Chapter 25
Date: October 10, 3028
Location: Dropship Verdant Fields, en route to New Delos
"I didn't remember space travel being like this," Sylvie complained to Eddie as she flipped the pages on the book she'd alread finished. "This was a lot more fun when I was a kid."
"It always is," The engineer replied with a shrug as he returned to his sketches. He'd been glued to his notebooks since before takeoff after she'd given him the idea regarding the Riflemanfrankenmech idea and the Legend Killer.
"How's the planning coming?" Sylvie leaned back and rested her head against the cool metal of the bulkhead.
"Well, I've mostly got things figured into a handful of categories," Eddie said, grabbing a second notebook and giving it a gentle 'push'. The low gravity environment guiding it slowly over to Sylvie's open hand.
"I wrote up plans for four designs," Eddie replied. "I don't have any notes on the older variants of the Rifleman beyond what I saw in the scrapyard. But I don't think they originally mounted autocannon. So, I did the math for two separate medium-weight variants. Those wouldn't be frankenmechs, they'd have to be licensed and built out by us as full battlemechs. I tried to do something with the hybrids we make, and the math just doesn't quite work out the way I'd like it to."
"These aren't autocannons," Sylvie said, looking at the sketch of one of the mediums.
"No, the first one would mount PPCs as the primary, the other one would be large lasers," Eddie said, continuing to scribble into his current notebook. "Anti-aircraft 'mechs aren't supposed to be frontline combatants. So, if you want to turn them into a frontline combatant, than you have to redesign a lot of the 'mech to not only be able to fight and kill attacking air. But to also be able to stand and take some more hits."
"Why won't it work as a hybrid?" Sylvie asked.
"The weight just doesn't work," Eddie shrugged, flipping the notebook around and letting Sylvie look at some of his calculations. "That we've been able to do so much with the industrialmech skeletons is a miracle as it is. Doing more than what we've already got is going to be hard enough. The Phoenix and Mackie work, but we're going to be somewhat restricted in what we can do with other designs unless we make one ourselves."
"So, there's a certain level of diminishing returns," Sylvie flipped through the rest of Eddie's notes.
"And we're fast approaching it," Eddie held out a hand and gestured for her to hand his notebook back.
"Something to talk about with Edmund after we get back," Sylvie sighed before changing the subject. "Do you think this factory on New Delos will check out?"
"As long as it's not completely falling apart, I think we can make use of it," Eddie replied. "I'm more concerned with sourcing the dropships to bring it back with us."
"The Militia sorted that out for us when they found out what the plans for expansion were," Sylvie closed her eyes. "There are a couple of Mules waiting for us at the spaceport there. Sure, we're footing the bill for it, but the Militia had access to them and held them for us until we got a contract sorted."
"Then this should all just be a formality," the engineer let his notebook drift a bit. "But I'd rather see and inspect everything with my own eyes than make an assumption."
With the conversation mostly over, Sylvie let Eddie go back to his own fun while she tried to drift off to sleep. She couldn't wait to be back on solid ground again. Space just wasn't for her.
Date: October 17, 3028
Location: Kalidasa, Free Worlds League
I hadn't expected Skobel to send people over and start breaking ground on a new facility with us as quickly as they had. But apparently they were very eager to start making a lot of money again, even if they had to let us make the first battlemechs while they were reestablishing themselves around the Inner Sphere.
Skobel Mechworks had offered us the plans, license, and more importantly, the people. To assist in building a light 'mech line. More specifically, I'd talked things over with everyone before Sylvie and Eddie had left, and we'd settled on wanting to produce the Mercury. It was a design that there wasn't much left of in the Inner Sphere according to everyone I'd spoken to, but it was the sort of thing that should, turn heads and allow us to make some money on everything.
So, we were expanding our expansion. The other industrialmech factory would slot right in with the place we'd originally intended for it to go, and Andrew Sheppard had already started working on the next portion for us. We had a relationship now, and it was good to have a construction company that you knew you could trust on projects like this.
Still, even though the funds were rolling in for expansion, we needed to be smart about this. No one had any idea how long this war would last, or if demand would stay high. Larger companies would be fine, they were already locked in on government contracts and it'd take a lot to disrupt them fully. Smaller manufacturers like Siler's were much more vulnerable.
I aimed to change that, at least a little bit. So, I'd started working on plans to just expand spare parts production. If it were possible, in the future I'd like to produce enough spare parts that it would be an extremely large source of secondary income.
After all, the product was the 'mechs themselves. Having a stable supply of parts was the sort of thing that a part of me knew would work with a military or militia's sense of logistics. But I didn't know for sure. Which is why I'd set things up for Colonel Lezzhov to meet at the factory.
