As Master Doll and I are working to construct my new dendrite I take notice of something. "Master Doll that servo arm, is it?" "The one from the fallen Magos? Yes. His cybernetics have been cleansed and distributed amongst the faithful. Myself and each Magi have taken one. They were of too fine a make to languish unused. Cleon was blessed with one implant and a dendrite for his role in finding the chamber. I also claimed his Autosanguine blood as the only one of us compatible with it. Does this bother you?" He asks as he flexes the well made servo arm. "No, it pleases me to know the parts are being put to good use rather than languishing in a storage vault." I tell Doll honestly as I carefully thread thin wires along the inside of the dendrite casing. "Master Doll, did you make those ports yourself?" Doll finishes installing the masterfully crafted ports. "I did, it was a good refresh on the process. I haven't made a custom dendrite myself for over a century." "The quality is superb and perfectly fitted." I state as I finish the wiring. "A Fabricator always appreciates good work. I was inspired partially by your dendrites and the ones we recovered from the fallen Magos. It allowed me to try out a technique I picked up from a superior from Mars, an Archmagos Dominus if you can believe it. I wonder what Cawl is up to. He was a bit of an eccentric individual." Doll says as he finishes installing the ports. I steel my expression but have to put my part down for a moment to settle down. "I am sure he is doing quite fine, Master Doll, if anything Mars and Terra are likely weathering this far better than we are. I assume the rest of the galaxy still has the Astronomicon to guide them after all." "Quite right. I'll handle the dendrite head. You can start installing the outer casing." Doll says as he moves to the tip of the tendril that will hold the weapon and starts to place the various parts. I nod and move to catch up, sliding on the casing and bolting it in place one after the other as I work my way up the length of the dendrite. I can vaguely sense the nascent spirit forming within the device which is an absolutely fascinating process. Doll finishes just before I do. Once I bolt on the last piece of casing I take a step back leaving the gleaming Ballistic Mechadendrite on the table. I lean forward and insert one of the connector cables into a port on the table to give the tendril power and start a diagnostic. "It appears to be fully functional, the machine spirit inside is responding to my inputs. I will let the full diagnostic run and install the initial firmware before I make any adjustments." Doll nods "An excellent result for your first fabrication project." I snort "Master Doll, I do not believe it would have been nearly as successful without your aid." I keep an eye on the machine spirit which seems to be morphing into a little eldritch looking tentacle to match its physical appearance. It seems to sense my scrutiny and gives me a happy wiggle. "Perhaps, which brings us to the next project. Have you decided?" He asks expectantly. I am ready with my answer this time. "The Throne. Even if we get it functioning the rest of the knight will require a great deal of time and effort to bring it to functionality. I want to get the Throne Mechanicum working and test it." I speak firmly and look up to meet Doll's gaze. "So be it." Doll speaks with a deep rumbling, he turns dramatically, reaching over to grasp his Omnissian Axe with one of his cybernetic arms. "Come with me." I stand up leaving the dendrite on the table and I move to follow Master Doll. We depart the Manufactorum and take one of the freight lifts down into the depths of the ship. Doll brings along several servitors, a mobile Servo-Hauler Crane, and our combined guard contingents. Brother Silverwalker has been rotated out of mine for the moment instead Brother Cogfist is accompanying us. We exit onto a simple metal deck with long industrial corridors and large numbered garage and hangar style doors. The lighting is rather poor thanks to the high ceilings and spread out light fixtures. Doll stops in front of a large door marked 30c. He steps forward and plugs one of his fingers into the door console. The door rumbling open slowly after a few moments. The interior of the bay is filled mostly with boxes but there is a large flat pallet in the back where our quarry lies. I follow as Doll strides forward, shining a spotlight on the pallet. "By the Omnissiah" I say as I take in the poor state of the Knight, or rather its remains. The Knight if it could still be called that is a mangled mess, resting on its side and angled towards us, most of the core skeleton limbs are there but most are damaged. The upper armor plates are just gone as are the chest plates which