March 14, 1935.
Élysée Palace, Paris
General Beauchamp sat in the back of the official staff car as it turned past the guards into the Élysée courtyard.
In his gloved hand, folded twice, was the letter from Moreau.
He'd read it three times that morning already.
It was not long.
Not impolite.
Not exaggerated.
But the implications were large perhaps too large to ignore.
A liaison course between ground and air units.
Real-time signals integration.
Cross-branch coordination.
Ideas so basic they should have been doctrine already and yet they were not.
The President of the Republic, Albert Lebrun, had received Beauchamp's request for an urgent audience less than an hour earlier.
The reply was short and immediate: "Come. Bring the letter."
General Beauchamp stepped into the council chamber, his boots silent on the polished wood floor.
Under one arm, he carried a single envelope.
Not marked urgent, not stamped confidential but important enough.
