The field outside Vincennes had been cleared, fenced, and transformed.
Barricades around the test site.
At the center stood a raised platform for the committee, flanked by military attachés, engineers, and a handful of government observers.
General Beauchamp arrived early, wrapped in his long coat.
But all eyes turned when Major Étienne Moreau stepped into view, followed by Delorme and Chevalier.
Unlike the officers seated in the gallery, they weren't wearing parade dress.
Just workshop coats, leather folders under their arms.
Chairs creaked as the committee took their places twelve members new additions appointed after the shake-up.
Some faces looked eager.
Others skeptical.
One senator, a former artillery colonel, adjusted his scarf with deliberate boredom.
An admiral in full regalia peered through opera glasses at the venturi cone of the prototype standing on its bipod.
Beauchamp stood at the front of the platform.
