Chapter 418 The Bloody Truth (Part 1)
“I salute you for your hard work, Chief.”
Ten minutes later, Ustad turned his eyes to the bald middle man in front of him. Year man.
“But the progress has fallen behind the scheduled timetable. Can you catch up with the construction period?”
“Is this your request?”
"No."
Ustad shook his head.
"This request comes from the Chapter Master. The external situation is currently unclear. The Eldar pirates destroyed Nessen-6 a few days ago. He is under some pressure."
The Dockyard Manager is embarrassed. He smiled and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
"The fact is, your lord, we are all under pressure. The workers have never dealt with a workload of this scale. The scheduled timetable can only be as accurate as possible, but it is still a prediction, and now we are seriously lacking manpower and skilled craftsmen, so we encountered unexpected delays.”
"What's the difference in manpower?"
"About 200,000 to 500,000. This is not the point. The point is that the workers' working hours have been increased repeatedly, and their bodies have been pushed to the limit. Last month alone, five One thousand, four hundred and thirty-two workers died from various diseases and accidents caused by fatigue. They worked too hard, but the rations and wages barely increased, and everyone complained."
"Let. Those mortals should stop complaining."
Mossenli on the side turned his head and scolded sternly.
“Give them a little encouragement, and then give them some encouragement, let them know that they are serving the empire, not playing house, and there is no time to complain to them.”
"My Lord."
Astartes' anger was not something a mortal could bear, and the Dockyard Master was immediately frightened to the core of his body.
"Mosenli, don't get angry at him, we are here to solve the problem."
Ustad waved his hand, and the deputy company commander immediately turned his head.
Then the second company commander calmly said to the dock manager:
"I don't want to sound rude, Steward, but this is the most important thing for the Chapter at the moment."
"I will speak to the Foremen."
Ustad's gentle approach Let the dock master gradually calm down.
“Let’s see if they can adjust the shifts again, but in terms of salary——”
“I know.”
Ustad nodded.
“I will feed this information back to the battle leader. Give me the loss of workers and the consumption of materials this year. By the way, call a few foremen over. I want to talk to them in person. Let’s talk.”
While waiting, Ustad and Mosenli walked to an observation tower in the construction area.
In front of them, a heavy landing ship as huge as a rock wall was slowly dumping into the warehouse, leaving behind puddles of shiny oil stains on the metal floor.
“I don’t know what’s so hard about this.”
Mosenli said.
“Ask them to try harder, and they will try harder, and we have the power.”
“It’s more complicated.”
Usta De shook his head.
He knew that the reason why Mossenli had this idea was not that he was mean by nature, but that the Soul Drinkers, as a ship-based battle group, spent most of their time floating in the void and rarely in a fixed position. A place to live with a fixed group of mortals.
Their attitude towards mortals is too rigid and too tough, which is a common problem among most ship-based battle groups.
The cold and cruel void forged their perseverance and also shaped their indifference.
This is exactly what Soshyan is changing.
"Really, Company Commander? They have been dilly-dallying for long enough. In my opinion, the key point is the length and frequency of rest periods. They are all too lazy. Five hours of sleep is enough for a man. Women only need 6 hours of sleep, only idiots sleep for 7 hours!”
“Fatigue is only part of the problem.”
Ustad could only remind his deputy tactfully.
"There are more other problems here. What we need is cooperation, not slavery. We have to recognize and accept their qualities."
"Company Commander, you mean Weakness? "
"Quality."
"Then I am very glad that I am not a mortal now."
Mossenli shrugged, but Ustad laughed.
“No matter what, if the construction progress continues to lag behind, the chapter leader will be very distressed. We have lost a frigate in the previous battle with the Eldar. Although it seems that the loss is not large, I know that he sighed for three days. "
"Believe me, company commander, as long as our attitude is tougher, all progress will not fall behind. Nothing is more convincing than a whip. "
"I think the main reason why the workers are slowing down the progress is to ask for extra pay."
"Do you think they are deliberately slowing down the progress?" Mosonli asked in surprise. The idea made no sense to him, and he had never imagined that mortals could work hard at the hands of Space Marines.
"I guess so. They complain about overwork, hoping to get a large extra paycheck by working hard, and then they look like they are working hard."
"Then Kill them as a warning and find out a few who are lazy. "Actually, their demands are not excessive." Ustad shook his head and looked at the gray sky above the star port. The dome reflects the light of distant stars, making the transport ship about to arrive in the port look particularly bright.
While the two were waiting, the representative of the worker foreman could not be found for a while.
The reason is simple. Once they heard that they were going to see the Space Marines, no one was willing to go.
This is so scary. If you say it’s not good, you may lose your life. We are just ordinary people and have no glory.
In the end, everyone recommended a person just because he had the experience of seeing Space Marines-at a distance of about two hundred meters.
At first, the unlucky guy just cried and refused to die, but they couldn't help but surrounded him and accused him of being righteous, saying that he didn't care about everyone's interests and was a self-interested individualist.
Under various threats, the man could only agree.
Not long after, the impatient steward took him to a high tower.
When we set off, the thirty-year-old welder foreman’s legs were shaking, his eyes were swollen, he was sweating profusely, and he felt as if his feet were not touching the ground and he was floating in the air.
The guards on the road did not stop him and let him into the tower. He followed him up almost out of his mind.
“Ahem.”
Along the way, his head was almost buried in his chest. It wasn't until the steward coughed loudly a few times that he raised his head as if he had just woken up from a dream.
At this time, two majestic armored giants stood opposite him, which almost made him dizzy. As for their appearance, he did not dare to see clearly.
"Are you a representative of the workers?"
One of the giants asked softly, with a soothing tone.
“Yes, they asked me to come up.”
The foreman looked at the texture of the metal floor and answered in a soft voice, which did not sound like a strong man at all.
"How is your life lately?"
"Thanks to you, everything is fine."
The foreman thought about it again, and then said in a low voice.
“It’s time to work, it’s time to eat.”
"How is the food?"
"Yes, ration bars, protein blocks, corpse starch..."
"All synthetic foods?"
"We are used to them all. Yes, you can eat it. The adults have said that it is safe for everyone to eat only things produced in the empire’s sacred factories. Those things grown in the ground contain all kinds of toxins.”
The other giant laughed and said:
"This guy is quite honest."
When the foreman heard the compliment, he was very happy and emboldened, and began to talk eloquently.
"In addition to these, everyone will also mix some alcohol from antifreeze and other places, and mix it with protein blocks to drink. The taste is really exciting——"
The person who spoke before, Suddenly interrupted his speech.
“I heard that you have some questions about working hours and compensation.”
Upon hearing this, the foreman's expression immediately changed.
"Sir, we..."
He shrank his head anxiously.
The giant took a step forward and said gently:
"Don't be afraid. If you have any problems, just ask them. I am here to solve them for you, not to punish anyone."
Maybe the other party's attitude gave the foreman some information. After swallowing his throat, he said in a low voice:
"Sir, the construction schedule is too tight. Everyone keeps working overtime, working overtime, working overtime. Can't you see At the end of the day, our young and strong laborers are okay, but the women and children can hardly stand it. Many people are exhausted, but they don’t even have time to see a doctor. Everyone, everyone says, this is treating us like Servant orders.”
The giant nodded thoughtfully, and suddenly he frowned.
"Wait, did you just say women and children?"
The giant turned his head to the steward.
"What's going on? Why are there women and children among the workers!?"
(End of this chapter)