The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5828 Unusual Production Strategy

As fun as it was to explore the reintroduction of escort carriers into human civilization, Ves did not come here to explore new starship classifications.

Once they finished touring a few sections of the E-66 Experimental Yard, Ves and Kezi entered the latter's office and began to talk about more serious affairs.

Just like he had done at Starfarer Berth, Ves presented the reforms he wanted to push through in order to truly take control over the large orbital shipyard.

To his credit, Kezi not only accepted the rationale for the upcoming personnel changes, but pledged his support.

"The Inferno Spear Prince has already informed us to be as accommodating to your demands as possible." The chief shipwright spoke in a deferential tone. "You are on track to become the sole owner of the E-66 Experimental Shipyard. While you must still abide by the laws of the Rubarthan Pact, you have a wide latitude of permissions."

"Will there be any trouble from the personnel? How many of them can we retain?"

"I think the retention rate will be quite optimistic, especially if they are allowed to keep experimenting. Joining the Larkinson Clan is a step up for most of them. They have heard the sort of benefits that you offer and are not too resistant to becoming a part of your organization."

The sort of people who worked at E-66 were much more open-minded in general. They were younger, more flexible and more ambitious. Even if 30 or 40 percent of the Rubarthan workforce ended up quitting, it was not that difficult to hire other bright minds to fill up the vacated positions.

Of course, every new hire needed to spend a lot of time before they could be trusted to do their jobs. The fairly low productivity of E-66 would inevitably dip to an even lower point for a time.

This was an inescapable consequence of implementing so many disruptive changes. Ves would just have to live with the fact that neither of his two new orbital shipyards would be able to churn out first-class starships at optimal rates.

None of this discussion was new to Ves, so he quickly made his point clear before he addressed other important topics.

"I have recently gained access to support link technology." Ves said, causing Kezi to briefly lose his composure! "While I do not foresee any issue with integrating this high technology in the starships built by my other orbital shipyard, I am not sure whether it is possible to do the same in this facility. As far as I know, E-66 has never produced a link-capable starship, correct?"

Kezi adopted a frustrated expression. "The New Rubarth Empire and the Rubarthan Pact have never gained access to support link technology. We do not have the expertise to work with this advanced tech. Even if you have gained permission to apply it to starships built in our facility, it is certain that the mechers will not allow our own engineers to handle the parts themselves. You will have to request the Red Association to transfer their personnel to E-66 in order to complete the relevant work assignments without our intervention. It will add many complications and cause considerable friction between our work crews."

"There is no other choice." Ves grimaced. "I know it is not ideal, but you should prepare for this scenario as soon as possible. Support link technology is way too valuable to me and my clan. I am not satisfied with keeping it exclusive to my sub-capital ships. All of my capital ships must benefit from this tech as well. You should be prepared to design new ship classes or modify existing ones to accommodate these features. I have learned that they impose much greater loads on the capacity, power supply and processing power of every machine."

"Noted. We will have to cooperate extensively with the mechers in order to integrate their support link technology in our starships. That applies to any other exclusive tech that you have managed to bargain from them. We will work with them as best as possible, but we will not like it. E-66 has always remained in Rubarthan hands since it went into operation."

This was standard practice as far as the workers of Starfarer Bay were concerned. It frustrated Ves a bit that the Rubarthans needed a lot of time to form similar arrangements with the specialists dispatched by the mechers.

Due to the long-standing resentment between the two groups, Ves did not expect them to get along right away.

Converting the regular employees of E-66 into Larkinsons should help, but that did not erase their Rubarthan roots.

As Ves and Kezi continued to discuss all of the potential problems that might ensue if they implemented all of these changes, they eventually addressed the role that E-66 would have to play in the Larkinson Clan.

"I have already explained to you how E-66 fits in the Rubarthan Pact." The chief shipwright stated. "Our facility works best when it is part of a greater collection of shipyards. It is not a pure production facility itself. Rather, it is a research facility that is built to support the operations of pure shipyards. I am not certain why the Inferno Spear Prince saw fit to transfer E-66 to you. The Larkinson Clan is largely focused on mech production. There are only two other shipyards under your control, and one of them originally began her life as a second-class mobile ship repair vessel. If you demand maximum output from us, then we will have to change our entire work approach."

That would be a huge waste of E-66's potential. It was entirely set up to screw around with different technologies in order to develop unique new ship classes that offered value that existing naval products were unable to match.

