RNP Chapter 22 Gathering
Chapter 22 Gathering
After the commissioning registration was confirmed, the remaining procedures were much faster than expected. Liu En received the confirmation letter on the data panel—the Black Pearl was officially incorporated into the Lucis Casting World Field Fleet as an auxiliary ship. He stood at the porthole on the bridge, looking at the bustling spaceport outside. Everything had settled down.
For the next two months, Liu En practically locked himself on the Black Pearl.
His first problem to solve was the number of servitors. Five hundred servitors could only maintain the most basic operations, which was far from enough for a five-kilometer-long cruiser. The Black Pearl was designed to be highly automated, but five thousand servitors were the ideal number to maintain the ship's daily operations and combat duties.
On the Black Pearl, there was a public workshop covering nearly 10,000 square meters, originally designed for the maintenance of carrier-based aircraft and shuttle vehicles. Liu En stood in the center of the workshop, the field unfolding, atoms being summoned from higher dimensions, condensing into form batch after batch. The functions of the servants were roughly divided into several categories: general service servants were responsible for cleaning, handling, and material management; technical maintenance servants had basic equipment repair capabilities; combat service servants had reinforced frames and thickened armor, used for shipboard security and boarding defense. After the five thousand servants were deployed to their respective areas according to their functions, the Black Pearl's cabins finally had the order they should have—patrol footsteps echoed in the corridors, guards stood watch in the engine room, and teams moved things around in the warehouse area.
After resolving the issue of the machine servants, he began to work on stockpiling supplies.
The Black Pearl was designed to have an enormous capacity, with warehouses of all sizes scattered throughout the ship—food compartments, ammunition compartments, spare parts compartments, medical compartments, and general supplies compartments—the total area of which can only be described as enormous. Liu En's plan was clear: while the ship was still in dock and before anyone was watching his every expense, he would fill all these warehouses.
He returned to the public workshop, activating the entire field. Atoms were drawn from higher dimensions and, under the control of the consciousness field, were layered and assembled. Weapons, ammunition, supplies, and tool parts took shape in batches and were stacked on the transport platform. General service aircraft lined up to transport these supplies to various warehouses, where they were stored according to their categories.
There are two reasons for doing this. First, secrecy: with the ship in the dock, its hull shields it from outside view, preventing anyone from seeing what's happening in the workshop. His abilities cannot be exposed, and it's safest to complete these tasks before any outsiders settle in. Second, money: ships belonging to the world of forging can legally engage in the arms trade. The materials he personally crafted cost almost nothing; transporting them to worlds lacking weapons and selling them yields Throne Coins, a form of hard currency. This initial capital will support the Black Pearl's subsequent voyages and the development of Garros.
This process lasted nearly two months. After the last batch of storage boxes were moved into the warehouses and neatly stacked by the servants, every warehouse on the Black Pearl was filled to the brim with items categorized by type. From bow to stern, from upper decks to lower cargo holds, there was not an inch of extra space left in any of the storage areas.
Next came the task of recruiting crew members. The Black Pearl couldn't rely solely on servants—subspace navigation required navigators, long-range communications needed astro-speakers, fleet battles required officers skilled in command, logistics required personnel to manage supplies, not to mention the need for experienced veterans for boarding and counter-boarding operations. These were people servants couldn't replace.
What Liu En needs first and foremost are core command personnel at the deputy captain level.
After posting the recruitment notice for the public information terminal, Liu En received dozens of resumes. He spent several days screening and interviewing candidates, and selected two people.
The first mate and tactical officer—Marcus, 45 years old, a retired Imperial Navy lieutenant commander. He was a burly man with short gray hair, several scars on his face, and wore a faded old uniform. He had served for 23 years, holding positions as first mate on a frigate and tactical officer on a destroyer, and had participated in numerous combat operations.
"You served in the Navy for twenty-three years, why did you retire?" Liu En asked.
Marcus's lips twitched slightly. "Because of the injury. An old injury to his left leg prevents him from passing the Navy's high-intensity physical fitness test. But commanding the battle from the bridge doesn't require running."
Liu En nodded. "The compensation standard will be 10% higher than that of retired naval officers of the same rank."
