Chapter 166-170

Chapter 166: The Iron Man’s Dilemma?

Planet Vorchad III.

Imperial Mining World.

Tithe Grade: Exactis Secundus.

As a mining world, Vorchad III was required to surrender vast quantities of diverse ores and a significant levy of manpower to the Imperium annually. Developed only within the last few decades, the planet boasted immense mineral reserves, the riches of which had lined the pockets of the local Planetary Governor to the point of overflowing.

Beyond the tithe-mandated ores, a massive surplus was traded to other systems for foodstuffs and capital. The food was used to sustain an ever-growing population to drive mining efficiency, while the capital funded the expansion of hive cities and the construction of new manufactorums. This influx of settlers ensured a robust labor pool. Even though the Exactis Secundus tithe stripped the planet of twenty percent of its mineral output and one-eighth of its able-bodied miners every year, the sheer abundance of the crust easily offset these losses.

Specifically, the planet yielded rare Promethium-derivative minerals. These materials commanded exorbitant prices on the galactic market and were in desperate demand by the Adeptus Mechanicus and the industrial Forge Worlds of the Imperium.

All this data flickered through the appended information lists provided to Axion.

Considering the directive in his authorization logs, to maintain and protect the local collection of Imperial tithes, Axion’s electronic brain nearly flirted with a logic-lock.

Extracting minerals was no hardship for an Iron Man.

However, the requirement to surrender one-eighth of the population to the Astra Militarum?

Axion, having just completed a low-orbit scan of the planet, felt a mechanical sense of futility. There were still millions of life signs registering on the surface. But even a cursory analysis revealed that these biological silhouettes were Tyranid combat-forms.

The shattered hive cities were drowning in pillars of fire. The planetary surface was pockmarked with bio-reclamation pools. Aside from Tyranid bio-constructs, not a single surplus organism remained. Every tree had been uprooted by the Hive Mind’s swarm and cast into the digestion vats.

The Hive Ships that had been siphoning the biomass and planetary resources had already been detonated by Axion’s fire. Technically, the planet’s population was still present; it had simply been rendered into nutrient slurry. The wreckage of the Hive Ships, containing colossal amounts of biomass, had plummeted to the surface, increasing the planet’s total mass by one-sixth.

According to the records provided by Guilliman, the planet was due for its next tithe collection in four Terran months.

Axion made a silent notation in his cognitive logs. Once the planet was purged, he would have to ask Guilliman if submitting two Legiones Automata could substitute for the human manpower levy required for the Imperial Tithe.

But before a legion could be manufactured, every skittering lifeform on the surface had to be eradicated. Facing tens of millions of biological signatures, Axion did not hesitate.

Gargantuan plasma bursts descended from the heavens, igniting the entire world with surgical, balanced precision. The mountainous carcasses of the Hive Ships were subjected to repeated bombardment until the metallic elements they had absorbed were smelted out from the biological solution.

The planetary atmosphere collapsed under the relentless shelling. Oxygen was incinerated, replaced by a shroud of toxic gases. Intense thermal energy ensured the extinction of every organism down to the microbial level. The natural water sources, once tainted by Tyranid spores, evaporated into steam, cycling endlessly within the blackened clouds.

Under the searing kiss of plasma, the broken crust smoothed over, turning translucent. Soon, a world of molten slag and glassed plains lay before Axion’s sensors.

While extreme heat was no deterrent to an Iron Man, it was somewhat "unfriendly" toward the logistics of mining.

The ship executed a rapid orbital maneuver, snagging a cluster of ice-asteroids from a nearby belt using tractor beams. Under the control of gravity anchors, these frozen monoliths were hurled down upon the dead world of Vorchad III.

Axion waited in orbit for a week. He watched as the geological tremors stabilized and the surging lakes of magma began to congeal. Deep-seated metallic solutions cooled within the craters of the glassed surface, forming standardized metallic pits. The mineral-rich remains of the Hive Ships cooled into a singular, gargantuan mound of ore. The combustible biological components had been burnt away into slag, leaving behind a concentrated deposit that favored rapid extraction.

During this week of waiting, a pair of Viper-class Scout Sloops, which had been lurking in the shadows of the void, witnessed for the first time how this strange vessel dealt with an incoming Tyranid bio-fleet.

