Chapter 499: Changes VII
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Yang Ming woke up with a grumbling stomach. He was positively famished. Then he noticed the food and water left beside him. He paused in surprise before devouring them all.
He also noticed the blanket on him after that. His heart warmed at the gesture, and he tried to guess who had done it for him. In the end, he could not reach a satisfying conclusion, so he left it at that.
Father Bach was no longer there. The fortifying work for this starship was done.
Finishing his food gave new energy to Yang Ming. He activated his comms and reported to his superior, "Id W47236 maintenance staff Yang Ming is done resting. Seastar maintenance is done. I'm now on Seastar, awaiting further instructions."
His superior responded swiftly, "W47236, on top of the points for your working attitude and results, we will be awarding an extra five points as incentive. Now, please assist with starship Virienko. The transport vessel is already in position for you at Passage 5. Godspeed."
Yang Ming saluted, "Thank you. I'll head for Virienko immediately." Points were important in the fleet for various purposes such as promotions and benefits. Each job that Yang Ming took would be rewarded with points. If a job was done with extra diligence, more points would be awarded. Everyone working in the fleet would obtain points. Details of this point system could be found in the Points Manual introduced by Sir Jay.
The Points Manual was painstakingly detailed. Each job would be associated with a certain number of points. If a staff died in battle or due to their work, their points would be converted to monetary or other relevant forms of compensation for their heirs as per their will.
However, most staff members did not treat the point system seriously. Usage of the fleet's resources were monitored strictly. They were not paid with money for their work, and even if they were, there was nothing to spend it on. Hence, the workers did not mind how many points they earned, Yang Ming included. He now had 820 points, the highest amongst his peers.
Of course, none of them realized how this neglected point system would later benefit them tremendously.
Yang Ming entered Passage 5 and found the vessel waiting for him.
After verifying his ID, the vessel brought Yang Ming to Virienko. The vessel was a very small flying ship with a maximum capacity of 10 crew members. It was about five meters long, like a space car, used mainly for transportation between ships in the fleet.
Soon, they reached Virienko.
It looked like he was the only maintenance staff on Virienko. There was no sign of any fortification work on the ship yet.
He began to inspect the ship's main structure to determine which places to fortify.
Suddenly, he heard the loud whirring of a laser welder. Was there another maintenance staff around? He quickly traced the source of the sound. Communication between maintenance staff would help speed up progress and reduce the chances of making mistakes.
He made a turn and, as expected, saw a maintenance staff member crouched on the floor, hard at work.
Since the man had his back to him, he could not make out the staff's face. However, this particular staff was welding with good precision, and Yang Ming admired that.
He approached the man and greeted him, "Hey, bro, where you at now?"
The man turned over, "I've only just begun."
When he took in the man's face, Yang Ming froze on the spot like he was hit by lightning. It was a good 30 seconds before he responded with disbelief, "Sir - Sir Jay!"
Ye Chong's expression was inert. He nodded and said plainly, "Right, let's get to work."
"Yes sir." Yang Ming quickly took out his gear.
It had been a while since Ye Chong had to do maintenance work himself. It was necessary now. Time was precious, and every bit of manpower counted. Ye Chong was experienced in maintenance work. After all, he had done all kinds of maintenance work looking back. Fortification work, like this one now, did not require any specialized technical expertise. Compared to the upgrades he did on Coxcomb before, this was a walk in the park.
Yang Ming stole a glance at Sir Jay. He was surprised to see their leader knowing how to weld, and doing it even better than him. The truth was, he was simply shocked. To most people in the fleet, Sir Jay commanded respect as their superior. This same man was now right before him, sitting on an alloy bench casually, focused on his work, just like any other maintenance staff member.
Soon, Yang Ming gathered himself and began to concentrate on his work.
For two hours, the two of them did not exchange a word. They worked fast and made smooth progress.
Yang Ming put down his laser welding gun and massaged his arms. Using the laser welding gun was mentally straining. The human arm was also not as durable as a mechanical arm. A maintenance staff member would usually have to rest awhile after long hours of work. This was to rest both the mind and body.
