Once they came to an accord, Ves and DIVA did not waste much time. It didn't take much time to sign the contracts.

Ves felt ambivalent as he returned to Gloriana, who was still spending all of her time with the Little Angel. Soon, DIVA would be taking the masterwork mech away, and it was very unlikely that she would meet her finest work to date ever again!

Therefore, even if her current behavior seemed unhealthy, Ves allowed her to indulge in her current fancy.

"Gloriana! The deal is set. Eight designs for a factory ship. Hopefully, as long as everything goes well, we'll be able to receive our new ship within a year."

"That sounds great!" Gloriana cheerfully responded. "I always wanted a factory ship, and I always wanted to design mechs for the Hex Army. Now I get to do both!"

It was hard not to get caught up in her jubilance. Ves cared less about the potential profits he signed away. Making her happy was a joy in itself.

"Well, in order for the shipyard that DIVA has approached to build our ship, it needs a ship design."

"Oh? Ah, you're right! Not any factory ship will do. We need to pick the right class and select the best configuration for our needs. This is going to be fun!"

"Hahaha, I thought so. If you don't mind, I've invited some other clansmen in order to take part in the initial session. We don't specialize in designing ships, so it is wise to borrow the wisdom of those who command them for a living."

It took some time for the meeting to start.

In a secure conference, Ves, Gloriana, Calabast, Fleet Commander Ophelia Kronon, Major Verle and most notably Commodore Abigail Evern all sat down at a round table.

A projector already started to display various factory ship classes in the center. The imposing mass and size of these vessels instantly dwarved anything the Larkinson Fleet owned up to this moment!

Before the session commenced, everyone turned to Commodore Evern.

The prominent ♂ symbol tattoos on her face instantly marked her as a Penitent Sister! Even Gloriana looked askance at the presence of the exiled Hexer!

"Ves.. why did you invite Commodore Evern?"

"She's our highest-ranking naval officer." He shrugged. "Look, I have my doubts as well, but when I approached her, she promised to remain cordial."

He only approached the commodore on a whim. The Larkinson Clan may have Ophelia Kronon-Larkinson, but she mainly dealt with second-class ships. She did not possess enough depth in second-class ships!

"I know what you think of me." Abigail defensively huffed. "I only agreed to offer my expertise in exchange for favor. It's in my best interest to play along."

Both Gloriana and Calabast turned to Ves. "What did you promise?"

Ves shrugged. "When I approached the Penitent Sisters, I found out that the ones who participated in the ceremony want to return the statue. Those who don't fall under the 666 Sisters have heard a lot and want to try and worship the statue as well."

"Oh. That.. sounds okay, I think."

He was pleasantly surprised when the Penitent Sisters made this request. If even these extremists became swayed by the Superior Mother, then that meant there was a lot of hope that the rest of the Hegemony might embrace the ancestral spirit!

Of course, the reason why the Penitent Sisters clamored so much to see the statue was because of the show he performed. If he didn't impress them so much, they would have been much more reluctant to approach him with this request!

Even so, he didn't make it easy. Now that he possessed leverage over the recalcitrant Hexers, he wanted to make sure he could use it to keep them under control! He heavily restricted access to the Penitent Sisters and only opened up a small window to access and worship the statue of the Superior Mother.

Ves promised to widen this window as long as the Penitent Sisters behaved well!

With this carrot, he hoped to tame the Sisters and make them less of a problem. Though he did not have much hope of converting them to his side, at the very least he wanted them to be an asset rather than a liability.

Once everyone accepted Abigail's participation, the session finally began when Ves took control of the projector.

"Every factory ship is unique. They're large, stupendously so, and can fit a lot of different stuff. Because they're so big and expensive compared to mechs, the client has a lot of choice on what can go in. It's similar to ordering a custom mech, though our choices are limited by the restrictions of the ship class."

Ship classes were like mech models in that they already provided a fairly complete framework.

Different from mech models, ship classes offered a lot of room for customization. They initially started off in a barebones form, which also happened to be the cheapest option.

It was easy to upgrade or modify the layout of the ship at the initial phase. As long as his demands didn't break the framework and as long as his budget was sufficient enough, he could add all kinds of items on his wish list!

Everyone else knew this as well, so they quickly began to look over the available ship classes.

They could choose from over a hundred different factory ship classes. Some of them looked similar, but others looked radically different!

Most of them were long and narrow and shaped like a cigar or fish. They rarely came in other forms, though Ves did encounter some very vertical ships.

It was a bit difficult to make a choice right away, and it took too much time to go over every single ship class.

This was why Calabast proposed a selection method. "Perhaps it is best to set our criteria first and see which ship class fits our needs the best."

Everyone agreed. The first choice was to consider the overall shape of the factory ship.

Ophelia immediately offered her judgement. "Most human vessels are long and narrow for a reason, sir. In combat situations, strategic ships like these are either flying towards or away from the enemy. You don't want to give the enemy a larger target to hit. Keeping the front and rear silhouettes as small as possible will make it harder for enemies to take down the ship. That said, a ship that is too long and narrow is an easy target when attacked from the flanks. There are other tradeoffs as well, such as the increased stress and demand from the FTL drive."

Everyone concurred with her assessment. None of them had any intentions to buck the trend, especially Ves! He could already predict that his factory ship would definitely experience these situations several times in the future!

"The next choice is to determine a ranking order of strengths, sir." Ophelia continued. "Every ship class scores differently in every area. Some are amazingly resilient against damage. Some are very low-maintenance and cheaper to operate. Some are structurally solid and built to last for centuries. You can't have everything without breaking our budget, so we need to set our priorities."

