Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 297 The Battle of Kharkiv: Interlude
Meanwhile, on the surface of the planet Kharkov, Titus and his teammates were taking advantage of a lull in the battle to replenish ammunition and rest.

Although Space Marines can fight for extended periods, even if their bodies can withstand it, their weapons, equipment, and power armor often require maintenance.

Moreover, even if the Space Marines had an organ called the Catalepsean ganglion implanted during their modification surgery, it could "shut down" different areas of the Space Marine's brain when they experienced sleep deprivation, thus allowing them to take turns resting and enabling them to "go without sleep" for extended periods.

While this cannot completely replace sleep, it can extend the duration of continuous combat for Space Marines.

Of course, it can also keep them alert enough while they sleep and enable them to react quickly when they encounter danger.

(Hayek's Chosen One)
Of course, the situation that Titus and his teammates are facing is not so dire that Astartes needs to fight for a long time, so they are still resting and replenishing their supplies in a relatively normal state.

Because the first landing force was mostly from Astartes, the supplies they carried were mostly Astartes weapons, ammunition, and special rations.

After removing the damaged power armor from Titus, a mechanical priest immediately used his plasma torch to heat and melt the damaged ceramic armor. He then poured ceramic powder onto the gap and bonded it to the molten layer.

He then used a forging hammer to shape the repaired area, and finally quenched and solidified it with holy oil amidst the sounds of binary hymns.

Ceramic steel is a special material that possesses excellent heat and impact resistance, while also being relatively lightweight and capable of rapid repair on the battlefield.

This is why the mechanic priest was able to slowly repair the device, even though the battle situation wasn't urgent.

In a truly dire emergency, the only possible solution would be to directly apply molten ceramic steel to the damaged armor layer to fill the gap.

This material is even capable of absorbing and dissipating the most extreme heat and directed energy attacks, and can conduct many other forms of electromagnetic and particle radiation, thus dispersing them over a wide area and reducing the damage they may cause.

(Taogang Armor, making you a real man in the laser rain)
Generally speaking, only large-caliber ammunition has a chance to penetrate the ceramic steel armor layer, and ceramic steel does not dent like metal.

This is why terrane is widely used in the Imperial military field. Whether it's the power armor of the Space Marines, the armor plates of the Leman Ruth, or even the elite troops of the Astrail Force, you can see the shadow of terrane armor on them.

Furthermore, the Astartes' rations contained ceramsite particles and other metal microparticles, in order to supplement their bones with special nutrients, giving them the same strength as ceramsite.

However, for now, Tytus and his teammates are eating relatively normal, nutritious porridge, without any of these high-tech ingredients added.

After all, Astartes generally only need to consume large amounts of this special ration immediately after undergoing modification surgery, during their growth phase. At other times, they only need a small amount to maintain their physical condition.

Moreover, Titus was more concerned with his weapons than with food and drink.

His chainsaw sword is receiving a blessing from a mechanical priest, who is soothing the weary machine spirit from a long battle and replacing and repairing the worn-out serrations.

His bomb gun was the same; having run out of ammunition, it also needed to be calmed down. A servant brought over new magazines and bolt bullets. Although there were already loaded magazines, Titus still preferred to manually load each bullet into the magazine himself. This calmed his somewhat volatile temper on the battlefield and gave him a sense of security.

This ensures that every magazine is fully loaded with bullets, preventing the embarrassing situation of missing a single shot.

The bullets for the bomb guns are not the same as those used by the Astronauts' regular automatic guns. These special bullets are more like miniature rockets than bullets.

This is actually a highly complex rocket-propelled bullet. Its warhead is made of refined gold, with diamonds embedded at the tip to enhance its armor-piercing performance. Some special models of armor-piercing bullets even have warheads made from the teeth of certain special creatures.

(Various types of explosive bullets)
Furthermore, these warheads are not solid, but rather explosive warheads filled with deuterium. Upon hitting an enemy, they will produce a small-scale explosion with enough power to penetrate the frontal armor of a 3K-era main battle tank.

The warhead also has a propulsion base at its base, which continuously provides kinetic energy to the warhead after it is fired, so its speed is believed to reach Mach 8.

The process of producing these bullets is also quite complex. Various rare minerals need to be mined from the mining world and then sent to the Mechanicus's casting world for refining. Finally, they are handcrafted by the Tech Priests.

Yes, you heard right, this thing is completely handmade.

Furthermore, some special types of explosive bullets require additional "enchantments," such as adding the ashes of the Untouchables, the ashes of the Nameless Saint, or fragments of the Emperor's armor, etc.

Compared to these extra enchanting materials, simply carving runes on bullet casings and soaking bullets in the blood of kind and good people seems childish.

From some perspectives, the saying that one explosive bullet can take one life is not an exaggeration. In fact, sometimes producing one explosive bullet can cost more than one life.

This also means that even for Space Marines, bolt-action bullets are not something they can fire indiscriminately.

While there are issues with ammunition capacity, the cost of precious explosive bullets is also a huge problem.

Some of the more valuable explosive bullets can only be used by the most elite marksmen in the chapter, all of whom possess the special honorary insignia of "Shine of the Sharpshooter".

(It is said that this thing was made by plating gold the explosive bullets used by the Primarch.)

Although Titus was once the second company commander of the Ultramarines, he never received the Glory of the Marksman.

Moreover, the supplies they currently have are mainly ordinary explosive bullets, and there is nothing particularly precious ammunition.

After replenishing his ammunition and finishing his rations, Titus, with the help of the Mechanic and his servants, put his power armor back on. He then placed several loaded magazines in the ammunition pouch on his waist, put away his weapons, and finally returned to the battlefield with his teammates.

(End of this chapter)