Chapter 130: Adjustments

Summary: Expansion, organization, and prioritization.

Chapter 130: Adjustments

The fact that their Orbital Industry project had been the only alternative industrial and manufacturing option to report complete success, with no complications that hadn't already been handled in-house, had meant a significant increase in interest from the powers that be. Already well-funded by Aegis Inc, Yaoyorozu Industries, and a few other partners, there was abruptly a mass infusion of essentially everything. Including entire R & D teams that were being pulled from failed experiments. Experiments that the newly improved centralization and organization of Japan's industrial groups had collectively decided to abandon as dead-end ideas.

The fact that their groups were one of the very few who had, from the start, made the majority of their designs effectively open source, had aided them in keeping complete control of the project despite all the shuffling. Many companies and R groups were finding that their previous tendency to black box their products, along with the instinctive efforts to protect monopolies or edges over competitors inherent to the free market, was biting them on the ass now. The government of Japan, along with most the other governments worldwide, were in full crisis mode and absolutely done with that sorts of idea. If you were working on something that could be used against the enemy at the gates? You were making that shit open source and holding back nothing purely for yourself. Not unless you wanted your company seized and centralized into a government-controlled industrial big picture.

Unlike parts of the world, Japan actually understood that trying to be ham-fisted and centralize everything was only going to cripple innovation. Meaning they were entirely willing to leave the various companies alone and in the hands of people that knew how to make the wheels and gears work most efficiently. So long, of course, as the companies played ball with the new needs of humanity. They also had the foresight to make sure that the losses in proprietary advantages to technology were going to be more than made up for by big government payouts that rewarded the companies in question for meeting said needs. Either known needs with big rewards for solutions, or anything that would be a positive contribution in a new, useful direction. The latter was more of a gamble, but one that would appeal to smaller and more innovative companies and R groups. Which were generally the best people to have working on unexpected solutions anyway, while the industrial giants nailed down mass production.

There was, of course, nothing perfect about the newly optimized system. But, despite it being a hard pill to swallow in some ways, the major industry reps had all agreed to the finalized new system's framework. They understood that if humanity lost, it wouldn't matter how good their position was. Better to support a system that would reward innovation and meeting war needs greatly. While simultaneously hammering anyone that tried to hold back secrets that could help save the day hard enough to put them out of the game entirely. It was an easier sell in Japan than it would have been in most countries, and not a solution that would work for everyone or everywhere. But it was what they had all agreed was the best way forward for now.

Aegis Inc and Yaoyorozu Industries had come through largely untouched.

Their space efforts had come through completely untouched, as they'd already been running the entire effort through UA, as a multi-national and non-profit effort. Meaning that the government had basically patted them on the head for getting ahead of the curve…and tossed a dozen R & D teams that they could assign sub-projects too their way. Along with several hundred billion yen in extra funding and priority access to basically any material and assets they needed. Not that the second part was all that critical, not when they'd been abusing the heck out of Momo's One for All boosted Creation Quirk to provide massive amounts of both raw and finished materials.

Of course, the sudden infusion of assets had created its own brand of chaos, which is why the half-manic and half-exhausted 'core' team of the UA think-tank program were sitting around a conference table. Most had Momo prepared teas. A few were heathen heretics that committed blasphemy against their ancestors and were drinking black coffee with expresso instead. If a few that might otherwise have been drinking heretic bean-juice had quailed under Momo's disappointed frown and were sipping leaf juice instead? Well, that was no one's business but theirs. Frankly, Izumi understood them completely.

"So, that's the size of it. A few of the teams we were able to assign instantly. The aerospace team forwarded from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was an absolute no-brainer to put on the Deep Space Miner project. The team from Interstellar Technologies is small, but their experience with making satellites was perfect to give them a running start on helping with a few sub-systems for the L2 Shipyard project. Lastly, a team from Grayson Water Domes, the failed R group for underwater mining domes, has been rebranded Grayson Sky Domes and is working on similar domes for lunar mining. That leaves us with nine unassigned R & D teams to integrate into various projects somewhere. Along with orders to expand our efforts as fast as physically possible. Ideas?"

Professor Aiko looked a little better than most of her students. Even she was nursing a strong cup of Momo-provided tea, however. Understandable, given that a lot of the initial influx of new contacts and assets had fallen on her to deal with. She, of course, had been the speaker, and now left the conversation open to the students. Momo's original team had been combined with some of Izumi's, though Izumi's team had lost its three support course students, who had gone to reinforce those working on the Guild projects.

The result was seventeen original members…plus 2B, one more electrical engineer, and two more mechanical engineers they'd brought on. The latter three had been poached from other universities in order to try and break a few bottlenecks, as well as expanding information sharing. They'd all been excellent additions, and brought the total team size up to twenty students, 2B, and Professor Aiko. That wouldn't have been enough for such a massive series of project, of course, if not for the fact the 2B and Izumi were basically walking supercomputers. Plus, they had already been shamelessly farming out some less important design elements that didn't need particularly exacting tolerances. Designing beds that worked in zero gravity was needed, but not something they needed to do, just as one such example.