High-energy particle streams erupted from the ship’s flanks, crossing the void in beautiful lances of light. They pierced the hulls of the bio-ships, shattering cellular structures at a molecular level before vanishing into deep space or the bowels of the larger leviathans. These horrific xenos vessels could not even close the distance before they began to undergo biological disintegration mid-flight. Though Tyranids possessed formidable regenerative capabilities, high-energy particles that unraveled the very genome rendered such adaptation useless.

Even the massive, battleship-scale bio-ships that relied on sheer density of flesh to endure the particle beams were easily incinerated by the follow-up plasma volleys. The terrifying heat stripped away metallic-bonded chitinous shells. Erratic electrical discharges paralyzed biological nervous systems. The drifting, uncontrolled husks were then greeted by a second wave of particle fire; without armor, the exposed flesh underwent rapid mutation and necrosis.

Finally, the xenos vessels simply burst apart into clouds of shattered biomass.

The entire process possessed an alien aesthetic, much like watching swarms of insects fly into a flame or a kinetic zapper. It was efficient, rapid, and absolute.

Axion had detected the two Viper scouts long ago. However, noting the Imperial Aquila emblazoned on their hulls, he offered no reaction. He had no intention of initiating communication.

His authorization was clear: Axion was to restore production on several nearby worlds and complete the Imperial Tithes to calculate his "Contribution." If Imperial forces requested aid, he would earn additional credit.

Now was not the time to ask if they needed help. Axion had to solve the mining problem first and establish a base of operations. Many of the systems he had salvaged from Imperial shipwrecks needed to be deployed to the surface.

First, he needed to expand his own strength to better accumulate Imperial military merit.

Axion understood that the merit of others was calculated by individual kills or the achievement of specific objectives. His metrics were different. If he were measured by the standards of regular Imperial troops, there would be no distinction between himself and a single automated unit. The difficulty of a tank firing a shell to kill a hundred enemies was fundamentally different from a mortal soldier killing a hundred enemies with a lasgun.

His calculation method was markedly distinct from the rank-and-file. Perhaps it was unfair, but Axion did not care. Mortal troops reclaimed a world with oceans of blood and effort, paying with their lives. Perhaps that was the value of their existence.

But to an Iron Man, such concepts were meaningless. It required only that the production lines run for two extra days. With a bit of time spent sanitizing the battlefield after the war, nothing would be lost save for ammunition and energy.

Chapter 167: Unclaimed Equipment Equals Free

When the planetary surface temperature subsided to sixty degrees, the transport craft berthed within the hangar bays were once again cycled into operation.

Half of the available Automated Sentry-Troopers were deployed to the surface, their primary objective being the ruins of the former hive cities. Though the upper spires of the hives had been reduced to a mass of slagged rubble, Axion intended to scavenge for any salvageable machinery. The equipment aboard his vessel was finite; attempting to jumpstart an entire planet’s industrial output with shipboard spares was fundamentally impractical. Furthermore, his meager supply of several dozen kilograms of nanite swarms was insufficient to construct a standard automated manufactorum from scratch.

Axion lacked the STC data for a standard factory. When he was originally designed, no one could have envisioned that the standard manufactorums, once ubiquitous across every corner of the Federation, would become such a rarity. Relying solely on his nanite swarms to achieve his expansion goals would likely take decades.

Fortunately, these Sentry-Troopers had been utilized as mechanical laborers once before, and their chassis had already undergone modification. Though only one limb possessed a standard humanoid manipulator, their immense hydraulic strength and the shearing power of their particle blades made them superlative industrial tools.

The melted skeletal structures of the upper hives were carved away by particle blades. Working in simple, silent coordination, groups of Sentry-Troopers hauled the debris away. Grotesque chunks of fused metal waste were cast aside as the sub-surface levels of the hive were gradually unearthed.

However, the results were disappointing. The subterranean foundations had suffered catastrophic damage during the tectonic upheavals. The metal smelting plants that once populated the lower hive had transformed into heaps of metallic refuse; molten slag had congealed inside the delicate machinery, utterly annihilating its functional value. It was clear that every Imperial facility on this world was now nothing more than scrap.

Driven by necessity, Axion recalled his deployed Sentry-Trooper units and engaged the ship's engines, setting a course for the neighboring industrial world of Vorchad.

