After Ves ended their tour of the Gorgoneion, he was more than pleased at what he saw. While he hadn't been able to see her transform into her wall mode, from what he saw the ship was already a great addition to the Larkinson fleet.
What he valued the most was that her entire design was configured to the specific needs of the Larkinson Army. This granted his clansmen a base where they could truly perform their duties as Larkinsons.
This made a substantial difference as it was rather annoying to deal with all of the Hexer idiosyncrasies on the older Larkinson-owned starships. The Spirit of Bentheim and the many combat carriers bought from the Hexadric Hegemony contained many Hexer-developed ship systems and parts that deviated substantially from the galactic norm.
This was one of the results of the relative isolation of Hexer society. They chose to go their own way in many areas and that led to a lot of stupid choices that were made for the sake of making Hexer technology 'more superior'.
Getting back to working with more universal tech was a breath of fresh air to many Larkinsons. Although it did not sound like a big deal, even a moderate increase in quality of life and ease of use did wonders in making the servicemen feel more at home!
These were ultimately indispensable factors to turning the Larkinson Clan into a true space-faring organization. Although it was impossible for Ves to impart life in any of the starships under his command, he hoped that his clansmen would do their best to make them more personal.
Once he left the Gorgoneion, he paid a brief visit to the Diligent Ovenbird.
The large fleet repair ship looked different from any other capital ship in the expeditionary fleet. One side resembled a large, open tube while the other side looked like a massive C-shaped metal wall!
These were the two primary activity spaces where the Diligent Ovenbird performed her ship repair works.
The crew already started calling the tube the 'Small Oven' as this massive section was devoted to constructing and repairing sub-capital ships.
Though it was currently open, the interior of the Small Oven could be closed and sealed from the outside environment, thereby allowing it to turn into a drydock of some sorts.
A drydock environment was important because many construction tasks were too advanced or delicate to be performed in open space.
While it seemed that space was completely quiet and devoid of disturbing factors, the truth was much different. From roaming space dust to cosmic radiation, there were too many sources of interference to count, and many of them could produce a lot of small faults that could result in major malfunctions if they piled up to an extent!
Therefore, the safest way to build a ship was in a controlled environment with zero gravity. This was why the Small Oven was relatively thick. It had to offer a high degree of protection against external factors and also manipulate gravity, air and other internal conditions without any gaps in coverage.
"The Small Oven can repair any sub-capital ship that fits inside." An naval engineer assigned to serve as a tour guide explained. "Due to its dimensions, the Small Oven is mostly suited to performing work on long and narrow starships. The good news is that most human vessels adhere to this design standard. Only eccentrics own square or spherical-shaped starships these days."
In other words, the best bread that the Larkinson Clan could bake with the Diligent Ovenbird were traditional baguettes.
"The Small Oven also possesses enough construction modules to build new vessels, right?"
"Yes, sir. Our current systems are powerful and extensive enough to construct new hulls up to frigate-class vessels. Don't expect us to build any combat carriers, though. They are much larger, heavier and more demanding to construct."
Ves glanced at the naval engineer. "There is usually a huge safety margin when it comes to specifying these kinds of features. If we loosen our standards and accept a higher degree of risk, is it technically feasible for us to build our combat carrier?"
The man had to think about this question. This was a difficult scenario that would strain the Small Oven's facilities. It would also require the crew to work outside of regular parameters.
"I can't say for certain, sir, but if we are truly desperate, we can do it." He said. "Don't think that we can start making combat carriers right away, though. We lack the heavy-duty construction equipment that allows us to build ships of this scale. We can only do it by improvising a lot of new and unsafe methods and performing a lot of labor-intensive manual work. It would be similar to trying to fabricate a mech with handheld tools."
"I see."
The analogy mentioned by the engineer was a bit exaggerated, but drove the point home.
"Then let's take a step back." Ves suggested. "What if we try to build a smaller and less ambitious starship, say a light carrier or an ever smaller carrier class? What our clan needs the most is the ability to pump out FTL-capable starships that can serve as motherships to as many mechs as possible. Without a sufficient number of capital ships, we won't be able to deploy enough machines in battle. This is why it is critical for me to know what the Diligent Ovenbird is truly capable of in her current state."
Since this was a serious matter, the naval engineer took several minutes of time to compose his answer.
"Combat carriers are demanding ships to build because they need to be able to withstand hostile fire, sir. If it isn't necessary to turn our carriers into mobile strongholds, then our job will be a lot simpler. Maybe it is still a stretch for us to construct a 40-mech light carrier, but a vessel that can accommodate half that number is a lot more doable."
That was good news. Whether the carrier held 20 mechs or 40 mechs was not a huge issue. Being able to field 20 more fully-functional mechs in the Red Ocean was better than fielding no additional mechs at all! It at least gave Ves an alternative, however inadequate it might look, should he fail to close a deal with a shipbuilding company.
