<h4>Chapter 2602: City Wall In Space</h4>


    One of the most dangerous aspects about space battles was theck of cover.


    Unlike on the surface of a where hills, valleys, urban structures and man-made fortifications could easily providebatants protection against attacks, in most parts of space there was nothing but vacuum.


    These empty pockets of spacetime contained nothing aside from errant space dust and background radiation.


    Suffice to say, it was impossible for mechs and ships to take cover behind infinitesimally small bits of matter and incorporeal light.


    Aside from battles that took ce in the orbit of a satellite or in the middle of an asteroid belt, a lot of battles devolved into straightforward slugfests. With an extremely simple three-dimensional battlefield, there were only so many tactics that enemies could deploy.


    One of the most problematic threats that a fleet could face was getting sieged by an onught of long-ranged attacks. While kic weapons and other physical weapons tended to be horribly inurate due to the enormous ranges involved, the same did not necessarily apply directed energy weapons.


    Positron weapons fired destructive beams of antimatter particles at rtivistic speeds, which was pretty fast. Laser weapons were even more ridiculous as their damage output traveled at the speed of light!


    When aser beam traversed 300,000,000 meters a second, it became viable to snipe at distant targets at such ranges!


    In practice, the effective range ofser weapons and positron weapons was not that extreme. The inherent manufacturing and design ws ofser weapons and the instability of mechs as a firing tform meant that uracy at such ranges simply couldn''t be guaranteed. Just a minute jerk or vibration could easily cause aser beam to miss a target by several kilometers or even more.


    The ever-present threat of getting attacked from extreme ranges also led to a vigorous development of ECM and interference technology. Perhaps they weren''t very effective at fooling the sensors of attackers up close, but their effect was quite good at such extreme distances!


    Therefore, the effective range of distant sieging attacks was a lot shorter than everyone initially thought. Yet even if all of theseplicated factors basically made it impossible to snipe small and difficult-to-hit mechs from an extreme distance, ships were not as fortunate!


    Ves thought about all of the nonbat sub-capital ships the Larkinson n had acquired. These ranged from cargo haulers, logistical support vessels and even a handful of civilian passenger vessels that provided some of theforts of ark ships to the n''s civilian poption.


    While they were cheap and fairly mobile, they were muchrger than mechs. That made them very easy targets to snipe from afar. No matter how fast they could elerate in space, their lumbering forms and the difficulty for ships to ovee their own inertia in order to change direction meant that they were rtively easy targets!


    How could the Larkinson n defend against this kind of threat?


    This was what Vivian Tsai wanted to solve.


    "When we look at our current fleetposition, it is very much split in two." She exined as she summoned the familiar projection of their ship roster. "As you can see, we boast a good amount ofbat carriers that can take a hefty beating, especially if they rotate their hulls in order to disperse iing attacks over a wider surface area. Our civilian ships are not as well-endowed. Their rtively thin hulls mean that they can easily be carved apart even if they employ the same trick."


    Ves sat back as he silently summoned Bygul and stroked the electronic cat''s back. The virtual avatar responded just like a real cat and squinted his eyes in pleasure.


    [Mew~]


    "I do admit that our civilian vessels are horribly vulnerable against sieging attacks." Ves remarked. "We''ll probably try to obtain more robust vessels once we reach the Red Ocean, but that is years away."


    "That is one of the reasons why my team and I came up with the Gorgoneion concept. Her wall configuration can form an oval-shaped curved wall that stretches at least three kilometers wide. While this defensive configuration cannot provideplete protection for over a hundred ships, it is still good enough to provide critical cover for our most vulnerable and crucial starships. In fact, you can even hide the Spirit of Bentheim behind the Gorgoneion!"


    Ves chuckled as he tickled Bygul''s chin. "That won''t be necessary. Back when I ordered the ship, I specifically chose a ship ss that possessed adequate defensive capabilities. With her resilient structure, adequate hull armor and powerful shield generators, she can take care of herself. It''s best to let a ship like the Gorgoneion cover the more vulnerable ships of our fleet."


    "My thoughts exactly." Vivian gleamed with pride. "Adding the Gorgoneion to our fleet presents us with additional options that we did not have before. While we can rely on the defenses of ourbat carriers and the Spirit of Bentheim to withstand damage in battle, the value provided by the Gorgoneion in many battle situations is iparable."


    The Gorgoneion was but the first of many ship concepts she came up with that she had always dreamed of realizing. Now that she had joined the Larkinson n, she eagerly wished to shape its fleet ording to her own vision!


    Ves did not mind Vivian''s ambition. As long as her ship designs were good enough, he had no qualms about adopting her work. They still needed to make sense, though.


    "Setting up a giant wall in space is not enough, Miss Tsai. The enemies the Gorgoneion is designed to face will not cease their attacks just because they have to drill through a giant wall. We need to hit back at them. What kind of facilities can this ship provide to our mechs?"


    "Well, just like the Spirit of Bentheim, the Gorgoneion boasts 80 bunkers when she is in her normal travel configuration. I know it doesn''t sound very impressive, but that is the limit of what I can add to her exterior withoutpromising her transformation capabilities."


    Theplex hull and internalyout needed to make the Gorgoneion transformable took up a lot of space that could have been devoted to additional bunkers. To Ves, this was a shame because it meant that the Gorgoneion didn''t possess as much teeth during ordinary travel.


