The Emperor of the "eastern" part of the Clone Star Empire, Marcus, has criticised the decision to spend 10 billion zarks on Dino worm drives. "We are talking about a third of a billion zarks per drive, why is no one questioning this price?" he said at a media briefing on Austini 55. "The DDS recently revealed that building a worm drive costs around 70 million zarks, so why are we paying nearly 5 times as much?"
A Clone Space Navy spokesclone on Cloneworld later said that the price included engineering and integration support as well as 10 years of technical help though did acknowledge that the price had been set by the Dinos.
A former HCS general, Ramedok who is noted for his comments on military procurement, said that the Clones had been forced to massively overpay. "We desperately need ships with worm drive, the Dinos knew that and also knew we would pay it. And you know what, it will be worth it. Thirty worm drive equipped Soulakis will be a formidable force."
Many weapon programmes have been cut back and delayed however Ramedok said this was not that important in the long run. "A few less jet fighters or navy carriers is a shame but the Soulakis are strategically much more important. CSM will also not be affected by this and as Soulaki SLM will be able to carry CSM-S it will be a huge boost to our offensive might."