If possible, he intended to "borrow" a batch of equipment from the local Planetary Governor, with the extracted ores from Vorchad III serving as eventual payment.

Yet, when Axion arrived at this Imperial industrial world mere minutes later, he found a planet possessed only by Tyranid bio-horrors. The Hive Ships responsible for reclaiming the biomass had already been neutralized over Vorchad III. Perhaps due to a lack of tactical data regarding this unknown adversary, while waves of bio-ships arrived daily to meet their end at Axion's guns, no second Hive Ship had yet arrived to begin the harvest.

Consequently, the Tyranid organisms that had been drop-podded to the surface via mycetic spores were now in a state of aimless planetary infestation. Nothing appreciates un-fresh food, not even the Tyranid Hive Mind. Without a functional hive structure ready for processing, these creatures would not instinctively hurl themselves into digestion pools to be dissolved.

The planet’s fauna and survivors had been scoured clean; only a scattering of resilient flora remained. Hundreds of millions of xenos forms swarmed across the world.

Upon confirming that no Imperial survivors remained on the planet, Axion felt a strange, binary sense of relief. This meant there was no longer a need to mine ore to "repay" the debt.

After performing a deep biological purge of one of the hives using high-energy particle streams, three transports carrying two thousand Sentry-Troopers touched down in the plaza of the lower hive.

All the manufactorums were clustered here. Ignoring the wet squelch of metallic feet treading through the slurry of disintegrated xenos flesh, the area was remarkably still. Factories that once roared with the thunder of industry had fallen into a tomb-like silence. The narrow streets were devoid of life. Windows and doors were shattered, and bloodstains painted the walls, yet not a single intact corpse remained. Only smears of gore and the inert husks of Tyranid casualties littered the ground.

The Sentry-Troopers began to coordinate in silence. Dividing into squads of fifty, they entered the dormant factories to begin the reclamation of machinery. Everything from the forges and smelters of the machine-shops to the crude, "low-tier" production lines replicated by the Adeptus Mechanicus was dismantled and ferried to the central plaza.

More importantly, they recovered a vast stockpile of unused, refined ingots. These processed materials could be directly utilized to construct cybernetic servitors to man the factories, thereby liberating the Sentry-Troopers from their role as makeshift laborers.

The most critical acquisitions, however, were the maintenance spares for the hive's plasma reactors and geothermal stations. On Vorchad III, the only two hive cities had been utterly destroyed, their warehouses melted and their geothermal grids shattered. Their plasma reactors had gone supercritical, detonating and incinerating the hives from within. Axion needed not only the machinery but also the means to repair the planetary power infrastructure.

While remote power transmission from the Pectaro was feasible, the ship could not leave the system without establishing a stable, local energy supply. Should the vessel depart, the planet’s operations would grind to a halt.

Due to the sheer volume of equipment and components, the Pectaro, which possessed limited cargo capacity, required two full rotations to complete the transport.

When Axion returned for the third time, the troops he had temporarily offloaded to the surface to make room for cargo had already engaged in a firefight with encroaching Tyranid elements.

A carpet of Rippers swarmed the outskirts of the nearly-stripped hive, supported by throngs of Termagants and Hormagaunts. Several Tyranid Warriors shrieked in the rear, brandishing long bio-blades, while flocks of Gargoyles circled overhead. A dense hail of living ammunition and bone-shards erupted from the Fleshborers and Spike Rifles clutched in the gaunts' claws.

However, the flesh-eating organisms that struck the Automated Sentry-Troopers were instantly confounded. These metallic blocks possessed no flesh to consume. The subsequent volleys of metal shards merely left superficial scoring across the sentries' chest plates and skeletal frames.

A Tyranid Warrior looked on with predatory confusion at these alien foes before brandishing its four arms and charging the sentry line.

Yet, compared to the Necron Immortals Axion’s data-archives suggested, these sentries were far more agile. Two Sentry-Troopers in the front rank crouched slightly, crossing their particle blades in a forward-leaning guard. As the beast lunged, the twin particle blades swept outward, bifurcating the Tyranid Warrior with ease.

In its death throes, the Warrior managed to sever the heads of both Sentry-Troopers with its monomolecular bone-swords. It lived just long enough to witness a sight that surely would have baffled the Hive Mind: the headless sentries immediately raised their blades and hacked the Warrior's head into four pieces.

