Chapter 425. Hellca (1/2)

The corvette entered a lifeless star system with no known settlements. Ves and the mech designers weren't allowed to know where it was located, which underscored the importance of this seemingly empty system.

After another day of coasting towards the inner system, they stopped by a vast asteroid belt that ringed around the dull yellow sun. From there, Ves expected to enter some sort of secret asteroid base, but instead the corvette came face to face with one of the largest industrial ships he had ever seen.

”Is that a factory ship?”

”That, and more. You're looking at the one and only Wolf Mother.”

The so-called Wolf Mother was imposingly large. Larger than a fleet carrier, even, though both her hull and armor couldn't compare to a ship dedicated for battle.

As a factory ship, the Wolf Mother was basically a manufacturing complex compressed in a single hull with some thrusters and and FTL engine slapped to her. The Wolf Mother's design looked rather crude, displaying many gaps in the hull that led to empty cavities that hadn't been filled since her commissioning.

”So this is where the Vandals design and produce their mechs?” Ves asked in a weird voice.

”That's right.”

”That's not possible! A ship of this size can't service an entire regiment's worth of mechs!”

A normal regiment fielded around two-thousand mechs at a time, but that didn't take into account the spare parts and spare mechs that would be necessary to keep the unit at full strength.

Despite its massive size, only a tiny portion of the factory ship could be dedicated to the production lines. Each production line expended an enormous amount of power and resources, so Ves estimated that the Wolf Den only held two production lines at most, and that would be straining the ship.

To that, the spacer sent a cheeky smile at Ves. ”Who said we need to rely on our own mechs to fight?”

”Oh.”

Ves forgot about the usual conduct of the Flagrant Vandals. They were so cut-off from conventional supply lines that they needed to steal or scavenge everything for themselves. This also applied to mechs.

The imposing manner of the Wolf Mother only grew as the tiny corvette approached one of her docking spaces. The factory ship looked so immense that her hangers even offered enough space to let in the Bloodless Dagger, not that they did so this time. The Bloodless Dagger didn't require any servicing.

”How old is the Wolf Mother?” Pierce asked.

”She's over thirty years old. She's actually a product of the previous war.”

Ves didn't know whether he should feel afraid or reassured at that fact. The vessel definitely looked like she had been through a war. Much of her armor looked like a patchwork construction where different holes and battle scars had been covered up by any available armor plating the Vandals could get their hands on.

This led to a very shabby appearance. If not for her size and solidness, Ves would have mistaken the Wolf Mother for a floating junk heap.

The interior of the ship looked a little better compared to her exterior. Once the Bloodless Dagger docked with the factory ship and let out the mech designers, Ves felt as if he entered a cross between the Mech Nursery and a fleet carrier.

The Wolf Mother was completely geared towards logistics. Massive grinders and other processing equipment broke down asteroid chunks and extracted every useful materials from the remains. Elsewhere, mighty production lines churned out part after part for both mechs and ships.

The brief view he got as a guide led them across the corridors made it clear that the Wolf Mother had been built in a piecemeal fashion. She started small, but the Vandals tacked on more compartments over time, until she eventually reached her current size.

This haphazard method of expansion might have suited the Vandals well, but it left little room for protection. Even a much smaller combat carrier would be able to endure more damage than this tough-looking but fragile-shelled logistics ship.

After passing through a maze of corridors, they reached a large out-of-the-way compartment. ”This is your stop. Professor Velten is expecting you.”

They entered what appeared to be a design lab. Rows of terminals connected to powerful processors stood ready to perform any number of simulations. Further ahead, Ves spotted areas which facilitated the design process in many different ways.

For example, one open space contained a table that supported minifab. This tiny 3D printer only worked with a handful of materials, but through the application of different treatments, it was perfect for fabricating tiny models that could help with the visualization of the design.

The newcomers entered an office to the side. Professor Velten looked up from the data pad he studied and smiled. ”Come on!”

The Professor was a short and aging woman. She obviously enjoyed a coupe of age-prolonging treatments, but they didn't seem to be of very great quality. Nevertheless, her status alone forced the three arrivals to show a measure of respect before taking their seats, because the professor turned out to be a Senior Mech Designer.

”Ah, it delights me to see new chickens have come.” The professor smiled in a slightly creepy manner. ”You are the fourth, fifth, and sixth mech designers to have arrived from the inner regions of the Republic.”

The old woman spoke no further but eyed them as if they were exotics.

”Ahem, Professor,” Ves began. ”What are our responsibilities?”

That forced the absent-minded professor back into the present. ”There is much that needs to be done! You may have realized that we are very short-handed. Even if we cut back our projects, we are barely able to keep up! There are a total of three Journeyman Mech Designers under my wing, and each of them lead a small design team of around three Apprentices.”

That didn't sound like an impressive team at all.

”Due to… the difficulties in securing a sufficient amount of time, money, resources and manpower, I have restricted the development of new and improved designs to three different mech lines.”

A typical design team with over a hundred mech designers working together could easily support the development of a dozen designs at the same time. Professor Velten's team barely managed to scrape by with only three designs.

Like a lonesome granny who only saw her grandparents once a year, Professor Velten treated Ves, Pierce and Laida like they were precious treasures.

”Three Apprentices have already arrived from the Rittersberg region. Along with your arrival, that makes six fresh faces. Sadly, that's the extent of their generosity. They haven't even sent us some much-needed Journeymen!”

After ranting a bit about the lack of concern from headquarters, Professor Velten returned to the topic at hand.