The Mech Touch (Web Novel)

5824 Ves the Human Resource Manager

Outsiders had difficulty understanding the significance of joining the Larkinson Clan.

Mere descriptions did not suffice. Ordinary folk either lacked comprehension or completely misunderstood what it meant to become connected to the Larkinson Network.

Ves believed that people's tolerance towards metaphysical weirdness would definitely become a lot firmer once the Red Collective got up and running. The claims he made would gain official validation and certification, thereby making his kinship network seem a lot safer and more credible.

Until then, Ves had to live with the fact that he could never fully convey his meaning to those who had spent all of their lives in a society where science and technology dominated their understanding of reality.

At least the members of the mech community were already accustomed to a certain degree of metaphysical oddities. Their exposure to mechs that did more of the sum of their parts and god pilots who flat-out defied the laws of physics caused them to already become primed to even more extraordinary phenomena.

As Ves continued to speak to Eric Poderin, he gained a good understanding of the overall mindset of the shipwrights and naval engineers who worked at Starfarer Bay.

Materialistic. That was the best word that described their perspectives. They had grown up their entire lives studying the sciences and applying what they learned in various ways.

While that did not sound so much different from the perspective of a mech designer, what distinguished the two was that shipwrights were not only a lot less self-centered, but also more focused on keeping their work grounded in the known sciences.

It should not be a surprise why this was the case. Starships were much harder and more laborious to design and build. No single individual could do all of this work by themselves no matter how much they relied on automation.

Due to the exponentially greater amount of parts and people involved, it became critically important for everyone to share a common understanding of the language, the sciences and the direction of a shipbuilding project.

Misunderstandings and differences in opinion could easily lead to errors and mistakes!

Even if modern starships were designed with plenty of redundancy in mind, the reality was that a few critical errors could cause faulty vessels to crash, fail or otherwise malfunction when they incurred damage that the ships should have been able to shrug off under other circumstances.

Too much was at stake to allow for any sloppiness and spontaneity. As Ves quietly utilized his Spirituality to perceive the overall mood among the executive and workers of the orbital shipyard, he gained the impression that everyone had been carefully forged into a clockwork machine of notable complexity.

Even if Starfarer Berth was only capable of producing sub-

capital ships at best, their technological complexity was so close to the peak of what human civilization could produce that their intricacy was incredibly high!

The orbital shipyard truly did not hire more core specialists than was necessary. Every single shipwright and engineer played an essential role in the lengthy and complicated production processes of different high-tech starships, especially when they were commissioned by the Red Association.

Seeing how well the management had forged all of these clever engineers into a highly organized and unified workforce, Ves greatly appreciated Eric Poderin for accomplishing this in just a couple of years. He was a far better management talent than any other leader he encountered.

Although his leadership style and policies had stifled a lot of the creativity and individuality of his more inventive engineers, that was not a big deal as Starfarer Berth clearly was not set up for research and experimentation. The chief executive officer clearly understood that his orbital shipyard was only expected to produce high-quality starships at a consistent and reliable rate.

The Adaptive Scale had chosen well. Starfarer Berth was already operating at close to peak efficiency. If Ves did nothing aside from claiming all of the output for his clan, then nothing much would change as far as the workers were concerned.

Sure, Starfarer Berth gained a new owner, but as long as their pay, their work assignments and their colleagues remained the same, then these first-raters would hardly notice the difference.

Changing a single link in the chain could easily ruin this perfect arrangement, though.

This was why Eric Poderin persistently tried to convince Ves to ease off on implementing any disruptive changes.

"I understand your need to exercise your rights as an owner, but Starfarer Berth is much more delicate than you think." The CEO carefully told the physical projection of his new boss. "The greater the change, the greater the disruption. I sincerely do not understand why you insist on such haste. We can easily implement your proposed changes over the span of a decade rather than a year or less. If you would allow me to dictate the pace of your proposed reforms, I can ensure that any change in personnel or rules will happen gradually enough to preserve the optimal structure and workflow of our fine shipyard."

The man made a valid argument, but he did not know nearly as much about the true state of the Red Ocean than Ves. The CEO devoted much of his life to understanding starships and what went on inside shipbuilding facilities. He only possessed surface-level understanding of politics and conflicts on a galactic scale.

Ves shook his head in rejection. "I understand your argument, but I am afraid that we do not have the luxury of time. I cannot explain why, but take it from me that it is better to get stuff like this done sooner than later. While I do not want to override your good sense and decisions, it is important for Starfarer Berth to complete its reforms as quickly as possible. The Larkinson Clan might not have a strong shipbuilding tradition, but it possesses a lot of unique and powerful insights in hyper technology and E-technology. In addition to that, only Larkinsons understand our needs the best. I will not allow the starships reserved for clansmen to be built by outsiders when I have a better option available."

