"Commander, Chief Engineer Annie has arrived." Lilith reminded him from the side.
The bridge light-door opened, and Annie walked in with a gait full of cheer.
"Commander." Annie came up before Zhao Chen, gave him a military salute, and looked at Zhao Chen, blinking her big, watery eyes.
"Annie, I have the construction plans of three interstellar warships here; take a look at them first. And then, while you're at it, draw up our production-and-manufacture plan for the coming three months," Zhao Chen said.
"Three more?" Annie was given a start; she looked at Zhao Chen dubiously. "They're not all going to be T3-grade, are they?"
Zhao Chen shook his head.
Only then did Annie let out a breath of relief, patting at her own chest. "And here I thought you'd gone and brought out three more T3 warships. Good thing they're T2-grade warships…"
"One of them is a T4-grade warship," Zhao Chen said.
Annie's expression froze on the spot in an instant. She looked at the data of the three interstellar warships the Commander had projected before her.
The T4 Lucent-class Interstellar Jump Ship.
The T3 Triceratops-class Interstellar Heavy Assault Frigate.
The T3 Virgo-class Heavy Interstellar Supply Ship.
Annie, wearing a bitter face, looked at Zhao Chen and said resentfully, "Commander… this pace of yours really is a bit too fast, isn't it. To build you that T4 Reviver-class Clone Ship, I worked overtime hour upon hour studying, and only just managed to grasp that warship's production materials. And now you go and bring out another T4… this whatever-it-is Lucent-class Interstellar Jump Ship? I haven't so much as heard of it."
"Let's put our backs into it together; whatever you don't understand when the time comes, I'll help you," Zhao Chen said.
Annie folded her arms across her chest, wearing an expression of I-wouldn't-believe-that-if-you-beat-me-to-death. "Commander, anything else you say, I'd believe — but this? You think Annie's a fool? When was it you didn't swear up and down you'd help, and when was it you didn't turn right around and play the hands-off boss? And with all manner of excuses, besides! And in the end, isn't it always me over there working overtime, hour upon hour, rushing the progress along!"
Er…
Zhao Chen thought back over it — it did, indeed, seem to be much like that.
Though most of the time it was genuinely that Zhao Chen couldn't pull himself away, always playing the role of "firefighting captain," going wherever he was needed.
"This time I promise you — I promise that, so long as there's no unexpected trouble, I'll definitely help you see this build task through together!" Zhao Chen said with the utmost fervor.
"And what if you do promise? You're the boss; we're just hired hands…" Annie pouted, wearing the very picture of one hard-done-by.
"The T3 Phoenix's starship canteen serves fine food. Shall we go there to talk over the work to come? My treat," Zhao Chen said with a smile.
Annie's eyes lit up at once. "Actually, I'm rather interested in talking over work!"
A few minutes later, Zhao Chen and Annie arrived at the starship canteen. Though Annie had taken part in the construction of the T3 Phoenix-class Heavy Carrier Starship, and knew most of its areas, this was still her first time coming to the T3 Phoenix-class starship canteen while it was in operation. The whole starship canteen's environment was of an entirely different grade — a cut above even the T3 Blizzard's starship canteen! Here there were enclosed canteen booths where you could go about your own affairs, with a most ample space of privacy.
"Welcome to the Phoenix No.1 Canteen; is there any service you require?"
As Zhao Chen and Annie walked into the starship canteen, a floating screen surfaced before each of them, with today's menu upon it too. Here there was no need to go to a counter to order; you needed only to operate it directly. For Annie, this was a rather fine bit of good news.
Just now Annie was looking over the dishes before her in high spirits; she cast a glance at Zhao Chen. "This one…"
"Order whatever you like — so long as you don't waste it, it's my treat," Zhao Chen said.
Annie's eyes lit up, and without the least ceremony she set to ordering, her hand moving so fast that Zhao Chen couldn't even make out just what it was she'd ordered.
Zhao Chen chose a booth seat — the matters the two of them were to discuss were, after all, relatively confidential. The moment Annie stepped up to the seat, it automatically lowered; Annie sat down onto it with the greatest of ease, and then the seat automatically rose back up. The surrounding virtual projections could likewise be selected at will. Annie made her pick, and in the end chose a "Candy House" theme, a stretch of pink all around.
Zhao Chen looked at the pink table, the pink chairs, and the pink virtual imagery all around — and wondered why he had such a distinctly unnatural feeling about it. If, at a moment like this, a rendition of "Pink Memories" were to start up besides… Zhao Chen would very nearly break out in goosebumps.
"First take a look at this T4 Lucent-class Interstellar Jump Ship; for our Owl Dragon Fleet as it is now, this warship is exceedingly important. We must produce one! And of course, if we could produce two, that would be finest of all," Zhao Chen said.
With two of them, one could not only carry out lightning surprise strikes, but also, once a battle was finished, swiftly return!
Annie began studying it carefully — and it was fine so long as she didn't look, but one look gave her a fright.
"A group interstellar jump?" Annie gaped. She looked at Zhao Chen opposite, then looked again at this ship's technical introduction; this black-tech was truly far too terrifying. Though Annie was no expert at interstellar warfare, she could still see the terrifying use to which this warship could be put on the battlefield.
"I'll need to understand it in detail first on my end." Annie began studying carefully, and Zhao Chen, at her side, guided her along, for all the world like a teacher.
Time passed bit by bit. A whole afternoon slipped away just so. Annie rubbed at her own temples; this studying of new ship knowledge was quite a drain on the brain, and she'd only roughly understood a few of the build requirements — a great deal of it she'd merely seen the surface skin of. To understand it through and through, she'd still need a great deal of time to study. And this couldn't help making her admire Zhao Chen all the more; often though Zhao Chen slacked off playing the hands-off boss, his command of the work in this line was genuinely astonishing.
Annie, according to the information she'd understood so far, drew up a simple construction outline, and said, "I've basically understood the build requirements now; what comes next is arranging the matter of capacity for the coming three months. At present, we have in hand six T3 Furnace-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships, and 30 T2 Iron Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships. First, I plan to expand the T3 Furnaces — build four more, reaching a total number of 10 T3 Furnaces. Because our original plan to build the T4 Reviver-class Clone Ship requires five T3 Furnaces producing and building at the same time, our current T3 Furnaces are severely insufficient. So for the first month, we'll use all the capacity we can mobilize to build T3 Furnaces, and can complete the four-ship expansion plan. By then, we'll have 10 T3 Furnaces in hand — though this number is still not very great, it can barely meet our first quarter's construction needs."