"I have a future interstellar-warship construction plan here; the two of you take a look, and arrange the build tasks." Zhao Chen looked at Annie, still steeped in her excitement.
Annie said most eagerly, "Lord Commander, whatever task you have, just give the order; we'll get it done for you neat and tidy. What model is it this time, and how many interstellar warships?"
"Not many — just 20,000 T3 Prospector-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ships, really…"
Before Zhao Chen had even finished speaking, Annie's figure had vanished.
"Ahem, ahem, ahem." Zhao Chen coughed a few times on purpose.
Only then did Annie's tiny little figure come slowly edging back out from behind an operating console off to the side.
She looked at Zhao Chen with a wry smile.
"Commander… 20,000 T3 Prospector-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ships… this… this…"
"It's not a build task that can't be done, either." Nana spoke up over there.
In that instant, Annie stared at this little sister of hers, truly wishing she could sew her mouth shut.
This girl — how is it there's a wire missing somewhere in her head.
Still, since she was volunteering to be the bird that pokes its head out, then she herself wouldn't get mixed up in it; she had a T2 Bronze Eden-class ship of her own now — it was time to enjoy herself a while.
"Nana, tell me your thinking." Zhao Chen looked at Nana with appreciation.
Nana's eyes were bright; she raised her hand, and several electronic screens surfaced; her fingers tapped without cease across them, and set upon set of data was worked out.
"Carrying this build out is no problem — but it needs the cooperation of the Northern Goose Starship Technology Group. Northern Goose has, at present, 3,000 T2 Iron-Hammer-class Interstellar Industrial Ships; building with these interstellar industrial ships of theirs, we could complete the construction of these 3,000 T3 Prospector-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ships in about 30 months."
"30 months? Too long. Best to finish within six months — that is, before the end of this year." Zhao Chen rubbed at his chin.
Off to the side, hearing this, Annie rolled her eyes outright — 30 months, and he still thinks it too short; has he any idea of the workload in this.
"Six months has a bit of difficulty to it; it'd affect a great many of the build plans already under way. Staged construction is, to my mind, the best build plan. To build all 20,000 T3 Prospector-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ships in one go — the burden of that isn't small, either." Nana looked toward Commander Zhao Chen, her expression grave.
Off to the side, Annie was astonished — her little sister was, of all things, 'haggling' with the Commander, and why did it feel so very reasoned and grounded besides.
Zhao Chen fell silent a moment, then nodded.
"To build 20,000 T3 Prospector-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ships all in one go within the short term does indeed carry no small difficulty. Lilith — if we're to satisfy the Owl Dragon Legion's own near-term development and construction, and to supply the Chu family's fight with the Prince Faction, how much resource output do we need per month."
Off to the side, Lilith very soon began working it out, and in the end arrived at a figure: "Per month we need at the least 200 billion star coins of resource output — best if it can reach 300 billion star coins."
Zhao Chen looked toward Nana.
Nana thought a moment, then said, "If it's only this figure, then we can guarantee to hit the mark before the end of this year. First we need to expand our existing interstellar industrial ships. Going by my tally of all the interstellar industrial ships our Owl Dragon Legion and its vassal powers presently possess — this is the number we have at present." Nana called up a list.
| Class | In service |
|---|---|
| T4 Gemini-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship | 1 |
| T3 Furnace-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship | 300 |
| T2 Iron-Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship | 3,000-odd |
"We have a whole series of build tasks on already — after all, our Owl Dragon Legion now needs great numbers of combat-type interstellar warships to expand with. In the future we'll have still more build tasks besides. So if we're not to affect our Owl Dragon Legion's own expansion plans, then we must expand our interstellar industrial ships. My plan is to expand every model of interstellar industrial ship to two or three times its number!" Nana said.
Two or three times!
Zhao Chen looked at the raised figures that followed that row of numbers.
| Class | After expansion |
|---|---|
| T4 Gemini-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship | 3 |
| T3 Furnace-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship | 500 |
| T2 Iron-Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship | 10,000 |
"Tell me your detailed expansion plan," Zhao Chen said.
Expanding interstellar industrial ships was no simple matter of mere expansion — the more so since, at present, many of the interstellar industrial ships were themselves shouldering a whole series of interstellar-warship manufacturing tasks.
"First, the present T4 Gemini-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship will shoulder, on its own, the expansion task for its own ship-class; it's projected that in three months it can be expanded to three T4 Geminis. Next, we draw off a portion of the T3 Furnace-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships to carry out the expansion task. Though this way the efficiency will be a touch slower, it can at the least guarantee that the interstellar-warship needs of our own Owl Dragon Legion are also met. It's projected to need three months. Last is the T2 Iron-Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship; the expansion task there can be completed within three months."
Nana thereupon drew up a report: "These expanded interstellar industrial ships are projected to consume 36 billion star coins' worth of raw-material resources."
Zhao Chen nodded slightly.
On the score of expenditure, the Owl Dragon Legion's present reserves were still ample; no problem at all.
Zhao Chen went on watching Nana; he knew that what came next was the true main event — the very thing they'd opened by talking about.
Nana raised her hand, and pointed at the data report on the electronic screen: "After that, I mean to split the expansion plan for the T3 Prospector-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ships into two phases. In the first phase, these 10,000 T2 Iron-Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships go all-out producing T3 Prospector-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ships; it's projected that before the end of the year, 10,000 T3 Prospector-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ships can be produced and rolled off the line. In the second phase, still handled by these 10,000 T2 Iron-Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships, the last 10,000 T3 Prospector-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ships can be completed at the quickest by next March, at the slowest by the middle of next year. Should some special circumstance arise in between, the T3 Furnace-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships can take on the relevant production task. In this way, we can not only see to the T3 Prospector-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ships' build task, but also let the original build tasks proceed smoothly. And to produce these 10,000 T3 Prospector-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ships, a total input of 200 billion star coins' worth of raw materials is needed. In the two-phase arrangement, once the first phase's T3 Prospector-class Heavy Interstellar Mining Ships begin working, it can also ease the pressure of the later demand for raw materials — meeting the second phase's build-material needs."
Listening to Nana lay it all out so carefully and earnestly, in her measured, flowing way, Zhao Chen felt a stir within.
Look at Nana, then look at Annie beside her — born of the same mother, and how is the gap between them this wide.
"Nana — are you interested in the T3 Silver Eden-class ship?" Zhao Chen said at this point, for all the world like some uncle luring a little girl, looking at Nana.