War has not only caused damage, poverty, and a series of other problems, but has also bred various organizations of thieves and terrorists.
In space, the biggest issue is piracy. However, the problems caused by pirate groups have also led many mercenary groups to receive a heap of escort commissions.
When the Tianyi Mercenary Group was first established, no merchants came to them; instead, they had to go door-to-door seeking commissions. At that time, only a few small merchants commissioned them to escort goods, and the profits earned were very thin.
Later, after completing many escort missions for over a year, their reputation gradually grew. Now, many larger-scale merchants proactively come to request cargo escort commissions.
Over a year ago, Dragon Fly developed the Jim MS as the standard equipment for the Tianyi Mercenary Group, improving the mercenary group's combat capabilities.
For over a year, no mission has ever failed, and they have even annihilated pirate groups that came to rob them.
This has resulted in more and more merchants knowing the strength of the Tianyi Mercenary Group, stuffing their commission request box to the point of bursting.
The Tianyi Mercenary Group currently only has three frigates, which makes them overwhelmed with incoming commissions. This led Li Jiaming to decide to ask the boss to expand their scale.
Dragon Fly looked toward Sakchi.
Sakchi handed a tablet to Dragon Fly.
Dragon Fly looked at the report data on the tablet.
"President Sakchi, Mikaang and other countries have requested that we sell Jim MS to them. Each offer is different. Although Mikaang has requested to buy from us at near cost price, the conditions they offer are very generous."
"Yes, Boss. In addition to halving the taxes they collect from us for 20 years, three of the abandoned asteroid factories near our factory will be given to us for free permanently. They will also gift us 50 tons of Black Base Energy Stones directly, along with some materials needed for construction. Their only condition is that we sell them eight Jim MS every month for a period of two years."
"So that's a total of 192 units sold to them."
"Yes, Boss."
"How many Jim units can our factory produce in a month?"
"With the currently available production lines, if the factory runs 24 hours a day without stopping, we can indeed produce 8 Jim units. If we also clear the production lines for tanks and fighter jets to focus entirely on Jim production, we can produce 18 units a month."
"Then how long will it take to complete the current orders for tanks and fighter jets?"
"If we don't take any more orders now, it will take us at least a month to complete the orders we currently have on hand."
"We accept Mikaang's conditions. From now on, stop taking orders for tanks and fighter jets. Then, the production lines that become available can take orders from other countries to produce Jim MS."
"Understood, Boss. I'll go handle the work now."
"Mm, go ahead."
After Sakchi bowed to Dragon Fly, she left the office.
"Boss, is it alright if I expand the scale of the mercenary group?"
"It's possible, but how many warships can our factory currently accommodate? Even if we're just talking about frigates, how many more can we fit?"
Li Jiaming thought for a moment and replied, "We can fit two more at the moment."
"Use the workshop assigned to you in the factory to first build two frigates and produce Jim MS. Also, go recruit people to join our mercenary group. Then, once I obtain those three abandoned asteroid factories, one of them will be handed over to you to convert into a mercenary group base. That way, it will be easier for you to expand your scale."
Understood, Boss."
After Li Jiaming left the office, Dragon Fly began to handle the work at hand. Although he had successfully developed the RX-78 Gundam, its derivative machines, successor machines, and other Gundams still had to be handled by Dragon Fly.
Strictly speaking, if the members of the Tianyi Mercenary Group were not included, the number of people in the Tianyi Armaments Manufacturing Company—from the president down to those doing chores and cooking—totaled no more than 40 people.
The reason why the factory didn't have many people was mainly because Dragon Fly used the MD System, an intelligent automation system, to operate the factory. Whether it was manufacturing MS, fighter jets, warships, or individual weapons for mercenaries, the work could proceed directly once the instructions were set.
This saved a lot of manpower. The employees responsible for manufacturing in the factory only handled some detailed tasks.
Among the conditions offered by Mikaang, Dragon Fly wasn't actually very moved by the abandoned factories or the halved taxes; it was those 50 tons of Black Base Energy Stones that truly swayed him.
The electricity required for his current factory was initially operated using solar panels and some fuel generators. At that time, factory operations were very inconvenient, and using the MD System to run the factory was extremely power-consuming.
The reason why Dragon Fly's factory was in such a situation back then was mainly because he didn't have much capital on hand, and Black Base Energy Stones were very expensive.
Now he used Black Base Energy Stones to operate his factory primarily because the company's funds were more sufficient, allowing him to purchase them.
they were not suitable for military applications.
Therefore, generally speaking, factories of ordinary enterprises would not use Black Base Energy Stones unless the factory operated for long periods or near-continuously.
At lunchtime, Dragon Fly went to the canteen to eat.
Li Xiucheng sat in front of him.
"Dragon Fly, that Original Gundam MS you developed—will you be piloting it? Or will it be handed over to us mercenary group members?" Li Xiucheng's expression was full of anticipation for Dragon Fly's answer; he most hoped Dragon Fly would give that MS to him.
Li Xiucheng believed that among the MS piloting skills in the mercenary group, he was considered the most outstanding. Although he hadn't reached the strength of an Ace Pilot, he at least possessed the strength of an elite pilot.
"I don't plan on giving that Gundam to anyone. For now, I will be the one piloting it."
"Alright then." Li Xiucheng could not hide his look of disappointment, but on second thought, he felt relieved. His genius old friend's MS piloting skills were above his own; it could be said that among all the members of the entire mercenary group, there really wasn't anyone whose MS piloting skills surpassed his.
It was only natural for the best MS to be given to the best MS pilot.
Over the next few days, besides handling work, Dragon Fly also arranged several matters.
After the third frigate completed its commission, it returned to the factory for maintenance, while the first frigate had already taken a commission and was preparing to depart.
At this time, Dragon Fly arranged for himself and the Original Gundam to board the first frigate. Li Xiucheng was also a member departing for the mission.
Dragon Fly took this action not only because he wanted to test the Gundam's actual combat capabilities, but also because he wanted to get some fresh air. Since he had been staying in the factory for several months without going out, he wanted to take the opportunity to relax.
Li Xiucheng and two other colleagues were in the hangar making final adjustments to their own Jim MS mounts.
Dragon Fly, meanwhile, was resting in a room specially arranged for him.
There were actually fewer than 30 people on the entire frigate. Besides the frigate having an MD System for autopilot, the control room only had two members responsible for announcements and monitoring the radar, in addition to the captain. Whether the frigate was launching or providing barrage cover, the captain issued commands directly to the MD System.
There were also some automated machines inside the frigate that could perform repairs. For logistics, there were also some automated engineering vehicles doing the work. The maintenance personnel's job mostly consisted of giving instructions to these machines, with some details being handled by maintenance staff for adjustment and inspection.
The frigate was a brand-new design created by Dragon Fly after he selected from various models of frigates from many Mobile Suit series and performed a series of modifications.
The name of the frigate designed and developed by Dragon Fly was 'Flank', and its performance currently exceeded the frigates of various countries.
A single Flank frigate could only carry four MS.