The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5811 E-66 Experimental Yard

There was one other potential complication to embracing the Adaptive Scale's bid.

Master Francesca Castillo already made it clear that she was a part of the RA Guidance Faction.

The Guiders were known as meddlesome mechers who strongly advocated that the Red Association take over the autonomy of individual states.

They were basically the Polymath's strongest cheerleaders outside of the Survivalist Faction.

The Guiders would love it if human civilization melted all of its internal divisions and united in a single cohesive group that obeyed all of their instructions!

While there was a certain logic to their ideology, Ves personally found it reprehensible.

That was a problem, because he was pretty sure that the Adaptive Scale was mainly willing to offer her orbital shipyard in order to pull him into the orbit of her faction.

Still, Ves believed he could manage this situation if it ever occurred. He disagreed with the Guiders on plenty of subjects, but there were still a couple of areas where they could cooperate, especially in relation to the Red Collective.

It was not a bad idea for Ves to make more friends and allies among the mechers. He still depended heavily on the protection of the Red Association to keep him safe and support his many business ventures.

In any case, now that the Adaptive Scale had completed her pitch, Ves wanted to hear other offers.

"I have to admit that I find it difficult to rank the two bids." He told the auction participants. "The offers made by Duke Von Reevus and the Adaptive Scale both have their pros and cons. For now, I am inclined to judge them of roughly equal value. Unless there is a bid that clearly exceeds their value, I will choose to accept one of them. I apologize that I cannot offer any further clarity at this time."

That was the trouble with trying to judge different proposals. The lack of an objective measuring stick made it a lot harder for him to make up his mind. He needed to evaluate each offer according to his personal circumstances and needs.

Ves sought to buy more time by soliciting additional bids from the gathered players.

Nothing happened for half a minute. It appeared that people were reluctant to give up their orbital shipyards. Their value was a lot more tangible and concrete than obtaining a 5 percent stake in the mech company of a promising Senior Mech Designer.

That caused Ves to inwardly frown. The willingness for people to part ways with their orbital shipyards was a lot lower than he anticipated.

The lack of enthusiasm signified once more that powers valued their starships and the capacity to build them over almost anything else!

Finally, a third figure stood up to make a pitch.

The man bowed towards Ves. "It is an honor to address the favored of the Destroyer of Worlds. My name is Robin Terrier. I serve as a senior aide to the Inferno Spear Prince of the Rubarthan Pact. After much consideration, my liege has decided to offer you full and unrestricted ownership of the E-66 Experimental Yard that is located in his principality."

Robin Terrier projected a map of where the shipyard was located before it changed to show the facility itself.

It became clear to Ves that E-66 was not as big as the royal shipyard, but it was not nearly as small as the Starfarer Berth either.

Though Ves only got a brief glimpse of its location, he became a little reassured that it was not located too close to the frontlines.

That did not mean that E-66 was unlikely to be safe from alien raids, but it was located in the heart of the Inferno Spear Principality.

"The E-66 Experimental Yard was originally built to produce starships up to 2.3 kilometers in length. It is not the most efficient orbital shipyards in our possession. In fact, it is the opposite as it is not a standard facility. It is part of a larger R&D initiative that was originally designed to develop and experiment on new ship classes. It features an expansive suite of tools and production facilities that enable the construction of a wide variety of starships, including ones that incorporate limited alien technologies."

The Rubarthan aide quickly differentiated the E-66 Experimental Yard from the other ones.

Ves loved to engage in experiments, so the function of this orbital shipyard immediately appealed to him in an intimate fashion.

The royal shipyard from the Octara Kingdom was a pretty standardized production facility that did not leave as much room for experimentation.

The Starfarer Berth was even more limited due to the fact that it was already optimized to construct starships clad with Ripple Energized Armor Systems.

While Ves was sure his shipwrights could still build a wide variety of starship classes in both of those facilities, none of them were able to offer as much help, freedom and support as the E-66 Experimental Shipyard!

"Our orbital shipyard employs a top team of shipbuilders and R&D personnel who have graduated from renowned technical universities." Robin Terrier continued with a smile. "They are long accustomed to working together on many different research projects. Each of their employment contracts are included in our offer."

That was an important concession. The E-66 Experimental Yard wouldn't be nearly as useful to Ves if he lost the services of all of those top naval researchers.

"How efficient is this facility?" He asked.

"I am told that the E-66 Experimental Yard does not score high in efficiency, but makes up for it with greater research, improvisation and upgrade capabilities. It is one of the best shipyards you can choose from if you wish to upgrade your existing starship hulls. It is possible to increase its efficiency in constructing a single ship class by adding or removing specialized shipyard modules. Due to frequently changing demands, E-66 possesses a highly modular structure. You can easily add specialized production facilities that can introduce specialized functions that are not available in standardized shipyards."