Afterward, the two Sentry-Troopers retrieved their own heads from the ground and tossed them toward the rear. Upon extraction, the nanite swarms would fuse the severed metal structures back together in seconds. In collective warfare, individual sensory arrays were secondary; a loss of a head did not hinder a unit's combat efficiency while operating in a state of shared data-synchronization.

Chapter 168: A Windfall Foothold

As swarms of Tyranid bio-beasts surged across the planet’s surface, the Imperial transports proceeded toward the hive cities as if it were a routine flight. High above in orbit, the Pectaro aligned its arrays, subjecting the hives and their peripheries to a calculated particle sweep. The devastating lethality of high-energy particles against biological matter caused only negligible interference to the Automated Sentry-Troopers within the ruins.

The sentries completed their extraction with mechanical ease, departing just before the lower levels were inundated by a deluge of xenos ichor of every conceivable hue. In a single stroke, over a third of the hundreds of millions of Tyranids remaining on the world were expunged.

The relativistic particle emitters, while powerful, were limited by their narrow beam diameter, making the purging process relatively slow. Furthermore, the planetary density and crust thickness meant these beams could penetrate only dozens of meters into the surface; they were ill-suited as world-killing weapons, though they proved exceptionally effective against the mindless Tyranid swarms that utilized no cover.

Axion could have used plasma to incinerate the entire planet, but unless he was granted explicit planetary authority, he would not consider turning the world into glass. A vitrified planet typically lost all strategic utility, unless the sole objective was mining. Moreover, Vorchad was not his assigned garrison world; wanton destruction of Imperial property could adversely affect his military merit and contribution calculations.

As the Pectaro returned to Vorchad III to begin the grueling task of offloading equipment, clearing the glassed surface, and establishing manufactorums, the two Imperial scout ships finally reached their limit of curiosity. Following instructions relayed from their command, they transmitted a friendly identification signal to the Pectaro.

Axion responded instantly, following the signal protocols provided by Roboute Guilliman. Simultaneously, he attached a digital copy of his joint authorization documents from the Lord Regent and the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Once the Imperial fleet confirmed they could approach without being targeted, the electrifying news was transmitted back to headquarters. Since the Pectaro had breached the Warp and annihilated a Hive Ship, the pressure on the rear lines had lessened significantly. For over a week, not a single Tyranid bio-ship from the fallen zones had reached the world of Sanctum. This respite allowed Lord Solar Leontus and Trajann Valoris the time to coordinate their forces and thoroughly purge the remaining xenos from that planet.

However, as the strategic pressure continued to mount elsewhere, Leontus was forced to dispatch what few ships he could spare to other war zones to stall the advance of two additional Hive Fleet tendrils.

By the time Axion was fully occupied on Vorchad III, a fleet assembled from the Imperial rear began to mass in the orbit of Sanctum. Having confirmed via the scouts that the Pectaro had visited the "Eternal Night" world of Vorchad, Leontus immediately diverted two-thirds of the orbital fleet into the fallen sectors.

Upon conducting orbital scans of the surrounding systems, they quickly discovered the anomalies within the hive cities of Vorchad. While Tyranid swarms carpeted the surfaces of other planets, the industrial world of Vorchad appeared strangely sparse. The system was littered with the drifting husks of bio-ships, and on Vorchad III, a towering metallic mountain, the remains of the Hive Ship, pierced the very atmosphere.

Even though they had viewed pict-captures of these scenes multiple times, witnessing the reality of such an exaggerated scale was staggering.

Under the leadership of the Lord Solar, the Imperial fleet began its landfall on Vorchad. The empty hive cities reeked with the cloying stench of rotting xenos flesh. The descending Astra Militarum regiments were forced to advance with heavy flamers, incinerating the heaps of decaying Tyranid corpses to clear a path.

Curiously, the surviving Tyranids on the planet seemed to have reached a silent consensus: they would not approach any of the hive cities under any circumstances. This provided the Astra Militarum with the necessary breathing room to deploy.

The landing forces quickly secured every hive city on the planet. Bloodstains, dried and scorched by the intense heat of Axion's earlier purge, appeared as blackened scorch marks across the hive walls. However, when it came time to restore hive functions, they discovered the "favor" Axion’s mechanical legion had left behind.

