The Mech Touch novel Chapter 2613

Chapter 2613: Chief Fabricator Ziva Victrix

The Golden Skull Alliance had finally departed from the Cinach System!

After the excitement surrounding the official start of the grand expedition had passed, the Larkinsons slowly went back to work.

In the preceding weeks, they had already moved into their respective berths. While there were plenty of people who were still unaccustomed to living on a starship, at the very least they already managed to get over the initial adjustment periods.

The Larkinsons stationed on the larger ships enjoyed more comfort compared to those stationed aboard the smaller vessels.

Sub-capital ships such as combat carriers and logistical ships devoted most of their room towards essential functions. While they offered at least some comfort in the form of decently-sized crew quarters, they did not come close to the amenities offered by larger vessels.

The crew and dependents assigned to the Spirit of Bentheim all felt lucky for being assigned to this great factory ship! The 1st and 12th decks became the favorite destinations of many off-duty clansmen.

Those who sought peace and open space ventured into the gardens situated on the 1st deck. The Larkinsons who wanted to hang out and enjoy some fun visited the city within a ship on the 12th deck.

Of course, the Spirit of Bentheim did not center around these recreational facilities. They were merely added to the ship in order to increase the productivity of the crew.

The main purpose of a factory ship was to produce goods. Even though the Spirit of Bentheim spent most of her time in FTL travel, her production halls steadily churned out one mech after another.

Lately, Spirit of Bentheim produced less Valkyrie mechs and more Transcendent Punishers. In fact, the main reason why the ship's Production Department bothered to make the Valkyrie mechs at all was because they were relatively easier to make.

Once more and more production crews became used to operating the GAIA production lines, the production of Transcendent Punishers picked up speed.

By now, the Spirit of Bentheim already boasted a full complement of Transcendent Punishers. There was a heavy artillery mech for all 80 bunkers, but that only applied to the flagship of the Larkinson Clan.

There were many other vessels whose bunkers were still empty. The Hexer-built combat carriers each boasted 3 to 6 bunkers depending on their ship class model.

While this didn't sound very impressive, it was a very good way to increase the firepower of the Larkinson Clan. The LMC had already stocked up an abundant amount of raw materials beforehand, so there was absolutely no worry of running out anytime soon. Many of the cargo ships traveling with the fleet were stuffed with expensive exotics and bulk materials!

As Ves dropped by the production decks one day, he became impressed by the immense amount of activity taking place within the halls.

The GAIA production lines consisted of a cluster of huge mech-sized production machines. Each of them generated an immense amount of heat as they performed various energy-intensive processes!

Fortunately, the Spirit of Bentheim was a state-of-the-art Hexer factory ship. Some of the best Hexer shipwrights optimized the power supply and heat management systems of the capital ship. The highly-regulated temperature did not rise above the most optimal level for the human physique.

In the event of an accident, a large number of bots and automated disaster suppression systems would automatically kick in to contain any fires, lethal radiation and other threats.

Ves met with the person in charge of all of the production halls.

Just like Grand Captain Daria-Maria Vraken, there was no way an average person could possibly run such an immense operation!

Every GAIA production line cost billions of hex credits. Every production machine, from the 3D printer to the alloy compressor, was so insanely complex that some mech technicians would have to spend a lifetime to master all of their operations.

Aside from Ves and maybe Gloriana, there was no one else in the Larkinson Clan who was qualified to oversee so many production operations.

For this reason, the position was occupied by another Hexer trainer.

Interim Chief Fabricator Ziva Victrix looked like a normal middle-aged woman. Yet behind this 70-ish year old woman's facade was a former mech designer who improved her fabrication and assembly skills to a level that the Miracle Couple could not even match!

Despite being just an Apprentice Mech Designer who failed to advance to Journeyman, Ziva once accomplished the supreme honor of fabricating a masterwork mech!

Such cases were rare but not unheard of. Each fabricator who earned a masterwork certificate was practically a national treasure to every state. Ves had no idea why the council of matriarchs appointed such an accomplished fabricator as a humble trainer aboard the Spirit of Bentheim.

The only reason why he didn't question this mystery any further was because he was very happy with Ziva Victrix's results.

If not for her considerable expertise, the Spirit of Bentheim would have never been able to occupy all of her bunkers before the start of the grand expedition!

Even so, there were limits to her abilities.

"Theoretically, a full crew of mech technicians, engineers and low-ranking mech designers should be capable of outputting a Transcendent Punisher within 48 hours." The older woman calmly explained. "The GAIA production line is one of the fastest and most efficient sets of production equipment of its kind in the Hegemony. It is very good at putting together light mechs and heavy mechs alike. That said, the sequential production process that you insist on adopting means that it will take at least 72 hours to make a Transcendent Punisher."

In order to preserve as much spiritual foundation as possible, the production crews have to piece together the mechs one by one. The production halls were already set up for this approach, but the lack of intersection ruled out the use of more efficient approaches.

As the two toured the production halls, Ves remained nonchalant. "I already explained to you why we cannot switch to batch processing. Every LMC mech is alive. You can think of it as a child. The production crew are effectively its parents. If you want the mech to possess a strong and vigorous life, then the production crews must care for it like a true baby."

"I'm not arguing against your approach. I have felt the difference myself." Ziva responded. "You just have to be aware that we are wasting precious production capacity due to keeping most of our production machines idle. Right now, the average production times of the Transcendent Punisher model range from 4 to 5 days. There are some underperforming production crews that occasionally take even longer, but these are exceptions."

"How much time will it take to reduce that down to 3 days?" Ves asked.

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