Power Armor Cable External Connection? What Idiot Designed This?

"So, let's discuss one thing next—what do we do with these Necron technologies? Destroy them? Destroy them? Or destroy them?" Sandman toyed with the Hyperdimensional Cube Labyrinth he had just acquired, his gaze fixed on the Archmagos of Griffin IV.

The device containing the Burner's fragment bobbed up and down in the air with Sandman's words. If any Necron were to witness this scene, their cognitive matrix would likely be consumed by rage.

As the Forge World that had partnered with the Raven Guard the earliest, Archon Kroll understood exactly what Sandman meant. As for the newly appointed Sage beside him, he was shrinking next to Archon Kroll like a quail.

If it weren't for the fact that this useless fool had already been sold to the Raven Guard to reorganize Tir Star's production capacity, Archon Kroll would have dismantled him into spare parts by now. This was an utter disgrace to Griffin IV.

As a Sage of the Adeptus Mechanicus, he could steal, he could plunder—none of that mattered. But what he absolutely could not do was lose! And to lose so shamefully at that. Everything on Tir Star made Kroll seethe with rage. In his eyes, this newly appointed Sage was far too stupid, lacking even a shred of the cunning their lineage was known for.

He even began to wonder if his apprentice had been swapped out, given that he'd somehow produced such a fool.

The Archmagos knew exactly what Sandman was driving at. If they wanted these xenos technologies, they'd have to offer something in return. While the Forge World and the Legion had an agreement granting the Forge World priority access to technologies recovered during the Legion's conquests, it still depended on how the Legion handled things. What made it worse was that Tir Star was Raven Guard territory. In the 30th millennium, the Legion called the shots.

Of course, Archon Kroll also knew that the Raven Guard had been fairly generous with technology sharing. Every time they conquered a xenos world or reclaimed Imperial territory, they backed up all xenos tech and handed it over to the Forge Worlds fighting alongside them for research.

Their boundaries were even more flexible than some Legions, turning a blind eye to many forbidden studies—unlike certain Legions that rigidly adhered to the Emperor's decrees.

Though everyone was secretly scheming behind the scenes, having a cooperative Legion that loosened the reins was a relief for all.

"Griffin IV will pay the appropriate price to obtain the data on these xenos." Kroll relented.

After all, they'd been cooperating for so long. The Raven Guard had never shortchanged their allies, and Griffin IV's latest products had been applied to Raven Guard weapons and power armor. It was a mutually beneficial partnership.

Rather than letting those technologies gather dust under various bans, it was better to turn them into actual productivity. In Sandman's eyes, the Emperor's decrees weren't worth a scrap of toilet paper—at least toilet paper could wipe your ass. The only thing the Emperor's bans accomplished was letting Magnus blow up the Emperor's grand project.

Along with wiping out the entire Imperium's most elite force, the Custodes, and the most professional anti-psionic unit, the Sisters of Silence.

"I think the Primarch will be very pleased to hear this news. Then everything on Tir Star is left to Sage Lawrence." Sandman turned his attention to the most unfortunate newly appointed Sage of the entire campaign.

After this incident, that Sage would probably be skinned alive. But that had nothing to do with Sandman. After seeing off the Mechanicus from Griffin IV, Sandman finally reached his mealtime again.

"Ha, finally a change of flavor. I wonder how the Burner tastes compared to the Void Dragon? Will it have that smoky, grilled meat aroma?" Sandman fantasized with anticipation, as this was his first time devouring another Star God fragment.

Star God fragments weren't cabbages—they weren't scattered all over the galaxy. To get one, you had no choice but to fight the Necrons head-on.

Of course, if someone was brave enough, there was another way: challenge the complete Star God, the Outer One, who was sulking outside the galaxy.

The Outer One's seclusion stemmed from a bet with the Laughing God of the Aeldari during the War in Heaven. The result was that the Outer One fell for the Laughing God's illusion, causing Him to devour four younger Star God companions. Their consciousnesses clashed within Him, and guilt drove Him to leave the galaxy, walking alone into isolation outside, stopping there in endless self-blame.

This showed that the Laughing God—that clown hiding in the Webway—had some tricks up His sleeve. But it didn't mean the Outer One was weak. On the contrary, it proved His strength, since even His enemies avoided direct confrontation.

In the lore, the Tyranid Hive Fleet wasted countless biomass to take a long detour around His location, which said it all.

No one knew how strong the Outer One was. Even the Emperor hadn't provoked Him. As for who was stronger between the Emperor and the Outer One, Sandman had no idea—there was no standard for comparison.

So for now, Sandman had to stick to raiding Necron tombs across the galaxy, and he couldn't just target the Necron dynasties in the Storm Sector.

Frequent collapses of dynasties in the same region would inevitably draw the attention of powerful Necron dynasties. If those overlord-level dynasties woke up, the trouble would be immense.

The Necrons were just sleeping in their great tombs, not dead. They had their own warning systems.

The Imperium of Man's main enemy right now was the Rangdan. After dealing with them, the Chaos Gods would be the toughest foe. Waking up the Storm King or the Silent King would do the Imperium no good. If those two Necron big shots emerged, it wouldn't be a minor skirmish.

Slurp... Slurp...

The sound of milk tea being drained echoed from Sandman's private chamber.

"Huh... it's gone?" Sandman shook the green cube in his hand, puzzled. After confirming that all the Burner's fragments inside had been sucked into his body, he dismissed the black straw. The Burner's flavor was just too good—he'd lost track of time while drinking.

To Sandman, the Burner felt like magma going down—warm and comforting.

