After a number of transfers, Ves entered an old-model transport ship. While large number of bots filled up the ship’s cargo hold with containers of supplies, Ves and two other ch designers entered a nearly-empty passenger compartnt.
The compartnt offered enough space for thirty passengers, though space was at a premium and the anities left much to be desired. The yellowing white-paneled corridors and the faded and worn furniture made it clear that the vessel wasn’t well-maintained.
"This is where you ch designers will stay for the ti being." A crewman assigned to guide them said as he chewed so sort of stimulant that would have seen him cashiered aboard a properly-run ship. "Once you enter, the main hatch here will lock so you won’t wander off and disturb the rest of the crew."
"We have to stay here for the entire duration of the trip!?" The only female ch designer among them spoke out. "There’s barely anything inside!"
"You can always stay within your bunks and go back to sleep. There’s a cabinet of nutrient packs along with a food recombinator, so you won’t starve. If you want so distraction, we left you so data chips that contains so of the gas we play in our off ti."
Ordinarily, Ves could at least browse the galactic net if he wanted a distraction. However, ever since he received his military-issued comm, he started to get around the fact that the ch Corps would never let soone like him with a sliver of access to the rest of the galaxy. The local networks plainly refused to let his comm access the galactic net.
The spacer quickly went through so obligatory safety instructions before letting the ch designers stew inside their empty but cramped abodes.
A couple of seconds passed by as the three looked at each other awkwardly.
"Let’s claim our bunks before the others arrive."
"Good idea." The young woman nodded.
They each split up and entered so of the available cabins to claim their preferred sleeping spots. Ves stayed within the cabin and started to rearrange his thoughts. Ever since he learned he would be joining the design team of the 6th Flagrant Vandals, he dredged up every piece of knowledge that pertained to spaceborn chs.
While spaceborn chs didn’t look very different from aerial chs, they actually operated under very different circumstances. An aerial ch could operate in space in a pinch, but would only be able to express eighty-or-so percent of their strength.
Spaceborn chs on he other fared much worse in atmospheric conditions. So didn’t even carry a strong-enough flight system to let their chs remain aloft under standard gravity conditions.
Compared to landbound chs, spaceborn chs predominantly carried a notch less mass around. This was because it took a lot of energy to move these chs around in space. The heavier the ch, the more energy it took to get it to move and make it co to a halt once it reached its destination.
Therefore, spaceborn chs consisted of a much higher proportion of light chs, though plenty of dium chs existed as well. Besides the space knight chs, every other dium spaceborn ch tended to mass at the lighter end of the dium weight class.
The decreased mass allowed these chs to accelerate and decelerate rather quickly with more efficient but less powerful flight systems. It wasn’t unheard of for spaceborn chs to be able to last an entire standard day in space.
"They’re smaller and lighter, but they’re also more fragile."
The emphasis on speed and agility and the vast room for maneuvering in space shifted the design of spaceborn chs away from a reliance on armor. While the existence of Space Knights and the like still proved that armor played a role, in space, speed, or rather acceleration was king.
The higher a ch’s ability to accelerate, the better it would be able to dodge incoming attacks. Fast, unpredictable dodging patterns threw off the aim of enemy pilots.
For this reason, ballistic weapons was a tad bit less popular in space, though they still played a huge role when it ca to attacking ships. It took far too long for lasers to carve through the hull of an enemy combat carrier.
lee chs played a role as well. Light skirmishers generally boasted excellent thrust-to-weight ratios, allowing them to close the distance to elusive ranged chs and carve them up from up close.
"Still, the lack of any cover in space makes ranged chs the dominant types of chs in space."
Many battles took place in orbit or in the middle of an empty patch of space. Only rarely did battles erupt in asteroid fields or any other area where lots of objects floated nearby.
The lack of any cover for chs to hide behind heavily favored ranged chs. Even though their targets were easily capable of dodging most enemy fire, as long as a squad of chs coordinated their fire, they could trap their target in a cage where they would get hit no matter where they dodged.
"In short, it’s a numbers ga as well."
Spaceborn chs therefore tended to be rather cheap and disposable. Their lighter construction ant they got damaged more easily and needed more frequent repairs or replacents. Fortunately, they rolled off the production lines in great numbers.
Only their ch pilots couldn’t be replaced. Although spaceborn chs skimped out on a lot of areas compared to landbound chs, the one component they left intact would always be the cockpit.
"This way of combat still sounds really wasteful."
The nature of space combat ant that skirmishes started and ended quickly. Whoever won the fight received the opportunity to salvage the wrecks and recoup the costs.
When Ves finished sorting out his knowledge base, he realized he still possessed a couple of holes in what he acquired up to this point.
"For spaceborn chs, it’s important to know how flight systems works and how to compartntalize the interior of a fra to the point where every separate compartnt was airtight.
The most complicated variable related to space combat was definitely heat managent. Without ground and air to transfer much of the heat generated by chs, chs mostly radiated out their heat like the ancient practice of toasting a bun.
This was far too slow compared to the amount of heat a ch built up during battle, so ch designers did everything possible to extend the ti a spaceborn ch could fight without becoming too hot.
