Kourou Space Control Facility, 1:00pm, +4 days after event
Jean Jacques Dordain’s enters after passing through security the mission control room where they are now maintaining what is left of France’s space infrastructure. He was met with flight operations director Herve Come.
“Welcome back Jacques” Come welcomingly opened his arms and they shared a hug
“It’s always good to be back in Kourou Herve, now show me what you got” as they both enter the boardroom to discuss their findings. Herve started the meeting immediately.
“Okay Jacques, I know you like to skip to the meat of the matter so I’ll give you this” as he hands over a map. Immediately after Jean was reappointted as Director of ESA, his first order was to map the entirety of this new world and that is where Herve Come comes in, he’s been using the remaining French satellites to map the entirety of this new world and he’s now giving the preliminary results to him.
“Hmmmmmm most interesting.” as Jean observed the map given to him. There is a huge western continent on the west of France, separated by a huge ocean, an eastern and a far eastern continent where the French government is sending their only expeditionary force so far. And east of the far eastern continent lies a southern continent mainly covered in tundra, out of all the continents the southern continent seems to be the most isolated. If France really needs to expand, the northern part of the southern continent with it’s seemingly mild climate could fit in a territory or two.
“Signs of civilization is mostly present in the eastern continent, the western continent has dimmer lights than the eastern continent everytime we survey the area at night. It is also connected with another, recently found far eastern continent. Lightsources are most profound on the western side of the continent at the coast before the mountain range.” as Herve mentions the state of this new world to Dordain
“The eastern continent is mostly filled with mountains on the west and on the east with a small peninsula jutting out of the eastern continent, said peninsula is roughly 1,400 kilometers east of France” as he delved into the details of the eastern continent
“What about the western continent?” Jean asked
“Well the western continent is much more flatter than the eastern continent, unlike the vertically shaped eastern continent this western continent is more horizontally shaped, on the easternmost part of the western continent we can see there are lights coming out of the island just off the coast of the mainland and even in the mainland as well” as Herve gives Dordain a map of the western continent
“Okay…..and what about the southern continent?”
“Well the Southern continent appears…..desolated, there is practically nothing there and without direct exploration. I cannot say anything further.”
The now director of the ESA looks over the map with interest, are there tectonic plates located in this new world? Did France got transported right on top of it? Only time and exploration will tell.
“Okay now moving on to human objects. Any news from the ISS?” as Jean asked the current state about the (presumed) transported Space station.
“Telescopes all over France alongside with ESA satellites in low earth orbit didn’t find any objects resembling the ISS and there’s also no contact from the ISS either, so we can presume that the station was not transported alongside France” he concluded.
“And what about our satellites?” Jean asked
“What about them?” Herve responded
“Well what satellites were specifically transported to this planet Herve?”
“Well, all satellites belonging to either the government of France, the ESA, and French companies have been successfully transported to our world. Do note that without the main center of operations in Darmstadt, we are only reduced to only the Toulouse ATV control station and Kourou space station as centers of launchings and operations which are hardly ideal. While in the short and mid term we can cope with the problems of managing satellite data from the ATV control center and Kourou, do note that we need a dedicated center of operations in order to restore the ESA into full efficiency.” Herve Come told him. It’s sad but it’s also true, without their flight operations headquarters in Darmstadt, ESA might as well be running with a bare bones crew and just to add insult to injury, the astronaut training facility in Cologne, Germany was not brought during the event. At least the latitude and longitude of French Guiana is placed at the same location as Hammaguir, thank god for small mercies.
“Oh don’t you worry about a thing if you’re talking about spending. The relocation of France has allowed Hollande to craft a massive 3 year deficit spending bill which will be voted on by the National Assembly in 1 week’s time without the interference of a certain German chancellor.” as Jean responded to Herve’s concerned reports.
Herve chuckled, yes it is nice having France for ourselves again, the economic downturn is going to a bitch though.