As mech designers, Ves and Gloriana already knew that there was only so much they could demand from their factory ship.

Ves already had some very strong thoughts about the criteria he valued the most.

"This factory ship will serve as the core and quite possibly the flagship of our grand expedition. Since I intend to take us to the Red Ocean, the ship has to be able to endure the rigors and challenges of operating in underdeveloped, unstable and potentially hostile space."

This put everyone else in a serious mood.

"So you want a heavily-armored factory ship?" Gloriana asked.

"Not necessarily." He shook his head. "In my time travelling through the frontier, I learned that it is more important to retain mobility than to pile up as much armor as possible. I don't want our factory ship to turn into a barely mobile bathtub. It's a lot easier to upgrade the armor plating and structural supports of our ship than to improve her mobility, at least by ourselves."

This caught the Penitent Sister officer's attention. "You intend to upgrade the factory ship frequently?"

Ves nodded. "The Larkinson Clan will only grow wealthier from now. Ten years or twenty years from now, we might be able to get our hands on exotics and materials that are considerably superior to the ones used in the construction of our ship. We will also be able to obtain or produce much better ship parts that can enhance the performance of our ship. I want to be able to upgrade our ship on the fly so that she can best serve our needs in the Red Ocean."

"Hmmm…" Abigail paused for a moment. "Some ship classes are designed with upgradeability in mind, while others are more fixed. The former is that it is easier to keep them up to date, but don't discount the latter. They are not only more affordable, but also more solid and integrated."

Essentially, Ves could obtain a considerably higher-performing ship if he selected a class that was all fixed from inside out. While it was still possible to tear out old or damaged parts and fit them with replacements, it was very troublesome and costly to do so! Many jobs even required the services of a dedicated shipyard!

This choice was best if Ves only intended to make use of the factory ship for a couple of decades before getting rid of her. He could either sell her or scrap her and use the recycled materials to build a better ship.

Ves preferred the other approach. As long as it was viable to keep using the same ship, then why shouldn't he?

This option also fit better with his design philosophy. He treated mechs with respect, so he should at least extend at least some of that courtesy towards ships.

As a mech designer, Ves also felt eager to tinker with his ship. He wanted to make it his by customizing and altering anything he didn't like. He already did so several times with the Scarlet Rose and he expected no different with his new factory ship!

"Let's prioritize modularity and upgradeability." He spoke to everyone. "Don't forget that large swathes of the Red Ocean are either underdeveloped or not developed at all. It will be much more difficult to procure quality ships there. Demand will definitely exceed supply."

Modular ship classes were more expensive and less efficient, but Ves believed that this was a worthy price to pay.

No one offered any strong objections, so the selection process quickly moved on. Everyone pitched in on what the factory ship should excel at, though not everyone agreed with each other.

Ves knew what he wanted. If he had to describe as simple as possible, then he sought to obtain a factory ship that was good at survival.

She had to be tough enough to endure moderate attacks. She had to be mobile enough to flee from powerful enough. She had to offer enough room for mechs to defend her from attackers. Above all else, she had to offer plenty of room for customization.

Once Abigail knew what he wanted, she scrolled through the list and settled on a suggestion.

"The Estrella Klavier-class of factory ships is fairly new and fits your preference the best." She explained. "If you compare her to other factory ships, then you can see that she is fairly lean but still defensible. She isn't built like a tank, but her sub-light propulsion is decent and she can accommodate two capital-grade FTL drives, and offers room for a third."

Some capital ships came with additional FTL drives. They weren't meant to be activated at the same time. Instead, the spares offered the ship an additional escape option if one of them malfunctioned or got knocked out.

The FTL drives could also be activated in succession!

This allowed a ship to enter a star system with the help of one FTL drive, then leave shortly afterwards by engaging the other FTL drive!

Ships with multiple FTL drives did not need to wait for them to finish cycling. They could be operated one at a time, allowing the inactive drive to cycle while the ship was already on her way to her next destination!

Theoretically, ships could continue to chain their FTL drive activations along this pattern and only spend a couple of minutes in the material dimensions at most!

Of course, the stress on the ship and the drives made it very unwise to keep it up. The operation also required very skilled engineers who knew exactly how to push the FTL drives.

Regardless if Ves prioritized redundancy or speed, having multiple FTL drives was essential in his opinion!

"Two FTL drives sound good." He smiled. "We can obtain a third one later."

As everyone studied the Estrella Klavier-class further, it became clear why it might be a good choice.

Compared to many of the other ship classes offered by the Hexers, the Estrella Klavier-class contained a lot of holes!

The schematics only contained the parts and structure that was necessary to operate a basic factory ship.

The client could then fill up the holes in the schematics with their own optional modules?

For example, if he wanted to fill up a compartment with a third FTL drive, Ves could choose to do so. If he would rather augment the power supply of the factory ship, then he could instead fill the same compart with a power reactor!

The Estrella Klavier-class offered a lot of other choices like this. This appealed strongly to his inclinations as a mech designer!

"This is a great choice!" Gloriana declared. "We can fit everything we want inside this ship!"

Their choice was made. Even if there were tougher, faster and higher capacity alternatives available, the Estrella Klavier-class promised unmatched versatility!

Ves looked intrigued as he began to imagine how he could fill these spaces up. While it wasn't possible for him to design a factory ship and instill her with a glow, what if he could impart at least some spirituality through a different method?