The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5823 Workforce Issues

As much as Ves wanted to drool over the Destroyer spear, it remained completely useless so long as there was no ace pilot to wield it in battle.

Ves did not have a candidate in mind at the moment. The Larkinson Clan had yet to welcome its first ace pilot. Though Venerable Rosa Orfan was his most favored choice to wield this powerful spear, who knew how long it would take for her to break through her bottleneck, especially when she was piloting an expert mech that had fallen behind the times.

The only other way he could make immediate use of the Destroyer spear was to spare it with one of the ace pilots loaned by the Hex Federation.

However, it would be a considerable waste to pair the weapon up with the likes of Saintess Ulrika Vraken or any other Hexer ace pilot.

Ves did not promise to pay the equivalent of 5800 kilograms of phasewater just to benefit the Hexers!

Thinking about the massive sum of money that he owed for this impulsive auction acquisition gave him a headache.

Money did not grow on trees. The only reason why Estaban Leeds authorized the exchange despite all of the burdens that Ves took on was because the Yem-Tar Trade and Commerce Bank fully vouched for his clan's ability to service the humongous debts.

Even so, it was rather reckless for him to take on a huge amount of loans without even presenting a proper plan on how to pay them all back. Part of the reason why his staff had become so busy all of a sudden was because they needed to satisfy the demands of the bank.

Ves did not anticipate any immediate problems, though. The Red Ocean branch of Yem-Tar was run by the Red Association. The debt wouldn't pose a serious problem unless he fell out with the mechers.

He set this matter aside and focused on his other priorities.

He had several important appointments on his agenda.

As he left the secure cargo bay, Ves turned to his friends.

"I will be off on my own for a while. I need to inspect my new shipyards remotely. I have a lot of plans in store for them, but I need to see how the facilities are run. I have only heard descriptions and seen snapshots of them, but that is not enough to know what I can do with these new assets."

"Enjoy your time."

"Try not to spend too much money."

Ves ventured to a private office compartment and waited for the right time.

A remote connection eventually formed. His entire surroundings changed until it looked as if he had appeared in the middle of a large and high-tech reception hall.

"Please welcome our new owner!"

Thousands of employees raised their fists at once!

"WELCOME TO STARFARER BAY!"

The entire personnel base of the small but highly advanced orbital shipyard had presented themselves to Ves!

The sight was impressive and immediately caused him to develop a sense of appreciation towards 'his' new employees.

Although the transfer of ownership was not yet official due to administrative hurdles, it was already set in stone. The shipbuilders might as well treat Ves as their new boss right away.

Once this brief spectacle had served its purpose, many of the workers went back to their shifts if they had any.

Meanwhile, a small group of executives approached the physical projection of Ves and introduced themselves.

Though Ves politely shook their hands and registered their names, he immediately threw this information to the back of his cranial implant.

At his level, there was no need for him to know any of these people on an intimate basis. It was the responsibility of the individual in charge of this facility to do all of that work. Ves merely needed to get along with this fellow in order to effectively control Starfarer Berth.

"So you are the man who is ultimately responsible for the success and failure of shipbuilding projects around here?" Ves said in a deliberately casual tone.

He was not a first-rater born from a privileged background and never made any pretenses about being anything else. He couldn't stand all of the formal customs and ceremonies that made people sound more sophisticated.

Fortunately, no one minded his tone. Being a tier 3 galactic citizen had its privileges.

The man with a distinguished and neatly groomed white beard bowed in respect.

"Eric Poderin. I am the Chief Executive Officer of this fine shipyard. I have worked as a shipwright for two centuries before the Adaptive Scale selected me to lead the operations of Starfarer Bay. Under my leadership, our shipwrights, naval engineers and other specialists have quickly mastered the use of our state-of-the-art production facilities. We have access to some of the best instruments, but their learning curves are steep. Our hiring policies have ensured that all of our essential positions are filled by the most qualified workers that we can find. We have also hired interns and rising talents who not only look at starships from different perspectives, but have also mastered emerging new developments in phasewater technology and hyper technology."

Starfarer Berth had the capacity to build some of the most advanced sub-capital ships of the Red Association. Ves would have been disappointed if the personnel was less than stellar.

"My new shipyard has an unusually large number of people under its employ. Shouldn't a modern facility like this rely a lot more on automation?"

The chief executive gently shook his head. "Our workforce is divided into multiple shifts that rotate on a daily basis. Only a third of them are usually active at a time. Automation is vital, but many high technologies are so delicate and demanding that they require manual oversight by qualified experts. The Red Association has developed many exclusive high technologies that should not be entrusted to exploitable machines. A fifth of our regular workforce are comprised of RA contractors who are only here because they possess the right permissions to work on support link technology and Master Castillo's exclusive Ripple Energized Armor Systems."

Ves looked surprised. "I would have thought that an orbital shipyard that is owned by an RA Master mech Designer and is operating deep inside the Yernstall Star Node is completely run by mechers."