leaves the core area exposed. There is no paint or distinct markings left, it's all been burnt away and carbonized. The weapons from both arms have already been removed and rest separately a short distance away. The blade is missing half its blade the long way and the bolt cannon looks to be in poor condition. The Throne is clearly damaged but at least mostly intact. I can see just above the Throne in the cockpit is a hole passing out the back of the machine and likely a slew of important internal parts. "Where did you get this thing?" I ask Master Doll as we both examine the remains. "We acquired it through a trade with some scavengers. The knight was a freeblade of some sort, that fell in a civil war between two large hives. Struck down by a variant of the Hellhound tank, the Devil Dog, managed to hit the Knight with its Melta Cannon. The Ion shield must have been either down or nearly depleted at the time. The civil war escalated and got so bad no one went back for the knight for several years. We just happened to be in the system after someone had finally collected it. They turned it over to us, knowing what we do now we underpaid but at the time the owners and all the buyers thought the throne was fully ruined and we were buying it for parts." "It certainly doesn't look like it's in any shape to function." I say candidly. "The core parts are still intact. The heat of the attack was dispersed over the front of the entire chassis before the shot penetrated and struck the reactor. The reactor vented all the heat out through the back and through the new hole at the front slagging the heat sinks and evaporating the pilot. It may not appear so but it is repairable." Doll explained with a shrug. "We got lucky, the shot that knocked out the Knight was so sudden and total that the Blessed Autocimulacra didn't trigger. The knight still has a nearly full stockpile of relic materials for the self repair functions. Not that it would help without extensive repairs." Doll moves the crane into position and begins hooking up the exposed throne preparing it for removal. "How is the Ion Shield?" I ask Doll while he works and I observe. "The primary projector has a hole through it. However it is replaceable or repairable. The Throne is the key part that we must repair and ensure it is functioning properly. Luckily I acquired several schematics for the Cerastus type Knight armours. It would consume a staggering amount of materials, manpower and forge time in the Manufactorum to render this Knight functional. However, if we repair the throne and you successfully link with it, then we have our Princeps. There is not a soul I know of onboard who would hesitate to contribute to the restoration or to wish to see this mighty machine walk once more." Doll says before with a grinding metal on metal sound he triggers the crane and wrenches the Throne upwards, using his servo arm to keep the Throne from rotating as he inspects the bottom for damage and disconnects what fasteners remain intact. I reach out with my senses and probe at the Throne. It is mostly closed off, reliant on hardline umbilical connectors to the pilot to function. However, utilizing a quick ritual lets me get a feel for the machine spirit buried within. The spirit is howling with agony so I quickly pull back and cut the connection. Clicking my tongue at how dramatic the Knight spirit is acting. "We are going to fix you, so hush!" I tell the throne though I doubt it will listen until it's repaired and I plug into it. "Master Doll, is the Throne's seat supposed to be so big?" I ask as I examine the control system. One of the Astartes in armor could sit on the thing and not feel cramped. For someone my size it looks ridiculously oversized. "Usually yes, this is roughly the standard size. Some pilots wear armor when piloting, some do not. I have data on several knights who had particularly large pilots. The Throne will need some adjustment, we can also simply add some additional gel cushioning when we go to reupholster the Throne." Doll maneuvers the crane while the servitors move to grab the pallet holding the rest of the knight. I glance back towards the entrance of the bay when I notice Brother Cogfist in my auspex bubble walking back from a hallway and cleaning his combat knife off. I shoot him a questioning glance and he simply replies "Vermin." It's a stark little reminder of why I have guards, this is 40k and complacency is a long road leading to death. As we leave the bay and head back towards the lift I make a mental note to send my Sky Eye down here and check the ship's logs for all the various storage compartments. The chance of something being lost and forgotten down here feels high. Brother Cogfist is given the honorable task of examining and documenting