The T3 Furnace-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship · the No. 1 ship.
Zhao Chen walked into the master control room; here one could see the whole busy crowd of them, every last person for all the world like a gear that never stopped, all of them turning without cease.
Because they were pouring themselves, body and soul, into their own work, none of them so much as noticed Zhao Chen's appearance in the first instant.
That is, until a dwarf engineer, head bowed and walking along reading a document, went and smacked headlong into the Commander's chest.
The dwarf engineer tumbled to the floor and, wincing in pain, clutched at her own head.
"You all right?"
A hand reached over, and inquired with concern.
When she lifted her head and saw the man before her, she shot up in an instant, and cried out in alarm, "Lord Commander!"
It was this cry of hers that at last brought the people round about to notice the Commander and his party's appearance.
"It's the Commander!"
"I actually saw the Commander — I'm not dreaming from sheer exhaustion, am I?"
Zhao Chen took notice of the somewhat runaway scene, and looked toward Lilith beside him.
Lilith understood at a glance, and at once set to keeping order on the spot, having everyone return to their posts and go on with their work; and, besides, the Commander had brought along some comfort-gifts, which would be handed out to everyone afterward.
Very soon order was restored — and, moreover, everyone's drive was fuller still, whether or not on account of having seen the Commander appear here.
"You're called Nana, aren't you? I remember you — you're Annie's younger sister." Zhao Chen looked toward the dwarf woman he'd just knocked over.
"It's… it's me… Sister Annie doesn't know you've come… she's only just gone to rest… I'll go call her at once." Nana was somewhat nervous, and made ready straightaway to go find her sister.
But she was drawn back by Zhao Chen.
"Since Annie's only just gone to rest, then don't go disturbing her; you just take me to have a look at the place where you all work."
"All right."
Nana gulped, and led the way ahead for Zhao Chen.
"Am I very frightening?"
"Ah? No… no!" Nana shook her head again and again.
Zhao Chen said with a laugh, "Then why do you look for all the world as though I'm about to eat you?"
"It's not… it's not that; I'm just too nervous," Nana said in a small voice.
For, after all, the one standing before her was the Lord Commander!
"No need to be nervous — just be the way your sister is when she's getting on with me," Zhao Chen said with a smile.
Nana said nothing; in all likelihood she wouldn't dare get on with the Commander the way her sister did.
"Do you work here too?" Zhao Chen inquired.
"Yes. I originally worked in the Owl Dragon Star System's dwarf industrial park; the one in charge there saw my ability was decent and granted me a place to go and study aboard the Goddess Academy starship. Once I'd finished my studies, I came to work on the T3 Furnace, and by a lucky turn of chance became my sister's secretary. Chiefly I'm responsible for assisting my sister's work," Nana explained.
Hearing this, Zhao Chen's eyes lit up.
So young in years and already possessed of such outstanding technical ability — worthy indeed of being Annie's sister.
With a bit of cultivation, wouldn't she become a second Annie?
Thinking of this, the light in Zhao Chen's gaze upon Nana grew all the more eager.
Nana was a little at a loss.
Just then, as it happened, they came to a small room within the master control room — the chief engineer's office.
The door opened of itself, the lights bright within.
In a corner one could see a floor-bed, and one could see Annie sprawled spread-eagle, arms and legs flung wide, sleeping away like a very starfish, drool trailing down from the corner of her mouth.
And to the side there was, besides, a just-finished, uncleared meal-box.
Annie suddenly raised a hand; Zhao Chen and the others halted mid-step.
Could so slight a stir as this have woken her?
Annie laid her hand on her own little belly and gave it a scratch, and then there was no more movement.
"Sister Bull… that roast beef-leg you did up smells so good…"
Annie muttered in her sleep, smacking her lips there.
Seeing this scene, Nana flushed red with shame; a posture like her sister's was truly too mortifying — and to have been seen by the Lord Commander, no less…
But toward an Annie such as this, Zhao Chen had long since grown inured.
Because of the flung-wide sleeping posture, her top had ridden up to bare her little belly.
Zhao Chen took off his own coat and draped it over Annie's body.
Annie's nose twitched faintly; she knit her brow a little, and mumbled from her mouth, "Sister Bull… why do I… smell the conscienceless Commander's… scent… That… great villain… always knowing how to… bully Annie… hmph… bully me again… bully Annie again… and next time Annie'll… go and fit an electric drill onto his captain's… chair… heh heh heh…"
The very air seemed, at this point, to fall silent.
Off to the side, Nana bowed her head; so mortified was she that her toes could very nearly have dug out a whole starship.
Zhao Chen's expression did not so much as change; he looked at Lilith behind him, who was forcibly choking back her mirth.
"From now on, whenever it's my flagship's captain's chair, let Annie sit in it 10 times over first."
"Yes…" Lilith held in her laughter.
Zhao Chen looked toward Nana, at his side.
"Since you're Annie's secretary-assistant, then the matters in her charge — you'd be familiar with them all, I take it?"
"Mm." Nana nodded, nervous.
"Then you come and report to me on how the progress of the build plans stands." Zhao Chen walked out of the room, Nana and Lilith following behind.
Nana raised a hand and opened several databases, calling up some of the data within them for the Commander to look over.
"First is the Northern Goose Group, our partner; their T2 Iron Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships have already been expanded to 3,000. Of that batch of T2 interstellar warships delivered recently, one portion was undertaken and built by the Northern Goose Group."
Zhao Chen looked over the situation-data of the Northern Goose Starship Technology Group.
With the balance of the military-purchase order come into the accounts, the Northern Goose Starship Technology Group's financial state was at present very good — quite capable of bearing the large volume of T2-interstellar-warship construction to come.
And at the same time, it could take on, besides, the starship orders under the various factions of the Starlight Empire.
Nana went on, "As for our own situation: the T3 Furnaces have successfully been expanded to 30. Because this stretch of time was mainly given over to expanding the T3 Furnaces, this has left a portion of the other interstellar warships' production plans pushed back. But once the newly completed T3 Furnaces are put into production, this pushed-back portion of the build plans can be made good."
"Nana, you say… 30 T3 Furnaces — is that enough to go around?" Zhao Chen rubbed at his chin, and suddenly came out with these startling words.
This left Nana and Lilith unable to help but fix their eyes upon the Lord Commander.
And even Annie, asleep next door, could not, at this moment, help but give a shiver, her brows knitting tight, for all the world as though she'd dreamed of something not too pleasant.
"These 30 T3 Furnaces' capacity — take the T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruiser for an example — comes to a single-month output of only 150 T3 Blizzards. To produce a legion fleet's worth of 3,000 would take a full 20 months," Zhao Chen said, rubbing at his chin, somewhat dissatisfied.