The Mech Touch

A factory ship!

Obtaining a factory ship had long haunted his dreams.

He still recalled the times he spent on the Wolf Mother. Though the Flagrant Vandal version of a factory ship had been built step-by-step by grafting on additional compartments and ship parts, at her most recent incarnation she had become quite a formidable vessel!

Though unarmed and not that well-armored, the Wolf Mother had made a powerful impression in his mind due to her robust material processing and industrial capacity.

At their best, factory ships functioned as mobile manufacturing complexes! Paired with mining ships or mining mechs, it was very much possible for factory ships to pump out mechs and other heavy duty equipment at a respectable pace.

This was because factory ships spanned for at least several kilometers, classifying them decisively as capital ships!

Once a vessel reached the size of a capital ship, her internal volume and her tonnage reached a point where she could essentially be regarded as a miniature city!

Of course, the cost rapidly ballooned as a response. One of the biggest reasons that humans preferred to fly with several smaller vessels as opposed to a single big one was because the cost of procuring and operating the other shot up very rapidly.

A ship that was twice as large as a normal one could easily cost ten times more.

However, the adage that you got what you paid for also applied. As long as a huge ship was put to good use, she could provide incredible value in return.

This was why Ves always aimed to obtain a proper factory ship, especially one built towards his own specifications. He had no stomach for buying a second-hand vessel.

There was no place in the competitive Red Ocean Dwarf Galaxy for weak, outdated ships!

As a mech designer, designing and producing mechs was his core activity. In a different region of space where there wasn't a lot of industrial capacity, being able to rely on himself to produce his mechs was an essential priority.

Relying completely on third-party manufacturers was not a wise decision. He needed to obtain the ability to produce mechs, and not just any mech. Higher quality designs required a lot more heavy duty production machines to produce on a cost and time-efficient basis. Smaller logistics ships or simple workshops would never allow him to produce advanced mechs at a profit.

Though he wanted to obtain a factory ship badly, it wasn't easy at all to obtain these vessels.

Most capital ships fell into the hands of states and state-owned entities. It was very rare for companies or smaller players to own them because capital ship production was quite constrained.

Only a small number of large, specialized shipyards produced these massive vessels. These large shipyards also happened to be owned by states or companies that fell under the sway of the government. Most of their output ended up in the military.

Therefore, ordering a capital ship as a private entity was anything but simple. Ves had to obtain the cooperation of the government of a second-class state, and that had always stopped him from exploring this option!

This was why he reacted with so much astonishment to Calabast's words. If DIVA valued his mechs so much that it was willing to trade a factory ship for it, then this was a very attractive offer!

The most important part about the offer was that DIVA truly tailored its offer to his needs. The agency did not attempt to pass off one of the Hegemony old cast-offs that had been built a century ago or so. Such vessels were not only more fragile, but also came in a fixed configuration.

For the most important vessel of his grand expedition, Ves did not wish to obtain any factory ship. He wanted one that was configured to his needs as much as possible! He had some very important demands for his dream factory ship and he did not wish to settle for less!

Fortunately, Calabast was aware of that, so she managed to negotiate a decent deal on his behalf. Even if she was a former DIVA agent, Ves could at least trust that she was on side.

"You should think carefully on what you want and how much you are willing to pay for it." Calabast cautioned him. "I can already tell you that DIVA has already fabricated a number of copies of the Blessed Squire in the method you recommended. The internal evaluation of the new mechs are still on-going, but I'm already hearing a lot of appreciation."

Ves smirked. It was hard not to get charmed by his mechs. Their glows were simply irresistible to those who came across them for the first time! The fact that the Superior Mother was highly compatible with the Hexers only made the Blessed Squire even more compelling.

"I would be glad to design more Hexer mechs." He spoke. "However, I don't like to design a mech according to the boundaries set by the Hexers. No offense, but I don't want to stick with designing male support mechs forever."

"You will have your chance to design female mechs, Ves. If you decide to accept DIVA's offer, then the Hegemony expects you to go all the way. Even if you're a male mech designer, any problem can be overcome as long as you can contribute materially to the Komodo War."

Both of them looked at each other and chuckled a bit. Dogma was important, but winning the war mattered more! The Hexers could always go back to their hardline ways after they beat the Friday Coalition.

"My time and energy is very limited, though. I know the value of my mechs."

"Even for you, an opportunity to obtain your own factory ship is hard to come by." Calabast retorted. "That said, the budget and the amount of advanced features you can obtain is dependent on your commitment. DIVA doesn't ask for any masterwork mechs. It just wants designs with glows, as many of them as possible. The more designs you promise, the better the factory ship that they will prepare for you. Each of the designs has to be able to go toe-to-toe with the mechs of the Friday Coalition."

"That's difficult to accomplish." Ves frowned. "Most mechs fielded by the militaries of both states are designed by Masters or teams of Masters. In terms of performance and sophistication, my mechs won't always be able to match the best. It would be best if I can enlist some help, but…"

Calabast immediately confirmed his guess. "No Hexer Master will ever want to collaborate with you. Even if it helps the Hex Army win more battles, their reputation will be ruined. These old and powerful women will never taint themselves by working alongside a boy!"

