Chapter 22 Technical Sergeant

In the corridor of the Gladius frigate.

Ogedei and Talal walked side by side.

Ogedei frowned, as if thinking about some difficult decision.

After thinking for a long time, Ogedei in the wheelchair raised his head and looked at his old friend.

"Talar, I think it's time."

"What is the time?" Talar asked knowingly, knowing what Ogedei had been thinking during this period of time.

"Locke's learning speed is beyond our imagination. He is getting stronger day by day, and is moving towards becoming a true Astartes. And it's almost time for me to be canned."

Talal sighed.

At the beginning, Ogedei also tried it. Without legs, he only used his upper body to fight, but his fighting power was much lower than when he was healthy.

The White Scars are not like the Iron Hands, a group of mechanical prosthetic transformation fanatics. Quinto Anastasio is a big shot in the field of biological research, but he was unable to equip Ogedei with a pair of prosthetic limbs that could completely replace the functions of his legs.

You know, Ogedei's requirements for prosthetic limbs are not just to be able to walk and run, but also to be able to adapt to and withstand high-intensity combat at the level of Space Marines.

Only the Iron Hands could do that.

As for personal reasons, Talar was unwilling to enter the Dreadnought.

When the Mechanicus was designing the early Dreadnoughts, they were very pragmatic in their thinking. They wanted to allow these Space Marines whose limbs were too severely damaged and not worth repairing to make use of their remaining energy. After all, the rich combat knowledge and almost conditioned reflex combat skills stored in the Space Marines' brains were an inestimable treasure.

Therefore, the early models of Dreadnoughts did not take into account the physiological feelings of the drivers inside. The Space Marines, whose limbs were cut off and only the torso and head remained, were imprisoned inside and soaked in the nutrient solution in the cabin. Various neural interfaces were inserted into their bodies, and countless information feedbacks were directly transmitted to the flesh and blood body in the form of strong electrical signals. The drivers were fine when they were in a dormant period, but during combat, they felt the pain and torture from the surroundings almost all the time.

After an intense battle, there would often only be a charred corpse left in the iron coffin, and then a crippled Space Marine would be put in.

Ogedei still has both hands intact now, but in order to enter the Dreadnought, both of his hands will be cut off.

Talal said: "It's too early to talk about this now, Ogedei, there is no Dreadnought for you to use on the Dagger, and your steel coffin is not here."

Ogedei nodded, then changed the subject and said, "Have you noticed that Locke has been visiting Quinto quite frequently recently?"

"I also noticed that Quinto's attitude towards Locke is obviously different from that towards the rest of our legion. I don't know what the technical priest is up to."

Ogedei thought for a while, recalling some of Fu Qinghai's miraculous performances in Cheslatan, and he had a vague answer in his mind.

...

Let's go back two weeks.

Fu Qinghai carried a suitcase and entered Quinto's laboratory on the spacecraft with ease.

As soon as I entered, I saw a huge iron cabinet next to the workbench.

In the cabinet, a green-skinned giant was fixed in a huge letter shape.

It was an Ork, long dead.

Surprisingly, the muscles and internal organs beneath his thick skin seemed to have been corroded and hollowed out by something, leaving only a complete set of skin hanging on the skeleton.

He is literally skin and bones, without even a trace of meat on him.

It looks extremely weird.

The short Master Quinto emerged from the shadow of the equipment like a ghost at some point.

Fu Qinghai looked up at the green-skinned skeleton hanging in the iron cabinet.

Quinto laughed hoarsely and said, "The 1923rd experiment is over. No. 37, push this material down. It might scare our little friend."

Upon hearing this, Servant No. 37, who was standing nearby, hurriedly pushed the iron cabinet away with several others.

Fu Qinghai shrugged without explaining. He had seen so many imaginative Hollywood blood-thriller movies in his previous life, how could he be scared by the skin and bones of an Ork? What's more, there were other more bizarre alien body materials in Ogedei's weapons room.

Fu Qinghai walked to a processing machine, put the briefcase on it, opened it, and inside was a standard model of Imperial Space Marine bolter.