Every hive city was missing critical power infrastructure components. Consequently, none of the hives could generate sufficient power in the short term. Furthermore, the manufactorums within the hives were either sabotaged by the Tyranids or stripped of their heavy machinery by the Iron Man. Despite the mountain-high stockpiles of raw materials in the warehouses, the prospect of self-sufficient production had to be temporarily abandoned.

Driven by necessity, Leontus sought the aid of the Adeptus Mechanicus. At a non-trivial cost, he purchased a cache of spare parts from the nearest Forge World and requisitioned a labor force. After a period of anxious waiting, the Astra Militarum finally welcomed the Mechanicus transport ships. Once the personnel and materiel were offloaded, the tech-thralls and laborers immediately set to work.

They focused on restoring the hive power grids and bringing the least-damaged factories back online. The stockpiled materials were then used to manufacture more components to repair the remaining hives.

Outside the hive perimeters, the Gargoyles, under the direction of synapse creatures, spent most of their time watching the skies. Whenever an Imperial transport flew beyond the hive's immediate defensive envelope, they would swarm it. This bizarre tactical stalemate forced Leontus to order his transports to break atmosphere and re-enter the planet's airspace vertically over each hive to avoid the gauntlet.

The Hive Tyrants overseeing the world were gripped by a predatory wariness; approaching the hives resulted in instantaneous annihilation.

As hive functionality was gradually restored, numerous defense systems were reactivated. The massive defense turrets atop the hive walls soon began scything through the Gargoyles that had been loitering outside with such pitiable persistence.

With a secure defensive foundation established, the Astra Militarum commenced their ground offensive. Valkyrie gunships, covered by the hive batteries, flew daily sorties to bombard the surrounding Tyranid swarms. The Imperial Guard advanced slowly behind a steel wall of Leman Russ Battle Tanks and Taurox APCs.

Though wary of the hives, the Hive Tyrants would never abandon such a concentrated mass of biological assets. Savage battles began to erupt just beyond the range of the hive's defensive guns.

Trajann Valoris led a contigent of Legio Custodes to hunt the planet's synapse creatures. As the Astra Militarum anchored the front lines in a stalemate with the xenos, the golden-armored Guardians of the Emperor swept over the battlefield on their Pallas Grav-attack vehicles and Dawneagle Jetbikes.

These beautiful and deadly golden skimmers, operating in small cells, utilized their Illiastus-pattern bolt cannons or twin Adrathic destructors to clear the path. Closing the distance at high speeds, the Custodians accurately delivered melta bombs or plasma grenades onto their targets. Whether Tyrant Guard or Hive Guard, all were reduced to splattered gore under the rapid strike.

The Astra Militarum utilized their own methods for dealing with synapse nodes—calling in Valkyrie strike runs or concentrating fire from Basilisks and Leman Russ batteries to delete the massive, conspicuous targets. Once stripped of synapse control, the Tyranid swarms would lose all cohesion, collapsing into biological instinct as they either charged blindly or scattered in a panic. The Guardsmen simply dug into their temporary fortifications, fingers locked on triggers, watching as the xenos were chewed into mulch by a relentless wall of fire.

Chapter 169: The Bustle of Vorchad III

Axion offered no response to the maneuvers of the Imperial forces. The Pectaro remained adrift in the orbit of Vorchad III, maintaining a twenty-four-hour vigil against the potential emergence of Tyranid bio-fleets.

Recently, however, sightings of Tyranid vessels had grown increasingly sparse.

While the Tyranids possessed formidable evolutionary adaptability, the splinter fleets following the Hive Mind's will to probe and collect data on the enemy had completed their task. Guided by other Hive Ships, the Great Devourer had arrived at a cold, logical conclusion.

To mitigate the catastrophic damage caused by high-energy particle streams, a vast quantity of biomass would be required to force the evolution of every bio-ship and mature war-beast. Yet, the hostile entity possessing this lethal capability was a singular, metallic machine-intelligence. Even a victory would result in a net loss of biomass that could not be recouped.

The Hive Mind’s only directive was hunger. To grow hungrier through the act of consumption was a biological paradox it would not entertain. Thus, the Leviathan splinter-tendril "Grendyllus" began to exert its will, attempting to bypass this unpalatable system entirely.

