The Mech Touch

The arriving fleet took its time to reach Cinach VI. The temporary crew of the recently-built factory ship had to perform a lot of inspections in order to check for any problems arising from her maiden voyage.

Properly speaking, every newly-built starship had to go through at least one comprehensive shakedown cruise.

The bigger the vessel, the greater amount of parts. The greater amount of parts, the greater the probability that something might go wrong!

These days, the space trials of sub-capital ships didn't need to be comprehensive. Advanced scanners and technology-assisted inspections already helped with making sure that none of their parts were abnormal.

Capital ships were different!

Their total volume exceeded that of typical cities. They had so many decks filled with huge, interconnected ship components that no amount of inspection could ensure that they would all run smoothly!

This was why most capital ships required at least half a year of shakedown cruises in order to detect problematic elements and make sure that every system worked as intended.

It wasn't unusual for fires to break out, capacitors to explode, components to overload or the supply of oxygen to be cut off in the middle of the night!

What the Larkinson Clan was actually receiving was not a fully-mature factory ship. Instead, she was the equivalent of a prototype. While most of her systems worked as expected, there may be a handful of unexpected flaws and quirks impacting her performance.

That did not diminish Ves' enthusiasm.

Due to his impatience, he demanded the Hexers to skip the lengthy space trials and just deliver his factory ship to him as soon as possible.

The Hexers may be arrogant and prejudiced against boys, but they were not incompetent. The Hexadric Hegemony was a true second-rate state with tech and production standards that were far beyond what any third-rate state could accomplish.

In the past several months, the Larkinson Clan received regular batches of Hexer-built combat carriers and other vessels. Despite their second-hand nature, Ves hardly found any fault in their design, construction and refurbishment.

The Hexers hardly cut any corners!

Due to their superiority complex, the female supremacists constantly expected the best from themselves. They at least had to be better than the Fridaymen!

As the beneficiary of Hexer excellence, Ves possessed a lot of faith in the quality of his factory ship. At the very least, she hadn't broken down in her maiden voyage. While that didn't rule out the possibility that something might go wrong in the future, the crew of the factory ship would have plenty of time to work out her kinks in the next couple of years.

From the moment the last batch of ordered starships entered the Cinach System, the Larkinsons quickly prepared to receive them. A lot of new Larkinson naval officers and ratings eagerly packed their bags. They also readied all of the mechs, equipment, supplies and other goods they planned to load into their incoming vessels.

Dozens of cargo ships were already waiting to transfer their goods into the factory ship!

Much of their cargo consisted of the expensive raw materials needed to produce a lot of Transcendent Punishers. The LMC already procured them some time ago but lacked the high-end production facilities necessary to produce the Larkinson Clan's exclusive artillery mechs.

Soon, the wait would be over.

Once the factory ship churned out a couple of dozen Transcendent Punishers, the Larkinson fleet would gain a lot more confidence!

At the very least, if a pirate warship like the Gravada Knarlax confronted the new fleet, then the enemy vessel would quickly succumb from the sustained bombardment of a score of Transcendent Punishers!

In short, the factory ship opened a brand-new future for the Larkinson Clan! No longer would Ves have to beg the Hexers or some other second-raters to fabricate advanced mechs and other high-tech goods.

His clan was almost fully capable of meeting its own production needs!

It didn't matter if the efficiency was lower and the cost was higher than relying on fixed production facilities. Even if it cost twice as much money to fabricate a mech in his new factory ship, Ves would still kiss his new flagship silly.

In fact, if he wasn't already married to Gloriana, he would have tried to see if it was viable to marry a capital ship!

Naturally, with such an important asset about to fall into his hands, Ves became incredibly busy. He personally supervised much of the preparation work.

He cracked open the containers in order to see if the goods inside were up to standard.

He met with some of the senior and junior officers who were ready to assume their new positions on the new vessel.

He also inspected the chief technicians who would soon be assuming control over the sophisticated production lines.

When Ves engaged in the latter two activities, he became a bit disappointed in the quality of his personnel. While they were very skilled and knowledgeable in their line of work, they were not yet up to the task of controlling all of the systems of a second-class capital ship.

"We tried our best, sir." Fleet Coordinator Ophelia Kronon looked apologetic as she reported to Ves at this busy period of time. "While we have few issues with hiring some of the most qualified spacers of the Sentinel Kingdom and other third-rate states, it is still too challenging to hire qualified second-class professionals."

"You had months."

Ophelia shook her head. "It's not enough. One of the greatest hindrances to hiring qualified crew is our inconvenient location. Since you prohibited us from hiring Fridaymen and Hexers, there are not many options left in our star sector."

"Tell me how you intend to solve this staffing issue."

"The problem isn't acute. Your factory ship comes with a very capable crew of Hexer trainers. They are enough to keep the essential systems of the vessel running. While our current spacers are learning from the Hegemony-supplied trainers, we can gradually supplement our crew with highly-skilled officers and specialists as we navigate towards one of the regional beyonder gates."

