"It’s a beautiful vessel that you and Storren Corp. have created. I’ve got it pulled up on my view screen right now, and I’ve got to say, it looks more impressive than I ever imagined." Avery said, opening up the conversation with a round of flattery that he truly believed.
"Yes, well, it was an imnse pleasure to work on. I can’t rember the last ti we got to use so many high-grade materials in a project. With that queen energy lifeform truly being a treat. I never thought that I would be able to make such an efficient main reactor and generator. Even warships commissioned by the Dramid Alliance don’t have budgets as big as what we had to work with."
Ardesen was clearly pleased with how Avery’s new ship had co out.
It had all of the latest technology integrated into its design, and Ardesen and so of the top engineers at Storren Corp. had co up with new innovations and even entirely new devices to make it the best vessel possible.
They had truthfully gotten a bit too worked up in their own desires during the construction and gotten yelled at by Dorris for how much they had spent.
Ardesen had used up the entire budget and then so. Dipping into his discretionary funds to make up so of the difference.
After everything was considered, Storren Corp. was basically giving the craft to Avery at cost. There was almost no profit to be made from the sale. Save for the advertising that Avery generated by using their products.
Still, since Avery was a rising star in the rcenary world and had done so work for them in the past, the deal was not considered a loss. Though, Dorris would have liked to see a bit more money coming out of it.
"Ah, we’ve also got the corvette that your friend ordered ready as well. We actually used it quite a bit in testing one of the two hangar bays. Since we figured that it would be docking inside the carrier, I thought it best to make sure the corvette fit properly. Are guys did almost crash it inside once, but only the paint was scraped up a bit, and I promise everything was repaired." Ardesen said, belatedly realizing that he probably should not have ntioned a misstep that nearly ruined both Avery’s and Kaiden’s new vessels.
His expression had visibly deflated a bit, but so long as there was no permanent damage, Avery figured that there was no reason to cause a fuss over it.
Storren Corp. and Ardesen especially had done a lot for him after all. Making a mountain out of a molehill would only strain their relationship unnecessarily.
"All’s well that ends well. I’m sure that there were other minor incidents during the construction process. No need to bring them all up. So long as the ship is in good working order, that’s all that really matters to ."
Ardesen looked relieved that Avery did not pursue the matter further and instead boasted about the capabilities of the carrier.
All of it sounded impressive, but it was still just words. What Avery really wanted to was to get inside and see the ship for himself.
Fortunately, it was not too long before Ardesen got the hints he was dropping and invited Avery to dock in the craft’s hangar.
"Give just a few minutes to head onboard myself so I can et you and personally show you around. It truly is amazing, so I hope you’re ready to be awed."
After that Avery ended the call and began moving closer to where the carrier vessel was floating in space.
There was currently a large station made of several conjoined rings floating around it.
This was one of Storren Corp.’s cutting edge dry docks used for most of the final steps of constructing large ships and for conducting repairs when they were needed.
It was truly a massive structure considering that it could fully encapsulate a craft that was over one and a half kiloters long with still room to spare.
As Avery made his approach with the Dauntless, he saw that Kasandra had pulled up beside him.
Only the two of them were going to be docking their ships for now since there were a few work crews still onboard putting on the last finishing touches on the interior and Ardesen had not wanted a huge crowd possibly distracting them.
This was also serving as a test for how well the carrier could dock a dium and small craft at the sa ti. Though, neither Avery nor Kasandra imagined that there would be any problems.
When they got closer to the new vessel and began passing through the opening in the front that was protected by a large protrusion on the bottom and two off to the side, a pair of guide beam shot out and connected to the Dauntless and Kasandra’s ship.
Letting go of their controls, the two of them allowed their vessels to be pulled inside.
Soon they found themselves in the interior of the carrier, in the first hangar designated for small and dium ships. There was another separate hangar designed specifically to hold three corvettes.
Now that they were inside, Avery began glancing around excitedly.
The hangar was broken up into three levels, with the starboard side being designated for small ships, and the port side for dium.
And while Avery had originally designated that the hangar be able to accommodate at least thirty-five small ships and sixteen dium one, Ardesen had upped that number a bit by incorporating forty spaces for small vessels and twenty for dium.
Yet as Avery was being pulled into his docking slot, he caught sight of sothing else towards the back of the hangar.
In a smaller structure of their own, there were two shuttlecrafts docked in a wider but not as deep area.
’Hm, I wonder if Storren Corp. workers have been using those to get to and from the ship? But Ardesen did tell that there are several access points connected from the dry dock to the airlocks and that’s how people were traveling between the two places. And I don’t rember a smaller shuttle bay within the hangar being part of the design.’
Avery was a bit perplexed by this, but he figured that he would simply ask Ardesen about it.
"So, what do you think of our new ho and base so far." Avery asked Jasmine as they got up from their seats.
"It really is amazing. We’ve only seen the exterior and hangar so far, but I can already tell that it was designed with the upmost care. I’ve been on several Alliance Police vessels before, and this one might honestly be more impressive than any of them."
A proud smile ford on Avery’s lips as he heard Jasmine’s praise.
While it would be serving as his team’s base of operations, he was the one that owned the carrier ship and had co up with the concept of disguising a fully operational warship as a cargo vessel.
Once the two of them exited the Dauntless, they t up with Kasandra and began looking around the hangar.
The place was honestly huge. It was a little more than five hundred ters long, three hundred ters wide and eighty ters high.
It was the largest space within the ship, followed by the other hangar for the corvettes that was located towards the stern and was accessible from an opening in the carrier’s bottom.
Right now, it was mostly empty, but Avery could already imagine the vessels docked inside. Ready to launch at any mont whenever there was trouble.
Naturally, the addition of two sizable hangers had cut into the carrier’s cargo space.
For a craft of its size, it was certainly on the lower side. Though, due to other ships that would be docking inside having their own cargo holds, it was not quite as much of a lose as what it might appear to be on paper.
"Ah, there you are. Sorry that I’m a little late. This place is massive. It took a little while to get here even using the internal transport systems." Ardesen said apologetically as he arrived with nine others in tow.
Six of them looked to be other engineers like him, but the remaining three had a dangerous air about them. No doubt they were capable bodyguards ant to keep so of Storren Corp.’s top assets safe.
Not that Avery, Kasandra, or Jasmine ant Ardesen or his subordinates any harm in the first place.
"It’s no problem. We were just admiring this hangar. The place is both enormous and outstanding. This is everything and more than I imagined."
Avery made a bit more small talk, praising Storeen Corp.’s work, before asking about the shuttles he had seen that had been on his mind.
"Oh, I thought that would be... a pleasant surprise. Sotis you’ll need noncombatant ships like those to ferry people or goods around. There are so places that don’t allow warships to dock, especially not one as imposing as this. Also, there are stations and... outposts that won’t be able to accommodate its size either. That’s why I prepared the shuttle bay and those two shuttles as gifts."
Although the words were coming out of his mouth, Avery could tell that Ardesen was reciting from a script by the way he showed little to no emotion and paused for a mont a couple of tis.
He figured that this was mostly likely Dorris’ doing. There were twenty spots within the separate shuttle bay, so most likely they were hoping he would purchase eighteen more and maybe even add so upgrades to the other two that were only base models.
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