The Industrialist

2 days later.

Damian drove Lance back to the prison for the Forge setup. Lance gave the materials, the scraps, and the needed equipment to streamline the forging process.

Although, this seemed easy for the rebels as they dealt with Outsiders who established unsanctioned forging plants.

"We got your request, fifty Quasarflare blasters, stolen from ZetaPoint Weapons Warehouse," Damian said. "Do your magic, kid."

"Yes. We needed the Quantum Flux Capacitors back in Bay. You need weapons Damian for its extraction. I know there are hundreds of them sitting in Astralis Electric Company storage."

"Thinking of it, kid…I don't know if rebels will allow that quest."

"I know, they will. I will talk to the council if I need to."

"Yeah, maybe you can do that. I mean, you know. For a price."

"We have good income in Omnexus. I can afford it."

"It's not about the money, kid. You know that. It's about the volunteers. They fear Bay City. We can't just waltz in there without a fight. It's the nest for Science's sake!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I will go with you. I am looking at a Poison Bomb Launcher, Damian. We need to produce fast before Demetrian."

"I hate the thought of it, kid. I haven't heard about shortages now. I guess our salt caravan prevented the second Death by Thirst." Damian said.

"They will find ways again to mass kill. The city is facing danger. I fear another Abominant attack will ensue. We gotta stop it, Damian."

The forging plant was situated at the back of the prison facility, where supposedly a large garage for vehicles back in the day. The equipment, stolen and scrapped-bought, was placed in a disorganized manner by the rebels.

The rebel volunteers gathered around Lance and Damian. The faces of the rebels present had a hint of enthusiasm to the thought of gaining currency.

The Council would sell the forged raw materials to Lance and gain money. With their earned revenue, they would pay the volunteers with their respective salaries per month of about 250 units.

That's fine by them. In a Commoner's setup, 80% of their hard-earned factory-income was spent on food. And the remaining 20% was for home upkeep and clothing means. In the Rebel Faction agreement with the members, the rebel council would subsidize food for all active members and belongings within the confines of the prison.

And what they earned for working would be their savings. A glimpse of hope and little pleasurable provisions for the family.

Lance expressed gratitude first for the volunteers and proceeded with his instructions. Continue your journey with empire

"The Fusion Arc Forge is a weapons-military-grade capability. The Council and of course myself, contributed currency to procure the equipment for this process."

Lance announced while the people listened silently. The grease and soot were evident on their arms and their faces.

"The first process is metal scrap melting by the use of our Fusion reactors. The melted metal will then be transferred to Shaping or we call the hammering. It is where the fabrication takes place. Luckily, we won't manually hammer the metal, we will use the Gravimetric Press. Then we refined the newly shaped metal through the Nanite-molecular fields, then afterward, abrupt cooling in Cryovaults. Then lastly, the detailing and painting using Nano-Etch Polisher."

"This process will need fifteen personnel to operate the machines and ensure that the process is in optimal efficiency…"

There were questions raised and Lance answered them. Lucky for them, there were experienced factory workers who had similar equipment. The majority of the rebels, if not ex-military, were Government employees in Manufacturing operations.

Most Commoners were assigned to dirty jobs such as Metal Forging, if not in the waste management plants. These senior machine operators helped train the first-timers.

Semi-large pieces of equipment were pushed around, arranged, and adjusted just to arrive at optimal operational flow. That's the first thing in Factory management: efficient operational flow, reducing wastage in over movement, unnecessary transportation, and unobstructed product and human traffic flow.

For five hours, the men finished the setup. Power supplies had been installed, and heat control units mounted in the ceiling.

"We are good to go, kid!" Damian said as the men rested with a slice of bread and synthetic milk that tasted plastic.

"Ok, I sent the design for the Railgun casings. You can start production then you deliver it to me via Jonaz Enterprises. Triple the markup," Lance said.

"Triple? That's high, kid."

"Don't worry, Damian. I am assigned to procurement now. I have the budget, and I will play below it. CBD won't question it; they have a lot of money. No budget constraints. The City's juice is in this government, Damian. So they don't care about a tripled price."

"Leric told me," Lance continued, "I need to manufacture ten units of Railgun. I think the casings would give you gross revenue of 8000 units a piece."

Damian was speechless.

"Damian," Lance, "One more thing. These are the designs for the ExoFrame Suits. These will be your armor, anti-Abominants, and anti-lasers." Lance transferred the e-prints via Holosync.

"These look heavy, kid. How can we walk with these?"

"We will use Novaflux Drive batteries to power your movements."

"How can we make these?" Damian asked.

"The Forge of course. We will also sell these to the Outsiders. With these, we can fight against SHF and the Government!"

A few men prepared the collected scraps from various locations outside the walls of Axe Central City. The Axiom Trenchers helped with the sourcing and the gathering.

The men started to melt the common-level metal scraps in the Fusion reactors, as scorching heat powered a chamber. The smell of burned metal permeated the confined space.

It lasted only minutes, hard, rusty metal, being softened and melted as they were pushed inside a cylindrical opening, and searing yellow viscous liquid flowing at the other end.

With the available trolleys, they transferred the melted metal to the Gravimetric Press for shaping using prefabricated molders. The said equipment automatically executed the reshaping based on the programmed form. Robotics took place.

Lance had witnessed metal forging previously as he offered scrap materials to TORs of the said industry in SteamHaven. The process was easy. However, the opportunity for future application was vast.

The Railgun casings forged in only a day. Ten units. Lance instructed them on the intricacy of logistics. Jonaz Enterprises would be ecstatic for another business opportunity. Lance had gained a lot of leverage due to his position in the CBD, and Jonaz acknowledged such a position.

Jonaz would rather have an ally inside the Government, in this case, Lance Berkley, rather than gain another enemy.

"Kid, the council had agreed with the quest. We go to Bay for the Quantum," Damian said after a council meeting.

"Let's go tomorrow. I want to witness my hometown," Lance said.