The best way to decide what you needed to do as a manufacturer, was to see what your consumers wanted in the first place. Putting a product out to market that wasn't going to be bought wasn't worth investing in. That's part of why Skobel wanted us to take most of the risk on in putting out old battlemechs in the market. We were their canary in the coal mine. If people were willing to buy the Mercury, or other mechs from us, then Skobel would be diving into full production.
If we didn't, then they hadn't wasted a lot of their own money in materials, advertising, or anything similar. We would be on the hook for the 'mechs that were produced and not sold.
Finishing up some paperwork, I looked up as I heard Susannah's voice further into the office space.
"Colonel Lezzhov!" I walked out of the officer to greet the middle-aged Colonel with my hand extended.
"Mister Blaze," The Colonel shook my hand. "I hope you have something else in the pipeline."
"That's actually what I wanted to discuss with you," I moved into my office, waving for Susannah to return to her duties before sitting down and pouring us both some water. "I'll get straight to the root of things, Colonel. We have some plans. Two of which are set in stone. However, we also know that the Kalidasa Militia is currently our biggest customer and we need to know what you and other militia units are looking for so we can provide it to you."
"I don't have the budget to purchase anymore of your MilitiaMechs," Lezzhov took a sip of the glass of water before running a hand through his short hair. "And you're already one of our providers for rebuilding of Quikscell's products."
The man sighed, leaning back in his chair with the class of water in his right hand while he clenched the other into a fist while thinking.
"We need spare parts," he said after a few seconds. "I know you already make spares of the weapons, actuators, and everything. But the lifeblood of every military unit is logistics. Sure, we can keep your Mackies running with just about everything and anything we can find, they're just rugged like that. But, where possible, we'd much prefer to have authentic parts from the manufacturers."
"So, expanding our spare parts manufacturing and sales to you is what you actually need?" I raised an eyebrow. "You don't need us to go into making small arms, or anything like that?"
"Fuck now," He scoffed. "Uniforms, small arms, body armor, all of that is already made by people and we've got plenty of spares there."
"Any preference on prioritization?" I'd begun taking notes already.
"Arms, actuators, and those Medium Blazers," Lezzhov said with a shrug. "There's limits to what we can do even with good mechtechs and repair crews. Having full replacements is the kind of thing that those guys dream of. As far as everything else is concerned. Just reach out to some worlds. Everyone's a bit on edge now that the war's started up again. If people know you have something available, they'll buy it."
"Any specific planets in mind?" I asked.
"Concord will probably bite," the Colonel Offered. "And Stewert will definitely want to be in on adding material to their defensive machines."
"Right," I nearly facepalmed. "I'm an idiot, I should have thought of Stewart earlier."
"Then, there's another option if you're looking to just show off," Lezzhov smirked. "I think Sylvie told you before, but her gramps used to go to Solaris and buy whatever he could get his hands on before dragging it into that yard of his. He was always looking to build the best 'mech he could in the hopes of starting a stable there. Well, if your designs can hang it on Solaris, there's a really good chance you get publicity, and you get to sell your design to mercs from all over."
"I've had some ideas that are similar," I recalled some of the… Interesting upgrade paths that I'd seen when looking at the 'mechs we had in the salvage yard. "I just haven't had the time to test everything out yet. When Sylvie and Eddie get back, I'll talk it over with them."
"You keep making good gear, and I'll put in good words for you with some of the units around us," the Colonel stated. "Now, I've got to get back to the unit and work on some admin stuff."
"Thank you for the time, Colonel," I shook his hand firmly and helped him find his way out before stopping and turning to talk to Susannah.
"DId we have anything marked down for Solaris?" I asked the Secretary.
"No, we didn't," She shook her head. "However, it is something that has been discussed at length by many people who work in the office. Would you like me to log a note?"
"I want to hold a full meeting on it," I stroked my chin. "If the others think that it's a good idea, then it's probably worth swinging some funding into. Having a good design and good publicity will be good for business."
"Yes it will," Susannah nodded. "I'll make sure to schedule something once everyone's back on Kalidasa. Now, go enjoy your date, Mister Blaze. Rebecca's looking forward to seeing what surprise you managed to come up with."
"I'll be sure and do that," I laughed, rolling my eyes at Susannah. "Don't stay working too late. You know that everyone needs to get their breaks."
"Yes, Dad," Susannah shook her head at me. "I'll be sure to be home and in bed before curfew too."
She stuck her tongue out at me and I just shook my head while turning and walking to the elevator, wondering why everyone was so hung up on Solaris. Maybe Rebecca would know…