the remains of the Knight chassis while Doll and I handle the Throne. Doll must have sent orders ahead, when we return, several Tech Priests have already prepared a space for the Throne and for the Knight pallet. "Let us begin the Rite of Disassembly." Doll states after he uses the crane to deposit the Throne on the raised metal dias. Doll produces three bowls each clearly marked, salvageable, possibly salvageable, and scrap. He inspects each individual fastener that he removes with reverence and care. I join him, humming along with the hymn as we strip the casing off the Throne. The upper section requires the use of some pneumatic tools and percussive maintenance. Doll is examining the cabling and radiating a faint displeasure. "The core umbilical is intact however the peripheral umbilicals all need replacements. The primary umbilical requires a new interface spike and extensive purification." "The physical control surfaces used to manipulate the machine without the neural connection all need to be replaced. The throttle is warped, the control sticks are slagged, the foot pedals are stuck in place and all the dials and switches clearly spent some time being molten before solidifying into a useless mass." I inform Doll as I work to pry off one of the ruined dials. It takes us most of the day just to strip the Throne down and sort through the numerous pieces. "You may go, Nicole, the task of examining and storing these parts will be ideal for testing some of the Initiates and Acolytes. I will ensure the necessary parts are ready for reconstruction tomorrow." Doll says as he unhooks the various umbilicals and lays them out in parallel. "Yes, Master Doll. I look forward to it." As I leave I swing by to collect and put on my new Ballistic Mechadendrite. I manage to overhear Master Doll speaking to Brother Cogfist. "Brother Cogfist, should tomorrow prove as fruitful as I anticipate. You and Brother Cogmane may be offered the opportunity to forge the adamantine armor plates for the chassis." "We would be honored, Archmagos." He replies curtly. I almost think I can get away without my Astartes escort but when I reach the exit to the Manufactorum there is a familiar blue Astartes waiting for me with the Skitarii and Lael. I swing by my room to leave an update pending for the Sky Eye when it next returns to dock and recharge. I want it to head down and start mapping the storage bay area for a few days. I also notice I have a message pending. I am writing to inform you that I received your recent gift. It is absolutely lovely and fits perfectly. I am in the process of convincing grandfather to allocate me a proper sidearm. Grandfather has also informed me you were the one who convinced him to let me play with the gravity belt. It is so much fun! Thank you! Grandfather tells me you are busy with your studies too. When our schedules permit we should convene for tea if possible. This book was originally published on NovelHub. Check it out there for the real experience. Lady Arianwyn Drakios" I stare at the message. It's immediately obvious Ariawyn wrote out the message physically in High Gothic and someone else scanned and sent it to me. I consider my schedule. I was planning to use my free time to go check up on the Dreadnoughts today. Tomorrow and possibly the following day I expect to be very busy with the Throne and might even need to postpone my simulation practice. Towards the end of the week however I do have some time blocks available. So I forward the aforementioned times in a message to Arianwyn, which immediately gets redirected to a personal assistant, I should have known better. I have plucked most of the low hanging fruit with regards to the simulations. I only found two others that I managed to abuse thanks to the completion criteria. Many of the remaining sims are long and actually involve extreme amounts of skill both technical and tactical. I can still get into the upper top first to fifth percentile mostly due to the sheer scope of control and processing power my MIU gives me. Experience is my biggest deficit, it doesn't help that I keep changing the craft and loadouts I use whenever possible. The other pilots seem strangely motivated and even some of the Astartes pilots are visiting the Pilot Chambers more often which is great. I'm glad they seem so motivated to improve and practice! I didn't bother informing the Astartes or their support staff I was coming to visit the Dreadnoughts. After all, I am their chosen primary Enginseer. Brother Silverwalker must have voxed ahead to warn them at some point since they are not surprised by my sudden presence. "Hi, Baldos! You are looking shiny with your new coat of paint!" I say as I circle the Venerable Dreadnought with my Auspex in hand, examining the work done