    The shipwright pointed at the projection of the wall configuration, causing over a hundred dots to light up in green.


    "Don''t worry, though. The story is different when she is in her wall configuration. Through some clever mechanical shifts, the Gorgoneion is able to deploy additional bunkers, thereby offering excellent protection to up to 160 artillery mechs!"


    "That sounds better."


    Ves could scarcely imagine the sight of 160 Transcendent Punishers hunkered inside protective bunkers scattered across the surface of the wall. The heavy artillery mechs outputted at least six times as much damage as a typical rifleman mech. In practice, the actual damage output was even higher as the high firing rates and heavy caliber of heavy artillery mechs led to a qualitative improvement, especially if they were deployed inrger numbers!


    "That''s not all." Vivian grinned and pointed at the openings or gun ports spread throughout the wall. "There are 400 gun ports where ranged mechs can fire their weapons while exposing just a fraction of their rtively fragile frames. If that is not enough, you can ce more than a thousand mechs at the crions at the edge of the wall configuration. Due to the curved shape of the wall, these edge positions are best suited to deal against nking attackers."


    All in all, the Gorgoneion offered much better cover and firing positions to ranged mechs than the Spirit of Bentheim ever could. This made sense since the former was a ship built forbat while thetter was just a factory ship with some self-defense capabilities. Their roles werepletely different.


    The various benefits provided by the Gorgoneion already convinced Ves of the idea. There were just a couple of caveats that caused him to pause.


    "How good is her mobility exactly?" He asked.


    "The Gorgoneion is a fleet carrier with a distinct emphasis towards defense. In her travel configuration, her eleration is a touch weaker than that of the Spirit of Bentheim. While she actually possesses more powerful thrusters and such, her mass is significantly greater due to her greater tonnage. However, I have made sure to keep her small enough to make sure her mobility is still adequate enough to keep up with the fleet."


    While Ves was not entirely satisfied with that, he supposed there was little other choice for a ship of this kind. The Gorgoneion was very different from the Antonio Cross. The former was able to take a beating while thetter excelled at moving rapidly through space.


    "And her FTL capabilities?"


    "She has room for two FTL drives. I''m sorry to say that she cannot fit any third drive. At a total length of 2.5 kilometers in her travel configuration, much of her internal volume is already taken up by her hull armor, her transformationponents, her mech bays and so on. Adding a third FTL drive into the mix will excessively reduce the other functions of the fleet carrier. I doubt you want to reduce her mech capacity any further."


    "Yes. For a fleet carrier that is 2.5 kilometers long, a total capacity of just 500 mechs is on the lower end I think."


    Vivian did not look ashamed at this. "To be fair, the Gorgoneion is not a pure fleet carrier like the Hemmington Cross. She also performs the role of a defensive bulwark, and I think that our fleet could use that more than carrying a couple of hundred extra mechs."


    "You''re right." Ves reluctantly nodded. "I''m just disappointed that we won''t be able to bring as much of our existing mechs from the Milky Way to the Red Ocean. With fewer mechs at the start of our exploration in the dwarf gxy, we will have to waste additional time, resources and effort to rebuild our mech lineup."


    The shipwright tapped at the cargo holds of the Gorgoneion.


    "It''s not as bad as you think, sir. The mech capacity of the Gorgoneion is not exact. You can squeeze a couple of dozen more mechs if you are willing to sacrifice some space elsewhere. More importantly, mech capacity in this case refers to how manybat-ready machines the fleet carrier is able to carry. If you don''t care about making sure her mechs are able to deploy in a short amount of time, you can pack up all of the mechs and fill her mech stables, hangar bays and even cargo bays with containers filled with disassembled andpacted mechs. If we do this, the Gorgoneion can hold up to double the amount of mechs!"


    That sounded a lot better. Ves softened up a little. It didn''t matter if the mechs needed to be reassembled first before they were ready for battle. He just wanted to bring as many mechs as possible to the Red Ocean.


    Since the star systems that held the beyonder gates were heavily guarded by the Big Two, security was not an issue. Neither the MTA nor the CFA allowed any dangerous elements to threaten the incredibly expensive beyonder gates!


    As a result, the Larkinson n could safely pack up all of their mechs in order to make room for more. This not only applied to the Gorgoneion, but also the Spirit of Bentheim and any other capital ship with cargo space!


    "I approve of the Gorgoneion." Ves smiled as Bygul turned his body around to present his belly for a rub. "I''d like for you to flesh out this concept into aplete design. Make sure to regrly consult Major Verle and some of the other stakeholders in the n. Adding a capital ship to our fleet is a big decision, so you need to make sure that you are able to sell the Gorgoneion to your fellow Larkinsons. The final decision rests with me, but it would be nice if you have obtained broad support from the Larkinson Assembly."


    "Understood. I believe in the Gorgoneion design. I will make sure the others will believe in her as well."


    "I have a suggestion for that. Right now, the sketches of the Gorgoneion look a little in. You should spice up her appearance in order to increase her marketability. You can do a lot with the surface of the Gorgoneion when she is in her wall configuration."


    Vivian looked thoughtful. "You may be onto something, sir."


    "Oh, I almost forgot to ask. How much does the Gorgoneion cost?"


    "It depends. If you want to equip her with 2 FTL drives at the start and equip her with adequate hull ting, then we will probably have to spend at least 3.2 trillion credits tomission a shipbuildingpany to construct the Gorgoneion."


    "What?!"