Fu Qinghai seemed to have already had an idea in his mind. He quietly took out the grenade launcher, removed the magazine, disassembled the bolt, and began to operate it skillfully on the machine tool.

Fu Qinghai had long discovered that, unlike his official politeness and occasional impatience towards Ogedei and Talal, Quinto was unusually patient with him.

Not only did he allow himself to enter and leave the laboratory at will, but when he showed curiosity about laboratory instruments and equipment, he even allowed himself to try to operate them.

This is very rare for a Tech-Priest.

Fu Qinghai certainly doesn't think he has any special blood relationship with Quinto.

Fu Qinghai felt that Quinto's patience with him was more like the patience he showed towards a rare experimental subject.

When Fu Qinghai came to the laboratory, he always stood quietly with his hands behind his back, carefully observing Fu Qinghai's every move, just like the scientific researchers in his previous life observing the behavior of mice.

Faced with the various questions raised by Fu Qinghai, he answered them with great patience.

at this time.

Quinto appeared quietly beside Fu Qinghai again, with his hands behind his back, looking down at Fu Qinghai's skilled and busy operation, and asked curiously:

"What are you doing?"

"Well, I plan to expand and modify the magazine interface, and then make a new magazine and insert it in." Fu Qinghai pointed to the lower end of the gun body.

Then added: "A drum magazine."

Playing the drum… Quinto understood, and then asked, "Where are your drawings?"

Fu Qinghai pointed at his head and said, "Here."

Are you kidding me… was Quinto's first reaction.

Then he stared at Fu Qinghai's hands and found that he was operating the rotary blade, drill bit, welding gun and various processing tools on the machine tool, handling the materials in his hands meticulously.

Quinto's dark green mechanical prosthetic eye slowly turned, and the more he looked at it, the more frightened he became.

When we describe someone's hands as steady, we would say they have the hands of a surgeon.

But Fu Qinghai's hands at this time were no longer worthy of being described as those of a surgeon.

His hands are like two precision robotic arms with errors as small as microns.

According to the readings given by the mechanical prosthetic eye, without any drawings or modeling and purely manual operation, the parts processed by Fu Qinghai have no deviation at all. The readings of hole diameter, hole position, shaft diameter, cylindricity, runout, major and minor diameter...are all correct.

Quinto looked at Fu Qinghai's hands calmly.

The fingers are long, flexible and strong, they are definitely hands of flesh and blood.

Then look up at Fu Qinghai's eyes.

His dark eyes were focused on the work in his hands, without the slightest distraction.

It is correct to use the naked eye.

Quinto looked down in disbelief at the mechanical tentacles slowly extending from beneath his robe.

So what went wrong?

Master Quinto didn't know that Fu Qinghai had an electronic backup of Tony Stark in his mind, which could automatically complete the modeling process in his mind. In addition, White Scar's special meditation method and intensive training allowed him to deepen his control over his superhuman body.

Therefore, I just can't figure it out.

The technical priest quietly slowed his breathing and secretly recorded in his mind:

Experimental log: 17-6. The experimental subject showed extraordinary hand-eye coordination and limb control ability, which is suspected to be related to the mutation brought about by Quinto's blood.

No matter how mixed up Quinto's feelings were, Fu Qinghai had already completed the processing and modification of the magazine in his hand in an orderly manner.

He held the gun in one hand and gently supported it with the other.

"Click!"

With a crisp sound, the cylindrical drum magazine was neatly embedded in the gun body.

The magazine drum was already full of explosive bombs. Fu Qinghai turned his wrist, tested the center of gravity and balance of the gun, tried to load the gun, took aim, but did not pull the trigger.

After all, this is Quinto's laboratory, not a shooting range.

Quinto saw through Fu Qinghai's plan and replaced the curved magazine with a drum magazine in order to increase the sustainability of firepower.

He reminded, "This is an Imperial standard bolter produced by the Agrippina Forge World. The barrel has a rated service life. After replacing the drum magazine, the barrel life may be shortened."

Fu Qinghai said: "Of course, I know, Master, but I think compared to the breakthrough in explosive firepower, the service life is not a big problem."