with a critical eye. "Indeed." He rumbles as I climb over him. "I deem the paint job they did… adequate! The detailing on the other hand is very well done." I notice out of the corner of my eye one of the Tech Priests nearby slumps with relief and gives one of his dendrites a grateful pat. I swing my body around to hang off the front, finding the slit in the sarcophagus to peer inside and make eye contact with Baldos. "How do you feel?" I ask in a serious tone. The majority of his face is covered in a life support mask. Venerable Baldos pauses and holds eye contact with me. He knows what I am really asking. "I am well. Better than I have been for some time." He admits the corners of his eyes crinkle indicating a smile. "Good." I huff as I move on with my inspection. "If you ever are not you have to tell me!" "Hey! I see you trying to slink away Silverfury! You get back here! Each of you is getting a full inspection!" I yell when I notice the Contemptor trying to leave the bay. "This is unnecessary." Brother Silverfury complains as I turn to face him and narrow my eyes. "This paint blend provides a fifteen point four percent energy damage mitigation increase over your previous paint composition for a total mitigation of six point three percent. If applied improperly that mitigation is negated." I hop down and get up close to his Dreadnought. My hands clenched into fists that I put on my hips "Do you have something better to do Brother Silverfury?" I ask in a sickly sweet tone that makes Brother Solantar and Brother Dragonmaw lean slightly away from Brother Silverfury. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel⁂fire.net "...no…" He admits after a long pause. "Great! Then we have time to be meticulous!" I might have been a little invasive with Brother Silverfury's follow-up examination. "All the paint looks good. Brother Dragonmaw. Please lift your right weapon thirty degrees, fifty degrees, swing it out to the left. I still don't like how your ammo feed line for the Autocannon Battery is hanging so loose. We should delay the twist further to avoid showing the side profile from the front and shorten it a little. I'll forward that adjustment to your Tech Priests." I tell him as I check the rear ammunition storage on his Deredeo. I feel content by the time I finish the inspections. "Alright, you four are looking good. If you feel anything is off or needs adjustment remember to let me know." I remind them as I prepare to leave, receiving some scoffs and rumbles of amusement from the old Astartes. —------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I report to the Munitorum bright and early in the morning. It's the busiest I have seen yet. The Throne Mechanicum looks transformed. The carbonization is gone, the ports have been stripped down, repaired and replaced. The analog controls have been fully swapped out for new functional parts. I spot Master Doll, crouched behind the Throne. He probably hasn't left this room since I saw him the day before. "Nicole, good you're here. It turns out we had a small stock of the parts required for the Throne on hand. I elected to continue the repairs. We should be ready to perform a neural linkage test within the hour." Doll was hooking up the umbilicals which look brand new, some of the metal was polished enough to be reflective. The Throne itself is thrumming softly as it draws power for the first time in several years. Master Doll and I are checking each linkage and part as we finish piecing the throne together. I look around the chamber and much to my surprise there are almost a hundred Tech Priests mulling around helping in the forge along with all the Magi. I didn't realize this test was going to draw such an audience. "It is ready. We can perform the Ritual of Becoming and test the Throne. We do not possess a Chamber of Echoes. Instead we shall treat this like an initial Titan linking" Doll speaks loudly, silencing most of the noise within the chamber. I move over to stand in front of the Throne opting not to sit since the umbilicals are all more than long enough. I slip off my Mechanicus robe and end up handing it off to Magos Gertrude. With my spinal ports exposed Master Doll skitters over to help get the largest pair of the set inserted. I use my Mechatendril to plug in the smaller ports one after another. Once they are all inserted I look like I have a massive bouquet of tentacles hanging from my back. "Monitoring station one?" Doll calls out. "Ready, Archmagos!" Comes the curt reply. There are a pair of elder Tech Priests manning the console. Their eyes glowing faintly as they focus on the screens. "Power station two?" Doll turns and asks. "Ready, Archmagos!" The other pair of Tech Priests standing by the emergency shutoff for the power station feeding