6928 The Moloch Squadron Though Ves ultimately got over the novelty of having a Gravitic Catapult at his disposal, he still remained fascinated by the possibilities it opened up. Being able to deliver any payload hundreds or thousands of kilometers away at a rapid speed was incredibly useful. Speed dictated the outcome of a battle. The faster side had more initiative and could respond to enemy movements faster. Ves and commanders such as Casella Ingvar understood the importance of speeding up deployments. They would not have to wait precious minutes for their next moves to take effect. That was how important it was for the Premier Fleet to obtain a fleet carrier that possessed her own Gravitic Catapult. The much smaller combat carriers of the Premier Fleet could not accommodate such a demanding system. Their hulls were too short and their power generators were too weak to support this feature. All-in-all, Ves was satisfied with what the Eternal Vulcan Empire had supplied to the Larkinson Clan. He could do without all of the overt religious iconography, though. The Vulcanites were not secularists. They designed and built their starships as if they were cathedrals to their human or dwarven god. Ves had encountered more busts, paintings and projected images of Vulcan throughout the interior of the fleet carrier to last a lifetime! Aside from this wrinkle, he had little to complain about the fleet carrier. The capital ship added a lot of value to the Premier Fleet. Due to the presence of the Gravitic Catapult, it was a given that Saint Dise Larkinson and the First Sword Mark III should make their home within the Vulcan's Glory. While Ves thought about keeping the powerful superdimensional ace mech closer to home by stationing her and her pilot inside the Tortuous Scream, he quickly thought that this was a redundant move. Saint Commander Casella Ingvar and the Minerva Mark II should offer sufficient protection against most threats that were able to sneak up to the alien battleship. Even though logic dictated that it would have been better for the ace command mech to pair up with the fleet carrier, the Tortuous Scream was the true flagship of the Premier Fleet. The bridge of the alien battleship had already been modified to accommodate the presence of the Minerva Mark II. It would be much harder to add this command integration option to the Vulcan's Glory. The fleet carrier had already been built. If Ves wanted to add this feature, then he should have requested it during the initial design phase. Another issue related to the Vulcan's Glory was that her construction was not entirely finished. Sure, her hull structure and exterior were fully constructed. The real issue was that the Vulcanite shipbuilders had rushed the construction and assembly of many interior compartments. They delivered the fleet carrier to the Larkinson Clan because Ves was in a hurry and because the Vulcanites wanted to lay down a new hull as fast as possible. The Vulcanites had only completed the most barebones work needed to make the capital ship functional for the most part. There were real safety hazards and lack of redundancies that made the vessel a lot more prone to accidents. Fortunately, all of this could be fixed over time. The Larkinsons that had taken over the Vulcan's Glory from the Eternal Vulcan Empire had already begun to complete all of the remaining construction jobs. There was no need to bring the Vulcan's Glory to a drydock as the internal work did not impose heavy demands. Ves just needed to take into account that it was best not to assign any strenuous or risky missions to the Vulcan's Glory. "Now that we have received the promised fleet carrier from your state, will you be departing back to your home state?" Trent Aaden glumly nodded. "My fellow dwarves and I have been recalled to the Eternal Vulcan Empire. Our expertise in living mechs has been deemed vital, and we are more needed among our people than ever. We appreciate all you have taught us, professor. While my work does not deserve your acknowledgement as of yet, I am confident that I will be able to present my mechs to you with my head lifted high one day." Ves smiled and placed his hand on the dwarven mech designer's shoulder. "I may have tutored you and your fellow dwarves on how to design living mechs, but there is more to our field than that. Do not hesitate to pursue your own ideas even if they have little to do with living mechs. Each of you has good potential. You just need to possess the imagination and determination to forge your own path." Ves would miss the dwarves, but their departure should also make the Design Department a lot more secure. The absence of guest designers should make it easier to keep all of their work more concealed. As the dwarven guest designers held a small-scale party to celebrate their 'graduation' from the Design Department, Ves already moved on to the next big development on the agenda. After a lengthy journey, the Red Collective's reinforcements had finally entered the New Constantinople System! Three sub-capital warships of the 'Moloch Squadron' joined the Bluejay Fleet. They consisted of a light cruiser as well as a scout frigate as well as a much more precious stealth frigate! Ves did not need to understand their specs to understand the purpose of every ship of the RC squadron. The Moloch served as the base and home of all of the cultivators assigned to shadow and protect Ves. Although she was 'merely' a light cruiser, the ship still offered enough internal space to adequately accommodate over 400 qi cultivators! Their numbers sounded small, but each of them had made significant attainments in different forms of cultivation, many of which were related to production or assistance. This meant that the cultivators dispatched by the Red Collective had definitely proven to be among the more talented of their populations. 