Chapter 5823 Workforce Issues

Chapter 5823 Workforce Issues

5823 Workforce Issues

As much as Ves wanted to drool over the Destroyer spear, it remained completely useless so long as there was no ace pilot to wield it in battle.

Ves did not have a candidate in mind at the moment. The Larkinson Clan had yet to welcome its first ace pilot. Though Venerable Rosa Orfan was his most favored choice to wield this powerful spear, who knew how long it would take for her to break through her bottleneck, especially when she was piloting an expert mech that had fallen behind the times.

The only other way he could make immediate use of the Destroyer spear was to spare it with one of the ace pilots loaned by the Hex Federation.

However, it would be a considerable waste to pair the weapon up with the likes of Saintess Ulrika Vraken or any other Hexer ace pilot.

Ves did not promise to pay the equivalent of 5800 kilograms of phasewater just to benefit the Hexers!

Thinking about the massive sum of money that he owed for this impulsive auction acquisition gave him a headache.

Money did not grow on trees. The only reason why Estaban Leeds authorized the exchange despite all of the burdens that Ves took on was because the Yem-Tar Trade and Commerce Bank fully vouched for his clan's ability to service the humongous debts.

Even so, it was rather reckless for him to take on a huge amount of loans without even presenting a proper plan on how to pay them all back. Part of the reason why his staff had become so busy all of a sudden was because they needed to satisfy the demands of the bank.

Ves did not anticipate any immediate problems, though. The Red Ocean branch of Yem-Tar was run by the Red Association. The debt wouldn't pose a serious problem unless he fell out with the mechers.

He set this matter aside and focused on his other priorities.

He had several important appointments on his agenda.

As he left the secure cargo bay, Ves turned to his friends.

"I will be off on my own for a while. I need to inspect my new shipyards remotely. I have a lot of plans in store for them, but I need to see how the facilities are run. I have only heard descriptions and seen snapshots of them, but that is not enough to know what I can do with these new assets."

"Enjoy your time."

"Try not to spend too much money."

Ves ventured to a private office compartment and waited for the right time.

A remote connection eventually formed. His entire surroundings changed until it looked as if he had appeared in the middle of a large and high-tech reception hall.

"Please welcome our new owner!"

Thousands of employees raised their fists at once!

That made sense. Starships that could transfer energy shields between each other always lasted longer in the field.

"I get it." Ves let out a sigh. "I will not ask you to push away the mechers. That still leaves me with a lot of concerns about their trustworthiness. I do not like it when outsiders have intimate access to the starships that will form a part of an important new fleet for the Larkinson Clan. Do you have any suggestions on how to minimize their ability to sabotage or infiltrate the systems of my new vessels?"

The former shipwright frowned in thought. "Aside from practicing stricter information security, it is not possible to rule out any possibility of such actions. All of the proprietary tech that I have referred to earlier are not isolated. They are all connected to the vessel herself. To isolate them completely is to cripple the powerful modules, thereby depriving us their use. This is counterproductive. The only other solution is to build starships that do not contain any of this potentially dangerous tech at all, much to the detriment of their performance."

It became clear that Starfarer Bay had no good solution against this problem. The Red Association had an incredibly annoying habit of planting bugs and listening devices everywhere.

The mechers had most definitely infiltrated all of his starships to hell and back. They listened to every conversation and collected every scrap of sensor data to keep track of what Ves and his Larkinsons were doing at all times.

Ves was tired of having his privacy violated all of the time, so he expected to be able to produce 'clean' starships from his new shipyards.

It turned out that he was too naive.

Whether deliberately or coincidentally, Starfarer Berth was locked in a state where it had to invite mechers to work on proprietary tech.

"What about the workers on our payroll?" Ves inquired. "Are they mechers or directly related to them in any way?"

"Part of our workforce consists of a mix of naval engineering experts who have grown up among the mechers but decided to enter the private sector." Poderin confirmed. "They are not officially mechers, but they grew up in the same community."

"I see. What about the remainder?"

"Starfarer Berth hires highly qualified shipwrights and engineers from every upper zone in the Red Ocean Union. We do not hire anyone with Terran or Rubarthan backgrounds, but those who have grown up in more typical first-rate states are more than adequate enough to work in our shipyard."

These were the workers that Ves held the highest expectations towards.

"I am not sure what you have heard about the Larkinson Clan, but we have a policy of entrusting any important responsibilities to people who have joined it. One of the first actions I want to take after gaining majority control over this shipyard is to invite as many of the workforce to join my clan as possible. It doesn't matter if they used to be mechers or citizens of other first-rate states. As long as they meet all of my criteria, I would be happy to welcome them into my growing family."

This caused serious consternation among the executives.

"Is this a mandatory measure?"

"Not immediately." Ves shook his head. "I know that transitions like these can take time. It is not my intention to give our current workforce an ultimatum. Let us see how many of the current workers join my clan. There are many benefits to becoming Larkinsons which I will make clear at a later date. If there are workers who still reject my conditions, then you should start with finding replacements who do not take issue with my demands."

That pretty much sounded like an ultimatum to the top management of the orbital shipyard.

Each of them had mixed feelings about this demand. They were smart enough to understand that they would have to find another job as well if they refused to join the Larkinson Clan.

"You cannot simply swap personnel as if they are simple parts." Eric Poderin said. "We have spent years turning our relatively new workforce into a well-oiled machine. There are many critical leaders and engineering talents who are linchpins of their departments. I know for certain that several of them are bound to leave. Even if we can fill up their positions with their deputies or outside experts, the newly appointed leaders will need to acclimate to their new responsibilities. Our productivity will drop by as much as 50 percent in the following half year, and will never fully recover until two more years have passed."

"Only 50 percent in the first half year? That is quite impressive, Mr. Poderin. I don't care if production is halted for a year. I will not entrust a job as important as constructing starships for my Larkinson Clan to outsiders with unclear loyalties. Let's take this discussion elsewhere so that I can explain how much of a difference it makes when the majority of the workforce have become my clansmen."