With six months of established credibility and sufficient manpower, the first census of Paratos Hive proceeded relatively smoothly.
However, things naturally didn’t go perfectly.
Soon, a report was sent to Huron.
When Huron received the report, he was discussing the design of the exoskeletons for the boarding team with Master of the Forge Armanius.
Huron opened the report and glanced at it, discovering it was related to the Ecclesiarchy.
Some members of the Ecclesiarchy considered the area their holy land and strictly forbade others to enter and inspect it, let alone register the population.
The registration team even clashed with some believers.
Fortunately, the registrars had all taken gene enhancers more than twice and were armed, so they didn’t suffer any losses.
However, the census work stalled, especially since these Ecclesiarchy territories were quite large, and in some places, the subsequent passageways were blocked, making it impossible to count a considerable area.
Huron frowned then relaxed, immediately responding to the suggestion: “Abandon the census task, block off the surrounding roads, register the area as an underhive region, and await further processing.”
They’re refusing to listen to reason, so they’re really taking themselves too seriously.
The Ecclesiarchy of Badab is just a small faction with no powerful backers, yet they think they’re something special.
Most of the Ecclesiarchy factions’ high-ranking members, even with the Great Purge, have some who slipped through the net.
Let them jump around for now.
Once he has the resources, he’ll have the auxiliary forces and Astartes encircle and annihilate them, then hold a public trial, and finally have the Chapter’s Chaplains reform the Ecclesiarchy according to his planned new canon.
Even among equally matched faiths, those without a material foundation will find it difficult to defeat those with one, let alone the new Ecclesiarchy Huron plans to establish, which is far more advanced than the one in Badab.
Furthermore, he’s a living saint under the Emperor’s watchful eye; at worst, he can just stage a global miracle.
Therefore, Huron’s plan is: don’t be so cocky now, they’ll all be put on a list later.
After dealing with this minor matter, Huron continued discussing exoskeleton design with Armanius.
To improve the overall performance of the boarding party, Huron naturally needed to equip them with better gear, and exoskeletons were part of this idea.
Power armour was too expensive, and there were no blueprints available for other types, like the Void Armour used by the Solar Auxilia.
Therefore, he had to design a barely usable system himself.
Fortunately, the technology was mature; all that was needed was to integrate the relevant technologies and pay attention to performance specifications.
According to Huron’s vision, this exoskeleton only needed to not impair the wearer’s mobility, be able to attach ceramite bulletproof plates, have an endurance of over a week, and allow the wearer to use bolters flexibly.
The rest could be handled by numerical superiority and specially designed armour-piercing bolter rounds.
The boarding party didn’t need to engage in prolonged large-scale warfare; they only needed to be able to unleash sufficient combat power in a short period.
With fleet support, logistics were not a concern, and bolters were far more effective than lasguns.
However, Armanius, a Techmarine trained for many years in the Martian Mechanicus, still wanted to improve the exoskeleton’s performance as much as possible.
But after Huron explained the boarding party’s operational environment, Armanius relented and began designing the exoskeleton according to Huron’s requirements.
This exoskeleton is named the MA-1 “Engineer” exoskeleton system.
Weighing 32kg, it has a maximum additional load capacity of 120kg, is adjustable to heights from 160cm to 210cm, boasts a 168-hour continuous combat endurance, and provides approximately 80kg of auxiliary thrust.
Experienced users can don it in 3 minutes, while beginners take 8 minutes.
The frame is constructed of ceramite and carbon-silicon composite fibre.
Protection is primarily provided by external ceramite plates.
Standard interfaces are pre-installed in the shoulders, torso, and legs for quick attachment of these plates.
It offers good protection against lasguns and autoguns, and can withstand one shot from a conventional bolter.
The frame employs a biomimetic design, transferring most of the load to the ground, reducing the wearer’s burden while providing some mobility through auxiliary thrust.
Power is supplied by a hydrogen fuel cell.
It features a solid-state hydrogen storage tank (metal hydride) and a fuel cell stack, stably storing hydrogen at room temperature and pressure.
Hydrogen is released during use via electric heating.
The modular design allows for rapid replacement of the powered backpack when damaged or depleted of energy, minimizing logistical burden due to the primary combat environment being fleet operations.
The waist features magnetic and fixed ammunition pouch racks, capable of carrying six magazines containing 120 rounds of bolter ammunition.
The core technology of this exoskeleton is its recoil reduction system.
Armanius has implemented various methods to allow ordinary humans to use the bolter with relative ease.
The right shoulder features a retractable stock slot, ensuring a rigid connection between the bolter and the exoskeleton, allowing the recoil to be primarily absorbed by the exoskeleton’s frame rather than by the human body’s cushioning.
The hip area features a gyroscope sensor that detects the direction of recoil after firing, activating a flywheel stabilizer on the opposite side to generate a counter-torque that counteracts muzzle rise.
The overall reaction time is 0.02 seconds, significantly reducing the impact of recoil on the wearer.
The arms are equipped with auxiliary drives.
During firing, motors in the shoulders and elbows continuously output auxiliary force to reduce recoil.
Even when not firing, this reduces arm fatigue from holding the weapon, allowing the wearer to maintain combat readiness.
The control system employs a dual control system of electromyography signals and inertial measurement units, with a total latency of approximately 50 milliseconds, virtually unaffected by ordinary people.
Furthermore, the “Engineer” exoskeleton incorporates a simple intelligent central control system that can learn the wearer’s habits and allow for rapid adaptation.
In just about a week, even a completely inexperienced recruit can use the exoskeleton with ease.
In addition to this exoskeleton, Armanius has designed an enhanced armour-piercing bolter round specifically for boarding teams, inspired by the Kraken armour-piercing rounds.
The explosive charge of this round has been reinforced, with the metal core replaced by a diamond core, and the detonation logic of the propellant pack has been altered.
The propellant pack detonates only after the diamond warhead shatters upon impact, accelerating the diamond core inside to penetrate enemy armour.
During this process, the shattered diamond fragments also inflict severe damage on the enemy’s flesh, proving highly effective against heavily armoured infantry and light vehicles; even a Space Marine hit by a single round will have their combat effectiveness significantly reduced.
Most importantly, the planet Badab possesses the capability to produce exoskeletons and armour-piercing rounds, eliminating the need for reliance on the system’s military factories.
This means Huron could equip hundreds of thousands of boarding squadrons with these two weapons.
Even without the help of Space Marines, the boarding squadrons could rely on sheer numbers to overwhelm most enemies in the complex environment of a warship.
Furthermore, with slight modifications, this exoskeleton could also serve as an auxiliary tool for workers, making it truly dual-use for both military and civilian purposes.
This is why Huron named it “Engineer.”