The Mech Touch

This was a historical moment.

For the very first time, Ves stepped aboard a capital ship that did not belong to other powers.

Humanity classified any star-faring vessel that was over 1 kilometer long with this coveted label.

To be honest, this was an arbitrary designation. The definition of capital ships had changed throughout the course of history.

In the Age of Stars, any ship that was longer than 500 meters used to be considered a capital ship.

How times changed.

There were plenty of spacers these days who insisted that the definition for capital ships needed another adjustment. Ship lengths ranging from 2 kilometers to 5 kilometers frequently made the rounds.

The CFA, which was the foremost authority on starships in human civilization, never gave in to these requests.

Ves guessed that the fleeters didn't want to bother with this banal argument.

In truth, whether a ship was 1 kilometer or 5 kilometers long, when the vessel exceeded a certain scale, her mass and movement characteristics fundamentally changed.

Tiny corvettes and frigates resembled sparrows. Swift, agile and small, these vessels were capable of performing acrobatics in space.

Capital ships were akin to whales, though worse. They were huge, lumbering vessels that took a lot of time to get going and a lot of time and effort to perform even the smallest course correction.

When the dimensions of a starship grew, their tonnage grew by a geometric relationship. Of course, the exact growth was highly dependent on the specific ship design and how much 'height' and 'width' the vessel acquired.

The sub-light propulsion systems couldn't keep up with the rapid increase in mass. Unless a capital ship was specifically built for speed, they were always huge, slow and plodding.

This defined a capital ship in a nutshell.

Of course, in exchange for all of those downsides, capital ships offered more space and capacity than any other vessel.

For some people and organizations, this was an enormous waste. Many smaller and weaker groups such as mercenary corps simply couldn't justify the cost of operating such an extravagant vessel. It was much more economical to operate several bite-sized ships.

Ves was different. The Larkinson Clan was different. Even though Ves acknowledged that it was a lot cheaper to acquire a dozen logistical ships that could accommodate a couple of production lines each, they simply did not possess the might, majesty and prestige of a single capital ship. His new acquisition also offered several production advantages over smaller alternatives.

It was worth it to acquire this factory ship.

When Ves planted his other feet onto the deck of the primary hangar bay, he took in a deep breath. He smelled and tasted the filtered air circulated by the expansive life support systems of his new flagship.

Clean. Fresh. Maybe a bit too clinical. That would probably change over time. Every ship developed a unique air formula.

"Meow…"

"Miaow…"

Both Lucky and Clixie looked quite nervous to be on such a big ship. The Stellar Chaser and Scarlet Rose were much smaller frigates. They possessed a limited amount of decks and compartments, which made it manageable for the cats to claim their entire interiors as their territory.

This wasn't possible anymore! No matter how remarkable the two cats were, they would tire themselves out in no time if they attempted to patrol the entire length and breadth of the capital ship!

"Hehehe." Ves bent down to stroke Lucky and Clixie's backs. "Don't be scared. This ship is still ours. You just have to delegate responsibility to others."

"Meow?"

Both cats looked thoughtful at what Ves said.

As Ves consoled the cats, a small delegation of senior command officers approached the shuttle.

Ves looked up to see an authoritative, middle-aged woman saluting to the new owners of the factory ship.

"Mr. Ves Larkinson. Mrs. Gloriana Wodin-Larkinson. It is my proud honor to welcome you aboard the HHX-6963!"

The other Hexer officers saluted as well!

Gloriana assumed her formal persona. She gestured towards the lead Hexer.

"Introduce yourself."

"I am Grand Captain Daria-Maria Vraken, the interim commanding officer of the HHX-6963. The council of matriarchs has personally assigned me to captain this ship until your clan is prepared to nominate a competent successor."

Both Ves and Gloriana did not react well at the introduction.

"What is a Vraken like you doing here?" Gloriana frowned.

Her guarded posture caused Clixie to be on guard as well.

For her part, the so-called grand captain perfectly maintained her professional demeanor.

"I am one of the best capital ship captains in the Hegemony. You can inspect my public record at your leisure. I graduated summa cum laude at the most premier naval institution of our state. I have captained over three different capital ships, including a factory ship, over my half-a-century-long career. If you require more reassurances, I can give you a record of my certifications and accolades."

"Please do." Ves requested.

The grand captain immediately transferred over a document to his comm. When Ves inspected it, he became flooded by certifications, awards and other forms of official recognition.

Ves tried his best not to get lost in the hundreds of individual entries.

The medals and other rewards bestowed by the Hexer government signified that Captain Vraken was a very high performer. She learned more, scored higher and impressed her superiors at a far greater rate than her peers!

When Ves took in her diplomas and huge list of certifications, he discovered that the distinguished Hexer captain was proficient in both command and engineering.

Though she wasn't an engineer, she understood the basic theory and fundamental mechanics behind pretty much every single ship component. Whether it was thrusters, FTL drives, power reactors or shield generators, she possessed a decent grasp on how they worked.

The combination of all of this technical knowledge granted her a very good awareness on how to push a capital ship like the HHX-6963 to her limits!