"That is not the case, sir." Eric Poderin denied. "The Red Association maintains a firm separation between its own activities and operations conducted by its members outside of any official mandate. You will have to ask a lawyer to obtain a proper explanation, but the summary is that Starfarer Bay is a private venture that just happens to be owned by an upstanding member of the Association. This is also why the Adaptive Scale was able to put it up for auction. If it was a more integral part of the Association, then she would not have been able to transfer 80 percent of it to you. The fact that she retains 20 percent ownership allows us to continue our current arrangements with all of our 'external' specialists."

The legal considerations surrounding the use of advanced technologies were more complicated than Ves thought.

"So does that mean that Starfarer Berth cannot operate without all of these mechers in my facility?"

The CEO gave Ves a helpless smile. "It is possible to operate Starfarer Berth without RA assistance, but that will deprive us of the right and the ability to implement many proprietary technologies that set our starships above those produced by lesser shipyards. I do not advise you to reject shield link technology. It is such a force multiplier that it is much easier to hire experienced and qualified spacers for starships that are equipped with this high technology."

That made sense. Starships that could transfer energy shields between each other always lasted longer in the field.

"I get it." Ves let out a sigh. "I will not ask you to push away the mechers. That still leaves me with a lot of concerns about their trustworthiness. I do not like it when outsiders have intimate access to the starships that will form a part of an important new fleet for the Larkinson Clan. Do you have any suggestions on how to minimize their ability to sabotage or infiltrate the systems of my new vessels?"

The former shipwright frowned in thought. "Aside from practicing stricter information security, it is not possible to rule out any possibility of such actions. All of the proprietary tech that I have referred to earlier are not isolated. They are all connected to the vessel herself. To isolate them completely is to cripple the powerful modules, thereby depriving us their use. This is counterproductive. The only other solution is to build starships that do not contain any of this potentially dangerous tech at all, much to the detriment of their performance."

It became clear that Starfarer Bay had no good solution against this problem. The Red Association had an incredibly annoying habit of planting bugs and listening devices everywhere.

The mechers had most definitely infiltrated all of his starships to hell and back. They listened to every conversation and collected every scrap of sensor data to keep track of what Ves and his Larkinsons were doing at all times.

Ves was tired of having his privacy violated all of the time, so he expected to be able to produce 'clean' starships from his new shipyards.

It turned out that he was too naive.

Whether deliberately or coincidentally, Starfarer Berth was locked in a state where it had to invite mechers to work on proprietary tech.

"What about the workers on our payroll?" Ves inquired. "Are they mechers or directly related to them in any way?"

"Part of our workforce consists of a mix of naval engineering experts who have grown up among the mechers but decided to enter the private sector." Poderin confirmed. "They are not officially mechers, but they grew up in the same community."

"I see. What about the remainder?"

"Starfarer Berth hires highly qualified shipwrights and engineers from every upper zone in the Red Ocean Union. We do not hire anyone with Terran or Rubarthan backgrounds, but those who have grown up in more typical first-rate states are more than adequate enough to work in our shipyard."

These were the workers that Ves held the highest expectations towards.

"I am not sure what you have heard about the Larkinson Clan, but we have a policy of entrusting any important responsibilities to people who have joined it. One of the first actions I want to take after gaining majority control over this shipyard is to invite as many of the workforce to join my clan as possible. It doesn't matter if they used to be mechers or citizens of other first-rate states. As long as they meet all of my criteria, I would be happy to welcome them into my growing family."

This caused serious consternation among the executives.

"Is this a mandatory measure?"

"Not immediately." Ves shook his head. "I know that transitions like these can take time. It is not my intention to give our current workforce an ultimatum. Let us see how many of the current workers join my clan. There are many benefits to becoming Larkinsons which I will make clear at a later date. If there are workers who still reject my conditions, then you should start with finding replacements who do not take issue with my demands."

That pretty much sounded like an ultimatum to the top management of the orbital shipyard.

Each of them had mixed feelings about this demand. They were smart enough to understand that they would have to find another job as well if they refused to join the Larkinson Clan.

"You cannot simply swap personnel as if they are simple parts." Eric Poderin said. "We have spent years turning our relatively new workforce into a well-oiled machine. There are many critical leaders and engineering talents who are linchpins of their departments. I know for certain that several of them are bound to leave. Even if we can fill up their positions with their deputies or outside experts, the newly appointed leaders will need to acclimate to their new responsibilities. Our productivity will drop by as much as 50 percent in the following half year, and will never fully recover until two more years have passed."

"Only 50 percent in the first half year? That is quite impressive, Mr. Poderin. I don't care if production is halted for a year. I will not entrust a job as important as constructing starships for my Larkinson Clan to outsiders with unclear loyalties. Let's take this discussion elsewhere so that I can explain how much of a difference it makes when the majority of the workforce have become my clansmen."