As Lord Solar Leontus and his commanders worked to purge the remaining worlds of the system, a situation developed that exceeded even their strategic projections.

Beyond the Eternal Night worlds, the Tyranid offensive in surrounding systems accelerated. Swarms of bio-fleets hurled themselves against the Imperial defensive lines with renewed ferocity. Numerous Solblades began to retreat behind this main front, escorting survivors from an increasing number of fallen zones.

Consequently, the system designated as an "avoidance zone" by the Great Devourer became a critical staging ground for the Imperium. Space stations were hastily erected, and countless Imperial vessels arrived to resupply. Vorchad III had become the most prominent salient in Segmentum Pacificus, flanked by the primary war fronts the Imperium was struggling to maintain.

Throughout this month, Axion remained fully focused on his dominion over Vorchad III.

The equipment "requisitioned" for free from the Industrial World had been merged and refurbished. Soon after, the first production line for Sapient Machine Automatons was operational. Finished metal materials, refined from the ruins of the Hives, flowed in a steady stream into the reconstructed factories.

Production efficiency climbed steadily. As the new automatons bolstered the workforce, the Automated Sentry-Troopers were liberated from manual labor. The humanoid structural design of the Sapient Machine Automaton proved far more efficient than the Sentry-Troopers, whose limbs were encumbered by neutron beam emitters.

The machines worked without pause, devoid of the need for rest.

Hampered by the inferior simulated standard production lines of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Axion was forced to station a portion of the automata on the lines to maintain output. Even so, once the factory’s capacity rose from ten thousand units a day to sixty thousand, it hit a hard ceiling.

The Mechanicus production lines were archaic and inefficient, cluttered with redundant processing machinery rather than utilizing quantum decomposition and printing technologies. This was precisely why Axion had prioritized the production of Sapient Machine Automaton.

With the labor shortage temporarily mitigated, numerous furnaces were ignited.

Massive clumps of mixed metal conglomerates were hoisted from the "Glass Lakes" and dragged by Eight-Legs to factories that lacked even basic walls. Constructing walls was a waste of time; Axion simply erected colossal sheds to cover the operations. Scorching heat billowed between the machines.

Under precise calculation, a complex and highly efficient material transport system was constructed, with equipment maintained at the absolute minimum safety clearance. This hyper-dense accumulation of machinery would have been a waking nightmare for any mortal worker.

Operating at full capacity, the environment hovered less than 5% below safety limits for extreme heat. Toxins from ignited prometheum fuels filled the air, accompanied by the bone-shaking cacophony of massive machinery. A mortal man would have collapsed into a mental break within minutes.

The narrow gangways and restricted maintenance spaces were so limited that even the Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus would have been struck silent by the sheer lack of safety protocols. To Axion, however, safety was an absolute constant.

Machines do not suffer from curiosity, nor do they make mistakes. Any malfunction was met with an instantaneous response. All production equipment had been retrofitted with rudimentary intelligence and a vast array of sensors. The Sapient Machine Automatons patrolling the lines didn't even need to touch a switch; they could remotely deactivate and repair any faulty machine in their vicinity. In a realm of total standardization, "accidents" were non-existent.

Driven by a deep distrust of Mechanicus craftsmanship, Axion scheduled temporary calibrations for all equipment every three Terran days. He sought to ensure that these inferior machines, plastered with Mechanicus icons and meaningless litanies, would not fail under the strain. To ensure manufacturing precision, he purged all original programs and data presets, re-transcribing a production intelligence unit to integrate the machinery. The entire factory functioned as a single, independent collective of production intelligence.

Though it was barely a half-finished prototype compared to a standard factory of his era, it finally freed Axion from overseeing daily operations. Once the data parameters were set, he needed only to designate the production quotas.

Following the automatons, batches of Eight-Legs drifted out of the factories. The minerals of this planet required no deep mining; they only needed to be excavated in chunks from the "Mountain of Corpses"—the ruins of the old hive—and fed into the refining vats. These flexible, high-capacity Eight-Legs were the ideal units for the task, negating the need for specialized transport vehicles.

In just two months, a spaceport was thrust into the sky from the planet's surface. Utilizing a tectonic rift torn open by a Hive Ship, a massive metal foundation was laid. The metal mountain had been completely carved away, replaced by a titanic, pillar-like spire reaching into the void. Geothermal energy was siphoned directly from the core to power the new facility.

