Mounted

Upon hearing Yu Nanfeng's words, Yue Yuan kept pacing around the office, thinking about how humanity could have some military strength.

After a long while, Yue Yuan finally stopped and looked at Yu Nanfeng. "Can we add some weapon systems to this plan?"

he asked.

"It can be done, but then the spaceship will have to be built larger, because the entire weapons system must be taken into account. Besides, the large cylindrical structure designed for habitation isn't suitable for mounting weapons." Yu Nanfeng's tone carried strong opposition, but he still answered seriously, because he also agreed with the idea of arming humanity.

Humanity's most powerful weapons were still high-yield hydrogen bombs. Of course, there were also Laser Weapons, but they were mostly used for precision strikes and were certainly nowhere near as powerful as hydrogen bombs.

As for manufacturing them, humanity could naturally do that. Callisto Base had Atomic Energy specialists; otherwise, how could it have built nuclear facilities? It was simply that Callisto, as a base at the time, had not been permitted to manufacture them.

"Hmm, this can wait. There's no rush. At this stage, people's living and housing needs remain the top priority. Let's focus our efforts on the Residential Spaceship first." With no good solution for the moment, Yue Yuan spoke helplessly.

As Yue Yuan was about to leave, he heard Gao Kun mutter something, seemingly about a possible solution.

"What did you say?" Yue Yuan turned back to look at the chubby fellow.

"Uh, I said it seems there might be a way after all." Gao Kun sucked in his enormous belly and raised his voice a notch.

If you've got something to say, say it. Why are you muttering like that? Yue Yuan grumbled inwardly, then looked at Gao Kun's belly. "Speak!"

"Since the Residential Spaceship can carry Living Modules, we can also mount warships onto its outer hull, with the latter mounted on the outside of the Living Modules." Gao Kun thought for a moment, then continued, "When designing the Living Module suspension system, we can reserve special mounting points, or directly extend an independent mounting system from the support-arm base. Then we can create matching mounting structures on the backs of the warships. Of course, if we do that, the Living Module mounting systems in those areas will need corresponding positional adjustments."

Gao Kun's words made both Yue Yuan and Yu Nanfeng fall silent.

However, the two of them fell silent in different ways.

Yue Yuan was genuinely thinking in silence, while Yu Nanfeng had already begun rapidly modifying the model data on his keyboard.

Realizing what Yu Nanfeng was doing, Yue Yuan decisively gave up on idle speculation and hurried over in a few strides.

Now that's an action-oriented person! Yue Yuan affirmed inwardly as he watched Yu Nanfeng's eyes gleam and his hands move like afterimages.

By then, Gao Kun had also come up behind Yu Nanfeng's seat and stared intently at the constantly changing design model on the computer screen with Yue Yuan.

What you see is what you get—Yu Nanfeng had enabled that function, so whenever he altered a value, the corresponding part of the 3D simulation on the screen changed with it.

Thus, in Yue Yuan's eyes, the large cylindrical spaceship model was continuously fine-tuned as the screen refreshed. Gradually, an opening appeared along its vertical exterior, then a base extended from the center toward the outer hull, followed by various mounting structures appearing on the extended base.

Half an hour later, Yu Nanfeng finally stretched and said with a smile, "Ha, done."

Turning around and seeing Yue Yuan and Gao Kun behind him, Yu Nanfeng said proudly, "I only made rough adjustments to the model's shape. This isn't the final version; the specific details still need to be refined by the Design Department."

"Dr. Yu, you've worked hard. Leave the rest to those little brats." Gao Kun grinned, clearly having swept away the frustration from having his proposal rejected earlier.

Yue Yuan also patted Yu Nanfeng on the shoulder. "Mm, not bad. We'll do it this way."

"Oh, right, Dr. Yu, you'll also need to keep an eye on the shipborne weapons." Yue Yuan took two steps toward the door before turning back to add.

Yu Nanfeng was not only a doctor of engineering mechanics, but also a missile propulsion expert.

The shipborne weapons would certainly include Atomic Bombs and hydrogen bombs, and they certainly could not simply be thrown overboard. Their warheads had to be launched by propulsion sections, so only with a dynamics expert like Yu Nanfeng overseeing them could they be trusted.

"Easy. I guarantee every Nuclear Missile will be fierce and full of vigor." Yu Nanfeng's face lit up with sunshine as he continued, "Oh, Chief Yue, how many of these warships are you planning to build?"

"Of course, one."

The moment Yu Nanfeng finished speaking, Yue Yuan answered.

Several warships? They would be lucky to have one.

Yu Nanfeng did not know the situation within the Human Armed Forces Support Department, but how could Yue Yuan, as commander, not understand it?

With the current number of personnel in the Armed Forces Department, being able to crew one warship was already the absolute limit. Where would they find people to crew a second?

After part of the Security Department had been reorganized into the Human Armed Forces Support Department, they had gained two hundred people through one recruitment drive, but their total numbers still amounted to only 2,900. According to past military experience, a warship needed at least 2,000 crew members to become combat-capable, and that was for a warship with highly developed information automation.

If they truly built two ships, there really would be no one to crew them.

At this stage, the Human Armed Forces Support Department could not recruit more people either. The total population was too small, and every field needed manpower. If the military expanded further, the talent shortage in other industries and departments would become even worse.

With 2,900 people at the current Callisto Base, the military-to-civilian ratio had already reached roughly 1:30. That was comparable to the ratio in countries that had entered a state of military mobilization in the previous century.

If not for the emergency circumstances of the Great Relocation, those extra two hundred people could never have been recruited.

After leaving the Design Institute, Yue Yuan headed straight for the Armed Forces Department.

Various parameter data from old transport ships and Escort Ships were still stored there. He intended to send those data to Gao Kun so the Design Institute would have something to reference.

Those things had once been classified—well, they still were. But now, humanity's only Design Institute had been incorporated into the system and counted as an internal confidential organization.

It was simply that the Design Institute had never handled this kind of design before, so it did not possess those data.

And to send out weapons data, approval from the Military Command was required, so this really did require Yue Yuan, the Command Department Minister, to handle it personally.

Some might say that with so few people left, why make things so troublesome? Wouldn't a single word be enough, considering Yue Yuan was already the highest leader?

Indeed, it could be done that way. But if they were to lead a civilization forward, some rules and procedures still had to be followed. They were necessary.

Because that was power under order.

If the leader set an example by acting recklessly, others might follow suit, and in the end the authority of the institution would be lost. That would be digging their own grave.

Yue Yuan, who understood this principle well, could not possibly do such a thing.