The GAIA production lines consisted of production equipment that were geared towards mass production.

This meant that they aimed for the highest possible quality within a few important constraints.

First, they had to be fast enough. If it took twice as much time to produce a mech, then the mech company in question was practically losing a lot of money due to having less mechs for sale.

Second, they had to be easy enough for mech technicians to operate them. The production machines had to take the limited capabilities of average factory workers into account.

Of course, different production machines imposed different minimum skill requirements. The GAIA production line was quite advanced, so the mech technicians had to be a lot more skilled and knowledgeable than normal in order to produce high-quality mechs like the Transcendent Punishers.

Right now, the best mech technicians of the Larkinson Clan were still not up to par. They needed to explore the capabilities of the GAIA production lines and engage in a lot of trial and error in order to become proficient in handling the advanced second-class production machines.

As for mastering the machines, Ves didn't think that any of his chief technicians or mech technicians could accomplish this exceptional feat. He would have to hire experienced second-class mech technicians and fabricators in order to fully utilize his production lines.

That was far too troublesome. He would rather nurture his current production crews and set up an in-house school to raise qualified mech technicians from within.

While this approach won't bear any fruit for at least a decade, the results would be worth it. Only by setting the curriculum for his future production crew would he be able to instill his preferred production approach to them. In order for his factory ship to pump out consistently high-quality mechs, he needed to raise mech technicians that treated the mechs they made as living entities!

Aside from the strict manpower requirements, the GAIA production lines also came with another downside.

Captain Daria-Maria Vraken pointed at a thick power line along the way. "When any of these production lines are working at full capacity, their energy consumption is massive. If all 20 lines are active, then the HHX-6396 barely has enough spare power left to run her other basic functions."

"I'm aware that this factory ship doesn't have enough power to keep both her production lines and shield generators active at the same time." Ves spoke. "She doesn't need to, though. There's no way we'll allow our production crews to calmly fabricate mechs when our ship is fired upon. That's just stupid."

"That is not the issue I am trying to draw attention to. Consider how much energy these hungry shield generators and production machines consume. How much money in reactor fuel do you think the 16 primary power reactors aboard the HHX-6963 will expend in order to supply all of that power?"

Neither Ves nor Gloriana knew the answer.

"32 million hex credits per day." The grand captain answered. "In a year, that amounts to more than 11 billion hex credits."

"What?! So much?!"

Let alone Ves, even Gloriana was shocked at that sum!

"Please take into account that this is only a portion of the upkeep cost. While it is unlikely for all 16 primary power reactors to operate at maximum capacity every hour of the day, there are many other expenses such as payroll, maintenance, sub-light propulsion fuel and other consumables. These are the costs you need to bear for adding a very capable factory ship to your fleet."

Given the expected circumstances, Ves would probably have to reserve at least 10 billion hex credits to cover the annual expenses of his factory ship.

What was worse was that the supply and market price of reactor fuel varied depending on the region!

Captain Vraken issued another warning. "In the Komodo Star Sector, you cannot find that many refineries that are capable of refining the specific type of high-grade, second-class power reactor fuel. Only a few dozen refineries in the Friday Coalition and Hexadric Hegemony were able to meet the factory ship's energy needs. I've already checked the price of power reactor fuel in the Red Ocean. Depending on the specific zone, you might have to pay ten times the prevailing market price in this star sector!"

Ves almost suffered a heart attack at the thought!

Even if he made good use of all 20 production lines to produce a lot of mechs, he might have to sell at least a 1000 premium second-class mechs a year in order to keep the voracious power reactors fed!

While this was not an impossible task, it was a heavy burden to the Larkinson Clan. It became more and more important to ensure that the LMC's business operations in the Yeina Star Cluster remained operational even after his expeditionary fleet departed for the Red Ocean!

"Not every factory ship is as expensive to run." The older woman noted as they passed through hall after hall. Each of the large spaces hosted an identical production line. "If you opted to add less production lines, opt for lower-end production equipment, leave out the shield generators and downgrade the high-quality ship components, you can easily reduce the upkeep to just 2 or 3 billion hex credits."

Gloriana grimaced. "That's not acceptable. We need the best that we can get. Settling for a smaller and cheaper capital ship will only limit our growth in the future. Since we have the opportunity to obtain a higher-end factory ship with excellent production lines from the start, we should embrace what we have and look towards taking advantage of her strengths."

Ves thought for a moment before he nodded in agreement. "You're right. Starting off big isn't necessarily bad. The costs are higher, but I'm confident in our money-making potential. It is a waste to make budget mechs with our GAIA production lines. Their capabilities are so good that they are best used to make premier mechs. As long as we design a good second-class mech that is comparable to the Valkyrie Avenger and Valkyrie Brunhild, we can reach a very high profit margin. This way, we only have to produce a couple of hundred mechs and sell them all in order to cover the annual upkeep of not just our factory ship, but also the rest of our fleet!"

