Chương 5: Chapter 4: What's in a name?

I looked around my new room. Where I would be residing for the foreseeable future. It was nice, much nicer than I expected from being in a warhammer 40k vessel. My vault had been moved to the side wall next to the wardrobe and bolted to the floor. The opposite side of the room sported a private washroom with a sink and a toilet, even a mirror, though with no personal shower or bathtub. I was told there is a rather nice communal onsen style area for bathing, another minor luxury.

My room had a bed taking up the most space. It was a nice full size bed, big enough for an adult. The mattress was plush and soft, the sheets comfortable, the pillow fluffy and spongy. I even had a small chair and well made metal desk and could easily access the noosphere to control the lighting and temperature of the room too. Being given a private room on the deck mainly reserved for higher ranked officers was quite kind of them. No need to share a bunk area with several others or live in the barracks.

The ship did have luxury passenger quarters listed in the registry but I was no foppish noble that needed to be put up there. I pulled out the Sky Eye drone and plugged in the base to one of the wall ports, letting the base rest on the small nightstand table. The maps I had of the ship were good but confirming them for myself was worth the investment of time considering the Tenebro-Maze design the ship sported to help confuse boarders.

Once fully powered the little golf ball sized drone floated up and did a quick circuit to map the room. It was ready to go explore the ship. With a simple ping of my auspex I could sense the guards that had escorted me standing at attention outside either side of the door. Being able to see through objects in the radius was going to take some getting used to but the utility was incredible. I let them know I was letting the drone out before the door opened.

The sensor zipped off to map the halls the moment it was clear to do so. Noosphere access was easily the biggest boon I currently had by far. It was my greatest source of information on the current situation. My new body being bereft of memories other than those I brought over with my soul transfer isekai shenanigans, I could probably just call it my reincarnation, and those I made from today onward would be what I used to guide me forward. I greedily scoured the available data.

The vessel I found myself on was titanic. Nearly 7. 9 kilometers long and around 1. 65 abeam at the widest part. The ship was estimated on its own to weigh around fifty megatonnes. Seeing the ship's silhouette however made me smile and helped trigger a memory. Unlike most of the blocky ships the vessel was sleek, a wonderful combination of power and grace.

"It's a Corinus -class or something close to it." I whispered with a big smile while I lounged on the edge of my new bed. The Corinus-class of Grand Cruiser otherwise known as the Repulsive. Was one of my personal favorites aesthetically. It garnered the change in nickname not for being ugly but due to the fact most vessels of the class fell to chaos or sided with the traitors during the schism. I had been given an official rank in the Mechanicus.

The rank of Tech Acolyte was generous in my opinion given my situation but also fairly fitting. Though considering the data packets that had been sent to me regarding the basics of the Mechanicus for obvious educational purposes this was perhaps not unforeseen. My implants had automatically adjusted the base techna-lingua it used to that of the rest of the vessel once I had unconsciously synced with the local noosphere at some point after my awakening. I had no trouble with High and Low gothic.

I currently had an open schedule, until the following ship day where myself and the rest of the freshly thawed would be reporting for basic shipboard training. My rumination on the Mechanicus triggered another latent memory. I was getting better at processing those and getting more information the deeper I dug into the knowledge provided by my previous life.

"Dogma: Knowledge is Power" A simple enough dogma to understand but it had depth and depth that the Mechanicus were usually loath to elaborate on.

"The sixteen universal lores. The mysteries and the warnings. Life is directed motion. The spirit is the spark of life. Sentience is the ability to learn the value of knowledge. Intellect is the understanding of knowledge. Sentience is the basest form of Intellect. Understanding is the True Path to Comprehension. Comprehension is the key to all things. The Omnissiah knows all, comprehends all. The alien mechanism is a perversion of the True Path. The soul is the conscience of sentience.

A soul can be bestowed only by the Omnissiah. The Soulless sentience is the enemy of all. The knowledge of the ancients stands beyond question. The Machine Spirit guards the knowledge of the Ancients. Flesh is fallible, but ritual honors the Machine Spirit. To break with ritual is to break with faith." I would need to figure out if the faction or factions aboard the vessel were one of the more orthodox or egalitarian.

I didn't necessarily agree with all the warnings but I could still do my best to interpret and follow them as best suited my personal values. I sat up and mentally prodded the guards outside.

"Skitarii Delta-A3-XVII. The shipboard map states that there is a librarium aboard. I wish to access it. Is this permissible given my updated standing? I request your current operational orders." The guards were both outside, the one I addressed twitched in what may have been a brief moment of surprise, I could see everything within a hundred meters of me in a sphere when actively running my auspex. It also had a passive mode that shrank the bubble I was aware of.

The device itself would whisper updates and warnings to me when they entered it's range.

"Acolyte Nicole. Standing orders are to escort your person and guard you, these orders are absolute. Your rank permits you access to the librarium and a majority of the ship. However, certain locations are forbidden until you obtain the necessary accreditations and permissions. Such as the armory, the munitorum, the weapon decks, the hangar bays, the warp drive, other individuals' private quarters and the bridge. We have also been tasked with aiding and guiding you should you require it."

I hopped up and walked to the door opening it after adjusting my new robe. I kept my belt and tools on hand but left all the weapons in my vault for now. The icon on the back of my robe had a small tracking node sewn into it. However, I didn't really mind it being there, all the Magi had identical nodes in their robes too so it was probably more for practicality than anything nefarious. Given I had a skitarii escort they didn't really need to track me to know where I was at any given point.

"Please escort me to the librarium." I told the pair making the sign of the cog with my hands.

"We hear and obey." They saluted one taking the lead and the other moving behind me. However as they moved one of them did ask "Acolye Nicole why do you wish to visit the librarium?" I saw no harm in telling them the truth.

"My current lack of knowledge due to my amnesia is unacceptable. Knowledge is Power. Knowledge, Understanding and Comprehension. I require all three. Therefore the largest repository of accessible knowledge should be my immediate destination." The guards actually stopped for a moment, turning to look down and regard me. I couldn't see past the masks and glowing cyan lenses but I thought I heard approval when the higher ranked of the two, Delta-A3-XVII replied.

"Acknowledged Acolyte Nicole. Please continue to follow us." I let them escort me on the winding journey across the deck. Doing my best to remember the route and take note of the various locations and parts of the ship we passed on the way. The guards led me to a magnetic rail platform that acted like a train allowing them to move along the spine of the ship at a startlingly rapid pace. The brief trip along the rail platform gave me some more time to think.

I had been keeping a digital log of all individuals I had met thus far. There was something a bit odd when I considered that list. The number of high ranking Mechanicus Magi on the vessel was abnormal considering the ship itself was not tagged as a Mechanicus vessel. The presence of an Archmagos even more so.

"Delta-A3 I have some questions, they may seem a bit odd. If I ask, will you answer?"

"I shall do so to the best of my ability." He replied.

"Delta-A3 this is a rogue trader vessel, yes?"

"Affirmative. Owned by House Drakios. The Argent Drake is the flagship of their House." I hummed glancing between the two before deciding to probe for further information.

"Despite it not being a Mechanicus vessel we have an Archmagos on board? Archmagos Doll. Having such an impressive individual serving aboard must be a great boon to the ship. Which faction does the Archmagos belong to?"

"The Archmagos and Magi hail from the Great Lathes. They are of the Levelist faction. Fabricator Doll received the elevation in status as a consolation when he was assigned to this vessel as a favor from the Master of the Lathes to House Drakios and due to pressure from the other factions wary of Doll's advancement at the time. The House of Drakios has earned a good relationship with the Mechanicus. However, it is well known that the Archmagos does not regret this assignment.

Few could have predicted what a boon this vessel would be for the great quest for knowledge."

"You are very well informed Delta-A3."

"This unit has been in service under the Archmagos since his departure from The Lathes." Those terms sounded familiar and the mention of the Lathes tickled at the back of my mind. Ousting a political rival like that was a well known method to maintain stability or garner favor with another faction.

"What Segmentum are we currently in?"

"Obscuras""What year is it?"

"000 M42" I froze perfectly still for what must have been nearly a minute. Various memories that had been slowly building up behind a mental wall crashed over me like a cascade. I wobbled and had to lean against one of the railings for support.

"Miss Nicole, are you alright?" the other guard asked.

"I'm fine, just caught me off guard. That year seems… high." gritting my teeth as I steadied myself. Pushing the thoughts of the cicatrix maledictum and 13th Black Crusade from my mind for now. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. I got a curt nod in response as the transport platform slowed smoothly to a halt.

Entering back into the maze of the ship's corridors I was compiling my own map with my personal Auspex and the data from the Sky Eye though the Eye was limited and could only upload the map data it compiled when it came back to the dock. Comparing the generated map to the one I had downloaded was interesting but I hadn't noticed any major discrepancies yet. I found myself standing in front of a huge set of double doors embossed with precious metals and wood of all things. They swung open on our approach.

Inside was a large space, lined with shelves. To one side were physical scrolls, books and various physical mediums. In the back of the room I could see sleek cogitator stacks reaching up towards the ceiling. The libararium was modestly occupied. A collection of scribes perusing the physical files. A few logisticians of the Mechanicus in the back of the room. A handful interfacing with the devices looking for specific information or performing routine maintenance.

I took a moment to admire the holographic display table in the center of the room. It was currently showing a model of a planet I didn't recognize but it probably meant something to the crew. Heading towards the digital section of the library. It was time to properly test my implants and newfound mental capacity to process information. Looking around I eventually spotted a couple of metallic chair docks near the back of the module that looked promising.

The docks did end up having the proper ports to mesh with my implants. My guards followed behind me as I pulled back my hood, pulling my hair to the side and exposing my neck. I sat down grabbing the cable resting near the head of the chair and carefully slotting it into place. My mechadendril extending its data spike into another port at the base of the chair. Finally two small cables from my wrists extended to connect to the arms as I leaned back.

My eyes irises glowing briefly as I made the connection to the data repository. A small grin formed on my face. I felt as though I had jumped into a lake, a lake of data rather than water. Lines of data floating all around me as I subsumed her consciousness in the sea of information. Closing my eyes as I settled in, I missed the attention my actions drew from the nearby adepts as the small throne I was interfacing with thrummed to life. My first stop was individuals of importance.

I wanted information on the major officers and crew. The captain, his second, all the magi I had met and other individuals within the ship's upper echelon. Even for a vessel this size the number of high ranking magi seemed unusual and it wouldn't do for me to offend a superior. As that data was compiled I discovered my attention was not limited to that single processing task. So I added a second parallel task, seeking out the history of the ship, any and all information on it and the places it had been visited.

When that also proved insufficient to strain my focus and mental bandwidth I began looking into the Levelist faction. Then I added in a query for technical specifications of all the various vehicles and weapons I could find. Only once those probes were all running in tandem did it finally started to strain my focus. My mind and implants greedily devouring and compiling data like a starved individual.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------- Delta-A3-XVII stood silently as Nicole settled into her meditative trance and submerged herself in the noospheric sea. Glancing to his companion for a moment with slight concern as he actively monitored at the multitude of data streams Nicole was inloading at once. ACOLYTE Nicole was processing an obscene amount of information. His implants were rated for high intensity combat and of high quality.

He knew however attempting to process half of what Nicole was currently managing would likely burn his implants out and fry his cortex. He was not surprised that one of the Magi quickly reached out to him.

"Skitarii XVII-A3 I was alerted to an unusual data spike in your vicinity. Advise."

"Lord Xor. Acolyte Nicole requested a visit to the Librarium and has connected to the repository. She is educating herself. Her processing ability is… considerable."

"I see. Please ensure the acolyte does not overtax herself. This will provide a suitable benchmark for her implants."

"Yes sir."

"Have there been any abnormalities in her behavior?"

"I was unaware you and the other Magi had already started reeducating her on the creed and laws. Otherwise she has simply asked pertinent questions about her immediate surroundings."

"XVII-A3 clarify last remark. We have not yet initiated education." XVII-A3 simply sent Xor the video and audio logs of his interactions with Nicole over the last hour. He could feel the weight of the Magos's attention through the noosphere as he brought in several of the others to review the data presented and examine the streams Nicole was compiling.

"There is no doubt she is of the Mechanicus. Even bereft of her memories she retains an unconscious hold of the Creed and perhaps the laws." All the Magi and A3 could sense the undertone tacit approval from the Venatorii Magos.

"We may need to hasten her education further than anticipated. Data on our faction is one of the inquiries she is running." Doll said as he joined the conversation with one of his processing threads along with the other Magi.

"At this rate she'll end up a Technographer in less than a month." Altair commented"It took me two years to go from Acolyte to Initiate to Technographer and I was the first to do so in my compeer group."

"Deciding on her Divisio apprenticeship will be difficult." TH-102 said, causing a lul in the conversation for a long moment.

"Our original plan to rotate her through the divisions is still applicable." Doll told them.

"With her processing ability she would make a good Logis or Lexmichanic." Gertrude commented.

"I will show her the way of the Genetor but I do not foresee it being her main path."

"She's a living relic. She could totally end up in Archeos or Cybernetica given her gear and implants, she was on board a ship and is looking at all the stored navigational data Explorator could be of interest. By the Omnicia even Xenologis might hold interest for her given that rifle she has." Altair said, drawing the others into the discussion.

"Another Artisan or Fabricator is always welcome. Technicus as well." Doll spoke fondly.

"We may yet lose her to the Titanicus." TH-102 said gruffly, making Delta-A3 who had not been removed from the discussion stiffen.

"Why do you say that TH-102?" Doll inquired.

"She just finished inloading the data on her weapons and started another search for her last name. She has identified a single record."

"She has? My search has yet to turn up a record."

"That's because we started at the most recent files and worked back. Nicole started at the oldest and worked forwards. The record is tagged Mars 005 M31."

"The Schism." hissed Xor.

"Confirmed. One Result. The only individual in our records sharing that last name is one Indias Cavalerio. A Princeps Senioris of the Legio Tempestus, a veteran of the Great Crusade, a loyalist who fought and fell in the Heresy against the traitors. I do not have any data on his familial ties or his family situation as it was lost in the Heresy with him."

"By the Cog. Ten millenia at least." One of them whispered.

"She might even be machine touched." Xor's comment and the file Doll shared brought the chat to a sudden halt.

"That is a discussion for another time Xor. Have the issues with the remaining individuals been resolved?" Doll asked. Gertrude responded"Yes, I believe the individual of note retained a minute modicum of her memories. The reason being the individual was subject to intense and deep hypno indoctrination. Luckily no one was harmed."

"Well what did she remember?"

"When released from stasis she got up, went to her vault, grabbed a weapon and holding Cleon at gunpoint asked and this is a direct quote "Where is the child?" Gertrude explained.

"Intervention from myself and a handful of personnel eventually coaxed her into compliance. Unfortunately what little of her memories remain are fragmented. She provided a bit of valuable context though this information is unverifiable. The individual is or was some manner of trained and augmented human protector from the Solar Auxilia. She has the gear and tattoos to confirm it. Her number one priority was apparently the security and safety of Nicole."

"That raises more questions than answers. However, in context that is very interesting." Doll said as the magi all looked over at him.

"Could you elaborate Archmagos?"

"Within the alpha pods were several notable individuals. A Martian Magos, A Navigator, an Astropath, A handful of other humans. However Nicole the youngest was the one that the individual, given the contents of her vault and her exposition, was the best equipped and highest ranking guard took priority over the rest. Why remains to be determined. Nicole's origin remains unknown to us, this single file hints that her linage lies with the Titanicus. We may need to test her suitability at some point."

"I can confirm after processing that Nicole's genome shows signs of extensive genetic engineering. However it's quite complex and she is by no means a clone. Her body is designed to function flawlessly with her implants. I would almost say she was designed around them than the other way around."

"Her Dark Age implants. That might be the case. I feel like this validates Archmagos Doll's decision to classify Nicole as a living relic."

"The recovered Mechanicus Relics and the STC were already a great blessing from the Omnissiah. Nicole is simply another boon amongst our order. Her actions over the past day have only made it clear that she belongs amongst us. Our plans for re-education remained unchanged. Should any of you note anything unusual do not hesitate to share your observations."

"Nicole seems accepting of Protector Delta-A3-XVII and for now I shall keep them assigned to her. Their reports on her activities have already proven insightful. While onboard Protector Delta-A3-XVII and a Classiarii should be sufficient security once Nicole is cleared to carry her own arms. However we shall consider possibly elevating and upgrading Delta-A3-XVII to Pretorian."

"If Nicole should later desire to visit the station when we eventually dock. Skitarii Alpha Delpha-XIX will be assigned to escort her as well. Perhaps the Solar Auxilia as well once she is retrained."

"I believe that is sufficient. Too much protection will draw undue attention."

"Agreed. Nicole will spend this week training and being shown the various parts of the Engineerium and other notable locations where she shall be shadowing our Adepts. After which she shall rotate her apprenticeship and her proficiency in the Divisios evaluated."

"The other thawed individual appears to be a Remembrancer. He was particularly... fussy. The contents of his vault were mostly art supplies and clothing. At least the auxilia had some lovely personal gear even if it wasn't the the standards we found in the other vaults, I can provide an inventory if you wish. The Navigator and Astropath had staves and typical psyker equipment loadouts."

"Good to hear."

"Now onto the next topic. As soon as the repair materials are finished being fabricated. Fabricator 7a will transition to focus on the production of Bolt Ammunition. Zephyer?"

"The transition is estimated to take thirty four point six two hours. With a margin of error of two minutes and twelve seconds."

"Acceptable."