The Mech Touch novel Chapter 4656

Ves could not responsibly make the decision to spend more than 300 million MTA merits and 84 kilograms of phasewater on upgrading a single ship.

Of course, if he had a say in the matter, he would unequivocally approve of this upgrade proposal!

The Spirit of Bentheim was his first true ship that he truly regarded as his own home. After living and working aboard her for numerous pivotal and eventful years, her value to him transcended that of a regular second-class factory ship.

The upgrade plan did not uplift all of her functions to first-class standards. Not yet at any rate. There were still a lot of ship systems that would remain second-class for the time being.

Ves was not in a hurry to upgrade the remainder of the vessel. As far as he was concerned, upgrading her defenses, power generation and mobility already covered the most important priorities. Each of the relevant improvements directly increased the survival capabilities of the ship.

"The defenses of the newly refitted will become so high that she will be able to tank direct battleship attacks with her active and passive defenses." Vivian Tsai boasted. "Her mobility won't increase as much due to the vast increases in the mass and density of our flagship, but she will be much harder to corner in the future." _{freeweɓnøvel.com}

"Do you think that it is wise to upgrade the Spirit of Bentheim first as opposed to our more combat-oriented capital ships?" He asked the chief shipwright. "A part of me thinks that it may be better for our clan if we upgrade a fleet carrier like the Wild Torch or the Gorgoneion first. They are much more relevant in battle and they can make much better use of the massive boost in defenses."

The projection of Vivian Tsai shook her head. "I do not agree with that idea. From the perspective of the fleet and the Larkinsons as a whole, we cannot afford to lose our flagship and the people who reside in her. More specifically, we cannot lose the mech designers that not only provide strong mechs to the Larkinson Army, but also generate a lot of revenue by expanding and updating the product catalog of the Living Mech Corporation. We can lose the Gorgoneion, but we cannot afford to lose you, sir."

When she put it in these terms, then Ves felt a lot better about letting the Spirit of Bentheim have the first turn. A factory ship she may be, but the fact that a vessel of this type became the flagship of the Larkinson Clan said much about the outsized value of its mech designers!

"I have one more question before you can go, Miss Tsai. If our clan agrees with this proposal and everything else is in order, how long will it take for the MTA to upgrade our capital ship?"

"I have only received an estimate from the mecher ship designers that I have been working with. They told me that the productivity of their shipyards are much higher, so there is not that much of a waiting list. That said, the requested upgrades and modifications are incredibly drastic, and our request to keep the ship in one piece as much as possible while completing the refit will require the shipbuilding crew to employ more inefficient work methods. If no major unexpected complications occur, the entire process will likely take around half a year."

"Understood."

After Ves concluded his extensive call with Vivian Tsai, he contemplated the ship upgrade proposal once again.

He felt good about it. He looked forward to receiving the newly transformed Spirit of Bentheim after a short break.

The time it took to send the factory ship off to the MTA also coincided nicely with the expeditionary fleet's upcoming pitstop.

pAn,D a-??? ?1,c-o-m As Ves called a meeting with the other leaders of the Larkinson Clan to discuss the massive proposal, he received mixed feedback in return.

Chief Minister Novilon Purnesse expressed the most reluctance. "The opportunity cost of spending almost half of the MTA merits at our disposal on upgrading a single capital ship is... well, not entirely selfish, but not entirely prudent."

"How so?" Ves curiously asked.

"Investing so many resources into upgrading our factory ship may sound logical at first, but from what I can see, we will be making the same mistake as Mr. Otrus Magrin." The son of Shederin Purnesse answered. "No matter how much we increase the defenses of any single ship, there are always enemies that can destroy them no matter the price. I think that instead of trying to put all of our eggs in a single basket, we should spread them to multiple baskets. This way, we can not only hedge our bets, but also ensure that other vital capital ships such as the Diligent Ovenbird and the Vivacious Wal become much less at risk of collapsing from a single blow."

Ves turned to Chief Minister Abigail Evern. "You're the highest-ranking Larkinson with a naval background here. What is your opinion?"

The former commodore remained calm. "There are arguments in favor of both choices, but I am not inclined to support Novilon's suggestion. Spreading out upgrades across a large quantity of ships will not make a major difference in the operations or combat power of our expeditionary fleet."

This was an understandable perspective to many of the people in the meeting. It applied to mechs as well. There were cases where concentrating a lot of resources on a single elite mech unit might yield more results than spreading them out across many mech units at once.

Within the Larkinson Army, the Nullifier Battalion and the most revered veterans of the Swordmaidens happened to serve as exemplary examples of how this approach worked out well.

This was one of the many reasons why pioneers with ace pilots on retainer became a lot more formidable. Nothing could escape the attention of an ace pilot when his Saint Kingdom swept through the hull of a ship.

Ace pilots could easily detect the malice and ill intent from the likes of suspicious spies, treacherous informers and the tiniest listening devices imaginable.

This was a phenomenon that went beyond science, and that made it extremely difficult for other parties to form a countermeasure against this metaphysical method of surveillance!

Still, just because it was hard did not mean it was impossible!

Calabast crossed her arms. "No one knows more about ace pilots and the properties of Saint Kingdoms than the Mech Trade Association. They have plenty of god pilots at their disposal whose might and mastery of willpower far exceed that of ace pilots. I am convinced that the MTA has developed multiple solutions that can circumvent this method of detection."

Ves shrugged. "If that is the case, it is futile to guard against the MTA. I mean, the mechers will bug my ship regardless if we bring her to the MTA or not. At least this way we can better ensure that it will be our friends within the Association that will do all of the monitoring."

"Aren't you afraid that the increased monitoring will negatively impact your work?"

"Why should I be afraid?" Ves shot back. "I'm just a mech designer. I am not engaged in any shady or illegal work. Nothing happens aboard the Spirit of Bentheim that I am ashamed about. If the MTA wants to watch me work, then they are free to do so. I don't think they will learn much from seeing me at work, but that is their business."

"...Uh huh."

The look Calabast gave him showed that she did not find his statement credible in the slightest!