A Chance Meeting (Ashinara/Franerre)

[aimway921]

"With our limited capacity for production, however," Sonya replied, "I believe it would be wiser to invest into specialized guns that can shoot aircraft out of the sky from the ground. I'm thinking... A machine gun with a higher rate of fire than regular infantry machine guns... Or perhaps multiple machine guns tied together into a single system."


While Sonya and Jean-Paul were absorbed in their conversation over military tactics and equipment, Kyryllo stood up and invited Luca to take a seat at the two armchairs next to a coffee table, located on the other side of the office, so that they could have their own conversation without having to talk over the officers.

"Well, now that we got them talking about things they're passionate about, they may be at it for hours," the Minister chuckled. But let's talk more on the proposed treaty. As I'm sure you understand, my enthusiasm would mean nothing if the Hetman vetoes the decision to enter this relationship between our nations. I highly doubt he would, but tomorrow we'll have the Rada assemble to discuss it. All the Ministers, as well as Governor Lords from every Province shall be present. Now, while the Rada is purely an advisory body, and the final word is the Hetman's if there are some who might not want for Ashinara to enter the agreement with Franerre, they may attempt to sway the Hetman's opinion in their favor. I will, of course, be there reassuring that entering the agreement would be highly beneficial, both for Ashinara and for Touli as a whole."

[callmedelta]

"Can machine guns do that?" Jean-Paul asked. "I'm a commander, not an engineer. The most I really know on that front is the technical specifications of our weapons for sale. I know our static machine guns, such as those on the Galetea and Bartels Lines, but trying to make smaller and more mobile variants has led to reliability issues that we haven't been able to crack. Would trying to scale them up suffer the same issue?"

"And so you want my presence there to help make any arguments for Frenkish-Ashinaran cooperation?" Luca asked, completing the Minister's thought. Luca had hoped that Ashinara would be a democracy, but now was no time for political idealism. Truth be told, Luca had hoped he could set off back for Franerre later this evening, to bring news back to Pareau, but it appears that would have to wait.

[aimway921]

"Hmm..."Sonya contemplated for a moment. "I'm no engineer either, so I wouldn't be able to say. I do however have a good friend in the Army's R&D Department. I can either inquire with him on the topic and get back to you on that, or set up a meeting for the 3 of us. Given as, as I gather, one of the reasons you came along with Pan Luca, is to demonstrate Franch weapons to us, I believe the latter option would be better?

"I'm afraid the Rada meeting is for the seat members only. However, I can pull some strings to organize a VIP pass for you as an observer - you wouldn't be able to participate in the discussion, but at least you'll be getting updates of what's going on in real time. This would a a closed-door meeting, however, so the chance that I'll succeed in getting the pass for you is slim, hanging only by the thread that the outcome of this meeting would told to you regardless."

[callmedelta]

"Yes, that'd be better," Jean-Paul answered. With any luck, weapon exports may still be on the table. He still had his doubts, but it could still happen, and Jean-Paul may not be completely out of his depth.

"I would appreciate that very much so, yes," Luca answered, "And thank you for all you've done for our meeting here today, Minister Tagomych. These negotiations have moved rather fast, but I suspect it will all work out for the best."

[aimway921]

A letter would arrive in the Franerri embassy in Kyograd.

---

To Ambassador Luca Valentino

The Ministry of War would like to discuss an immediate purchase of 1 dozen of Franerre's artillery pieces, with the intention of Ashinara Royal Army's R&D department developing a new superior artillery, combining the strength of both Ashinaran and Franerri design. 

Office of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ashinara,
Embassy Secretary Roman Galivovych.

[aimway921]

(((OOC Note: let's consolidate all future Ashi-Franerri diplo to this thread alone)

Zakhar Porchukov, a high ranking officer in the Royal Army Research and Development team, has grown tired of the overbearing bureaucracy that has only gotten worse since the Regency has stepped up. He knew in enough detail of Franerre's situation to know that they could benefit greatly from the gas masks Ashinara has just finished developing, but could not get through official channels to get the message sent. That is why he has secretly sneaked into the room in the Royal Palace's Ministry of Foreign Affairs wing that had the telegraph machines hooked up to the international undersea cables - which wasn't particularly hard - since the public execution of Minister Tagomych, the Ministry's staff has been greatly cut. It took a simple bribe to have the lone operator who monitored for any incoming messages to go take an unscheduled smoke brake.

Over the course of half an hour, he has telegraphed a detailed - as much as it is possible - instruction on how to produce the simple gas mask. They were not great - they could only protect against the gasses that have been used in warfare so far, and would require a re-design if someone unveils a new gas. They had a limited service life - since they didn't have a filter - rather, the entire body mask itself was sort of a filter, consisting of heavy textiles soaked in neutralizing chemicals - meant that they were technically single-use. A single mask can last for a total of 5 hours of exposure to gas - regardless if anyone is wearing it during the exposure. After 5 hours, the mask would be saturated with so much condensation, that drawing any air through it would be basically impossible - not to mention the mask becoming heavier. The nature of the mask meant that the wearer would be constantly fouled by the smell of the chemicals that neutralize the gas. It did, however, mean that the mask was incredibly simple, cheap and fast in production - in fact, simple enough that Porchukov was even able to send the instruction on their manufacture over telegraph.




Ashinaran Gas Mask Zr. 1935