Zeke, utilizing the STC template technology, the technical aid of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and nearly a year of relentless effort, exhausted most of his personal fortune. The result was a fully equipped, 500-strong Astartes Company. This force represented the absolute limit of his wealth, not the limit of the available technology.
These private legionaries, cloaked and armored in deep red, were equipped with Null-Material Assault Armor. This was no ordinary Ceramite, but a neutron-lattice composite capable of shrugging off both kinetic and directed energy attacks. Though built from what the Dominion's high-tech STC would deem "reject" materials, its defensive capabilities were astronomical, easily comparable to the legendary Auramite worn by the Custodes.
While the armor was ruinously expensive, the true fiscal devastation came from manufacturing the Dark Energy Shield Generator. Basic material production could be fudged through the STC, but dark matter technology was infinitely more demanding.
Zeke spent nearly half his remaining wealth just to create a single, low-grade prototype shield. Dark matter, a composite similar to a blend of Warp and physical energy, could only be extracted from specialized black holes. He was fortunate a suitable black hole existed nearby; he spent an enormous fortune to acquire a minute quantity, enough to power his first generator.
This personal Dark Energy Shield was virtually indestructible, powered by a core projected to last ten million years. It could deflect the assault of a Knight-Titan and possessed remarkable anti-Chaos properties, having even protected a Dominion knight during a Daemonic banishment exercise.
This prototype was for Zeke alone. His 500 legionaries, whom he had bled his coffers dry to create, were only equipped with basic energy shields—enough to block a single, powerful hit from a Titan-class weapon, but disposable after that.
For all his wealth spent, he could afford no exotic armaments; his Astartes company carried only the common Bolters and Chainswords used by the Imperium's Battle-Brothers.
His 17th year had been one of immense production and subsequent poverty. This 500-strong force was his only guarantee of survival. In six months, Zeke would turn 18, a critical age for the heir of a Knight House. He would be required to undergo the ultimate test: bonding with his Knight-Titan on the Machine Throne.
Failure to gain the ancestral Machine Spirit's recognition would mean social and political death within the House, leaving him without an inheritance. He had memories of a past life and had no intention of dying for tradition.
The Astartes were his life insurance. Their loyalty was absolute, secured by the genetic modification process and the clarity of the STC data, which identified Zeke as their Master of the Dominion. He understood that in this galaxy, only military might guaranteed survival.