Chapter 205: Building a Household Guard
Armour selected. Next: weapons.
Antonius led Kian to the weapons display area and began his walkthrough.
"These are all purchasable options within your levy entitlement. Las-carbine — three thousand per unit. Standard lasrifle — four thousand. Heavy-barrel lasrifle — eight thousand.
Given the quantity of powered armour you've just acquired, I'd recommend bypassing the lighter options entirely and going straight to the heavy-barrel configuration.
The heavy-barrel's energy conduit can be hardwired directly into the powered armour's power pack — the suit supplies the weapon, giving you effectively unlimited sustained fire. Your soldiers will need to monitor power levels carefully. Unconstrained firing will drain the power pack and leave the suit inoperable.
Alternatively, each soldier could carry a secondary battery pack mounted externally on the armour. Separating the suit's power supply from the weapon's supply makes energy management considerably more straightforward."
Kian asked: "Heavy-barrel plus a battery pack — total cost per unit?"
"I'd recommend purchasing the complete heavy-barrel package rather than individual components.
Contents: one heavy-barrel lasrifle, two spare barrels, one large battery pack, four portable battery magazine cells, one field maintenance kit. Complete package — fifty thousand Agri-Scrips."
Kian sucked air through his teeth.
"The rifle itself is eight thousand. How does a kit cost fifty thousand?"
"The rifle is inexpensive. The power infrastructure is not. The battery systems and spare components are where the value sits. A soldier who takes the full kit can perform field maintenance after combat and return the weapon to full operational condition — provided the rifle body itself hasn't been destroyed by direct enemy fire."
Kian accepted this. "Fine. Twenty complete kits — one per standard armour suit."
The infiltration suit and standard suits were now equipped. The two heavy suits still needed their armaments — and heavy armour deserved something appropriately heavy. Standard infantry weapons felt like a waste.
He scanned the display rack and pointed at something with a very wide barrel.
"What's that?"
"Fully automatic grenade launcher with belt-feed backpack system.
Fires forty-millimetre grenades at six hundred rounds per minute. Direct engagement range approximately six hundred metres. Indirect fire capable out to five kilometres. Compatible with multiple munition types — high-explosive, anti-personnel fragmentation, armour-piercing.
The weapon body connects to the feed backpack via flexible ammunition belt. Each backpack holds three hundred and fifty grenades.
The system is five hundred thousand Agri-Scrips per unit. Purchase includes six thousand grenades in mixed types."
Kian's expression went from consideration to conviction almost immediately.
Heavy suit carries the backpack — three hundred and fifty grenades, that weight is nothing to a heavy servo frame. Standard suits push forward with direct las-fire, heavy suits walk indirect suppression over everything at range. That's a complete combined-arms unit in twenty-three soldiers.
"Done. Both of them. Card."
He produced the Baron's gold credit chip with slight reluctance and held it out.
Antonius took it. His red optical units flared briefly as they swept the card. Then he handed it back.
"My gratitude for your custom. To summarise: one infiltration reactive suit, two heavy reactive suits, twenty standard reactive suits. Twenty heavy-barrel lasrifle complete kits. Two fully automatic grenade launcher complete kits.
Total: eight hundred and two million Agri-Scrips. The Omnissiah will watch over these instruments and ensure they perform their function on the battlefield."
Eleven billion, down to three in one transaction. Kian wanted to take his equipment and leave this place as quickly as possible before anything else happened to his finances.
Antonius materialised beside him like a mechadendrite attached to his ribs.
"Baron — weapons alone do not unlock a weapon system's full potential. You'll also require logistical support infrastructure.
With that in mind, I'd like to introduce our field energy resupply package.
Item one: one large battery hauler, fully loaded with Promethium cells, capable of rapid recharging for both lasrifles and powered armour. Thirty-millimetre composite armour protection, excellent cross-country mobility, maximum road speed ninety kilometres per hour — keeps pace with a manoeuvring force in the field.
Items two and three: two compact battery utility vehicles. Smaller, more agile, capable of delivering power to any position you need covered.
Finally: ten trench-pattern charging stations. Each unit has an onboard generator accepting fuel, alcohol, or water as energy inputs. In sustained trench warfare — when soldiers' weapon cells run dry and there's no opportunity to withdraw — these stations mount in the trench line and allow rapid local recharging.
Complete package: one hundred million. Ten-year warranty."
Kian's hand was already moving toward his coat pocket before he'd consciously decided to reach for the card. He produced it, held it out.
Antonius's optical units flared red.
Kian felt the loss before the transaction was even confirmed.
Antonius was wearing the expression of a man who had achieved something meaningful.
"A wise choice, my lord. Value only becomes value when it's converted into material capability. Numbers sitting in a credit account are not value — they're potential."
Kian snatched the card back the instant it was returned and shoved it deep into his coat.
"Equipment. Now. I am leaving."
"Baron, I still have several additional packages I haven't yet presented—"
Kian pressed both hands over his ears and shook his head back and forth like a man trying to dislodge water.
"Not listening. Absolutely not listening. You are a bottomless drain and I will not lose another Scrip to you today."
Two billion remaining. That was emergency reserve. That was staying put.
Antonius, having correctly assessed that he'd reached the limit of what could be extracted in a single session, let it go without further pursuit.
He dispatched workers to load everything and had it transported to Kian's compound at the former Alchem-Hounds territory.
When the vehicles were unloaded and the powered armour and new weapons were laid out for inspection, the reaction from Kian's assembled private soldiers was immediate and loud.
Then it got louder when they understood the equipment was for them.
Kian let the noise settle slightly before raising his voice over it.
"These weapons and armour go to the best soldiers I have — the most capable, the most proven, the most committed.
When you've earned my recognition, when you're standing in that armour with those weapons in your hands, you become my personal guard. And your families come with you — all the way up to the Spire. Out of the Underhive. Out of this rotting dark for good."
[End of Chapter 205]
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