“But other than that Herve, good job. I will notify the President about ESA’s need to build new facilities right away.” as Jean concluded the meeting and exits the room.
Vanhoover, Equestrian Columbia, 2:00pm, +4 days after event
Stacked Books, student at the University of Equestrian Columbia is currently enjoying some good coffee with her friends Starstruck and Icy Frost. Life’s been good ever since she moved to this...unusually pleasant city when she got accepted, now on her 4th and final year of study she feels pretty confident about her future job prospects. With her apartment’s address being a top destination for the Equestrian Civil Administration and many other companies she forgot to remember their names.
“Did you hear about the Changeling attack in Canterlot? I heard Princess Celestia was pretty badly hurt.” Startstruck says as she sips her hot chocolate.
“Meh, if the Changelings wanted love that badly they should’ve just open their doors and talked with Celestia, they deserve the royal plot whooping Celestia’s going to give them.” Icy Frost responded, is she is always the gloomy one? Stacked Books wondered.
“Hey gals, why are we talking Politics? this should be our weekly hangout and you ponies decided to start the topic with war?” says Stacked Books.
“Well, has there been anything interesting happening in Vanhoover?” Icy Frost asked
“W..wellll ummm..”
“Precisely! Nothing interesting happens in Vanhoover! And my parents thought that Vanhoover is such a fascinating place!” Icy Frost’s sarcasm clearly showing.
“Well it’s a big port, and also the main trade hub between Equestria and the Kirin Empires.” Starstruck responded, being a student in International Politics does help you with arguments like these.
“Only if you’re a politics student Starstruck, and none of us but you are. So yeah Vanhoover’s pretty boring, the only place interesting in this city is the mountains, and don’t make me mention that incident two years ago when we tried climbing Unicorn Range. Nice coffee though.” as Icy Frost sips her hot cappucino.
Stacked Books was about to respond when she heard a weird primal sound blasting through the front of the cafe, everyone including Stacked herself was shocked and wondered what was creating that noise.
“What in the world was that?” a stallion was heard asking a mare.
“I don’t know but it sounds like dragons.” the mare responded.
“I’ve seen dragons before and they don’t sound like that miss uhh...uhhh, who are you again exactly?” an elderly stallion responded to the mare’s inquiry.
“Mountain Pass sir. You remember, your nurse.” said the mare as if repeating herself for the umpteenth time.
Stacked was about to find out when sailors suddenly burst into the shop’s front door and says “There’s this huge ship coming to the harbor! If anypony’s interested then come down to the harbor and see it for yourselves.” Stacked and her friends sees each other in the eye and agreed, this ship must be somehow connected with that weird sound they heard earlier and before the three mares left the cafe as quickly as they came.
Horizon class Destroyer Chevalier Paul, 2:00 PM, +4 days after event
Like most rational human beings, when Captain Bastien Roux heard the news of the displacement, he openly questioned just what happened to French news agencies, thinking they were all in on some mass prank. Then he heard the immediate mobilization order and then the President’s address to the nation mere hours later, he quickly realized that this must be true. And even though he could not believe it, the good captain was now accompanying the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle on an exploration mission into the much speculated ‘eastern’ continent, he admitted that the quaint looking city straddled on the beautiful harbor was a sight to behold. But then he saw the flying horses and unicorns as they boarded the De Gaulle he knew that this will be a meeting unlike any other he experienced.
“De Gaulle is launching the diplomatic team now sir.” as the captain sees the small Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats deployed from the ship and starts moving towards the harbor. Hopefully these ponies are nice the captain thought, from what he heard from those near these ‘ponies’, they are a rather nice bunch of people who seems to know where to stand their ground. Hopefully everything goes well and we will make peaceful contact with the leaders of Equestria.
As the captain watches the diplomatic team arriving in the harbor and stepping off the pier, the ponies are clearly amazed that the team also included ponies (most notably Daring Do) in their group. The ponies are unusually photographing Daring Do though, probably by the fact that she’s the living embodiment of Indiana Jones he thought if the interview France 24 did with Daring Do is true.
