The Priests, Magos, and other personnel of the Adeptus chanicus possess specialized communication channels, with senior staff exchanging rapid binary code on shortwave frequencies. Their auxiliary electronic brains allow for instantaneous data exchange, enabling them to process vast amounts of information in a brief period.
While the two Magos currently stood facing each other without verbally speaking, Axion's sensors detected the manic torrent of data flowing between them. Clearly, the two were engaged in a fierce, silent argunt.
Axion, however, had no interest in decoding their dialogue. It turned its attention back to Farien, who was holding the prosthetics.
"Farien, provide with the schematic of your standard prosthetic interface. I will modify the augtics accordingly."
Hearing Axion's command, Farien nodded hastily and vanished from the doorway, only to reappear in the dical bay within two minutes.
This ti, he carried several tal-plate-like chanical structures, featuring multiple external protrusions and self-actuating bolts. As Farien handed the components to Axion, he ticulously explained their function.
"These are the embedded securing structures. They interface directly with the skeletal structure of the body. The actual augtic port is just this circular disc here. The protrusions within utilize a neural-synaptic integration technology; the new limb simply needs to achieve a match with that interface."
Axion was not proficient with biological systems, but a chanical body, once scanned, would be imdiately dissected into individual technical modules. The scanned data of the target could then be analyzed, broken down, and virtually reconstructed within its calculation core.
After barely two glances, Axion already understood the required modifications. When it returned to the maintenance center with the augtics, the scene gave it pause.
"Where are the tallic materials I retrieved? Is the work station cleaned so frequently? Even the tallic powder has been removed?"
Staring at the work bench, which had been scoured clean of even the slightest tallic filings, Axion was montarily speechless.
Fortunately, Axion rembered the canister of tal powder it had discarded into the refuse chute. Re-condensing that material would be sufficient.
With a spatial displacent, Axion instantly appeared in a refuse processing center several decks below the ship's main hull, where waste from the surrounding decks was routed.
The mont Axion's form materialized, it lashed out with a sudden punch.
"Boom! Tchhhla!"
A Servo-skull was shattered in mid-air, its fragnts scattering to the deck. Axion effortlessly caught the canister of tallic powder it had discarded earlier. Before jumping back to the maintenance center, Axion scanned the fragnts on the ground.
The sigil of the Adeptus chanicus was clearly visible on the wreckage. Furthermore, the elaborate ornantation indicated that this Servo-skull was distinct from the standard, utilitarian Servitors aboard this Imperial Battlecruiser.
Axion's database perford a casual cross-reference and imdiately located the result: this Servo-skull was one of the two brought by the chanicus Magos.
While Axion did not comprehend why a Servo-skull belonging to the Magos would be scavenging a discarded container in the refuse center of an Imperial warship, its actions were clearly distinct from the routine labor of the Servitors nearby. It looked highly consistent with an act of targeted theft.
However, Axion held no interest in why the Adeptus chanicus would attempt to steal trash aboard an Imperial vessel.
Retrieving the powder, Axion used a vortex heater to simply re-lt the material and fabricated a transfer structure from common tal stock. After re-casting the material, it affixed the new structure to the prosthetic. Seeing the augtic slightly elongated, Axion perford a necessary internal recalibration.
When Axion reappeared in the dical bay, the two Dark Angels Astartes were gone, but everyone else remained, awaiting its return.
"Here. Modified."
Thien had abandoned the idea of surgical re-implantation and decided on the prosthetic. Apothecary Ousen had placed the severed limbs into a stasis casket, just in case Thien ever changed his mind.
Techmarine Farien was already busy working by the side of the dical bed. Even with current Imperial technology, fitting an Astartes with an augtic limb was an extrely complex procedure. The augtics were high-powered, requiring an incredibly stable base to be constructed on the body.
The Astartes' modified cerebral receptors allowed them to self-induce pain-blocking. Thien was doing this now. To implant the augtic base, Farien was forced to further expand Thien's wound, inserting connecting devices in advance. This would be followed by many more steps: bone reinforcent, neural signal routing, tallic base embedding, and several specialized reinforcent procedures. The preparation phase alone would take at least four standard days.
Furthermore, post-installation, Thien would require rigorous adaptation training. It would take at least a standard week before he could rejoin the team. During this ti, Farien would have to continuously monitor the implants and body reinforcent to ensure seamless integration, precise neural signaling, and to preempt any unexpected issues once the final augtic was connected.
Axion handed the prosthetics to Farien and then stood silently to the side, ignoring all other matters.
The two Magos imdiately crowded Farien.
"These two augtics must undergo our inspection and testing before they can be installed! Furthermore, the preparation for the prosthetic is not yet complete. You may proceed with the preliminary work, then return here to retrieve the augtics from us."
Farien, as a Techmarine, was aware of the chanicus's absolute curiosity regarding the technology embodied in the limbs. But he was also deeply concerned. If the augtics were surrendered for testing, he doubted the Magos would willingly return them. The technology embedded in the limbs was clearly complex and, critically, the work of an ancient creation. In certain less technologically endowed Chapters, such a limb might easily be considered an Archaeotech Relic.
"Magos, the prosthetics cannot be—"
Before Farien could finish, the long-silent Inquisitor interjected.
"I authorize the two Magos to conduct a Scrutiny of these two augtics to determine if the ancient construct that created them poses a threat to the Imperium. If the prosthetics pass this scrutiny, then I shall consider the broader investigation of the construct to be completed."
He was an Inquisitor, not a fool seeking death. Regardless of whether Axion's technology was even comprehensible to him, an attempt at a forceful capture was beyond the capabilities of the current personnel. Moreover, how could one seriously expect a self-aware Iron Man to willingly submit to a thorough physical examination?
It was absurd. It would lead to certain death.
The limb was a creation of the construct, therefore it was an extension of the construct. To scrutinize the limb was to scrutinize the construct. Afterward, the best outco would be for the Magos to take the Iron Man away; it would then beco an internal matter for the Adeptus Terra. If the Adeptus chanicus then misused the technology and produced any dangerous results, that would fall under the purview of a High Inquisitor. It would have no direct connection to himself.
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