Combining that with her excellent leadership, management and administration abilities, the grand captain assigned by the Hexers was truly the most impressive naval officer that Ves had seen!

Perhaps the monstrous officers of the CFA could easily crush Captain Vraken in terms of skills and knowledge, but that was an unfair comparison. It wasn't as if Ves could ever get a fleeter to captain any of his vessels.

Though Ves didn't like to put a Hexer in charge of his flagship, he recognized the necessity of keeping someone like Daria-Maria Vraken in such a critical position. It shouldn't be a problem to train or recruit an acceptable replacement before his expeditionary fleet entered the Red Ocean.

Naturally, whoever got to replace the extraordinary Hexer captain would never come close to being as good as the interim captain.

That was fine. The HHX-6963 did not necessarily require an inhuman captain in order to run her basic operations.

Every capital ship was like a very large company. The CEO at the top was merely responsible for issuing broad orders and making other high-level decisions. The middle management and the lower ranks did most of the actual work. Those positions were much more crucial to the Larkinsons.

"Please follow after me." The grand captain bowed and turned around. "While it is impossible to tour HHX-6963 in her entirety in a single day, I have prepared a very condensed tour that will bring you up to speed on the most essential decks and compartments of this fine vessel."

The newly-arrived group followed the commanding officer to the exit. Meanwhile, the other senior officers dispersed and returned to their stations.

When Captain Vraken led the clan patriarch and his wife past the fortress-like checkpoint, she approached a number of floater platforms.

"Please step onto this platform. Your bodyguards can utilize the other platforms."

They all did so. The floater platforms automatically hovered above deck and gradually began to accelerate forward at a brisk pace.

"As you can imagine, navigating through a capital ship can be very time-consuming." The interim captain explained. "Moving from one end of the HHX-6963 to the other end can take hours. Sheer distance as well as all of the hatches, checkpoints and other obstacles in the way can all slow you down. For this reason, these expansive hallways are split up into four lanes. The outer lanes are meant for foot traffic while the center two lanes are devoted to small vehicle traffic. Floater platforms like these as well as cargo bots and other vehicles will frequently travel back and forth."

Ves had already been on a ship with this kind of hallway setup. The Starlight Megalodon featured broader lanes. It was a shame the derelict CFA battleship lost too much functionality back then to make use of all of that space.

This was different. His factory ship became more alive as the newly-arrived Larkinson crew members as well as disciplined Hexer trainers began to populate the hallways. Even the center two lanes saw traffic as a lot of incoming goods needed to be brought to the right compartment.

The interior design of the HHX-6963 was quite basic. The decks were gunmetal grey while the bulkheads and ceilings were coated in a pristine shade of white. A horizontal red stripes ran through every corridor of the factory ship. Frequently, this monotony was broken up by other markings and symbols.

Every so often, the bulkheads showed off the emblem of the Larkinson Clan and the logo of the Living Mech Corporation.

Perhaps the only trace of Hexer construction was the diagonal sides. Ves twitched his mouth as he noted the modest but conspicuously angled bulkheads. The angles weren't too sharp, so there wasn't too much wasted space, but Ves still felt annoyed that the Hexers hadn't been able to change this design choice.

Technical constraints, the Hexer shipwrights claimed. The Estrella Klavier-class factory ship was designed from the ground up with hexagon-sided hallways and hexagon-sided compartments in mind.

"HHX-6963 is this vessel's official designation, right?" Ves asked once he stopped studying the hallways.

"Correct, sir. This vessel does not have an individual ship name. The honor of naming this factory ship is left up to the client. Would you like to name her now? We can complete her registration and modify her exterior to reflect her identity."

Ves briefly turned to Gloriana, who didn't look too sure.

"Not yet. We're still thinking about it. There's no hurry."

"Very well."

The floater platform started to ascend up the decks. They were moving upwards.

The grand captain continued her tour. "The HHX-6963 possesses 66 decks in total. In general, the upper decks are dedicated to command, control, living and other high-level functions. The middle decks are mainly dedicated to engineering, power, life support, production and other heavy-duty functions. The lower decks mostly consist of cargo bays, supply storage, fuel tanks and other less-important compartments."

This was a typical starship arrangement. The higher the deck, the more unlikely it was to find a low-ranking spacer. Much of the sections and compartments that were dedicated to the actual functioning of the ship was concentrated in the middle decks, where they were well-protected against external attacks.

As for the lower decks, there weren't as many people there as most of it was taken up by cargo bays and other storage compartments.

There was a good reason for this arrangement.

"Due to the relatively low-priority compartments situated in the lower decks, it does not hurt us as much if this side of the HHX-6963 comes under enemy fire." Captain Vraken elaborated. "It is for this reason that the keel of this vessel is reinforced with extra plating. Only the bow is better armored."

Ves smirked. "The prow will become even thicker soon."

So far, the front of his factory ship was still a plain red-coated surface. It protruded forward like a short duck beak.

While it didn't look ugly, Ves had something a lot better in mind. In these past few months, Compartment G-13 aboard the Scarlet Rose had not been idle. The Larkinson Clan quietly stockpiled a huge amount of Breyer alloy.

Now that his factory ship was finally in his hands, he could finally make use of that splendid alloy!