Appleloosa encampment, 3:00PM, +4 days after the event
General Shining Armor analyzes the map of the Badlands carefully, he and Air Marshall Spitfire knew that after the changeling invasion, Equestria must show these Changelings what it means to mess with Equestria. After the Changeling invasion of Canterlot, Equestria was put on high alert, Shining Armor was quickly promoted to General and Spitfire reseated in the office of the Air Marshall. He and a smattering of other officers were under orders from Celestia herself to launch a military expedition into the badlands to depose Queen Chrysalis and then sue for peace with the Changelings once everything is done, with Equestria taking in the Changeling swarm as their temporary protector.
That was the plan given from the Princess to Shining Armor. But he knew that the application of this plan on the field will be quite tricky, the Changeling swarm is much feared for their infiltrators and already Shining was conducting a major sweep on all present regiments on both the Appleloosa encampment and the Dodge City encampment, thankfully only 5 infiltrators were found which and quickly sent to jail. But it confirmed Shining’s fear that the Changeling swarm is already infiltrating the rank and file of his own army. Time was critical, if they took too long, their plans would fall into Changeling hooves and their efforts would be for naught.
“And with that, if the Changelings try to do anything stupid like mounting a flanking attack, you will have the Wonderbolts covering your flanks.” as Spitfire concluded her part on the plan to attack the badlands.
“Very good presentation Air Marshall Spitfire” Shining Armor commented. “Scouts have also reported that the Changelings have detected our presence and is now encamping on the outskirts of the badlands, prepare your guards and raise your shields, we are now officially going to combat tomorrow, dismissed!” as Shining Armor dismissed the meeting. good he thought, this plan is flawless, if the Changelings tries to pull up any tricks Combat Mages alongside the Wonderbolts will be there to stop it while Pegasi and Earth Pony guards will brawl it out with the Changelings on the center.
He leaves the encampment to get some grub and a good workout. Not knowing that the guard he saw back there was moving out of the camp, and reporting the general’s plan to the hive.
Changeling Hive Encampment, 6:00PM, +4 Days after event
General Carapace was enjoying his own peace and tranquility of the badlands when a messanger arrives.
“Speak quickly and speak fast if you value your life.” the general says in a stern and intimidating voice.
“The spies have returned milord, the stolen plans are ready at your desk.” the Infiltrator responded, running away as quickly as he came.
Huh, so there is some honor among these incompetent fools. After that failed attack on Canterlot I thought that those minions had no such concept the general thought as he entered his encampment and sees the stolen plans of the Equestrian army laid bare upon him. He notices that even after centuries of peace these Ponies still maintained their edge as he eyed the masterfully crafted plan laid before him, the standard grunts will be placed on the center with the unicorns on the side as well as the much vaunted Wonderbolts on the rear. It was a good plan assuming the Changelings didn’t hide an army right on the back of the pony army.
And that’s what I’m going to do the general smirks in cruel anticipation as he left his camp and meets with Captain Pincer for a talk.
“Hello there Pincer.”
“Good evening milord.” Pincer replied, with some caution in his tone of voice
“You have seen the plans given by our spies right?”
“Yes milord we have seen the plans, what are you proposing?” as Captain Pincer asks cautiously
“Why nothing really, just a simple chance to let my most decorated officer earn a higher rank and even a voice in the council.” as Carapace indirectly offered Captain Pincer a chance to earn his mark.
Oh so that’s where he is going, alright Carapace, I’ll bite. “I’m listening.” responded Pincer.
“Now in order to do that you move your regiment right now into this area and wait.” as the general circles a line bordering the Badlands and Equestria with only a narrow road connecting the two. “After that you wait until the army moves in but do not engage, instead wait until the entire army have cleared the gorge and then attack the Wonderbolt and mage positions, that should disorganize those ponies long enough so that I can charge in and break them. Do this and you will definitely be considered among my top picks for the queen’s court.” as the general finished outlining his plans to Captain Pincer.