After absorbing the Void Dragon scraps the Emperor had given him, devouring Star God fragments no longer required much effort. This time, he simply used his ability to create a straw and stick it into the Hyperdimensional Cube Labyrinth.

That was the convenience of the Necron Hyperdimensional Cube Labyrinth—it could expand or contract, making it incredibly powerful.

"Ah... so full, so stuffed..." Sandman savored the Burner's unique, dense texture and couldn't help smacking his lips.

Now he had a clearer understanding of the Star Gods' existence, and he was glad he hadn't provoked the Dominion Fragment living in the Pharos Lighthouse back on Macragge.

Back then, it could have easily crushed him.

Sandman had a very vivid impression of that Dominion Fragment. Though its strength was unknown and there were no records of it acting, indirect accounts suggested it was no pushover.

As an entity that could break through Necron blockades to summon Archmagos Cawl and simultaneously scheme against the Tyranids, Chaos, and the Imperium, it had proven its power was far from weak.

"Indeed, a full stomach gives you strength to work." Sandman's fleet set sail, heading back to the Legion's homeworld.

Korax had already finished exterminating the xenos the Legion had scouted, and Sandman had matters to discuss with him.

Fortunately, Tir Star was very close to Savior Star, requiring no Warp travel—just a few days to arrive.

That was why the Archmagos of Griffin IV had to grit his teeth and accept the situation. That unlucky new Sage was truly cursed.

If Tir Star had housed a powerful Necron dynasty, the Raven Guard's homeworld might have been lost...

That would have been devastating for Griffin IV. The Primarch's wrath and the Legion's fury were not something a single Forge World could withstand. Other Forge Worlds not adding fuel to the fire was already a mercy.

Raven Guard Headquarters, Raven Tower

"Did you design both of these power armor patterns?" Korax asked, puzzled, as he looked at the new power armor data Sandman had sent him.

The Imperium's main equipment was currently the MK2 Expeditionary Pattern Power Armor, an improvement on the Thunder Armor used by the Thunder Warriors. Astartes walking in it made a lot of noise.

Its stealth was very poor. Aside from that, there was a limited improved version, the MK3, mainly used for tunnel warfare.

These two suits of power armor had very distinct features compared to the currently dominant MK2 and its improved variants.

The first suit's biggest difference from the standard MK2 was the X-shaped external cabling on the chest.

Korax couldn't understand why his usually wise brother would come up with such a brainless design—exposing power armor cables on a dangerous battlefield?

"Hmm... the external cables do look pretty stupid, but this armor's performance across the board is outstanding. To make it less idiotic, let's weld on a thin outer layer of armor." Sandman also didn't quite get why the Mechanicus would run such vital cables externally.

Anyway, he hadn't developed this himself; he'd just dug it out of the memories left by the Dark King.

The MK4 Maxitus Pattern Power Armor, the most successful design from the peak of the Imperium of Man's Great Crusade, far surpassed the currently standard Mk2 Expeditionary Pattern in both protection and performance.

No armor developed after the Heresy, in any variant, matched the Maxitus Pattern's all-around capability.

The reason the Mechanicus dared to run the cables externally was the breakthrough in various new technical materials.

But the cost of these new materials was high, and with all sorts of technologies lost, the Maxitus Pattern became incredibly precious in later eras.

"Adding a decorative outer shell works too."

"This beak-helmeted armor looks like light armor, specifically designed for the Raven Guard?" Korax saw the name "Raven Pattern" and knew its purpose.

"You could say that. I think this armor is far more suitable than old relics like the MK2. Its main strength is excellent speed and stealth performance. Even though it sacrifices some protection, for scouts and legions that prioritize speed, this armor is undoubtedly outstanding." Sandman said.

"This armor's unique beak helmet integrates a large number of detection components into the beak section, so the Raven Pattern's Augur Array is much stronger than other models.

Both suits come from the application of many new materials. Produce a batch first, see how they perform overall, then decide whether to equip the legion on a large scale." Sandman packed all the data for both armors and handed it to Korax.

Replacing a legion's power armor was a very rigorous process; every model had to pass various complex field tests.

Even if Sandman had produced these, they couldn't skip the necessary inspection procedures.

The Primarch was responsible for countless Astartes. The difference was that Korax could speed up the process, greatly shortening the testing time for the new armor models.

As for what the Mechanicus would say? Sorry, Sandman doubted the MK4 project had even been initiated yet.

The large-scale deployment of these two armor models to the Astartes Legions was already a foregone conclusion.

This would undoubtedly greatly bolster the Imperium of Man's strength when facing the Rangdan Xenocide.

During the Great Heresy in the background, Horus, as Warmaster, had the traitor legions equipped with the Maxitus Pattern on a massive scale, while shunting the loyalist legions off to every remote corner.

That's why the Maxitus Pattern was called the most comprehensive and powerful armor. The development team at that time had the Adeptus Mechanicus' finest minds behind it.

Otherwise, given the Mechanicus' nature and habits, how could they tolerate such a stupid design? The fact they dared to run cables externally proved there was something to it.

As for the Raven Pattern, it was a new armor development project initiated after the Maxitus Pattern began large-scale deployment.

The Adeptus Mechanicus had two armor projects in development simultaneously: one was the Mk5 Heavy Armor, the other was the MK6 Raven Pattern.

The MK6's testing was carried out by the Raven Guard, which later earned it the name "Raven Pattern." Its performance during testing completely crushed the Mk5, which made Korax an enemy of Perturabo, who favored heavy armor.

Later, at Gate 42, Perturabo thoroughly screwed Korax over.

This caused Korax to completely break with Horus, cutting off all contact, and the Raven Guard suffered heavy losses at Gate 42.