"No objections, sir."
The first mate and logistics officer—Phyllis, thirty-five years old, formerly the first mate of a merchant ship. She is beautiful, with long, dark brown hair tied in a low ponytail, and a brisk, efficient gait. With twelve years of experience on merchant ships, she rose from sailor to first mate, her routes covering most of the Misty Starfield.
"The income of a merchant ship's first mate must be quite high," Liu En said.
"Yes," Phyllis didn't deny it, "but I've had enough of merchant ships. Those captains only care about cargo profits, the ships are in poor condition, the equipment is outdated, and every voyage is a gamble with your life. I want to work on a proper ship."
More than 20 logistics personnel were recruited, including communications officers, liaison officers, cooks, medics, and cabin managers, both men and women, ranging in age from their early twenties to their fifties.
With the core command framework in place, Liu En began to address the issue of the ship's armed forces. He did not apply for the Guardian Army through the Forging World's Field Fleet Management Office—the Temple itself didn't have enough active, healthy personnel, and the retired ones had already been divided up. He changed his approach: to the demobilized personnel reception centers in the Middle and Lower Nests of Lucis.
After the news spread, far more people applied than he had expected.
These men came from all corners of the Empire. Amighiddon, Kadia, Taran, Vahar, Mordian… On the Empire’s map, these names represented different legion traditions and fighting styles, but in Lucis, they shared only one identity—retired veterans. Some had lost limbs in the war and were replaced with inferior mechanical prosthetics; some had suffered psionic shocks, leaving irreversible damage to their nervous systems; some were over fifty, their bones deformed, but their tactical insight and battlefield experience were unmatched.
The most striking figure was an old soldier from Cardia. His left arm and right leg were mechanical prosthetics—the cheapest, generic kind, the skin at the joints chafed from years of friction, covered in dark red scabs. Three parallel claw marks marred his face, and one eye was blind, replaced by a rudimentary LED. His name was Cassius; he had lost limbs in the Battle of the Cardia Gate and, after the war, had wandered to Lucis.
"What can you do?" Liu En asked him.
Cassius stared at Liu En with his prosthetic eye, which glowed red. "I can fight. I don't need to run, I just need to stand there, aim, and fire."
Liu En was silent for a few seconds. "You passed."
Similar stories repeated themselves. Liu En didn't require physical fitness tests—that would be too demanding for these people. He only required two things: the ability to operate weapons and shipboard communication equipment normally, and the ability to move independently in emergency exits. The quota of five hundred people was quickly filled, and the number of applicants even exceeded expectations.
None of these men were physically intact, but each had their own value. The veterans of Amighiddon were familiar with the urban warfare of the hive, the soldiers of Qadia were intimately familiar with the tactics of Chaos, the cavalry of Taran were sharpshooters, and the veterans of Mordian were disciplined.
Liu En received them in the hangar of the Black Pearl. Five hundred men stood in formation, each wearing their own old military uniforms of varying colors, but the imperial insignia and rank badges on their chests were carefully preserved. Behind them, combat service sergeants stood in neat rows. Liu En spoke briefly—
"I am Cohen Severus, the ship's owner. I don't care about your past. I only care about one thing—whether you can complete the mission on this ship. The Black Pearl is about to embark on an overseas mission to the Foundry World, not a combat mission for the Imperial Navy, but danger still exists. I need you to hold your posts when danger comes, just like you did in your original units. Your compensation will be based on the standards for Imperial Navy petty officers of the same rank, plus a voyage allowance."
Five hundred people responded in unison. The voices weren't perfectly synchronized, but every word carried weight.
Now, there are two key positions left.
Navigator. The Temple's technical archives recommended a trainee navigator to Liu En. Sera Novak, twenty-two years old, was from a collateral branch of an ancient navigator family, of pure blood, and possessed a fully developed third eye. She excelled academically at the academy, but due to her family's low status, she had been unable to find a suitable ship.
Liu En arranged to meet her on the bridge of the Black Pearl. She entered, her long hair silver-white, wearing a dark blue navigator's robe, her expression cold and aloof. Her forehead was covered by the veil unique to the Navigator family, its edges embroidered with the family crest.
"Sera Novak?"