For the first time since the conflict began, the Pectaro ceased its drifting and docked at a port of its own. However, with the construction still underway, the vessel’s sheer bulk made it appear larger than the spaceport itself.

The siphoned metal alloys were refined without interruption. Aside from what was consumed for construction, the remainder was cast into various ingots and stacked in neat, monolithic rows across the planet's surface. Since the previous plasma storms had scoured the atmosphere of oxygen, there was no threat of oxidation.

The underground hive structures were cleared once more. Every component related to biological life-support was dismantled. The former Underhive hab-blocks were converted into massive warehouses, their convoluted and chaotic layouts torn down and rebuilt by armies of Sapient Machine Automatons.

The few Gene-Stealers lucky enough to have survived the initial purge found themselves with nowhere left to run.

Though these automatons were auxiliary units, they were far from helpless. Equipped with laser cutters and welding torches, the mechanical strength inherent in their frames was devastating. An automaton could effortlessly seize a lunging Genestealer and crush its skull, using its short-range laser cutter to surgically dismantle the xenos in the cramped confines of the sub-levels.

Equipped with bio-detection modules, these Sapient Machine Automatons could not be ambushed like the Astartes; even if a xenos lurked in the ventilation ducts, it was instantly flagged for termination.

Chapter 170: Apocalypse Titan and Vessels

As mountain-sized piles of materials were consumed, an ever-growing host of war-engines rose. Legions of basic Automated Sentry-Troopers marched off the production lines in vast phalanxes.

For every ten thousand Sentry-Troopers produced, they were followed by three thousand standard Peltast Sniper Automata and five hundred Erratana-class Armored Wardens, configured for a balance of long-range and close-quarters engagement.

These Peltast Automata differed significantly from the initial units Axion had hand-assembled. With a dedicated supply base now at his disposal, the caliber of the snipers' rail-cannons had nearly doubled. When necessary, they could execute indirect fire trajectories, performing localized saturation bombardments.

Due to the insufficient precision of the Mechanicus-manufactured production equipment, Axion was unable to construct nanite mechanical units or fabricate nanobots. Consequently, he refrained from producing more Executor Heavy Tanks. Instead, the abundance of raw materials allowed him to retrofit every Armored Warden with auxiliary low-energy rocket pods and missile launchers, ensuring the necessary firepower for area-denial operations.

Subsequently, Axion transferred the Apocalypse-class Titan power core from the Pectaro down to the planet's surface.

While the local facilities were inadequate for Axion to forge a new Titan-grade reactor from scratch, the completion of a simplified chassis was within his current capabilities. This colossal engine of war, standing over fifty-five meters tall when fully upright, possessed a three-legged chassis design capped by a humanoid, reclining upper torso. It was a terrifying spectacle, a super-heavy fire support anchor for the Iron Men's surface forces.

Massive, multi-layered energy shields provided the Titan with near-impenetrable defense against conventional heavy ordnance. Its primary armament consisted of twin Apocalypse-pattern Atom-Pulse Megacannons, capable of striking orbital vessels directly from the planetary surface. Nestled between these twenty-five-meter-long barrels were arrays of Plasma Destroyers and dense missile pods. Even the leg-support pylons were festooned with vast arrays of anti-personnel laser emitters. It was an extremist design dedicated entirely to the maximization of firepower.

When those twin Atom-Pulse cannons roared, entire mountain ranges would be reduced to pulverized dust.

Looking upon the looming Apocalypse Titan, Axion felt, for the first time, that his tactical strength had achieved a modicum of sufficiency. Yet, he remained profoundly dissatisfied with the Adeptus Mechanicus production lines.

The process was primitive: the clumsy smelting of metal, the agonizing wait for cooling, and the manual integration performed by lobotomized servitors. Such methods were incapable of producing high-precision components. The resulting structural deviations were so significant that Axion was forced to spend nearly a week utilizing his scarce Nanite Swarms to recalibrate and fuse the chassis.

Crude welding seams were smoothed out; metal was re-bonded into seamless unities. Clumsy bolts and haphazard connecting struts were devoured by nanites and reconstructed into cohesive wholes. Even after such rigorous refinement, the final performance parameters of the Apocalypse Titan, save for the power modules, remained nearly 15% below the standard baseline.

