"grown ups!"
Loken seemed to have made up his mind and raised his head suddenly.
"There's something else I'd like you to take a look at."
"Um?"
Soshyan looked at him doubtfully, and finally nodded.
Then Loken took him to the door of Warehouse No. 1. After taking a deep breath, the technical priest opened the door.
"This is……"
As the heavy metal door slowly opened, a row of lighting balls arrayed on the ceiling of the warehouse lit up one after another, allowing twelve roaring steel behemoths to emerge from the darkness. Soshyan felt as if he had broken into the lair of a group of beasts. , waking them up.
Each of these metal monsters is far larger than the Leman Russ heavy tank.
Soshyan walked into the warehouse and observed them carefully. These huge blue-gray bodies, 8 meters high and 5 meters wide, were covered with rivets and fixing bolts. The tracks alone were as wide as a person, and the prismatic turrets had enough A cannon as thick as a Space Marine's torso exuded a dark sheen under the light, like the fangs of a beast.
"...I have never seen such a tank."
"They are Malcador heavy tanks, an almost forgotten ancient model. Only the Malkande II is still in production. They are also the pride of my mentor."
Loken stepped forward and stroked the steel giant, as tenderly as if he were stroking his lover.
The Malcador Heavy Tank is an extremely old design, considered by many to be even a predecessor to the Leman Russ, but it has become less common in Imperial armies since the Heresy and few are even aware of its existence. Plant a tank.
In many areas of the Empire, the Malcador heavy tank has been completely decommissioned since the end of the Heresy, leading to the perception that it is a heretical, indigenous armored vehicle of a certain region.
But during the Great Crusade, it was one of the common equipment of the mortal auxiliaries.
Over time, a small number of Malcador heavy tanks still in service with the Empire were either withdrawn to strategic reserves or to the interior of the planet and various other "preparatory fronts", while others were simply used Some Imperial Guardsmen equip them as a tradition.
Even most forge worlds no longer produce new Malcador hulls or improved models, and the exact origin and provenance of the Malcador heavy tank is difficult even for the Adeptus Mechanicus to ascertain.
Most people believe that this type of tank was named after the magic pattern Malcador - but he himself was an extremely secretive figure as a personal advisor to the early emperor of the empire.
This reason, used by some theorists to accuse this tank design, most likely comes from the years immediately following the outbreak of the Horus Heresy.
Due to the urgent need for various combat supplies during that time - after all, too many things were lost in the war, including knowledge and production capabilities, and even the ancient Land Raiders became exclusive to the Astartes.
Therefore, even something like Malcador is very likely to be turned out and mass-produced for emergency use.
But like most things from turbulent times, they become a mystery of sorts.
Although intended to serve as a main battle tank, the original Malcador was larger and heavier than the familiar Leman Russ.
The tank itself is extremely durable due to its huge shape and thick armor. It is equipped with a powerful main battle cannon on a turret with a limited shooting angle. The two secondary weapon points can be equipped with heavy felling machine guns, heavy explosive shells, laser cannons or Small automatic cannon.
However, due to its early age, the tank's design had certain limitations, especially when compared with the smaller Leman Russ.
The first point is the firing angle of the weapons. Due to the tank's huge body, heavy armor and additional weapons, the firing angle of all weapons is limited. The main and secondary turrets that cannot rotate at the same time appear in the chaotic encounter when the front is penetrated. Extremely weak, enemy infantry is also able to take advantage of these disadvantages.
Even so, experienced commanders will also combine infantry with it.
However, the second flaw of the tank - the weakness of the engine - is not so easy to overcome.
The main engine of the Makado heavy tank is an ancient combustion power engine, which is also a modification used in many industrial and agricultural heavy machinery. Unfortunately, the size and weight of the Makado heavy tank make It's overloaded.
This makes it logistically terrible and has extremely poor fuel efficiency.
To further increase engine power, it is inevitable to increase the tonnage of the tank again - because the only way to increase power is to increase the number of engines.
To put it simply, the design of the Makado heavy tank fell into the dilemma of adding water to the surface and adding water to the surface.
This may be the real reason why it was abandoned.
"...The mentor has been improving the Makhado heavy tank. He canceled the secondary turret, designed a new independent turret, gave the main gun enough shooting range, and replaced it with his improved composite power engine, which is enough to make the Makhado Many heavy tanks can run as fast as a Leman Russ."
While Loken was introducing it, Soshyan himself was also observing this type of tank.
As the other party said, the Malcador heavy tank in front of you does only have a main turret that can rotate 180 degrees, which is different from most of the empire's armor, and the front of the vehicle body is cut into a 50° inclined plane, making it The armor's defense, which was already very thick, has been improved to a higher level.
As for the secondary weapons, it is a heavy bolter on the front of the vehicle, and an external automatic cannon on each side of the vehicle. This design reduces the number of crew members by two, and only 4-5 people are needed. Can fight.
Soshyan admitted that the improved Malcador heavy tank is a trustworthy weapon and will even perform better than the Leman Russ in breaking through front lines and tug-of-war.
After all, it has advantages over Leman Russ in terms of tonnage and defense, and the potential for improvement is also huge.
But the crux of the question is, what does Loken want to do?
"Priest Lorcan."
Soshyan withdrew his gaze from the Malcador heavy tank and turned to the chattering Mechanicus priest.
"What do you mean by bringing me to see these?"
Loken's shoulders visibly stiffened, and then he slowly turned around.
A stiff smile appeared on his face and he said:
"S-Sir, after hearing the great deeds of your battle group, I...I also want to make some contributions to the empire."
"This is not our property and it is not yours."
Soshyan stared at Loken and his voice gradually became darker.
Under the gaze of the Space Marines, Loken's psychological defense finally collapsed. He lowered his head like a child who had done something wrong and muttered:
"I... um... do you still have... one less technical priest on your ship..."
Loken lowered his head, but what he didn't see was that a smile appeared on Soshyan's face.
Just as he suspected.
"Are you afraid of accountability?"
"No, no, no! It's definitely not accountability, they will only take revenge! They hate my mentor, and they hate me! They won't let this opportunity go!"
Loken raised his head, so nervous that his tongue was tied.