Fu Qinghai thought about it carefully. Although the grenade launcher has a long range and there are some improved sniper models with longer barrels, its main combat scenario is still combat within visual range, or more precisely, short-range firefights.

For short-range firefights, the size and continuity of firepower are far more important than accuracy.

Theoretically, unauthorized modification of imperial standard weapons is not allowed.

The Empire's Forge Worlds have to consider issues such as equipment costs, logistics, upkeep, and maintenance when producing ordnance. Fu Qinghai's approach of changing the curved magazine to a drum magazine is more similar to the later Chaos Space Marines. The military-industrial system has to consider the overall cost, and the soldiers have to consider their own survival on the battlefield. Neither is wrong.

As a technical priest, Quinto should have seen and stopped this behavior and reported it.

However, the Space Marine Corps has great autonomy in the entire Imperial military system. Not to mention something as small as changing a gun, they have done even more excessive things.

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

Compared to model legions such as the Luna Wolves, Ultramarines and Emperor's Children, Jaghatai Khan and his White Scars are known for their eccentricity and non-conformity among the twenty Space Marine legions.

But even if they are unique, DIYing their own weapons is more common among Chaos Space Marines in the future Eye of Terror, especially this kind of drum-type modification, which is the favorite of many Chaos Space Marines.

Ogedei and his men didn't bother to care how Fu Qinghai customized his own firearms.

Quinto didn't bother to care. Compared to a grenade launcher, he was more curious about why his precious experiment thought of modifying the gun.

And during this period, Fu Qinghai demonstrated a strong learning ability that was almost self-taught.

Fu Qinghai took out a mass explosive bomb from the magazine drum, held it in his hand and played with it, his thoughts wandering.

The Boltgun is a very classic weapon.

It is the standard shooting weapon of Space Marines and is as classic as power armor. Depending on the size and model, it also has derivatives such as bolt pistols and bolt carbines.

From the appearance point of view, the receiver of the bolter is square, and the whole gun body is short, thick and heavy, full of the unique violent aesthetic style of Warhammer 40K. Compared with the huge body of the Space Marine after wearing armor, it is more like a micro submachine gun in the hand, and some Astartes monks with strong arm strength can indeed hold the gun and shoot with one hand.

In principle, like many firearms in the previous life, bullets are the core technology of the grenade launcher. The core principle of the grenade launcher lies in its two-stage propulsion technology: there are two stages of propellant behind the bullet. One stage is fired and burned to give the bullet an initial velocity, pushing the bullet out of the barrel, just like ordinary firearms, while the second stage of propellant continues to burn in the cartridge case, allowing the bullet to continue to be pushed and accelerated after it leaves the barrel.

Therefore, each bullet is similar to a small rocket.

The technical principle of this two-stage propulsion is not particularly black technology. Fu Qinghai estimated that the military and industrial giants on Earth in the previous life might be able to figure it out if they worked hard on it regardless of cost.

But there is absolutely no need for that. As a light weapon for individual soldiers, the grenade launcher had too high manufacturing costs and too much power for the army of the previous Earth.

The opponents of individual light weapons are also humans. Given the fragile human body, the bullet can penetrate the bulletproof vest and then roll inside the body to form a cavity. This power is enough.

There is no need to break people into pieces.

But for the various armored alien races and shield-wearing technological barbarians in the Warhammer universe, the power of the grenade launcher is just enough.

Fu Qinghai happily took his new gun and prepared to leave.

Quinto called Fu Qinghai.

"Little Locke, I noticed that you are very talented. Are you interested in becoming a technical sergeant?"

"Technical sergeant?" Fu Qinghai was stunned.

After thinking for a moment, he nodded and said, "I'd love to, Master."

...

In the training cage.

"So, it was Quinto who asked you if you wanted to become a technical sergeant?" Ogedei asked in a deep voice.

"Yes." Fu Qinghai answered simply.

"Hmm..." Talal touched his chin, "I think this is a good thing. What do you think, Ogedei?"

Ogedei smiled, he had expected this scene a long time ago. He still remembered clearly the powerful ability that Fu Qinghai showed on Cheslatan to learn machinery and technology almost without any instruction.

With a smug gleam in his eyes, he said, "Of course, this is all within my expectations."