The Bright Republic didn’t have access to a lot of ans to improve the heat managent of their chs. Therefore, the Republic’s spaceborn chs tended to be built according to endurance and efficiency rather than peak performance.
That was one area where Ves happened to know a lot.
Ves reluctantly concluded that he should be able to understand most spaceborn ch designs. He could even design a ch on his own, though it would be a lot more inefficient compared to what was available in the market.
Soone knocked at the door of his cabin. It was one of the guys who initially boarded the ship. "Mr. Larkinson? Can you co to the common room? We should talk."
"Coming."
Ves jumped to his feet and smoothed down his standard-issue clothes. The ch Corps stocked the dressers in the cabin with a simple green uniform that carried a patch of a half-designed ch. This was how a working uniform looked like for ch designers called up during the war.
The ch designers that ford the true core of the design teams wore the sa uniform, but boasted a couple chevrons that denoted their higher stations.
As Ves exited his cabin and approached the common room, he took a seat at an oil-stained table. He looked around, and besides the young man and woman who arrived aboard the transport ship together with Ves, no one else was there.
"Is this it?" Ves frowned.
"I believe so."
Bentheim held an enormous amount of ch designers. Ves only saw a couple of hundred ch designers in the processing center where he went through training, but the ch Corps erected a lot of other processing centers elsewhere. All those ch designers should have finished their training by now and boarded their ships today.
"Maybe we finished sooner than others."
"I just checked the panel near the hatch." The other man said. "It projects the estimated departure ti of this ship. She’s disembarking from the military station in less than fifteen minutes. It’s safe to say that other passengers won’t be joining us."
This really startled Ves a bit. "Truly? I thought that design teams needed at least fifty ch designers or more."
During his training, Ves learned that design teams typically employed around full-ti ch designers. During warti, these design teams needed to accelerate the developnt of new designs, so the ch Corps supplied them with a lot more ch designers.
The reinforcents consisted of one or more Journeyman ch Designers accompanied by at least fifty Apprentice ch Designers.
Hearing that this transport ship would depart with only 3 Apprentice ch Designers was a whole other thing. Neither of the two other ch designers had a clue why their ship was empty of passengers.
"Maybe the Tarry System already received a batch of ch designers, or maybe they are aboard a different ship."
"Don’t kid yourself." Ves interjected. "This is the only transport ship that’s headed to the Tarry System. It’s not because their needs are already t, but because one ship is sufficient to supply the Vandals."
"What?!"
"Do you know what the 6th Flagrant Vandals looks like?"
Both the male and female ch designers shrugged or shook their heads.
"They’re a bunch of rogues." Ves began, and proceeded to bring his fellow ch designers up to speed with their reputation.
"They sound like pirates!"
Ves found that description to be particularly apt. It actually led him to believe that the Flagrant Vandals used to be a pirate gang that went legitimate.
The table fell into silence once again. Both the other two ch designers shuffled around their chairs with discomfort. They took part in the sa training regi as Ves, so they still looked at him with apprehension.
"I’m not going to bite you all." He sighed. "I’m a Larkinson. You ever heard of them? I’m no different. I just chose to be a ch designer instead of a ch pilot."
That helped calm them down a little. The Larkinsons were known entities to the two designers, so associating them with Ves turned him into a sowhat more relatable person.
"Let’s start with the introductions. You already know who I am, so let’s move on to you two. Who are you?"
The woman started first. "My na is Laida Nnvist. I’m an Apprentice ch Designer."
"Where are you from?"
"...Haston."
That caused Ves to take another look at Laida. The woman looked young and rather timid, completely unlike the stereotypical assertive hags that often ca from this low-class city on Bentheim.
"That’s... interesting." Ves quickly turned to the other guy in the room. "And you?"
"Pierce Yuvalis." The man spoke in a low tone, as if he was affected by the presence of Ves as well. "I ca from the Friday Coalition."
If Laida’s peculiar background raised so eyebrows, then Pierce’s origins absolutely floored Ves.
"Which partner do you hail from?"
"The Gauge Dynasty."
Both Laida and Ves stared at Pierce as if he was an alien. How in the hell did a ch designer who hailed from the most powerful partner of the Coalition ended up in the clutches of the ch Corps?
"Tell us more."
Pierce provided so context. "My father is a ch designer from the Republic who emigrated to the Gauge Dynasty and married a local there."
Though Pierce was a little reticent, Ves applied a little pressure in order to get him to open up. It turned out that Pierce was the oldest among three children. He was also the least talented of the three.
Whereas his younger siblings excelled early in their studies, Pierce turned out to be a tad bit slower in being able to understand the fundantal sciences that every ch designer needed to learn.
His father, angry and disappointed at Pierce’s performance, pretty much banished the lad to the Republic.
Ves didn’t know what to say about that. It must have been a crushing letdown to be sent away by your own father. Moving from the most prosperous part of the Friday Coalition to the backwards Bright Republic would have pushed most ch designers into ending their own lives.
Hearing their stories and matching them with his own made him realize that they were outcasts.
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