The Mech Touch

From a visual angle, the broadsides of the factory ship now featured sixteen giant golden cat paws!

Each of their claws were capable of scratching approaching any approaching enemy formation!

As Gloriana busied herself with rearranging the living space for the crew and occupants of the factory ship, she briefly glanced at his handiwork.

”Thatʼs a very pretty-looking change. We donʼt have the heavy mechs to fit in the bunkers, though.”

Ves did not look concerned. ”Weʼll just design our own, then. This grouping of five claws is already giving me some ideas. Perhaps I can combine five different glows that activate at specific times depending on the battle situation!”

Several ideas already tempted him to design the mechs in question!

If some enemy mechs were taking potshots at the factory ship from extreme range, he could employ Ylvaineʼs glow in order to increase the accuracy of his heavy artillery mechs.

If a large formation of light mechs were about to reach the hull, he could employ the same kind of spiritual counterbalancing he used in the Doom Guard design to prevent them from landing onto the hull!

Just two of these suggestions already sounded viable to him. Ves quickly archived these ideas in his implant and promised to revisit them later.

Eventually, the initial configuration session had come to an end. All of the free and unreserved space had been allocated.

While Ves had been preoccupied with transforming the arrangements of bunkers on the hull of the factory ship, Gloriana focused instead on the living conditions.

She upgraded and expanding the living quarters of the crew but especially for herself and Ves!

She filled up some of the empty compartments into schools, entertainment centers, gardens, swimming pools and other recreational areas.

Though it sounded a lot, the internal volume of the factory ship was already huge to begin with. Gloriana made sure to make efficient use of space so the various facilities didnʼt take up too much space.

Aside from that, she also made sure to add spaces for various chapels and areas of worship! At the very least, she insisted on retaining the fairly large hall of worship devoted to hexism!

Perhaps the only major alteration she made was to replace the large altar that represented the six phases of existence with the statue of the Superior Mother.

”You can do what you want to the rest of the ship, Ves, but this space is mine!” She insisted!

Ves let her have her way.

With that, the basic configuration of the Larkinson Clanʼs upcoming factory ship had been set. This was not the end, but just the start. Ves already knew he would have to submit the proposed ship design to the Hexer shipyard and let them refine it while crunching the numbers before sending back an altered proposal for him to review.

The factory ship was a huge, 1.2 trillion hex credit endeavor. Everyone involved had to make absolutely sure that the final design reflected the clientʼs desires before they started to build her within a year!

When the meeting ended, Ves picked up Lucky and was just about to go elsewhere. However, Calabast and Abigail Evern both called him to stay.

”Whatʼs this all about?” Ves asked in suspicion. He turned to Abigail. ”Is it about the Penitent Sisters?”

The former DIVA agent nodded. ”Iʼve been talking to Abigail before this meeting commenced. She and some of her fellow Penitent Sisters arenʼt satisfied with the limited access to the statue of the Superior Mother. Now that you have revealed that you can make smaller ʼtotemsʼ and attach glows to them, perhaps it would be a good idea to make smaller replicas of the statue and spread them to the Penitent Sisters.”

Ves frowned. This was not part of his plan. ”The Superior Mother is my creation. Experiencing her glow is a privilege, not a right.”

”As a commanding officer, Iʼm not unaware of what you have in mind when you set the quota.” Commodore Abigail Evern spoke. ”Considering our conduct and our history, it is not a surprise for you to adopt such a measure in order to steer our behavior.”

He frowned even further. Even though religious Hexers were insanely stupid about their beliefs, they werenʼt incompetent!

A Penitent Sister like Abigail may be a fanatic, but she was also a highly-competent naval officer! Otherwise, she wouldnʼt have been promoted to her rank in the first place.

Since the commodore saw through his scheme, Ves did not deny it any further.