He didn't want to cooperate with other mech designers anyway. Ves liked to exert as much creative control over his mech designs as possible. Collaborating with Gloriana was fine because their focus lay in different areas.

However, as soon as a Senior or Master entered the picture, it was very hard for Ves to justify taking the lead! He did not wish to play second fiddle to a better and more qualified mech designer!

"So what are my options?" Ves asked.

"The minimum designs that DIVA demands from you are six Hexer mech designs. The terms are similar to the ones that applied before. The designs will belong to the Hegemony and you can expect to earn no licensing fees or royalties."

"That's a pretty severe demand! I'm potentially missing out on a lot of profit!"

Calabast grinned. "That's how DIVA intends to earn back the money it spent on commissioning your ship. Don't forget that factory ships are so big that their armor plating alone costs hundreds of billions of credits. After all, you don't want your expensive capital ship to get blasted apart by getting fired upon by a single band of pirates at long range, do you?"

The bigger the ship, the bigger the target. Such vessels were not only bigger targets, but also less agile ones at well, making them extremely susceptible to long-range bombardment!

Therefore, cladding them with thick hull plating was essential, but that was where the size of a capital ship became so troublesome. A huge internal volume required a lot more structural support, and an enormous exterior surface area demanded a lot more armor plating than a ship that was just slightly smaller.

The increase in material requirement was not a linear relationship. Instead, if expressed on a graph, the line would continue to angle higher and higher until it almost became vertical!

This was why the CFA's battleships only reached a length of 12 to 15 kilometers at best.

It was not as if one of the most powerful organizations in the galaxy could build larger vessels. The cost simply became too prohibitive!

Therefore, depending on the dimensions of the factory ship and the quality of materials used to toughen the vessel up, the cost of a premium factory could easily exceed 1 trillion of hex credits!

Even for a powerful intelligence agency such as DIVA, such a sum of money could not be pulled out on a whim!

Ves understood the economics behind this deal. "Ostensibly, this deal is about securing my commitment to design more Hexer mechs. However, there are more layers behind it. By obtaining all of the rights to my design, they can produce and sell it to the Hex Army at a profit, thereby earning all of the revenue from my work. Over time, they can recoup all of the cost of the factory ship and earn a profit."

In short, DIVA wanted to exploit his profit-making potential!

"You and I both know it's not that straightforward." Calabast leaned back and crossed her arms. "First, as I've already mentioned, access is very restricted. For you to be able to order a factory ship through government channels at this early stage in your career is very valuable. I'm sure you can solicit more opportunities in the future, but how much time has passed by then. Five years? Ten years? That's too long considering your rate of progress. Getting your hands on a factory ship five years early is very helpful for your current plans."

This time premium was indeed of great value to Ves. Being able to travel through multiple star clusters while owning his own factory ship was a completely different concept than doing so without one! Being able to take along so much industrial capacity would relieve him from a lot of troublesome problems, especially if his fleet entered unwelcome space.

"Secondly, DIVA will almost solely supply your mechs to the Hex Army." She continued. "Do you know how difficult it is to be able to offer mechs to one of the Hegemony's most powerful and most demanding services? Not just any mech designer or company can meet all of the requirements to sell mechs to this picky client. DIVA will have to do a lot of lobbying and influence a lot of powerful Hexers in order to get your mechs through the door. All of this will cost political capital that DIVA could have spent on other priorities."

With all of these concerns, it became clear to Ves that DIVA didn't demand the right to profit from his mech designs because of greed. It had to invest deep in order to fulfill its commitment and make full use of his mech designs.

"I understand." Ves reluctantly sighed. "If I can't obtain a share of the profits, then I at least want my ship to be as good as possible."

He understood that this was the only way. His bargaining position was decent but not exceptional. DIVA held the upper hand due to the sole reason that Ves couldn't approach any other party in the Hegemony to sell his mechs to the Hex Army.

Therefore, it was undeniable that DIVA held the upper hand. At the very least, on an economic level, DIVA would likely earn back more hex credits it made in selling his mechs than it spent on the factory ship.

The only consolation was that it would probably take a few years to recoup its monetary costs. That was too much time as far as Ves was concerned. He didn't mind passing over those profits as long as he obtained a factory ship much earlier than he expected.

Calabast understood his position well. She tried to console him. "This is a win-win arrangement. DIVA won't skimp on the factory ship at all. If you commit to design six Hexer mechs, then the budget for the factory ship will be 800 billion hex credits. If you commit to designing 8 mechs, then the budget will be 1.2 trillion hex credits! The more, the better."

That was a lot of money! With such a budget, obtaining a moderately valuable second-class factory ship was well within reach!

She added another sweetener. "The factory ship will be built according to the standard of the Hex Army. This meant that it will incorporate state-of-the-art military components that made use of exclusive Hexer-developed technology. Such a ship is completely different from a capital ship built to civilian standards! You can't buy this access with money!"

That made this deal even more attractive to Ves! At a certain point, the private sector was no longer able to meet his demands. Only by gaining the cooperation of government entities would he be able to obtain a high-spec ship!

"I need to discuss this with Gloriana. This decision is way too big for me to decide alone."