"Yes. Cohen Severus, Your Excellency the Tech Priest."
Liu En asked her to sit down, and they chatted for nearly an hour. Her answers were professional, clear, and concise. She knew she was an intern and lacked experience, but she had a clear understanding of her own abilities.
"My only problem is that I lack practical experience," she said. "So if you want a navigator with ten years of experience, I'm not the right person."
Liu En looked at her and said, "Everyone has a first time. The Black Pearl was a first too."
Sera's expression shifted slightly. After agreeing on the terms, Liu En extended his hand: "Welcome to the Black Pearl."
Sera grasped his hand, her cool, slender fingers lingering briefly.
After the navigator's problem was solved, only one location remained.
Within the Forgeworld's ship management system, a rule is inscribed at the end of every fieldwork agreement: every armed ship registered in the Forgeworld's name and possessing autonomous subspace navigation capabilities must be equipped with a Star Speaker belonging to the Star Speaker Hall. This is not a suggestion, but a mandate. The reason is straightforward—Forgeworld's fieldwork agreements include a "wartime mobilization response obligation," and Star Speaker broadcasting is the only long-range communication means to fulfill this obligation. Without a Star Speaker, the chain of agreement execution is broken.
Liu En submitted his application through the World Forging Channel at the Star Language Hall's branch in Lucis. The response was swift, with a recommendation for a trainee Star Language user.
Hera Voss, forty-one years old, served in the Imperial Navy for eleven years. Her abilities had slightly deteriorated due to a psionic overload incident, but she still had no problem sending and receiving Astral communications. The people at the Astral Language Hall put it bluntly: "She can't compare to those Astral Speakers in their prime, but it's sufficient for daily communication. The Black Pearl is a ship belonging to the Forge World, and it's on overseas missions, so its communication needs aren't too high; she can handle it."
Liu En arranged to meet her aboard the Black Pearl. Hera arrived at Dock-12 on time in a small shuttle. She was a thin, middle-aged woman, wearing the standard dark gray robe of the Star Speaker's Hall, the fabric slightly faded. Her hair was grayish-brown, held back with a simple metal hairpin. Her face was gaunt, with high cheekbones and deep-set eyes. One eye had an abnormal grayish-white opacity—a mark left by the Star Speaker's soul-binding ritual and psionic overload. But through years of training and practice, she had developed a way of moving that didn't rely entirely on sight; her steps were slow, but she never touched any obstacles.
Liu En asked her to sit down.
"Captain," her voice was calm and even, "you probably already know my background. I've been injured, and my abilities have declined slightly compared to my younger days, but I have no problem with routine mail and data transmission. I'm a bit slower at remote coding, but I can still get it done. I don't need an assistant, and my salary requirements aren't high. If you think I'm up to the task, I'll stay here; if you think it's not enough, tell me now, and I'll return to the ground station."
Liu En looked at her. "Your cabin is next to the navigation cabin, with two separate shielding layers. Tell the logistics staff what equipment you need."
Hera nodded. "That's fine. I'm not a newbie on my first day aboard. I only ask for one thing—that the water circulation system in the compartments at least function properly during subspace travel. I'll maintain the rest myself."
"Welcome aboard the Black Pearl."
All core crew members were in position. Marcus checked the tactical data panel on the bridge, while Phyllis checked the supply list in the logistics compartment. Sera calibrated the data stream on the control panel in the navigation compartment, and the faint hum of Hera adjusting the interstellar communication receiver array could be heard from the next compartment. Five thousand servants moved back and forth in the corridors, carrying the last batch of supplies from the workshop to the warehouse.
Five hundred retired veterans were scattered at their respective posts. Cassius was counting ammunition in the armory, wiping each magazine one by one with his robotic arm.
An encrypted communication popped up on the data panel, sent by the Temple's Field Ship Management Office. Liu En clicked on it; it was a supplementary mission briefing—the final update before departure. The briefing clarified the ships the Black Pearl would need to rendezvous with upon arriving at the Sintira Spaceport: the Ironwall and the Truth Seeker, along with their expected arrival windows and identification beacon frequencies.
Liu En finished reading the briefing, saved it to the database, and then turned off the data panel.