The senior aide to the only ace pilot among the Rubarthan princes in the Red Ocean continued to explain a few more interesting details.

For example, the Inferno Spear Principality was willing to give Ves access to all of the material suppliers that were currently supplying the input to the E-66 Experimental Shipyard.

The downside was that he could only pay the going market rates for these raw materials unless he formed more favorable agreements with the relevant Rubarthan material suppliers.

"We are also willing to exempt your shipyard from paying most of the fees and taxes that we subject to our shipyards."Robin Terrier added as an extra incentive. "E-66 already does not pay most of them because it is an indirect possession of Prince Antonius. Granting you these privileges can easily reduce the cost of production by at least 30 percent."

That was generous and substantially made up for the facility's lower efficiency.

"Does the Inferno Spear Prince impose any other conditions or obligations?"

"None aside from the standard ones. His Highness does not like to engage in trickery. When we say that you will gain full and unrestricted possession over the E-66 Experimental Yard, we mean it. We do not forbid you from mismanaging, destroying or attempting to relocate the orbital shipyard wholesale. It is for you to do what you will. The 2016th prince hopes that you can still serve as a responsible steward to this facility. Its existence grants red humanity another source of vitally important starships."

The Inferno Spear Prince was willing to grant a lot of trust towards Ves. By relinquishing all shares to the E-66 Experimental Yard, the prince could no longer exert direct control over the operations of this innovative facility.

Of course, that did not fool Ves into thinking that the Inferno Spear Prince or the Rubarthan Pact could no longer touch it anymore.

So long as the E-66 Experimental Yard operated within the territories of the Rubarthan Pact, it still had to abide by many of its laws!

Still, the Inferno Spear Prince granted Ves far more control than the other ones. The man was an ace pilot, so he conducted business a lot differently than duplicitous profiteers.

Ves knew without a shadow of a doubt that the Inferno Spear Prince would never stab him in the back.

If the Rubarthan prince ever found it necessary to become an enemy, the honorable ace pilot would at least give prior notice.

That already made Ves inclined to accept this offer on principle.

"Is the E-66 Experimental Yard capable of constructing dedicated first-class warships?"

The aide nodded. "It is theoretically possible, but it has yet to be done. Our highly educated personnel have all studied the theory behind them. They have also practiced on how to design and construct them in virtual training programs. This is why you can count on them despite their lack of real experience."

Ves was not sure whether he would be able to take advantage of this capacity. It still remained difficult for most people to obtain Warship Tokens, especially ones that corresponded to capital ships!

He had to settle for constructing more mundane unarmed starships. E-66 was a decent place to churn out fleet carriers up to 2.3 kilometers in length like a slow but enormous conveyor belt.

However, it would be a huge waste of time and other resources to forget about the word 'Experimental' in its name.

This kind of place truly thrived when it was allowed to deviate from the rules and experiment with their heart's content!

Ves could easily imagine he and his shipwrights, both old and new, joining hands to design the most radical new ship concepts!

Most shipbuilders could not tolerate too many changes at a time. They preferred to stick to a stable routine and develop incremental and predictable changes to their products.

Any radical shift would force every shipwright to redesign their works and calculate the huge ripple effects that cascaded from a singular powerful change!

The personnel working at this facility would not be as close-

minded. They were accustomed to experimenting with radical new technologies, so they should be able to embrace and master disruptive inventions a lot faster.

This was crucial if Ves ever wanted to realize his own 'living ships' or other special ship concepts!

It would be so liberating for Ves to be able to order the research and development of crazy new starships without needing to earn other people's permissions.

Since he would be in full charge of E-66, he could do whatever he wanted!

"Is there anything else, Mr. Terrier?"

"Nothing further."

"Thank you. Let me think for a second."

Ves actually spent several more seconds on evaluating his choices and deciding on how to go forward.

"Unless any of you are prepared to present your own bids, I will likely choose among the three current bids."

No one showed any willingness to do so. The powerful groups clung to their orbital shipyards so tightly that they were even willing to forgo an easy opportunity to build a relationship with Ves!

That disappointed him. He knew that these groups were more than ready to offer other concessions such as fully constructed starships and so on, but that was not what he set out to obtain.

The lack of other bids showcased the value of the ones made so far. The respective parties who made these bids were remarkably generous and willing to place a heavy bet on Ves.

It would be great if he could absorb all three shipyards offered to him. He had the option of doing so by giving them 5 percent shares in the LMC each.

However, Ves was wary of biting off more than he could chew. Each of these bids came with strings attached that forced him to build relationships with those who sought to profit from him one way or the other.

Even the Inferno Spear Prince's bid was not that completely clean as it would definitely force Ves to depend on the Rubarthan pact to keep his E-66 Experimental Shipyard operational.

Considering his current situation, he felt it was a bit too much to absorb all three shipyards at the same time.

He was open to accepting one or two bids. He just needed to decide which ones he could afford to reject.