the Throne. "Power the Throne Mechanicum. With the blessing of the Omnissiah we initiate this bonding! That of Technographer Nicole Cavalerio to the Cerastus Knight-Castigator!" Doll moves to stand behind the monitoring console and gives me a nod. I gasp softly as I feel the Throne turn on and I close my eyes as I am pulled into a digital manifold. Across from me is a figure representing the machine spirit of the Knight. The spirit is representing itself with a visage of what I assume is the previous pilot, a grizzled human in heavy armor. It takes me a moment to realize that it's attacking me. The digital attacks are so weak that my implants blocked them intuitively. I study the lines of code and get rather incensed when I realize the code within the strikes contains an attempt to reprogram my neural network and alter my psychological profile. "Oh no, absolutely not." I turn towards the knight which is still launching virtual strikes at me only for them to shatter on my mental and digital barriers. I look around trying to find the source of the attacks and I quickly figure out the hostile code is contained in the sword the visage is holding. "No!" I yell in the simulation and back in real life as I finally bring my will to bear and strike out. The digital sword explodes into shards as I expunge the program from the Throne with prejudice. The digital representation acts like lord Baldos just kicked him and is sent flying landing and tumbling in a heap. Back in the real world the entire panel of circuit breakers behind the Throne blow at once less than a second after I speak. A waterfall of sparks cascade behind the Throne thrums as it struggles under the strain inflicted by me. Back in the digital manifold I stride over to the fallen knight. The visage is now just that of an empty suit of metal armor. The lingering spirit of the previous pilot expunged. "You will obey." I state and the armor moves to kneel in front of me while trembling. I almost feel bad as the machine spirit behaves like a kicked puppy but I know with Titans you need a firm hand, for their spirits are potent and proud. Once I am certain that the armor has fully submitted itself to my will I probe it looking for the name of my new engine and smile "Do not worry, Sword of Vengeance, you will walk again." I pat it on the head and voluntarily leave the mindscape. "Good Knight." —--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Doll's mechanical hand had clenched the back of the chair at station one so hard the metal headrest had deformed. "Total time in the manifold?" he asked the two Tech Priests. "Thirty seconds, sir. The first twenty five of which she permitted the spirit strike at her defenses unhindered at full strength. Submission: Total… by the Omnissiah." The Priest made the sign of the cog and muttered a quick prayer. He was not the only individual who reacted that way. Doll looked at the screen intensely as he took in the readouts they had measured. It was only when he heard Nicole speak that he finally moved again. "Master Doll, I'm finished. The Sword of Vengeance has accepted me!" Nicole spoke with a chipper tone. Like she hadn't just done something absolutely unheard of. The conquering of a Titan's spirit was measured generally in hours or days. Knights were generally faster to bond but Doll didn't have many data points to compare it to, the few he had suggested an hour average. He had been prepared for this session to take hours if that was what was needed. "Sword of Vengeance?" Doll asked her. "That's the name of the engine. It would probably let me rename it but I think that's a fine name." She replied as she disconnected the various umbilical cables and stretched. Doll rose to his full height and took a deep breath into his artificial lungs. "Congratulations, Princeps Nicole. You are now the recognized master of this Knight. We shall endeavor to return it to full functionality so it may walk again." Nicole looked confused and surprised by his words "That's all I had to do?" Princeps, the highest title for a Mechanicus Knight house, also served as the designation of a pilot in the Titanicus. However inside the Titanicus amongst other Princeps your engine determines your rank. Doll had to stifle a laugh as the Tech Priests all bowed. The two Techmarines had their heads bowed and saluted. The Magi were all making the sign of the cog. "Yes, Princeps Nicole, that was all." Nicole glanced around and looked slightly flustered at how everyone reacted to her new title. "Well… once it's repaired can we paint it in Mechanicus colors?" as if she had to ask. Doll didn't hold back this time tilting his head back and released a hearty full body laugh as he thought 'Omnissiah I would ask you to bless this child but you clearly already have.'