The Mech Touch novel Chapter 2126

Chapter 2126 Made to Order

Once they came to an accord, Ves and DIVA did not waste much time. It didn't take much time to sign the contracts.

Ves felt ambivalent as he returned to Gloriana, who was still spending all of her time with the Little Angel. Soon, DIVA would be taking the masterwork mech away, and it was very unlikely that she would meet her finest work to date ever again!

Therefore, even if her current behavior seemed unhealthy, Ves allowed her to indulge in her current fancy.

"Gloriana! The deal is set. Eight designs for a factory ship. Hopefully, as long as everything goes well, we'll be able to receive our new ship within a year."

"That sounds great!" Gloriana cheerfully responded. "I always wanted a factory ship, and I always wanted to design mechs for the Hex Army. Now I get to do both!"

It was hard not to get caught up in her jubilance. Ves cared less about the potential profits he signed away. Making her happy was a joy in itself.

"Well, in order for the shipyard that DIVA has approached to build our ship, it needs a ship design."

"Oh? Ah, you're right! Not any factory ship will do. We need to pick the right class and select the best configuration for our needs. This is going to be fun!"

"Hahaha, I thought so. If you don't mind, I've invited some other clansmen in order to take part in the initial session. We don't specialize in designing ships, so it is wise to borrow the wisdom of those who command them for a living."

It took some time for the meeting to start.

In a secure conference, Ves, Gloriana, Calabast, Fleet Commander Ophelia Kronon, Major Verle and most notably Commodore Abigail Evern all sat down at a round table.

A projector already started to display various factory ship classes in the center. The imposing mass and size of these vessels instantly dwarved anything the Larkinson Fleet owned up to this moment!

Before the session commenced, everyone turned to Commodore Evern.

The prominent ♂ symbol tattoos on her face instantly marked her as a Penitent Sister! Even Gloriana looked askance at the presence of the exiled Hexer!

"Ves.. why did you invite Commodore Evern?"

"She's our highest-ranking naval officer." He shrugged. "Look, I have my doubts as well, but when I approached her, she promised to remain cordial."

He only approached the commodore on a whim. The Larkinson Clan may have Ophelia Kronon-Larkinson, but she mainly dealt with second-class ships. She did not possess enough depth in second-class ships!

"I know what you think of me." Abigail defensively huffed. "I only agreed to offer my expertise in exchange for favor. It's in my best interest to play along."

Both Gloriana and Calabast turned to Ves. "What did you promise?"

Ves shrugged. "When I approached the Penitent Sisters, I found out that the ones who participated in the ceremony want to return the statue. Those who don't fall under the 666 Sisters have heard a lot and want to try and worship the statue as well."

"Oh. That.. sounds okay, I think."

He was pleasantly surprised when the Penitent Sisters made this request. If even these extremists became swayed by the Superior Mother, then that meant there was a lot of hope that the rest of the Hegemony might embrace the ancestral spirit!

Of course, the reason why the Penitent Sisters clamored so much to see the statue was because of the show he performed. If he didn't impress them so much, they would have been much more reluctant to approach him with this request!

Even so, he didn't make it easy. Now that he possessed leverage over the recalcitrant Hexers, he wanted to make sure he could use it to keep them under control! He heavily restricted access to the Penitent Sisters and only opened up a small window to access and worship the statue of the Superior Mother.

Ves promised to widen this window as long as the Penitent Sisters behaved well!

With this carrot, he hoped to tame the Sisters and make them less of a problem. Though he did not have much hope of converting them to his side, at the very least he wanted them to be an asset rather than a liability.

Once everyone accepted Abigail's participation, the session finally began when Ves took control of the projector.

"Every factory ship is unique. They're large, stupendously so, and can fit a lot of different stuff. Because they're so big and expensive compared to mechs, the client has a lot of choice on what can go in. It's similar to ordering a custom mech, though our choices are limited by the restrictions of the ship class."

Ship classes were like mech models in that they already provided a fairly complete framework.

Different from mech models, ship classes offered a lot of room for customization. They initially started off in a barebones form, which also happened to be the cheapest option.

It was easy to upgrade or modify the layout of the ship at the initial phase. As long as his demands didn't break the framework and as long as his budget was sufficient enough, he could add all kinds of items on his wish list!

Everyone else knew this as well, so they quickly began to look over the available ship classes.

They could choose from over a hundred different factory ship classes. Some of them looked similar, but others looked radically different!

Most of them were long and narrow and shaped like a cigar or fish. They rarely came in other forms, though Ves did encounter some very vertical ships.

It was a bit difficult to make a choice right away, and it took too much time to go over every single ship class.

This was why Calabast proposed a selection method. "Perhaps it is best to set our criteria first and see which ship class fits our needs the best."

Everyone agreed. The first choice was to consider the overall shape of the factory ship.

Ophelia immediately offered her judgement. "Most human vessels are long and narrow for a reason, sir. In combat situations, strategic ships like these are either flying towards or away from the enemy. You don't want to give the enemy a larger target to hit. Keeping the front and rear silhouettes as small as possible will make it harder for enemies to take down the ship. That said, a ship that is too long and narrow is an easy target when attacked from the flanks. There are other tradeoffs as well, such as the increased stress and demand from the FTL drive."

Everyone concurred with her assessment. None of them had any intentions to buck the trend, especially Ves! He could already predict that his factory ship would definitely experience these situations several times in the future!

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify