Hearing the Magos's words, Calanthus and Hadrian turned to face the two robed Cult Mechanicus Magos.
"I overheard what you just said. Have the Dark Angels previously acquired our Power Armour and impersonated Ultramarines?"
The two Magos instantly recognized the distinctive laurel and the red-and-white-crested veteran helmet. The Ultramarines before them were clearly genuine, not Dark Angels in disguise. As Magos who often cooperated with the Inquisition, they were privy to various dubious stories. While these tales might not be entirely true, every story had an origin, even if the disseminators of those origins often vanished without a trace.
"Ah, you must have misheard. I never said the Dark Angels impersonated Ultramarines."
Despite their verbal denial, the two Magos were furiously communicating with each other via their internal comms.
'They don't impersonate Ultramarines, but they've reportedly done it to other Chapters often enough.'
Since the Magos used binary cant, a form of sacred Mechanicus communication, no one else could understand their exchange.
The two Magos had no desire to speak ill of a Chapter considered fanatical even by the oil-brained standards of the Mechanicum. While the Cult Mechanicus enjoyed a transcendent status, and the rank of Magos granted them exceptional privileges, this did not guarantee a good outcome should they provoke the Dark Angels. No one wanted to simply vanish, die on some inexplicable mission, or suffer a bizarre accident.
Moreover, even the fanatical Dark Angels would not stoop to impersonating an Ultramarines Sergeant and an Invictarii veteran. That was not preserving a secret; it was manufacturing a secret.
Calanthus paused briefly after the Magos's sudden arrival and cryptic hint, then decided to ignore them. The Captain of the Indomitable, however, was already quite used to waiting.
"Sirs?"
After a careful verbal reminder, the Captain stood by, looking humble, like a Noble's retainer.
Hadrian turned his head to glance at Axion, who was still deep in thought, and spoke. "We shall return to our vessel shortly. The objective of our mission has been secured. The neophytes on our ship must be swiftly integrated into other companies and deployed for war. The Iron Man Axion will depart with us."
The two Magos immediately protested. "The Iron Man cannot leave with you. He is subject to the supervision of the Cult Mechanicus. This is the result of a joint assessment by the Inquisition and the Mechanicum. Sapient constructs must be properly examined by us to prevent the risk of technological loss."
There was no way the two Magos would easily let Axion go. They had only just pried open a crack in this vault of ancient technology and knowledge. If they could acquire and study all of his data, ascending to the rank of Archmagos would likely be a trivial matter. Furthermore, the volume and complexity of the data Axion possessed were vaster than they had ever conceived.
The current situation was not unexpected by Axion. Ever since he learned of the Age of Strife and the loss of technology, Axion had immediately understood why these "oil-bods" were so fanatical about him. This kind of obsessive devotion to technology was not much different from the "oil-bods" of his own era.
Axion casually retrieved the chip Calanthus had given him earlier, switched out several miniature tools on his palm, and after briefly correcting the internal crystal lattice configuration, tossed the chip to the two Mechanicus Magos.
"Take this. If you can independently find a way to analyze it, you will obtain a single technological product I have stored within."
With that, he flicked the chip towards the two Magos.
The two Cult Mechanicus Magos scrambled to catch the minuscule chip. After Axion's repair, the object was emitting a faint glow and bore strange, geometrically beautiful patterns characteristic of mechanical design.
Perhaps realizing they would be unable to retain the ancient construct, one of the Magos looked around, then removed a decorative pendant from his own robe, a symbol of the Cult Mechanicus.
"Ancient construct, perhaps this insignia can offer you some unique benefit. If you do not mind, I can affix it to your armour."
Axion shrugged indifferently.
The Magos carefully used his auxiliary servo-arms to hold up the insignia and cautiously approached the side of Axion's gleaming silver Adamantium chest plate. The other Magos pulled out a welding torch, attempting to weld it directly onto the outer casing.
As the blinding arc light flared, everyone present fell into silence. The welding arc had utterly melted the insignia, yet there was no mark whatsoever on Axion's chest plate. The portable welding device was simply incapable of leaving any trace on the silver armour.
The Magos looked up awkwardly, only to catch sight of Axion's peculiar, almost teasing mechanical face. He then forced an embarrassed smile. Truthfully, the "oil-bod's" smile appeared stiff, even more like a machine than the metal-headed Axion.
Axion scanned the emblem's pattern, then autonomously adjusted the Iron Man markings on his own chassis. As a high-grade Iron Man unit, Axion possessed nanite self-maintenance capability; he could collect material to repair himself when necessary. Although this efficiency was extremely low when facing large-scale damage, the minor task of altering his own markings was exceedingly simple.
The clear barcode and serial number on his side shoulder plate gradually faded, replaced by a standard Imperial Aquila symbol and a Cult Mechanicus cog symbol.
The two Magos watched the arbitrarily changing insignia with fervent envy. Of course, their obsession was not with the emblem itself but with the technological power that allowed for the instantaneous manipulation of metal.
However, upon clearly recognizing the Cult Mechanicus symbol, the two Magos immediately recoiled, then hastily departed the scene.
Aside from Calanthus, everyone else looked bewildered by the Magos's sudden retreat. Calanthus, however, wore a trace of mocking amusement on his face. Though, hidden behind his helmet, no one could see it.
Calanthus had a sufficient understanding of these oil-bods, and he also had relatively good relations with a certain Tech-Priest. During idle moments, Calanthus had once inquired about the markings of the Cult Mechanicus. Seemingly identical emblems were, in fact, not completely the same. Even on standard equipment supplied to the Imperium, there were subtle distinctions in the insignia. These distinctions included the Forge World, the supervising Tech-Priest, and even the local Cult Mechanicus Faction.
The insignia the Magos had removed from his person was subtly different from the marking now on Axion, clearly bearing the specific characteristics of his own Cult Mechanicus faction. This was clearly a petty attempt to declare ownership or sovereignty.
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