I walked into the production facility that was used to purchase the various parts and assemble them for the new Crystal Vortex. A super large airship. I had thrown a lot of points into the production facility and the purchase of the various base components.

Compared to a large airship, there were six times as many, despite being only one and a half times longer and wider. Instead of 10 emplacements for beam cannons there were emplacements for 28, including on the top and bottom of the airship. There were seven engine blocks, and four separate energy storage tanks instead of just a single one.

“Foreman Hamid, it is all finished?” I asked.

“Everything except the beam emplacements and loading up the crystals. We are loading up the crystals, but no beam emplacements. There was a delay in production,” he said. I had seen that.

“Put in lower-level cannons then,” I said.

“If you say so. The design called for level 6. With what we have on hand, we can put in level 4 beam cannons,” the man replied.

“Not level 5?” I asked.

“Not unless you want to wait, or you have a lot more crystals. I heard things are incredibly tight at the moment,” he said, and I nodded. That was the tradeoff for funding research. Unless I wanted to go more out of pocket than I already had, which I really didn’t want to.

“Level 4 is fine. We can switch them out later,” I said with a heavy sigh. It pained me to take sub-standard options for my new home away from home. But it could be upgraded later.

“Let me give you a tour. Definitely a lot nicer than the smaller ones. Also, there is more room for internal changes to the design layout,” Foreman Hamid explained. He began walking and I followed after him.

“The damage to fly it?”

“Quite a lot. About three times the old Crystal Vortex. Shame about what happened to her,” he said. I felt my heart seize up at that number. Before I could say anything about that we went up the ramp and he began the tour.

“Four decks. Boarding ramp on both sides of the airship. We got the cross hallway here. Four rooms, with two beds each, with a chair and the table in each room.” He opened up one of the doors. It was like my room on the old airship.” Space to store stuff and live. Still not very nice.

“On the opposite side of the hallway, we have three toilets and two sinks. On the starboard side of the airship, there are three showers. Also, we have a single room, over here.” He opened up a door.

“Captain’s room?” I asked.

“No. Not the captain’s cabin. But a nicer room with a single bed.” That would probably go to Michelle or Captain Francis, I hadn’t decided yet. “To your right is the hallway to the stairs up to the next deck and the engines. Left is the mess hall, storage, bridge, and captain’s cabin.” I nodded at this and looked down both hallways.

“This the ladder to the compartment below.” We made our way down the ladder. “Six beds and a table with four chairs. Everything is bolted down, so no moving. Figure these lower four beam emplacements won’t be used much and good to keep people on hand.”

I looked at where the beam cannons would go. “Can things sneak in?” I asked.

“Maybe? Not easily, again why we have beds down here. I could have put more beam emplacements, but four on the top and the bottom of the airship seemed enough. With the power draw that high ones take, there is no reason to use more,” he replied.

“True. Cramped though, but will be good for keeping an eye out, if the airship is at rest all around and it is enclosed,” I said as we made our way back up the ladder.

“One of the major issues with the larger airship design were using. Weak to things above and below. Anyways, the mess hall. Got a side table here right at the start, then a main dining table over there. Lots of counter space, but the same number of ovens and main sink. Now back there is the storage, lots of secured shelving, and place for crates,” I followed Hamid as he pointed everything out.

“That’s a lot of food storage,” I replied.

“Another major issue you had with the large airship design. Having enough space for food, long term. Then we get to the bridge area. To your port is the captain’s cabin. Desk, two chairs, bed, and storage space.” I took a look inside at my future room.

“Roomy, I like it,” I replied with a smile.

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“Across from it is the captain’s bathroom. Sink, toilet, and shower,” he said.

“You have to walk across the rear of the bridge,” I pointed out.

“Space constraints. This is bigger, but it came down to tradeoffs. Also you can designate if people are allowed to use such a place while you are flying about. You know how complicated it is working out the design of these things. I need to be able to reuse it. I took your input, but it needs to be practical. At best a small walk is a minor inconvenience for you,” he said.

“It is fine,” I replied. The smaller airships, didn’t require any input to design, but this super large one was not simple. I was content with the design choices Hamid had made.

“Then you have the bridge. Captain’s chair, and then two other chairs on either side. Get a nice view out the front as well,” he said. I noted there was a step down from the back part of the bridge to the lower part. This gave the Captain and the other people in the bridge a much wider view.

“The step down is a nice touch,” I said.

“It was a massive pain to work out. With the components that were available, let me tell you that much. I had to do a bit of clever alteration to get exactly what I needed. And you have three sets of controls. The left and right are for the beam cannons on the two main decks and their 18 beam emplacements. Then you have the main flight and the upper and lower beam controls.”