"That's a tall order, sir. You plan to add several more capital ships to your fleet, correct? That will add many more billions of hex credits in expenses. The only consolation that I can give you is that fleet carriers and other ship types are not as energy-intensive as a factor ship. However, if these vessels sustain any damage, the repair costs can easily skyrocket."

The burden on the Larkinson Clan grew heavier and heavier. Although Ves knew it wasn't cheap to run a large fleet centered around several capital ships, now that he heard some solid numbers, he started to entertain some doubts.

It would have been a lot cheaper to settle on a planet and develop a colony! It was no wonder that so many organizations wished to build up a foundation on solid ground. Pursuing life in space was simply too expensive and out of reach to most people!

Not even mech designers thought it was worth it to squander most of their money on a large fleet. That was enough to make Ves realize that he was pursuing a very unorthodox growth path.

If his grand expedition failed, then much of this effort and investment would come to naught!

As he continued to muse about the finances of his expeditionary fleet, they finally reached one of the workshops.

The two mech designers needed no explanation from Captain Vraken. They knew much more about all of the exquisite production machines.

Ves approached the largest device in the workshop and placed his hand on its cold metal exterior. "I could only dream of owning a top Hexer 3D printer in the past. Only the best Hexer mech designers make use of a model of this caliber."

The ELKINE 69 may not be the top 3D printer model developed by the Hexadric Hegemony, but it was not too far away!

With such an excellent 3D printer, Ves probably wouldn't have to upgrade to a better model until at least several mech generations had gone by or if he reached the rank of Master.

"What a great machine. It's nearly perfect." Gloriana sighed as she admired the impressive hardware.

Different from the GAIA A-35, the ELKINE 69 was at least ten times more difficult to operate.

This was mainly because it demanded a lot more manual control over all of its production processes. The GAIA automated a lot of steps to make it easier for a normal production crew to operate it, but that came at the cost of looser tolerances and inconsistent output.

The ELKINE 69 took the opposite approach. Its developer designed it with the assumption that its operator knew exactly what to do at every step of the way. As long as the mech designer or fabricator was skilled enough, the ELKINE 69 could produce masterwork-quality mech components without relying on any extraordinary mental states!

"Hehehe…" Gloriana greedily stroked her palm across the solid metal exterior. "The ELKINE series is renowned as the most precise line of 3D printers in my home state. I can finally begin to fabricate vessels that are much closer to perfection than before!"

The ELKINE 69 was not fast, efficient, cheap or easy to operate. Aside from these downsides, its sensitive sub-components required very frequent maintenance.

In fact, its manual stated that it was best to service and recalibrate much of its internals after just a single fabrication run!

This was an extremely high burden that Ves did not look forward to. Aside from fabricating first production copies, custom mechs and expert mechs, it was hardly worth it to use it for other purposes!

Yet for all of these hefty tradeoffs, the ELKINE 69 offered enough benefits to make Ves and Gloriana happy.

Aside from being able to handle a lot of high-end materials and produce an even greater variety of special components, the couple mainly valued the model's precision and quality control.

The reason why Gloriana was so happy with the ELKINE was because it was easier to make masterwork mechs with it! She was already looking forward to completing the current round of mech design projects so that she could utilize her brand-new 3D printer to make six more attempts!

While the frequent need to service and recalibrate the ELKINE 69 was annoying, the factory ship had two of these precision machines!

In time, the two ELKINE 69's would probably diverge from each other as Ves and Gloriana personalized the machines. While these top-end 3D printers were far too advanced for the pair to make extensive changes, it was only a matter of time before the pair acquired enough knowledge to customize their mechanisms.

The same went for the rest of the artisanal production machines in the workshops. The high-quality equipment would never allow the two mech designers to exert their greatest strength when their settings and configurations didn't align with their personal style.

"It's too bad we only have two of these mech workshops." Ves muttered. "Juliet Stameros and any only future Journeymen will have to make due with the GAIA production lines or other places to fabricate their personal works. We should give them the opportunity to rent our workshops. There's no way we'll be making frequent use of these facilities."

Gloriana snorted and crossed her arms. "Let them pay for their own mech workshops! As far as I'm concerned, we worked for these facilities. If Juliet wants to obtain a comparable mech workshop, then let her save up until she is able to afford her own ship with a mech workshop that is up to standard."

"That's too harsh, honey."

"I'm not being harsh! I'm being fair!"