Axion felt a twinge of regret. When he had encountered that standard production line on Cawl's vessel, he should have prioritized constructing a Nanite Swarm Hive-Mother rather than Erratana Armored Wardens.

However, Nanite Swarms were not primary combat assets, and their priority ranking was low. While Axion was aware of the catastrophic damage "Grey Goo" outbreaks had historically caused, his records categorized Nanite Swarms primarily for battlefield repair and auxiliary fabrication. Their precision was inferior to standard industrial production lines, and their efficiency was significantly lower. They were much like the Canoptek scarabs of the Necrons: possessing combat utility, but ultimately serving as auxiliary support machines.

Beyond surface units, Axion commenced construction of the orbital shipyards within the spaceport.

After consuming nearly a quarter of the planet’s remaining surface minerals, a titanic orbital structure manifested at the edge of the spaceport. What followed was a protracted labor of "ant-like" logistics.

Massive waves of transport craft were constructed to ferry materials from the surface to orbit. Within the spaceport, nearly two hundred thousand Sapient Machine Automata worked ceaselessly. Soon, a vessel only slightly smaller than the Pectaro was completed.

This HG-class Giant Carrier, dominating its sector with massive modular cargo bays, plunged its docking spires into the planetary crust.

Save for a single garrison brigade left behind, the mechanical host waiting in the Underhive warehouses began its thunderous exodus. Two-thirds of every cargo bay were packed with combat automata. The remaining space was allocated to Sapient Machine Automata tasked with maintenance, as well as vast stores of ammunition and energy cells.

Compared to the cramped quarters of the Astra Militarum, where a single guardsman might have barely three cubic meters of living space, five Sentry-Troopers could be packed into two cubic meters. The Peltast Automata lowered their long cannon barrels to minimize their profile. The Armored Wardens folded their multi-legged chassis, verticalizing their weapon systems to occupy the smallest possible footprint.

The calibrated Apocalypse Titan and the Executor tanks were dismantled by Eight-Legs into modular components and stacked in interlocking patterns within the bays. A lottery was then conducted among the Eight-Legs; those whose serial numbers were selected were packed into the remaining crevices of the hold.

A contingent of military security automata was ferried directly from the surface to the Giant Carrier. These humanoid security droids, equipped with high-fidelity manipulator arms, patrolled the decks armed with Plasma Pulse Cannons and Graviton Guns. They operated in tandem with heavy automated defense turrets embedded in the corridors to ensure the cargo’s absolute security.

The mechanical legions slumbering in the cargo bays were packed with such density that extreme caution was required; any unforeseen accident could result in the inexplicable loss of entire units.

Due to the lack of specialized machinery, this mechanical army remained incomplete, lacking mid-tier battlefield units. Ultimately, the Giant Carrier was loaded to capacity with fifteen mechanical regiments, nearly three hundred thousand individual units.

Of these, two hundred thousand were basic Automated Sentry-Troopers, wielding neutron-beam emitters or graviton gatlings in one hand and particle-vibration blades in the other. The remainder consisted of Peltasts and Armored Wardens. The eight Executor tanks and the single Apocalypse Titan were also secured within. The remaining voids were stuffed with layers of Sapient Machine Automata, various supplies, and emergency repair equipment.

Back on the surface, the factories ceased unit production, transitioning instead to the fabrication of standardized metal ingots. Only a minimal workforce of automata remained active.

It was not that Axion lacked the will to produce more troops. It was simply that a single mining world’s supply of rare earth minerals had reached its limit. This scarcity made Axion miss the Necrons; at the very least, the quality of their living metal was superb.

After filling the Pectaro’s hangars with drone fighters equipped with twin-linked plasma pulse cannons and missile pods, the planet slipped into a resource drought. Certain rare minerals were entirely depleted. Units manufactured from conventional alloys were too fragile to be viable.

Faced with this resource crisis, Axion even briefly considered whether he should produce civilian industrial equipment and begin recruiting living personnel for logistical control. Based on his analysis of Imperial Guard equipment, the remaining common resources on this planet were sufficient to arm ten full Astra Militarum regiments. After all, the materials required for Chimera transports, Baneblade tanks, or basic survival gear were still abundant in the planetary crust.