to not publicly disclose the information you'd find."

[callmedelta]

"Of course I understand the need for secrecy," Clovis said, "I would imagine that capabilities for whatever new weapon is developed would be publicly known, but that's not a direct leaking of the information. As far as the attaché, how much extra would this cost Franerre?"

[aimway921]

Tevpenko relayed the question to the officer, who in turned opened one of the manila folders and pointed to some graph in it, as well as said something to the ambassador in Ashinaran.

"We would like this attaché to have access to everything but the classified information on Franerri military. Most importantly, we would like to be able to coordinate with you on your border defenses. Even though you haven't been made part of SATO, as per our previous treaty, we are still allies, and threats to your security are, by extension, threats to ours. With almost everyone on your borders who could be considered hostile having an immense technological advantage over both of us, as was demonstrated by the Notch War, so naturally, we are concerned with the defendebility of your frontiers, and would like to provide assistance where we can.

Furthermore, we would like to expand our relations with Tafatu. We have, for the most part, just up and left the region after the Tafatu War, and you, being much closer to them in terms of your relationship, could help us out in that."

[callmedelta]

Clovis was unsure how to react to the offer. He looked to Robin, who was similarly confused. "We wholeheartedly appreciate your concern for Franerre's safety, and Franerre has similar concerns for Ashinara's safety. Despite that, I don't know if we here have the authority to authorize something like that, Ambassador Tevpenko," Clovis said. "I'm certain an attaché would gladly be accepted, but there are varying levels of classification, and exactly where your attaché would fall in that is not something I can tell you. I can certainly pass that information on to the Army and see about getting the specifics worked out, but I can't say anything on it right this moment."

"Thankfully," Clovis continued, "You've come at a good time for relations with Tafatu. Franerre just finished a treaty with both the Tafatu and the UST, concerning Franerri loans to both nations for improving their rail infrastructure and trade between us. Truthfully, with the Notch War coming so soon after the Tafatu War's ending, diplomatic relations with Tafatu weren't on a high priority for the government. But if you wish to discuss trade or other investments into Tafatu, I'm certain we can arrange a meeting."

[aimway921]

"In that case, do pass on the information to the Army, and once you have the reply, we can continue from there. Do mention that we're primarily interested in working together on your border defenses. And any potential joint weapons development - like that AT gun that you've reached out to us about in the first place. In the mean time, I already have documentation for the tank hare with me" he said, as he placed a hand on a thick booklet and pushed it forward just a little. "As I said, the information is classified, so the price would be quite high, and similar as the deal with the attaché, the Royal Army would prefer favors in return, as opposed to just straight up monetary payment. What would you be able to offer us for it?"

[callmedelta]

“I’m sure we could do a heavily discounted or even free licensed production on whatever anti-tank technology is developed, assuming that you don’t directly join in the development process,” Clovis offered. “If you did want to join in on the development, well, is there anything the Ashinaran military particularly wants?” Clovis asked. “I’m far from an expert on what Ashinara wants or needs right now, so I’m struggling to know what to offer you.”

[aimway921]

"Free licensed production is definitely worth it," Tevpenko said, after conversing with Garchenko for a minute again. "What we'd also be interested as well are aircraft. We've heard that Lusatia has one of the best aircraft to offer. Now, of course, we could just go to Lusatia to purchase from them directly, but as I understand based on your recent deal with Lusatia, you can access their aircraft at a heavily discounted price? Is there anything in your deal with Lusatia that would prevent you from reselling the equipment you buy from them?"

[callmedelta]

"I'm not the most knowledgeable on specifics of the deal struck, but the licensed Lusatian plane production is only slightly discounted, 90% of the original cost of the plane," Clovis explained. "What's more, if we did want to export to Ashinara, we would need to have it cleared by Lusatia, though I'm sure they would have no issue. The far larger issue is that our own Army still needs her planes first, and I could not tell you when the manufacturing space for the planes would free up. If we want to revisit a potential aircraft deal in the future, I'm sure Franerre would be more than willing to export them once we have our own hangers filled. But if the production licenses are worth it, then I believe we have come to a deal."