"I see. We don't have much choice but to follow this course of action, I guess." Ves looked resigned. "How much crew does it take to operate the factory ship?"

"That's not a simple question to answer."

"Give me an idea, then."

"Well, according to the ship schematics and other data that I have studied, your factory ship requires at least a minimum of 1000 spacers to perform her most basic functions. This entails engaging her sub-light propulsion systems, providing enough oxygen to keep the air breathable and making short FTL hops. However, don't think that this is viable in the long run. A crew of just 1000 is not enough to keep the factory ship in good condition. Her systems and components will deteriorate at an accelerated pace with a skeleton crew."

"How many trainers are there on the factory ship?"

"The Hegemony has informed us that it has assigned around 500 trainers to your factory ship. Right now, there are at least 1500 more Hexer crew members on the vessel, but they will be departing shortly after our clan takes possession of the factory ship. A crew complement of 2000 is the most basic threshold to ensure her operation over longer periods of time. Mind you, this does not include the production crews that are responsible for manning the production lines."

"How many people does it take to run our factory ship at full capacity?"

Ophelia briefly paused. "5000 is a decent number, sir. In fact, she can accommodate double or triple that amount without overburdening the vessel. You can fit a lot of people in a capital ship. With more crew, it becomes possible to establish rotating shifts of personnel. This ensures that she remains at full capacity at every hour of the day while having an abundant amount of manpower at your disposal during active engagements."

Capital ships were like several cities stacked on top of each other. Let alone 15,000 people, as long as his clan freed up enough space and beefed up her life-support systems, his factory ship could potentially accommodate 150,000 extra passengers!

Naturally, there was no way Ves would do something so pointless. His factory ship was not a luxury liner!

The importance of crewing the ship started right at the top. The captain of the factory ship was the most essential role to fulfill. Since starship crews were organized in rigid hierarchies, the person at the top of the pyramid possessed an unsurpassed amount of power.

Without a huge degree of competence, experience, talent and technical expertise, it was impossible to command a vast capital ship!

"Do we have a captain for our factory ship?" Ves asked.

"Not quite, sir." Ophelia carefully answered. "The amount of naval officers who are qualified to captain capital ships are very scarce. Most of them are brought up within the militaries and institutions of a state. Even in the private sector, large trading and passenger transport companies are accustomed to invest many decades in bringing up their own capital ship crews."

In other words, the Larkinson Clan didn't have a captain ready.

Suffice to say, Ves wasn't happy with that news.

As the arriving fleet finally entered into high orbit over Cinach VI, several hours went by as a lot of transports and vessels began to unload their goods and crews onto the arriving vessels.

Ves and Gloriana both had to take care of the handover procedures and other administrative necessities.

By the time they took their cats and entered a shuttle that would take them to their new flagship, Ves had almost gone crazy due to all of the delays.

"Finally!" He shouted as he settled into his seat.

Gloriana placed her palm onto his hand. "I know you're excited, but our flagship isn't going anywhere. She's ours now, right?"

"Almost." Ves nodded. "Our personnel still needs to inspect the whole interior and exterior of our factory ship in order to make sure the Hexers haven't missed anything. As long as that is in order, we can finalize the handover process."

"Don't worry. Hexers are always thorough. Not a single tool will be missing from our new home."

Home. Gloriana did not use that word casually. Before, she considered the Scimitar System in the Hexadric Hegemony to be her home. The Stellar Chaser that she took up residence in over the last few years was just a temporary hotel in her eyes.

This was different. The brand-new factory ship was not just a workplace. She possessed plenty of living space and other amenities.

Though she was not an ark ship, she still offered enough space for shops, restaurants, parks and even a school!

With room for thousands of crew members, the factory ship was more than capable of simulating city life. Aside from the lack of open space and other constraints, it shouldn't be a major problem for the Miracle Couple and the rest of the expansive crew to distract themselves on the floating city.

After a slow and steady approach, the shuttle slowly entered the primary hangar bay of the factory ship.

There were actually two hangar bays. The primary hangar bay could accommodate 12 mechs and 6 shuttles at a time. This was actually pretty tiny for a capital ship, but Ves had opted to shrink this compartment in order to free up capacity for other functions.

The bulk hangar bay was much larger. It could accommodate several transports at a time and played an essential role in keeping up the flow of goods.

In an emergency, the cargo hangar bay along with the vast and expansive cargo bays could accommodate several mech companies if necessary.

However, it was best not to do so. The primary role of the factory ship was to produce mechs and other products. It was vital to secure enough cargo space.

As the shuttle landed in the middle of the primary hangar bay, the hatch slid open. As the security detail exited first, Ves and Gloriana followed suit a moment later.

The moment his shoe landed on the deck, Ves felt an invisible shock running through his leg.

He had finally stepped foot on his new home!