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.