Now, however, they needed to figure out how to farm out more of the design work, in order to speed up the timetable for getting Forge 1, Refinery 1, and Yard 1 all operational. All without losing the bubble and creating major issues. Unlike Orbit 1 and its fellows, the designs for the remaining stations weren't entirely finished. Forge and Refinery were both at a solid 95 percent, but Yard 1 was barely 60 percent, and most of that was from reusing parts from the other station designs as plug-and-play bits and pieces.

Izumi sighed as no one spoke up, paralyzed by the idea of trying to split up critical work to near-unknowns. Taking the bull by the horns, she spoke into the awkward silence to get the ball rolling.

"First, I think we need to take the idea of getting anyone else in on Forge or Refinery design off the table. We're too close to finished with those designs, and trying to bring more people in to help would hinder more than aid. We can all agree to that much up front, right?"

Lots of heads nodded around the table.

"Right. That means we're really looking at Yard 1, and beyond. The Interstellar Technologies team is small, as Professor Aiko said, so I think we need to start by sorting out at least one other team that we think can help us accelerate design work for the shipyard. Did we get any more teams with shipping industry experience? Dockyards, drydocks, anything? Better yet, any automation and robots teams?"

Momo nodded, punching a button and bringing up two teams out of the dozen. One was from Rhiannon Industries, another from…Sexcom? Izumi blinked at that, noting Momo looking slightly pained but equally amused.

"Addressing the obvious oddity first. Sexcom's team fits in the automation and robotics fields. So much so, and to such a high degree, that they were forwarded to us despite their…specific sub-area of expertise. Due to the, ah, delicate nature of some of their products and where/how those products are used, they are incredibly good at making automated production lines with fine tolerances. They've been making a lot of the more complex and reliable marital aids on the market for decades. Despite how ridiculous it might seem, they are likely our best choice to help us figure out automation of small component assemblies in a novel environment."

There had been one or two helpless giggles as Momo flushed trying to describe her away around the situation. Normally, Momo was pretty shameless, but the setting was causing her 'business' mode to conflict with that shamelessness for admittedly somewhat humorous effect. Izumi was absolutely using this as ammunition later. Possibly after buying some Sexcom toys in solidarity. As for Momo, she was looking relieved as she pushed through to the other company.

"Rhiannon Industries fits the other criteria Izumi brought up. While we aren't lucky enough for them to be in drydock or ship construction, they do handle something related which might prove useful. Specifically, they are one of the two largest manufacturers of ship loading and unloading systems. Dockyard cranes, conveyor systems, and even some fueling and consumables restocking hardware. A lot of things that are at least related to what we'll need to squeeze into the shipyard designs."

There was no sniggering at this one, with several people looking thoughtful. One of their mechanical engineers, Endo Bunta, spoke up into the momentary silence.

"I've dealt with some Rhiannon products. Very solidly made, if a little on the simplistic side. Still, a Keep It Simple Stupid sanity check is valuable in and of itself for all the space projects. Every one of them is inherently so complex that having someone who is willing to point out simpler but less elegant solutions would be worth it all on its own."

That was certainly true, and his comment quickly set off a round of discussions. This was going to take hours, at best. But hopefully the increased manpower, if they could put it in the right places and get the new people up to speed, would be worth it in the end…

... ... ...

"The design is solid. Honestly, Hatsume does good work, so long as you get someone to clean up the fiddly bits she's too impatient for."

That was fairly high praise from Nikolai. The fabrication specialist had been handling the Aegis side of the Power Armor project, bringing in Elizabeth and Hana in brief bursts as and when needed. Now, as the entire team took time away from the Shieldmaiden while other people handled production ramp up, he was watching and adding commentary as they dissected the current design. Hana piped up next with her own aside.

"I was seriously impressed with the servo system she came up with. Despite being entirely mechanical assist, with just a bit of QE to help create a functional synthetic muscle fiber, she got a nearly seven times strength amplification from the frame. I helped her with the QE integration for the muscle fiber, along with streamlining some of the joints based off of the work we did with the Shieldmaidens. Their core frame everything is built around is bloody genius, honestly. Much better than the original mock-up. No offense, Momoes, Izu."

Izumi absolutely had to agree on that. Their original mock-up had worked by strapping clamshells full of the Power Armor systems onto an underlayer worn by the soldier. Instead of that approach, Hatsume had built a skeletal frame onto which everything else mounted, with the frame being rigged with the hydraulic assist and artificial muscle that made the system work. Hatsume hadn't quite been able to eliminate the need for any electronics at all, but she'd packaged the tiny amount needed into a shielded QE power core. That core, so long as it wasn't active, could make it through the wall of a Rift Bubble. Mei had figured that out during work on the shield systems for the Guild, and many others were already trying to work with the method.

