Warhammer: Empire Reboot

Page 177

Breaking through the enemy ship's armor was only the first step.

Once a torpedo penetrates an enemy ship's hull, boarding forces will face tens of thousands of defenders, a complex metal maze, and dense internal automated defense fire.

Even a full-strength Astartes elite squad of fifty men is often wiped out in a boarding action.

This requires sacrificing lives and using saturated forces to forcefully advance.

Now, Lawson wants to reduce the crew to two.

Even if this torpedo is enhanced to the point of being like a divine weapon, capable of completely ignoring the enemy's anti-aircraft fire and firmly embedding itself inside the enemy's warship.

So what?

The hatch opened, and two boarding soldiers stepped out.

They faced an endless line of enemy defenders and thousands of laser guns pointed at them.

This is pure suicide.

This is utterly absurd from a tactical logic standpoint.

“My lord… sending only two people… even if they are Terra's royal guards, they cannot control a warship under the siege of tens of thousands. It’s completely pointless…”

Lawson didn't bother explaining to him what the "Arsenal" teleportation anchor point was.

For Lawson, whether the torpedo contained two men or fifty thousand men, it made no difference in terms of tactical outcome.

All Lawson wanted was to drive that nail into the enemy's heart in the most violent way possible; that was enough.

"Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask, just do as I say."

Krus immediately suppressed all his doubts deep into the logic loop.

"Yes, my lord. The blueprints will be distributed to all assembly servants' terminals tonight."

"Hand over all your technical imprints and databases," Lawson ordered.

For the Dark Machine Cult, knowledge is faith, and data is their soul. Handing over the database is tantamount to stripping the entire cult of its lifeblood and offering it up without reservation.

Krusa retreated to the front of the Thinker's main formation.

"All the blueprints, heretical modification plans, and underlying code accumulated by the Iron Forging Guild over seven hundred years are here."

Krus's chest armor split open to the sides, tearing out a thick, black cable covered in spikes and nerve mucus.

This cable is directly connected to his brainstem and the core database of the Thinker's main array.

"Connect, my lord."

Lawson tilted his head slightly.

T-001 strode forward.

Raising his right arm, the armor surface slid open smoothly, revealing an extremely fine nanometer data probe that flashed with blue light.

"Click".

The T-001's data probe precisely pierced the thick black cable connector on the X-2001.

An extremely violent torrent of data erupted in an instant.

The demigod engine blueprints recorded by the Dark Mechanicus over hundreds of years, the plasma reactor model fueled by the souls of living people, and various heretical codes filled with logic bombs and binary junk codes are frantically rushing toward the T-001's processing core.

Swarm intelligence brutally eliminates useless subspace rituals and insane self-torturing logic, retaining only the most core and pure knowledge of physics, ballistics, and metallurgy.

These knowledge imprints were simultaneously transmitted and downloaded into the memory banks of five hundred T-series mechanical zombies distributed across the three planets.

Data transmission ended, T-001 removed the probe and returned to the shadows.

Krus collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted. His six mechanical legs trembled incessantly, and the nutrient solution in his brain tank became extremely turbid.

He felt as if his soul had been stripped bare and cleansed, leaving him with no secrets whatsoever.

As Lawson looked at the limp Great Sage, a piece of intelligence he had just compiled suddenly flashed through his mind.

"Xaxia".

"Why would those six Iron Warriors in the Governor's Mansion's Pinnacle District willingly serve as Krauser's bodyguards?"

Kassa dared not hide anything from this overlord who had just drained his database.

"Those six Iron Warriors were just representatives who stayed behind. They were a main force of the Fourth Company of the Iron Warriors Regiment."

Krus's tentacles pointed deep into the foundry.

"They made a deal with Krauser. Krauser provided a huge amount of ore and rare metals, while our Ironforging Company was responsible for repairing their damaged armor. The six veterans stayed at the top of the tower, serving as both bodyguards and overseers."

Lawson paused slightly in his breathing.

He grasped the core information in that passage with remarkable keen insight.

"You mean, a batch of Iron Warrior power armors were left in your workshop?"

Krus nodded.

“That’s right, 120 Mark III power armor suits. They were practically scrap metal when they were brought here.”