If Ves just wanted a shipyard that could pump out as many large starships as possible, he would have opted for the royal shipyard of the Octara Kingdom over the E-66 Experimental Yard.

The virtual projection of Ves raised his palm. "Stop, Kezi. I am not ignorant of the circumstances of your orbital shipyard. Rest assured that I will not force you and your workers to spend your effort on producing cookie cutter ship classes. As a mech designer myself, I am keenly aware of what your facility excels at. I plan to leverage your strengths as much as possible."

"Forgive me for questioning you, sir, but how? As I have mentioned earlier, E-66 is more of a supporting facility than a standalone production site."

The physical projection of Ves grinned while leaning closer. "I want E-66 to adopt an artisanal approach towards shipbuilding."

That caused the 109 year old shipwright to look surprised. "I would have expected you to demand us to increase our ship production rate, even if it comes at the expense of innovation. For you to propose a production strategy that is more suitable for mech boutiques is… unusual, especially in our industry."

Ves smirked. He understood the chief shipwright's confusion.

"It is not that I am opposed to having more starships. Under normal circumstances, I would gladly take two mediocre fleet carriers in the place of a single good one. The issue is that we are living in much more unusual times. We cannot rely on our existing technologies and standards in order to survive in the long run. We need to be a lot more adventurous if we want to gain an advantage in the future. One of the reasons why I paid a hefty price to take over E-66 is because it is the only one that is qualified to break the rules and push the boundaries of human starships. I don't want you guys to produce ordinary vessels. What I really want is to produce the most innovative starships that can far outclass anything comparable."

This was music to Kezi's ears. As a man who had managed to become the effective man in charge of E-66 despite his young age and relative lack of experience, he had been chosen precisely because he was more willing to explore avenues that others had not yet explored.

For his new owner to give the workers of E-66 full license to unleash their imagination and divert from standard practice was like a dream come true.

However, that did not mean that Kezi embraced this change without a healthy dose of skepticism.

One of the other reasons why he was put in charge was because he knew when he should stop or pull back.

"I can understand your desire to acquire more amazing starships, but the costs are considerable." Kezi warned. "The time it takes to develop and build the unique starships will grow. Our budget will have to be increased as well. The end result is that you will obtain considerably fewer starships at significantly greater costs than before. Their performance will most certainly be superior to the performance of standard hulls, but the differences might not be great enough to justify an artisanal approach. There are good reasons why shipyards almost never dabble with this. Only the largest shipbuilding companies with dozens of orbital shipyards at their disposal can afford to adopt this approach for one of their facilities. They usually reserve it for custom orders from exceedingly wealthy clients who have more money than sense."

What Kezi left unspoken was that the Larkinson Clan was in the opposite situation. It did not have a large shipbuilding operation at all. It did not make sense when the Larkinsons needed as many hulls as possible.

"I am aware that my demands do not entirely make sense, but it will become clear to you soon enough when I present my vision for the starships of the Larkinson Clan." Ves explained as he clasped his hands. "Before E-66 is ready to realize my vision, it first needs to complete the necessary reforms. I will have to send a lot of my Larkinsons to your facility in order to ensure that the right experts are in place to implement the proprietary technologies of my clan. I have developed a lot of awesome stuff that have worked great for my mechs. I am hoping that we can transfer them to our starships as well, but this will likely be a challenge. I will need to invest more time in research to come up with concrete applications. I do not have much for you at the moment."

"That is unfortunate, sir. I understand your intentions, but my workers and I cannot fulfill our responsibilities if we do not have any direction. I would like to propose that we work on a stopgap project after we have completed our current order. Working on a new starship for your clan that does not yet include your new technologies will allow us to transition to our new circumstances while integrating all of the new personnel that have agreed to the conditions that you have set."

That sounded interesting.

"What do you have in mind?"

"It depends on how long you wish to wait to acquire a new hull. A 2.3 kilometer fleet carrier is not advisable because it will likely take us 2 to 3 years to complete the construction of her hull. A more modest 1.5 kilometer fleet carrier is more manageable, especially when E-66 enters a period of rapid change and upheaval. Depending on the complexity of the ship design, it will probably take us roughly 1 to 1.5 years to complete the shipbuilding project. This should give your clan a good starter capital ship and give our personnel enough practice to tackle more ambitious projects going forward."

That was a reasonable approach. The question was what sort of capital ship Ves would want to acquire in the short term.

He had not actually thought in detail what kind of starship he wanted. Ves grew rather excited now that he obtained the luxury to build his own custom starships.

His head was already brimming with ideas!