Equipment Distribution

Facing this former Iron Warrior, now Grand Commander of the Black Legion, Peter still asked with an expressionless face:

"I just want to know where our equipment is."

Valicar shook his head:

"Peter, if you want equipment from the Black Legion, you first have to ask what you can bring to the Black Legion."

Peter stared into his old superior's eyes:

"Fifty-four brothers, one frigate, four transport ships, and over fifty thousand auxiliary troops."

Valicar grinned:

"The numbers exceed my expectations, but why did you bring so many transport ships? My company adjutant, now a Charter Captain thinking of going into logistics?"

Peter only replied coldly:

"For loot, of course. We came to fight, so naturally we expect to gain something."

Valicar snorted coldly:

"Hmph! You should be grateful it's me you're meeting. Anyone else would have broken your legs and thrown you out. Other war band leaders at least say a few nice words, show some loyalty."

"We haven't even started fighting, and you're already thinking of loading loot and sailing home. Haven't you considered that we might defeat that rotten Empire and bring the entire galaxy under our command?"

Peter answered expressionlessly:

"You won't succeed. At least not this time. This group is just a rabble. Aside from the Black Legion's core personnel, you have no other organized legions, let alone a Primarch commanding."

Valicar immediately retorted:

"The era of the Primarchs is over."

Peter replied:

"But a Primarch can still fight, and carries symbolic weight."

Then this confidant of Abaddon let out a deep sigh:

"Peter, do you know? Crassus was once the best company commander under me. But I don't blame you at all for killing him. Your judgment was correct at the time. In a way, you saved my life."

Peter only responded:

"I came for the Black Crusade, not to reminisce."

Valicar suddenly clenched his fist, angered once more by this adjutant:

"Enough! I'll arrange for you to join my fleet. You can go collect your equipment. Now get lost."

Hearing this order, Peter replied:

"Yes, Battalion Commander Valicar."

Peter then turned and left, along with Anthony, who was also a former subordinate of the battalion commander.

After the three Forged Steel Brethren left the hall, Valicar raised his gauntlet to pinch the bridge of his nose and muttered to himself:

"We're no longer the Iron Warriors Legion, Peter. And I'm no longer your battalion commander."

After calming himself, he pressed a communication button on his throne and gave an order:

"Alberto Dark Sage, increase equipment allocation for the Forged Steel Brethren war band by 100%."

From the communicator came a male and female mechanical voice in unison:

"Confirmed. Understood."

After Peter and his group left, they followed a slave's guidance toward the armoury, passing countless branching paths in the starport until they finally stood before a Dark Mechanicus sage.

This sage had replaced his lower body entirely with tracks, making him look like a man squatting on a tank. But his body split in two from the waist upward, each half bearing a torso, like a conjoined twin hidden beneath two black robes.

The sage's two heads spoke alternately, one male and one female, their cadences rising and falling in perfect harmony.

A mechanical tentacle extended from the sage's abdomen, handing a dataslate to Peter:

"Lord Peter, this is the list. You may select equipment from it."

Peter took the dataslate and examined it. The selection was indeed rich—from crates of bolter rounds to entire warships. Power armour could be chosen by the set, bolters, meltaguns... Thunderhawks, ground vehicles and their weapons were also plentiful.

Unfortunately, warships were just for show; those were for war bands numbering hundreds or even thousands. All these supplies came from the Dark Mechanicus forge worlds serving the Black Legion. Whether Abaddon was truly this wealthy or just putting on a brave face was anyone's guess.

Among the options, Peter also saw Hellbrutes, Daemon Weapons, Hell Drakes, and Chaos Marks—things tainted by Chaos—but he ignored them all.

Peter handed the dataslate to the Voidsmith beside him, and the two discussed it. This was why he had brought Filon along—to help him choose items that were easy to maintain and cost-effective.

Finally, after making their selections, the sage, escorted by surrounding Black Legion Space Marines, opened the armoury's adamantium gates. Biometric verification, electronic keys, plus the Astartes guards and Tarantula Sentry Guns ensured no one could touch the contents within.

The voice of Sage Alberto echoed through the starport's weapon depot:

"Space Marines, you are about to embark on a new crusade, to fight the followers of the Corpse Emperor. Today, you will receive your new equipment from my hands. These weapons will accompany you in defeating the Empire."

As the sage spoke, the adamantium gates slowly opened, revealing the equipment stored within. The gear glinted coldly in the dim light—the crystallization of the sages' wisdom and craftsmanship. Countless chainswords, bolters, and power weapons lay quietly, with Thunderhawks, drop pods, Leman Russ tanks, Vindicator tanks, and even Ironclad Dreadnoughts stored further back.

Of course, the corrupted weapons and vehicles were kept elsewhere, and Peter had no interest in anything tainted by Chaos power.

With the entry of transport servitors, the moving work began.

Considering their bolters were now sufficient, and they had a bolter production line, Peter first selected ten chainswords and ten chain axes.

Power weapons were too precious; they now needed more serviceable melee weapons for the neophytes. Monofilament combat knives or extended combat long knives were ultimately just large slabs of metal—fine for cutting down mortals, but against Astartes or armored vehicles, they still needed chain weapons to breach the armor.

For power armor, they chose forty sets of MK5 Heresy Pattern Power Armour. This armor used rivets to crudely fasten adamantium and plasteel together, with the advantage of easy maintenance and better compatibility with other armor patterns.

But the Heresy Pattern had heat dissipation issues; prolonged operation would cause an abnormal temperature rise inside the armor. However, this wasn't a major problem. It could be mitigated by reducing the power pack's output, or simply endured—after all, Astartes had a high tolerance for abnormal temperatures.

These suits of power armor showed obvious signs of wear and repair. In particular, the countless rivets characteristic of the Heresy Pattern were inconsistent in form. Clearly, this batch of equipment was all second-hand—after all, since it was being gifted to other war bands, they naturally kept the good stuff for themselves and sent out the replaced hand-me-downs.

For vehicles, Peter chose three similarly second-hand Thunderhawk Gunships. After all, the coming war wouldn't require much in the way of ground vehicles; securing air superiority would give them a greater chance of victory.

Worth mentioning was that before leaving, they also grabbed a pile of battered power armor parts. They were Iron Warriors, after all—with some patching and fixing, they might just piece together another suit or two of power armor. Even if they couldn't, they'd serve well as replacement parts.

While carrying the equipment back to the ship, the three finally had a moment to spare. Filon couldn't help but ask:

"Boss, do you know this Valicar of the Black Legion?"

Peter only replied coldly, knowing it was a pointless question—Filon should already know the answer:

"He was the company commander of the camp I once served in. You should be aware of that."

Filon knew. In fact, he had known who Peter's former company commander was even when he was still a neophyte. But he was curious about that company commander named Crassus.

Yet seeing the boss's stern expression, clearly unwilling to say more, he dared not press further. At least they had scored a haul of equipment this time, so it counted as a gain.