The sage's tone carried a hint of the pride that belonged to a craftsman.

"But we spent two years using extremely precious ceramic steel and refined gold. We not only repaired them, but also reinforced the servo frame of some of the armor. The ammunition compartments have also been reloaded."

Texas reported the progress truthfully.

"This batch of power armor is currently stored in Warehouse No. 7, in perfect combat readiness, ready to be deployed at any time. The Steel Warriors' transport ship was originally scheduled to pick it up at the beginning of next month."

The foundry hall fell into absolute silence for ten seconds.

"Hahahahahaha!"

Lawson burst into laughter.

One hundred and twenty power armored warriors.

This was like a piece of fat meat falling from the sky, landing right in Lawson's face.

With this equipment, he could immediately expand the White Tiger team to a size of more than 300 people.

"Kexas, you've given me a truly wonderful surprise." Lawson stopped laughing.

Seeing Lawson's ruthless expression, Xerath's optical lens contracted sharply as he finally realized what was happening.

The Great Sage suddenly straightened his upper body, his mechanical tentacles waving wildly in mid-air.

"My lord! You...you wouldn't be thinking of...?"

Kassa was so anxious that he almost spat out his binary code.

“You absolutely cannot touch that armor! That violates the most sacred spirit of the covenant! The Iron Warriors are not those mindless mad dogs of the World Eaters! They are extremely vengeful siege masters! They are the offspring of Perturabo! Once they discover that we have devoured their equipment…”

The electronic sounds from the Kreiss were so sharp they almost pierced the eardrums.

"They will mobilize the entire Dalian Fleet, which will trigger an irreversible sector-level war!"

Lawson waved his hand dismissively: "Enough talk, lead the way. I'm confiscating this batch of armor. If Tie Yong has any objections, let them come find me."

Warehouse No. 7, a high-security level warehouse.

One hundred and twenty Mark III power armor suits were neatly arranged.

Great Sage Xerath clearly spared no expense in repairing this batch of equipment.

The battle-damaged dents on the surface of each power armor were filled with high-density refined gold, polished smooth, and repainted with dark iron paint.

The miniature nuclear fusion reactor in the power backpack emits an extremely stable low-frequency hum, and the joints of the servo frame are coated with top-grade mechanical grease.

Lawson slammed heavily into the chest of one of the power armor suits.

"Boom."

The feedback force is extremely strong.

The perfect fusion of terracotta and adamantite provides defensive capabilities far exceeding those of conventional Space Marine armor.

Lawson was extremely satisfied.

As the top siege masters of the Great Expedition era, the Iron Warriors Legion's equipment focuses on extreme frontal defense and heavy firepower.

This batch of Mark III armor was specially designed with thicker frontal armor, making it an excellent piece of equipment tailor-made for the "meat grinder" tactics of suicide squads that push forward under artillery fire.

"Excellent condition."

Lawson turned to look at the Great Sage Xerath who was following behind him: "The craftsmanship of your mech servants is indeed quite impressive."

"Praising Om Messiah is the duty of the Ironforge."

Krus lowered his head, his mechanical tentacles writhing uneasily: "But my lord, the neural connection ports inside these armors... the genetic seeds of the Iron Warriors have a huge mutation difference from ordinary people. Those neural slots are extremely large; even if an ordinary person tried to force their way in, the weight of the armor would crush their bones. We need to deploy specialized neurosurgeons..."

Lawson interrupted Kexas's suggestion without any politeness.

"You won't need to do the rest of the internal neural modifications."

Lawson tilted his head slightly.

The forty-two White Tiger team members following behind him immediately stepped forward.

The assassins completely disregarded any ritual to appease the machine spirits and acted extremely violently.

One hundred and twenty costly power armor suits were forcibly taken away by the assassins without any hesitation.

Krus, watching this scene, shook his head in worry.

Lawson patted his mechanical shoulder reassuringly.

"Put your heart into your nutrient solution, I'll take care of everything."

Chapter 131 The Storm is Brewing, the Knife is Being Sharpened

"If the sky falls, my fleet will hold it up. You just focus on modifying those five warships and setting up the STC production line for me."

Unable to resist, Xerath could only lower his mechanical tentacles.