After he finished inquiring about the Small Oven, Ves began to move over to the Big Oven.
This enormous, lengthy C-shaped section was designed to service capital ships. Although it wasn't able to offer drydock conditions, the Big Oven still offered a huge amount of convenience, allowing the Larkinsons to perform independent repairs on battle-damaged vessels.
This part of the Diligent Ovenbird was a lot less exciting because the facilities were only sufficient to perform repairs. They were far too inadequate to construct capital ships from the ground up. In fact, the Big Oven wasn't even capable of performing the most difficult and extensive repair jobs.
"The Big Oven is mostly capable of performing surface repairs on capital ships, sir. It can also be used to repair sub-capital ships, but this isn't the best way to make use of its facilities. As long as the capital ship is shaped like other human starships, then the length of the vessel is no impediment to repairs. The hull can just be moved along the length of the Big Oven to repair the ship from bow to stern. This is the greatest advantage of its open layout. The vulnerable facilities will all be covered and shielded during routine space travel, so they won't get damaged by environmental hazards."
The engineer didn't need to state that the Ovenbird was incapable of performing repairs under these circumstances. This was a major downside and one that would impose a substantial limit to the mobility of the overall fleet.
"Is there a way to mitigate or neutralize this shortcoming?" Ves asked.
"Other than turning the Big Oven in a closed space like the Small Oven, which I do not recommend due to size limitations, you could try to acquire powerful heavy-duty shields." The engineer suggested. "In order to shield a volume that encompasses several cubic kilometers against most external disturbances, second-class shield generators can no longer do the job. You will need to get your hands on first-class ones, which isn't practical."
Ves frowned. This was pretty much a non-answer. A single first-class shield generator of this kind was probably more expensive than the rest of the Diligent Ovenbird!
Not only that, a shield generator that was able to project a huge energy shield needed to be powered by a power source of the same class, which was also insanely expensive.
The cost and expertise required to maintain their upkeep was enough to turn this into an impossible dream!
"If this is the case, we either need to get our hands on a bigger mobile drydock or wait until our entire clan upgrades to first-class standards."
There was no way to reach these goals in the short and medium term. Well, shipbuilding was just a side activity to the Larkinson Clan.
Once Ves gained a good idea of what the Diligent Ovenbird was capable of, he departed from the fleet repair vessel and returned to his flagship.
He was content with both of his new acquisitions. As newer and more expensive capital ships, the Gorgoneion and the Diligent Ovenbird were definitely keepers.
Unless they were destroyed in battle, Ves would strive to keep them in his fleet as long as they remained relevant.
The same was not necessarily the case for the clan's other capital ships. Older and more worn vessels such as the Graveyard and the Dragon's Den had to be replaced sooner than later.
Of course, if Ves really insisted on keeping them, then he could make arrangements to upgrade them. A shipyard could completely reinvent them as long as the clan was willing to pay enough money.
The biggest question was whether it was worth it to go through so much effort. Ves didn't possess any special attachment to any of his capital ships. Not even the Spirit of Bentheim was irreplaceable in his eyes.
Unlike his mechs, the ships of the Larkinson Clan weren't alive. Why should he treat them as such?
Sooner or later, the Larkinson Clan needed a larger and higher-capacity factory ship.
Just like how the Larkinson Clan replaced all of its entire third-class ships with second-class equivalents, Ves anticipated that he would initiate a similar swap once the Larkinsons were eligible to become first-raters.
"How long will that take?"
Ves did not dare to assume he could accomplish it within twenty or thirty years. The gap in wealth, tech, expertise and military power was too massive to be bridged in a couple of steps.
He eventually put these long-term considerations out of his mind and continued to rest and prepare himself for his upcoming fabrication run.
The next day, Ves and the other Journeymen had gathered in his personal workshop again. Each of them were looking forward to ending this round of expert mech projects.
Although they had all progressed considerably since the start of this round, the projects only served a handful of individuals.
There were thousands more mech pilots in the clan that urgently needed newer, better and more specialized mech models. Aside from Gloriana, the other three Journeymen felt much more at home when they were designing mass-production mech models.
"…Wuuu… bubuauawa…"
"Mommy and daddy are about to make a new mech, Aurelia." Gloriana softly told her baby. "Would you like to stay with mommy while I work?"
The tiny baby looked completely oblivious to what was going on. Her eyes already began to droop.
"…Wuuwuawaa…"
Gloriana planted a soft kiss on Aurelia's head before she placed her daughter's body against her body.
When she let go of her baby, Aurelia kept sticking to the same place with the help of technology. Gloriana wasn't worried her baby would drop!
"Alright, Ves. I'm ready… Let's complete this long overdue project!."
