2129 A Shot At Redemption

Inspired by the bunkers he had seen in use by the forces of the House Kaine and the Flagrant Vandals, Ves wanted his factory ship to possess sufficient teeth to repel a pirate assault on her own if necessary!

He turned to Abigail Evern. "What is the Hexer doctrine concerning the use of bunkers on starships?"

The Penitent Sister gestured at a grouping of bunkers on the hull of the Estrella Klavier-class.

"Hexer ships usually concentrate six bunkers in a hexagon pattern on their broadsides. The bunkers are designed to accommodate specialized heavy mechs armed with powerful artillery cannons. The heavy mechs themselves are grouped into teams and are usually linked in some way. Their mech pilots constantly train together and practice together in order to be able to saturate a zone of space with partially-overlapping fields of fire."

The hexagon-shaped bunkers were grouped into a hexagon-shaped pattern, thereby making the association to the Hexadric Hegemony very clear.

Obviously, Ves was not a fan of this bunker placement.

He began to alter the arrangement of one of the bunker clusters. He completely broke up the hexagon pattern and trashed the hexagon-shaped designs of every bunker. Instead, he sketched in a different cluster of bunkers. He added some extra mass on top of them in order to tie them together.

The result was a cluster of five bunkers arranged in the form of cat claws!

Abigail Evern looked upset at this change. Removing the hexagon-shaped bunker cluster was still a very odd sight to her sensibilities! This was how Hexers protected their large ships for centuries. To see them replaced with a different arrangement almost caused her to speak against the change.

Unfortunately, she held no power here. If not for expertise on advanced, second-class ships, Ves wouldn't have invited her to this session!

As for Gloriana, despite being a Hexer herself, she was used to Ves rejecting her people's ways. Even though the factory ship would become her home as well, she was already happy enough with the other accommodations towards Hexers. Letting Ves personalize a few aspects of the factory ship to make it less Hexer did not affect her fundamental DNA!

Still, to Ves, the exterior of the capital ship reminded him a lot less of Hexers, and that was what mattered the most. As long as he paired the exterior changes with some interior changes, the factory ship would come much closer to representing the Larkinson Clan!

He couldn't go too far in transforming mechs into gun turrets. The MTA and CFA imposed a lot of rules and the design program literally blocked him from adding conveniences such as directly linking the heavy mech's heat management system to the heat management system of the factory and such.

"The Big Two really doesn't want starships to be heavily armed." Ves scowled.

He understood the rationale. From an outside perspective, it was a good way to limit the damage that humans inflicted on each other.

However, now that he was about to acquire a large and vulnerable ship on his own, the various rules that restricted him from allowing the factory ship to defend herself against attackers really began to annoy him! The Big Two even imposed limits on the maximum size and caliber of the cannons wielded by the heavy mechs!

There was nothing from stopping him from adding more bunkers to the ship per se. The rules only limited him from scaling up the mechs and weapons past a certain point. It didn't matter if he built a hundred bunkers along the length of the hull.

The only reason why he refrained from doing so was the fact that the factory ship couldn't accommodate too much mechs.

By default, she came with enough space to accommodate two mech companies of heavy mechs. This was already a considerable amount of mechs for a starship to carry, but compared to other capital ships, the figure was rather anemic.

It couldn't be helped. The production facilities and the cargo bays for the materials and end products took up a lot of space as well.

If Ves really wanted to, he could sacrifice some other functionary in order to add room for up to two additional mech companies.

However, he didn't think it was worth it. He would rather dedicate this role to another vessel, preferably a large fleet carrier, and focus purely on strengthening the self-defense aspects of his factory ship.

Therefore, Ves ended up with eighty bunkers clustered in groupings of five.

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.

"That's a very pretty-looking change. We don't have the heavy mechs to fit in the bunkers, though."

Ves did not look concerned. "We'll 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 Ylvaine's 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 didn't 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 Clan's 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 client's 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.

"What's this all about?" Ves asked in suspicion. He turned to Abigail. "Is it about the Penitent Sisters?"

The former DIVA agent nodded. "I've been talking to Abigail before this meeting commenced. She and some of her fellow Penitent Sisters aren't satisfied with the limited access to the statue of the Superior Mother. Now that you have revealed that you can make smaller 'totems' 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, I'm 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 weren't incompetent!

A Penitent Sister like Abigail may be a fanatic, but she was also a highly-competent naval officer! Otherwise, she wouldn't have been promoted to her rank in the first place.

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

"If you understand my perspective, you shouldn't object to it." He told her. "So far, the only reason why you Penitent Sisters abide by your oaths is because of your self-imposed rules. The fact of the matter is that the power of your fleet is still capable of wiping out my own fleet. That much combat power in the hands of exiled Hexers looking for redemption is making me very uncomfortable. Since the Superior Mother appeals so much to you, then why shouldn't I use it as a carrot for your good behavior?"

The commodore squirmed on her feet. Much of her usual self-righteousness and arrogance had disappeared. What was left was a middle-aged Hexer who looked conflicted.

"Mr. Larkinson.." She began. "666 Penitent Sisters were part of the ritual where.. where you summoned the Superior Mother. Though none of us are sure what took place that day, the effect it had on us is.. indescribable. Our faith and our convocation have all been shaken by the descent of the Superior Mother. Afterwards, we have started to question and rethink many of our old beliefs. This process is still ongoing, and it would help if we have more access to the Superior Mother. Juliet Stameros already attempted to fabricate a copy of the statue, but hers simply doesn't convey the majesty of your lightning-struck creation."

Ves couldn't help but smirk when he heard that. "Of course not. Only I can channel the Superior Mother!"

It amused him quite a bit that he supposedly enjoyed the blessing of a Hexer goddess while the ultra-religious Penitent Sisters were damned!

Calabast noticed his change and coughed. "Ves, be serious. This isn't the time for you to gloat. As much as the Penitent Sisters deserve to be punished, they also deserve a shot at redemption. True redemption. If we can deradicalize these Hexers, we can nip one of your fears in the bud and transform the Penitent Sisters into a dependable ally."

She had a good point. Another factor was that he designed the Superior Mother to convert conservative, man-hating Hexers in the first place. Letting his mother work her wiles on these former cultists was a good way to test whether she had what it took to transform the entire Hegemony!

"I'm open to the suggestion." He eventually said. "It won't take much effort for me to fabricate some human-sized totems, but they won't be able to channel the Superior Mother as well as my full-sized statue."

He didn't want to make the totems too big because he deliberately wanted to weaken their glows. Spreading out too many strong totems would only devalue his main relic!

Calabast looked thoughtful. "I'm sure we can come to an arrangement to ensure the good behavior of the Penitent Sisters. If you put me in charge of the totems, I'll link them to a new reward and punishment that will encourage the Sisters to remain on their best behavior."

"That sounds fine."

Hopefully, the Penitent Sisters would mellow out as a result of these measures. Perhaps he should also remind them that the likeness of the Superior Mother happened to resemble his mother!