He looked to Sir Jay and found the man putting down his laser welding gun as well, though he had covered a larger area than Yang Ming by now.
"Sir Jay, do you think that we'll survive this?" Yang Ming asked abruptly. It was a foolish question, he realized.
Ye Chong lifted his head to look at Yang Ming. His reply was steady, "Of course."
Silence descended on the two once again.
For 15 days, the entire fleet worked tirelessly on this massive fortification operation.
In these 15 days, a rumor began to spread in Gray Valley, one that was directly related to Ye Chong.
The people who chose to leave the fleet were many. Some formed their own fleets, but most decided to go at it alone.
Rumors of Sir Jay spreaded wherever they went. When they were in the fleet, external communications were controlled by Shang. Now that they had left, their comms returned to normal.
Since too many people were spreading the tale, multiple versions of it were born. There were also pretenders who came up with their own stories, further muddying the waters. This resulted in all kinds of colorful rumors about Sir Jay.
At the same time, another topic was gaining traction in Gray Valley, and that was Sir Jay's assessment of their situation. Of the captains who left the fleet, some had attended the meeting that Sir Jay called for. It was through them that Ye Chong's assessment of Gray Valley's situation was leaked to every corner of Gray Valley.
Ye Chong's assessment was greeted in all kinds of fashion. Some agreed with him, some did not, and some stayed on the fence. However, in the next dew days, more and more starships were seen flying past the vicinity of planet Kasent.
Arwa heard of it as well, but his sources were more dependable. Of all the new ships that he recruited to his own new fleet was one led by a captain he had known personally. This captain had attended Ye Chong's extraordinary meeting.
The captain told him everything as Arwa further probed, of Sir Jay's assessment of the situation and the exact location of the warp jump point in the Calamitous Asteroid Belt.
Arwa asked for every single detail. This Sir Jay had came out of nowhere, and Arwa was interested in that. No one had won so victoriously against the red-tailed beast before Sir Jay's battle. This was not a feat that can be achieved with just good luck. As the captain divulged more, Arwa felt even more awed. This Sir Jay sounded more powerful than the rumors suggested. He had organized his fleet in an interesting manner, and devised original but effective strategies to fight against the red-tailed beasts. This mysterious Sir Jay was strong. He seemed to be invincible, a man with a cold and calm mind who never made mistakes.
What a terrifying person!
He exchanged a look with Xiao Wan, both of them recognizing the fear in the other person's eyes. Besides, they noticed something curious about Sir Jay - he did not seem to be afraid of the red-tailed beasts. In fact, history had proven that he could win against those ugly monsters. Newbies who had only been trained for a few months by the man himself could already hold against the red-tailed beasts. This was enough to embarrass people with higher authority, including Arwa himself.
Arwa's fleet still could not hold itself against red-tailed beast armies that were slightly larger than a small group. Sir Jay had defeated these red-tailed beasts, strong and fast creatures that were also vicious and cunning. Arwa knew that it was not hard to find a mech pilot who could fight against a red-tailed beast one-on-one. There were probably mech pilots who could fight and win against a few red-tailed beasts.
However, in the grand scale of things, strength from a single person was insignificant. No one could single-handedly turn the tables of a full blown war. This was why conventional armies were crushed by the red-tailed beast armies.
Arwa had always believed that only strong mech pilots could form an army that could win against an equal number of red-tailed beasts. This Sir Jay, however, had challenged his very understanding of the war. He did not know when he first heard the rumors that this legendary fleet's army was made up of young people who had only been training for a few months. The information he got from this old captain made him realize it, and he had thought he had heard wrong the first time.
The fleet's achievement was all connected to their commander, Jay. The man had built the fleet from scratch, its every inch a shadow of the man himself. His war strategies were also unique, and Arwa was thoroughly impressed by them. Arwa had always been called a genius tactician, but now he realized that someone was way ahead of him.
Arwa felt excitement, admiration, respect, and a little fearful towards this mysterious Sir Jay. It was a little difficult to deal with all these emotions.