“No frontal beam emplacements?” I asked.

“Impacts the view. There are four frontal beam emplacements on the deck above. For the bridge, I wanted clear sightlines, or at least Captain Francis requested that. Whole front is clear. Also the locking clamps for the airship towers are on either side of the bridge as well as a hatch, in case you want to leap out of here,” he explained.

That would make response time much easier if I was on the bridge. “Now let’s head to the aft, and go to the next deck,” I followed Foreperson Hamid up.

“Seven engines, but the three lower engines, I would keep on reserve unless for emergencies, at least that is how the control panel is set up. Four main engines on the next deck are more than enough. We have three rooms on this deck. Five, four, and five beds. Also a combined bathroom, two toilets, sinks, and showers,” he explained.

There were cramped rooms for my soldiers who would be operating the airship and manually controlling the beam emplacements for greater accuracy.

“Up front above the bridge and the mess hall is the energy tank storage. It is massive for heavy combat operations. Four tanks. The back two are connected to the engines, while the front two are for the beam emplacements, separate reserves,” he said.

“You didn’t like that, if I am remembering correctly,” I replied.

“I still don’t, but you requested it, and having two separate power systems wasn’t hard. You just can’t draw energy from one to the other. Which seems silly,” he said, and I shook my head.

“If there is heavy combat, the soldiers will have trouble controlling the number of beams they use. While they are quite good in their firing discipline, I want separate tanks, track and manage expenditure, since there is no record,” I explained my reasoning again. I had explained it the first time I had put in all my requests.

“Your choice. You have 5 beam emplacements on either side and 4 in the front. Now up the ladder is the top deck. Like your requested, four beam emplacements, but a wider area to walk on. Also four extensions to walk on as well, in case you wanted to stand out of the way.” We made our way up the ladder to the top deck and looked around. The airship was still hanging from cranes in the production facility.

“So, three times?” I asked.

“Yes. This thing isn’t cheap to fly. You have 26 beam emplacements, 24 beds, 6 showers and toilets. If you really wanted you can double up the bunks, and cram about 50 people on board, without issue,” he said.

“And for large scale transportation?” I asked.

“Around 200 people for a couple days, no more than three. Also, you will have to manage the speed and fighting, since they will be on the flight deck,” he explained.

“Can smaller airships hook onto the clamps?” I asked.

“That is doable. We have had airships dock togeather in the sky. So, I could build some smaller airships if you wanted them.”

“In the future. Just in case, like lifeboats,” I said, and he slowly nodded at that.

“A good idea, but insanely expensive. Also, if this airship is hit. With the engines and energy storage, that kind of explosion will be massive. Think more airplane, less ship. If something goes wrong, and you aren’t instantly dead, then you probably won’t need smaller airships,” he said.

“That is fair. I noted a lot of bracing structures, supporting the decks,” I said.

“For the kind of turbulence, you talked about, and heavy combat, it will ensure it can take a greater hit without breaking apart. Also, the feed lines for the beam emplacements run through the vertical support structure as well, protecting them from damage,” Foreman Hamid explained.

“It is well done,” I said.

“Thank you, Emperor Michael. It was an enjoyable challenge. I will get the beam emplacements put in, and the crystals deposited into the tanks and the engines. After that my part should be done. Have to start on the next airship,” he said.

“Same design even though it is a transport airship?” I asked.

“Yes. You can’t rebuild these things, or at least it isn’t cost effective. That is why I am looking at optimal long term designs that work for combat as well as transportation. If something happens, it was a requirement that these airships not be useless. Especially with flying monsters,” he added.

Airships were too expensive to consign them to a single use. That was why there would be no dedicated transportation airship. If something did happen, I wanted them to be able to defend themselves.

“I am glad you kept that in mind. I know it couldn’t be easy with all the design considerations we placed on you,” I said. He waved his hand.

“Nothing to worry about. The hardest thing is to make these airships livable, and not just keep packing things in. Managing the free space is the hardest thing, but quite important,” he said.

“Let Captain Francis know when to pick it up tomorrow morning. We are setting off on day 5,060,” I said.

“I will be sure to watch. It will definitely be quite a sight that I wouldn’t want to miss. Try to bring this one back intact,” he said with a grin.

“Don’t remind me. I skipped looking at the price tag for this thing, and now the operating cost,” I shuddered slightly. It was going to be incredibly painful.

“I just build them,” Foreperson Hamid said with a grin.