...

Technical sergeants, like apothecaries and think tanks, are special forces in the Astartes Legion.

These special arms are first and foremost Space Marines, possessing some of the abilities and traits that all Space Marines possess, but each has its own strengths.

Pharmacists and think tanks have been introduced earlier.

Techmarine are Space Marines selected from within the Space Marine Legion and sent to Forge Worlds such as Mars for further study. They usually paint the gear symbol of the Adeptus Mechanicus on their shoulder armor in addition to the emblem of their own Legion to indicate their identity or to express their faith in the Mechanicus.

The Luna Wolves, Ultramarines and Emperor's Children are relatively balanced large legions with troops of all types.

This is not the case with other legions, such as the Thousand Sons Legion of the Magic Ponies and Magnus the Red, where almost everyone is a psychic. Although the total number of people in the legion is small, their combat effectiveness is stronger due to the high per capita think tank.

Similarly, the White Scars and the Blood Angels are both legions that produce a large number of think tanks. The genes of these legions are naturally sensitive to the Warp and the Aether. In addition, the home worlds of these legions often have a tradition of studying mysterious phenomena or engaging in feudal superstitions.

It is easy to give birth to a legion think tank.

However, some legions are mostly composed of materialistic science men, such as the Iron Hands, Iron Warriors, Salamanders, etc.

These legions are rich in technical sergeants, and it can even be said that everyone is a technical sergeant, such as the Iron Hands who are good at prosthetic transformation, and the Salamanders who are blacksmiths per capita.

Librarians are not uncommon in the White Scars, but Techmarines are very rare.

Scarcity makes things valuable. For the White Scars, technical sergeants are not only a rarity for the legion's people, but also a valuable and rare type of soldier.

Fu Qinghai came to the familiar laboratory, bowed slightly to Quinto, and said,

"Master, the Legion agrees."

Quinto's hoarse chuckle came from the shadow of his hood, "Haha, of course they will agree. The White Scars are not a legion that can produce Tech Sergeants."

Normally, technical sergeants need to train on Mars for three to five years, but now that Mars may have become a war zone, Fu Qinghai naturally follows Quinto for further training.

Studying under a technical priest of the Bio-Sage's level is a privilege that many ordinary technical sergeants do not have.

Fu Qinghai heard the slight contempt for White Scar in the technical priest's tone, but he didn't say much. He just followed Quinto silently to a huge bookcase filled with books.

Fu Qinghai looked up and saw a parchment book of the Empire's classics inside. Some people in the Human Empire believed that books and documents made of this material had the special ability to be immune to the electronic magic interference of certain subspace demons.

Sheepskin is a special sheepskin produced in the biochemical factory in the agricultural world. It is tough and not easy to rot.

The large bookshelf also contains paper books left over from ancient times, each of which is a precious and fragile cultural relic.

These ancient books may have been passed down from the Terran era on Earth, or they may have been seized by the Imperial Expeditionary Fleet Government after it recaptured other human colonies.

It is also the unshirkable responsibility of the Mechanicus to collect human knowledge scattered throughout the galaxy.

Whether or not one is willing to share this knowledge is another matter.

It has always been the tradition of the Mechanicus to seal up certain dark technologies or to research them in secret. This huge organization that originated on Mars has sometimes been at odds with the Human Empire.

There are always various types of mechanical arms, tentacles and tentacles extending from under Master Quinto's dark red robe, making Fu Qinghai wonder how much of this old man's frail flesh and blood has been replaced by components and gears.

Several mechanical tentacles took out a few books from the bookshelf and placed them in front of Fu Qinghai.

They are all thick and bulky books.

Most of them are books on parchment.

Fu Qinghai looked at the pile of books in front of him that was getting thicker and thicker, and his expression became serious.

Finally, I can enjoy watching it all at once!

With the anticipation that his curiosity and thirst for knowledge will be satisfied, Fu Qinghai sat down solemnly.

When he opened the first page of the first book, Fu Qinghai suddenly couldn't help thinking:

If I had this kind of character and perseverance when I took the postgraduate entrance examination, would I have been admitted to Tsinghua University long ago?

...

(End of this chapter)