Might as well do it. “Yes General, I’ll tell my subordinates right away.” as Captain Pincer leaves to quickly mobilize his regiment, they were soon seen moving across the valley separating Equestria and the Badlands by changeling scouts.
“And now we wait” as he tells his subordinates several hours later as they rest until daybreak.
Office of the Ministry of Defence: the ‘Hexagon-Balard’, Paris France, 7:00PM, +4 days after event
Defense minister Jean Yves le Drien accompanied with the ministers of the French Army, Navy and Air Force met with the representatives of multiple defense companies like Renault Trucks Defense, Nexter, Thales, Dassault Aviation and DCNS. So far they are still exchanging compliments but eventually Jean Yves started the meeting.
“You all know why you are here people.” said Jean Yves, it is true, they are here to discuss the future of French military procurement and future plans for the French military in general. “For one thing, this displacement has placed a golden opportunity for both the Ministere de la defense and your respected companies.” as he then moves to a next slide concerning Nexter, Renault Defence and Thales.
“The good news is that the President will propose a bill to the National Assembly regarding a new ‘shock budget’ for France. This bill will eventually be adjusted over time but in essence the ministere de la defense and other ministries concerning infrastructure will be getting a bigger budget immediately. This is good news because I’m going to tell you people,” as he points out to the representatives of Nexter, Renault Trucks Defence and Thales “That the Scorpion programme will be fast tracked by about 5 years.”
“Wait” as the representatives of Renault trucks defense asked. “We are starting production now?”
“Yes Mr. Benoit the President has essentially given us the green light to begin immediate production of the VBMR and EBRC, don’t worry about costs, the participants of the Scorpion programme will be compensated accordingly.” as Jean Yves responded to the Renault representative’s question.
“As for naval matters” Admiral Bernard Rogel continued as he takes center stage. “This budget increase has allowed the Marine Nationale to revisit old projects…...particularly a certain carrier that got cancelled in the 2013 white paper.” as he hinted the DCNS representative about revisiting the PA2.
“Do you mean that…...you will give us a contract to build the PA2?” the representative of DCNS asked. A hint of anticipation across his face.
“We can hammer out the details later on, but yes the Marine Nationale will be contracting DCNS to build the PA2 Aircraft Carrier alongside other inceases in ship orders.” as Bernard Rogel responded.
The DCNS representative just smiled.
“Moving on to the Armee de l’air,” as the Air Force General as well as Chief of Staff André Lanata continued the meeting. “Unlike the French Army and the French Navy, the French Air Force sees no issues with our current aircraft. Instead we are going to order an additional 20 Mirage 2000C into our current fleet and increase orders of the Rafale from 10 planes to 20, accompanied with appropriate ammunition of course.” as the French Air Force General finishes his report.
“I will contact the CEO of Dassault about this new information, thank you for informing me about this new development.” said the representative of Dassault with a happy tone in his voice.
After the meeting is over Jean enters his car and orders his chaffeur to drive him home. He knew from this day onwards he’s going to have a lot of stuff to finish on his hands and he’ll need all the sleep he can get.
******
Normal travel has resumed throughout France as well as air travel and sea travel within French borders, travel to other countries is still restricted.
French President Francois Hollande and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius meets with ambassadors of all countries in the embassy district. By the end of the day both the President and Foreign Minister agreed that all Foreign Citizens residing in France will be granted citizenship immediately, citizenship lessons are still required for the foreign citizens turned French.
The French Defense Ministry and representatives from French defense contractors have agreed to form a comprehensive plan as to who and what the military should procure in the next 5 years, regardless of budget cuts. The French PA2 Carriers are put in as top priority in all lists.
The Battle of the Badlands is about to begin.