The electronics limitation did mean that the troops wearing the power armor were stuck with barely 2 times strength augmentation and very clunky movement until they got through the bubble and survived the two-minute start up sequence. But that was enough to let them handle a crew served weapon and spray-and-pray for that short period if they had to. The Core was also good for about 4 hours of sustained use, almost 12 at 'rest' and could be swapped quickly without needing to redo the boot sequence. An amazing achievement overall.

"It's a walking tank, though. Mobility is pretty much shit even after it powers up, and the pilots have to be pretty small to fit in the current design. I can see several places where we can shave space with better materials. Make it lighter, quicker on its feet, and allow a broader set of body types to use it."

That comment came from BB, and was a rather on-specialty comment for their materials science specialist. The meta materials needed for the Shieldmaidens had kept him fully occupied, working heavily with 2B and Momo to recreate some stuff that was waaaaaay beyond even bleeding edge materials from before the Shieldmaiden project.

"The new type of Ferro-Maso conduction fiber we made for the Mech would let us get the same strength amplification in maybe half the space, just for a start. Then there's the lighter Yor-Armor. It might pale compared to the stuff in your Flight Units Izumi, but its ceramics are leagues better than the titanium-steel composites Mei was working with. Lighter by twenty percent and about twice as effective."

Izumi nodded at that. Yor-Armor was a very crude version of the Flight Suit material from YoRHa's latest gen before 2B's death. It was several dozen generations older, among the first android armors to be Maso-dipped for proper complete bullshit levels of durability. The much better stuff that 2B had been using during her own life just flat out couldn't be manufactured outside microgravity. Not even by Momo. Izumi herself was cheating like a bitch by essentially summoning it into existence rather than making a permeant version of it. They'd need decades of tooling up, at minimum, to get that far. Though they could make a jump of half a dozen generations just from getting Forge 1 online. Still, the point was that even right now, redoing Mei's work with the current generation of Yor-Armor would shave weight, increase durability, and reduce bulk.

"So what are we thinking? Speed run this as much as possible by just using Mei's design as a template and updating all the materials to what we can mass manufacture? How much are we going to need to alter to manufacture this thing in an assembler or assembly line instead of as bespoke pieces?"

Nikolai sighed at Izumi's question, his expression saying bad things. Something he confirmed a moment later.

"There, I'm afraid, Miss Hatsume's bias towards bespoke support gear had a negative effect. None of the current design's systems are tailored to be mass produced. We're going to have to redo maybe twenty to twenty-five percent of the parts with an eye towards simplifying them for a realistic production model. Add in the material changes and it's still going to eat time. Thankfully, it's also something that won't need you or Miss Yaoyorozu. If I can kidnap the rest of the team, I think we can get a production model design ready in…three weeks? Two if we push it or get lucky."

Melissa nodded in support of that, though she was frowning.

"Three. We're still fielding support calls from the Shieldmaiden techs now that they are in the field. We can't lapse on that, or on making changes based on their feedback. They already found a weakness at the front chest armor. A shatter point that wrecks the cockpit if it's shot from below with anything cryogenic. It's something we can patch for the currently-in-production units and push out fix-kits for. But we need to actually work on designing the kits to be field-usable."

Momo hummed for a moment, then spoke up as the person who had final call on priorities. She was the best of all of them at juggling projects against timelines and needs, and had a head full of new information from the recent conference.

"Three weeks is fine. The need isn't dire yet, but the sooner we can get a standard model into at least some level of production, the more it will help ease strain on the Rift Bubble groups and the African Front. The Shieldmaidens are still a bigger priority overall, though. Even if it puts the Power Armor back to a month, make sure to stay on top of the Mech Armor updates and support first. Still, we need to make use of this gap while we're waiting on enough battle data to iterate the Shieldmaiden into a Mark II or a redesign. There's no telling when we'll get another bit of breathing space like this…"

They all nodded, even if they all internally wanted to laugh hysterically at calling this 'breathing space.' Still, considering just how many projects were going forward at a breakneck pace, it wasn't inaccurate. More and more of Izumi and Momo's time was dedicated to the space projects, and the Aegis team had always been small. Speaking of that…

"We also need to consider expansion. Momo, you've got the files on the solo and small-shop developers that we asked for from Deputy Sasaki?"

Momo nodded at Izumi's response, even as she winced at the idea of more time trying to sort out personnel issues.

"Yes. There's a handful of independents that look good. Mom and Pop shops, really. But the sort that handled exactly the sort of specialties that will make them good minions, as Midnight would call them. As much as I know most of you don't really want minions, we all need them at this point to keep up. So let's go over the records and see if we can find some that you won't hate working with…"

Nikolai grinned at all the groans from the others. He was the only one of them that already had his own team. The other Aegis people were, with exception of only Melissa herself, introverts. Now they were going to have to willingly subject themselves to leading others if they wanted to keep up with everything.

Truly, they were about to know hell…