Seeing that rapid change was inevitable, Eric Poderin looked dismayed.

"You are the boss." The man plainly admitted. "It is up to you to do with Starfarer Berth as you will. I do hope that you will defer more to the expertise of those who understand how shipyards actually work."

Ves smiled. "My clan shall dispatch a group of Larkinsons to the Yernstall Star Node in order to plan and implement the reforms that I have in mind. I hope that you will cooperate with them to the best of your abilities. Starfarer Berth is still your hive. You understand the current personnel and conditions the best, so you can provide valuable input that can ensure that the changes are constructive rather than destructive."

"I… will help you and your Larkinsons to the best of my ability. If I find that they intend to change Starfarer Berth beyond recognition, I am not sure I can keep working here. I love this orbital shipyard. I love working in one of the richest star systems in the Red Ocean. However, I cannot maintain my professionalism if the shipyard that I have shaped through my own efforts is changed beyond recognition."

The two gained an understanding of each other. Both cared a lot about Starfarer Berth, but they both possessed different visions on how it should operate.

Whether Eric Poderin would stick around remained to be seen. He had already made it clear that a lot of workers would not be able to accept all of the requirements imposed by the Larkinsons.

"You better start hiring more personnel right away." Ves advised. "Don't wait my Larkinsons to arrive. You need to hire additional engineers that can fill in the shoes of those who are too stubborn or stodgy to accept my terms. I will put you into contact with my recruiters who will help you hire the right sort of people."

"Understood. I will do my best to prevent our shipyard from suffering a shortfall in essential workers." The former shipwright said. "Our budget is rather tight, especially if you do not intend to sell our output to clients such as the Red Association. I do not know whether you understand this, but the cost of employment in Yernstall is much higher than elsewhere due to the fact we have to arrange permanent housing and permits for every worker. We also tend to hire 13:35

many top talents who fully understand their own worth. Poaching them from prestigious universities and other workplaces takes much more money than you think."

Ves dismissively waved his hand. "That should not be an issue. Submit your budget to the relevant department in my clan. I am sure they will be happy to cover the additional expenses as long as they are not wasteful."

They continued to talk a bit more about what Ves sought from the personnel going forward, but soon drifted to other topics.

One of the more exciting topics that Ves wanted to explore was the kind of starships that he could expect from Starfarer Berth!

This was a subject that greatly enthused the former shipwright. While he had put down must of his technical work in order to focus more on the business and management side of running a shipyard, he was still a ship fanatic at heart.

The man eagerly projected a handful of the starships that Starfarer Berth had proudly built in the last year.

"This is a typical combat carrier that is designed and built according to the specifications of the Red Association." Eric Poderin said. "As you can see, she is a rounded vessel that boasts an optimal balance between armor plating, sub-light propulsion, mech capacity, mech support and so on. Unlike the combat carriers you are accustomed to, this ship class eschews bunkers in favor of proper point defense hardpoints. The gun batteries are smaller, more efficient, more numerous and more consistent. This saves a large amount of capacity that is better spent on additional power reactors or shield generators."

The mechers and the fleeters had long prohibited everyone from fielding armed starships, but never applied this rule to themselves.

Instead of trying to incorporate clunky bunkers that were large enough to house heavy artillery mechs, the Red Two instead developed proper combat carriers that relied on real shipboard weaponry to increase their self-defense capacity!

"The Larkinson Clan won't be able to field this ship class, am I correct?" Ves asked.

Eric nodded. "As far as I know, the Larkinson Clan is led by an honorary member of the Red Association, but that does not turn all of the other Larkinsons into mechers. There is a clear separation between the two organizations, so I am afraid we can only treat your clan as a private organization. However, the Adaptive Scale has informed me that your agreement with her encompasses numerous technical permits that grants you the right to build starships equipped with some exclusive RA high technologies for your clan. The most notable among them is support link or more precisely shield link technology."

The man pointed at a very distinct array that had been mounted on the topside of the combat carrier.

It looked like an energy cannon at first, but possessed a number of distinguishing features that betrayed its true purpose.

Instead of shooting a deadly laser beam that inflicted damage upon impact, it instead shot out a more gentle but still energetic ray that could somehow bolster the energy defenses of a compatible subject.

"This is what the mechers rely upon to make their first-class multipurpose mechs almost unkillable in most typical engagements." Poderin grinned with pride. "This specific model has many limitations that you should be aware of, but it is a lifesaver in most situations. As long as there are enough starships and mechs equipped with shield link technology, they can form a giant web of interconnected energy shields that must all be broken at the same time. Possessing this capability is what separates true warfleets from rabble."