400 qi cultivators sounded like a lot, but they had successfully managed to set themselves apart from their peers due to their strong callings. They were the core personnel that Ves was determined to grasp in his hands, but the only way to make this happen was to win them over and convince them that serving the Larkinson Clan was for the best. Aside from that, the Red Collective had also been generous enough to send two frigates with very different purposes in mind. The stealth frigate's role was obvious. She was meant to quietly approach an enemy fleet or position and allow the cultivators on board to work their magic. Whether that was activating their invisibility tricks before infiltrating enemy ranks, or to bring a batch of curse masters close enough to secretly plot the demise of critical alien officers, the stealth frigate clearly synergized well with the cultivators of the Moloch Squadron! The scout frigate lacked the stealth capabilities of the previous hull, but made up for it with unparalleled speed. If the Larkinsons failed and got entangled in a losing battle, then the scout frigate was compelled to evacuate all of the cultivators as well as other VIPs whenever possible. Outside of that, the scout frigate could be used as a regular vessel. The small ship did not appear to possess any special accommodations for specific groups of cultivators. With the arrival of the Moloch Squadron, Ves had to go out once again. He had grown a little tired and overwhelmed at welcoming so many new people and assets to his growing band. He still forced himself to put on his best face and properly greet the envoys and soldiers of the Red Collective. Ves appreciated her initiative. When he looked up her record on the galactic net, he immediately understood that the middle-aged looking woman was actually more than 2 centuries old! She did not exaggerate when it came to her record. She studied and graduated with degrees in mathematics, theoretical physics and strangely enough human philosophy! Aside from that, she had climbed up the ranks of her university and received an appointment to serve as a dean of a mathematics department. For whatever reason, instead of remaining at her cushy job, the older woman had committed to practicing qi cultivation as soon as the Red Collective opened up its doors for business! Andrea Vos did not take too long before finding her true calling. She had not only studied to become a highly respectable formation master, but also specialized in an unusual but highly useful form of spell arrays! "I have become known as the 'Farseer' for my rapid but effective understanding of scrying and anti-scrying spell arrays. None of the formulas that I have learned and deciphered in the past are directly useful to us, but my learning ability remains as good as ever." Ves looked intrigued at the mention of scrying. He wanted to investigate this further so badly, but this was not the time for him to become fascinated by an immediate shiny. Ves tried his best to distract himself from his temptations focusing on rational considerations. He continued to talk with Formation Master Andrea Vos on how to integrate the qi cultivators within the ranks. It was quite pleasant to speak with Andrea Vos. Those who successfully got started in the Formation Master series tended to be incredibly smart and highly analytical. The so-called Farseer could accurately divine the deaths of most people. She could voice a few specific words or push her chosen ones to fight harder, but her authority still remained rather paltry. "The main reason why the soldiers of the Moloch Squadron allow me to be in charge is because of faith." Andrea Vos explained. "It is not because my power trumps theirs in all circumstances. If my decisions ever violate the interests of a powerful enough individual, then I will not be able to wrangle everyone to back a single provision." She sounded more like a babysitter than their actual leader. Ves did not envy her burden, especially when others such as the human phase lords of the Red Collective scolded the children. There were times where her expression exposed how tired she had become after trying to glue the pieces back together again. "We are able to offer a wide variety of services to you." The old woman said. "The list is self-explanatory for the most part. We may be lacking in experience, but we are fast learners." "Tell me more about your own specialization then, madame. What does scrying actually entail?" The Farseer smiled. "Scrying in its most basic form is a means to observe what is happening outside of my field of vision. In this context, scrying has become a discipline that enables for scrying at longer distances. The vision-granting source can also convey other phenomena when I have become more powerful." "So if I ask you to, are you able to peek inside the hulls of enemy starships and listen to enemy commanders formulate their plans to fight against our forces?" Ves asked. "It is possible for us to do so, but we require initial intelligence to identify the target and form a spell array that can keep the scrying window on the right target. We may also be limited by distance. We may need to make use of the stealth frigate to bring me closer to their minds. As long as our enemies have not implemented specific countermeasures, my scrying should be able to penetrate everywhere." 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