Ten minutes later, Ustad turned his attention to the bald middle-aged man in front of him.
"But the progress has fallen behind the scheduled timetable. Can you catch up?"
"Is this...is this your request?"
"No."
Ustad shook his head.
"This request comes from the Chapter Leader. The external situation is currently unclear. The Eldar pirates destroyed Nessen-6 a few days ago. He is under some pressure."
The dock manager smiled awkwardly and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
"The fact is, your lords, 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 short of manpower.
and skilled technicians, so we encountered unexpected delays.”
"What's the manpower difference?"
"About 200,000 to 500,000... This is not the point. The point is that the workers' working hours have been increased again and again, and their bodies have been pushed to the limit. Last month alone, there were 5,432 workers.
They suffered from various diseases and accidental deaths due to fatigue. They worked too hard, but the rations and remuneration barely increased, and everyone complained."
"Let those mortals complain less."
Mosonli on the side turned his head and scolded sternly.
"Give them a little encouragement, 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."
"S-Sir..."
The anger of the Astartes was not something that a mere mortal could bear, and the Dockyard Master was immediately frightened to the point of being reduced to chaff.
"Mosengli, 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'll talk to the foremen..."
Ustad's gentle attitude gradually calmed down the dockmaster.
"Let's see if they can adjust the shifts again, but in terms of treatment-"
"I know."
Ustad nodded.
"I will feed this information back to the Chapter 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."
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. We have the power."
"It's a little more complicated."
Ustad shook his head.
He knew that the reason why Mosenli had this idea was not because he was naturally mean, but because the Soul Drinkers, as a ship-based battle group, spent most of their time floating in the void and rarely in a fixed place with a fixed group of people.
Mortals coexist.
Their attitudes towards mortals are 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, Captain? They have been dilly-dallying for long enough. In my opinion, the key point is the length and frequency of rest periods. They are too lazy...5 hours of sleep is enough for a man."
, women only need to sleep for 6 hours, 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."
Molsonli 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 does not seem like a big loss, I know that he is worried about it.
I 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 whipping."
"I think the main reason why workers slow down the progress is to ask for extra pay."
"Do you think they're slowing things down on purpose?"
Molsonli asked in surprise. This view made no sense to him. He had never thought that mortals could work under the hands of Space Marines.
"I guess... it should be 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 to serve as a warning to others and find out a few who are lazy."
"Actually, their demands are not excessive."
Ustad shook his head and looked at the iron-gray dome above the starport, which reflected the light of distant stars and made the transport ship about to arrive at the port appear 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 wanted 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 simply 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.
After a while, the impatient steward took him to a high tower.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! When setting off, the thirty-year-old welder foreman’s legs were shaking, his eyes were swollen, and he was sweating profusely. He felt as if his feet were not touching the ground and he was floating on the ground.
Like in the air.
The guards on the road did not stop him and let him into the tower. He followed him up all the way, 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's voice at all.
"How are your lives lately?"
"Thanks to you, sir, everything is fine..."
The foreman thought for a moment and then said in a low voice.
"It's time to work, it's time to eat."
"How was the food?"
"Yes, ration bars, protein blocks, corpse starch..."
"Are they all synthetic foods?"
"We are all used to it, and we can eat it... The adults have said that only things produced in the empire's sacred factories are safe for everyone to eat. Those things that grow 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 cubes 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."
As soon as he heard 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'm here to solve them for you, not to punish anyone."
Perhaps 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. You can't even count them. Our younger and stronger laborers are okay, but the women and children can hardly stand it. Many of them are exhausted.
But we don’t even have time to see a doctor... Everyone, everyone says, this is treating us like servants."
The giant nodded thoughtfully, but suddenly he frowned.
"Wait a minute, did you just say women and children?"
The giant turned his head towards the steward.
"What's going on? Why are there women and children among the workers!?"