When I woke up a few hours later, my holoscreen waited for me with two brand-new STC models, rotating in mid-air.

I glanced at Brother Joghaten, who just shrugged. "It just appeared by itself."

The first model was a new Armed Sentinel, looking quite advanced and comfortable, despite the bulky armored arms which replaced the bundle of mechadendrites I used so far. Its right arm held a Solex_Heavy_Lascannon , the type also used by rare patterns of Mechanicus automata. On his back, the new Thanatos plasma mortar instead of the twin 60mm mortars I used for high-explosive and incendiary bombs. Then again, the plasma mortar had both types of damage included as payload, while being quite bulky and heavy. No need for munitions though.

The Sentinel's left arm held a long pike, which ended with a Chainfist , a shorter and more durable version of the regular Chainsword. Hmmm, a Chainspear, perhaps?

Beneath the rotating hologram, diagrams and smalls screen displayed power output and damage capacity of the Sentinel, even the Sollex outmatching normal Lascannons by an order of magnitude. The chain weapon was called a Chain_Glaive , which made a lot of sense. Cavalry units in the Imperium also used a similar weapon.

The second vehicle was an anti-grav Repulsor_Executioner pattern, using a pair of twin-linked Neutron Lasers for direct fire, and another pair of Thanatos plasma mortars for indirect, arching shots over walls or into trenches. Far smaller and lighter than my Ragnarok tanks, and yet at least five times more fast and nimble due to its anti-grav drives. A multi-melta gun was mounted on the front glacis, while a pair of Ion Beamers provided light fire support against flanking infantry on the sides.

But while the vehicles had amazing firepower, it wouldn't mean much without a powerful enough powersource. And the Blade took care of this as well, providing miniaturized arc reactors for both templates, two for the Sentinel and eight identical reactors for the Repulsor floating tank.

'Prospective names, Blade Sentinel and Thanatos Repulsor.' the Blade whispered in my mind, her voice sounding quite proud.

I mean, she did a better job in a few hours than I did in decades, so there was a reason for her pride.

'We'll need to produce some and field-test them against Orks and Tyranids. Not that I don't like new templates, but I rather not have them instantly transform into Daemon Engines.' I mused internally, while my bodyguard examined the prototype templates with expert eyes.

"More of your work, Lord Captain?" the White Scars Astartes asked to make sure. Maybe he thought my dreams were creating STCs now? I wasn't there yet.

"Not really. Most of the STC templates we use today were created by the Men of Gold of the Golden Age. What we little people can do, is merely adapt them to new enemies and environments.

A Sentinel is always a Sentinel, even with a plasma mortar." I countered while sipping some black tea to wake up properly.

"They sure look powerful. Field tests soon?" the man asked in a professional voice. See? He also knew not to trust everything that shined.

"Yes, there are plenty of xenos around. And we'll need to fight our way through some alien empires to get out of the Galactic Core." I answered with a mild voice, and my bodyguard just nodded.

"I'd say the rogue trading was successful then. Live long and prosper!" the Blademaster exclaimed, quoting my children book too.

Captain Khan was more fun when quoting the Codex Astartes at me. 'The Codex Astartes does not support your actions...' . Now he fell in the other extreme, using my children book as some kind of holy manual. Luckily for him, he was even better with a sword than most of our enemies, so he lived to learn.

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There are no perfect plans, only lucky coincidences. Although some planning does save a lot of headaches, true enough.

Time to go back to work, and finish the trade. The Kindred were quite the type to hold Grudges if you didn't keep your word. The capital G was a capital offense too.

After creating the other two cores for the Votann, without the defense turrets this time to save time and energy, the Tethys Grimnyr handed me a stormbolter magazine, filled with special rounds. "These bolt rounds use a solid Darkstar core for their payload. Only shoot at someone you really want dead. Very dead." the bearded old dwarf spoke in a warning voice.

I nodded gravely. A Darkstar_Warhead was also used by the Tau, but they didn't invent it, only adapted it for missile warheads. The Leagues of Votann created the Darkstar_Weapon to deal with powerful enemies like an Ork Boss, although usually in the form of an axe or other melee weapons. They were also rather dangerous to carry around, since scratching yourself or some Kin with the weapon would also mean instant death. I should test a few rounds on a Tyranid bio-titan though. Could be useful.

"Tell Lord Tethys he has my thanks. I do have an annoying Chaos Sorcerer I want to kill rather badly." I answered after storing the magazine carefully. Would a Darkstar bolt kill Ahriman? No idea, but worth a try. It was almost certain I would meet the crazy freak again.

"Our Ancient Votann hears all and sees all. Your words have been logged and your thanks accepted." the Grimnyr replied with an almost Mechanicus manner, which made me smile. I kinda missed my favorite cargo cultists.

On the way back to Balor Hold, I created a few Blade Sentinels by holding my breath and dismantling damaged Sentinels in my cargo, but this was a long task ahead. Millions of these Blade Sentinels will be needed to clean up a Tyranid invasion, or even worse: a Necron Tomb World awakening under our feet someplace.

Ion shields should protect the pilot from the worse effect of the Gauss weapons, but the Necrons had far more weapons in their dimensional vaults. The extermination safaris organized by Trazyn the Infinite on the Tau allied worlds had proven that warsuits with Ion shields were not quite invulnerable. They died hard, but still died in the end.

"Well, the new Sentinels seem to work fine. I also concur with your opinion, Chapter Master. We will begin implementing Blade Sentinels among the Lamenter Auxilia, as soon as production levels can cover the organization table." Captain Laur spoke in agreement as we witnessed several troopers from the Auxilia test the Sentinels on my xeno Auxilia cannon fodder. The Orks didn't mind getting blown up anyways.

"I am thinking about a new model army though. An entire Sentinel regiment, maybe 40000 walkers or so. With brain implants and upgraded reflexes, the cloneskeins should simply mop up an Ork Waagh by themselves. Or rebelious Guard regiments, genestealer cults and the like. Astartes should be used on critical or important targets." I concluded as a squad of Sentinels butchered a hundred Orks in a few seconds. Plasma mortars were kinda overkill too.

"...The Orks are still a dangerous enemy, Chapter Master. Especially if they gather in numbers. We almost lost some of my brothers in the easy safari excursions of late." the Lamenter Captain answered in a worried voice.

"I say you worry too much, Laur. Plenty of Guard and PDF regiments fight the Orks all over the galaxy with lasguns and shovels. And our cloneskein Auxilia are not frail humans either, even without the Sentinels. Their morale doesn't break." I concluded in a final voice. I kinda made sure my Auxilia wouldn't break, by tuning down their emotions, including fear.

I was living just fine without fear, after all. Useless thing.