Cawl could not fathom the logic behind such a design, but Axion understood it perfectly. It was not unique to Titan-class vessels; the majority of Federation starships followed this architecture. Distributed molecular arrays served only to degrade efficiency and increase data redundancy. The Iron Man consciousness embarked upon the ship was its supreme operator; any external interface was superfluous.
The ancient creators had never intended to physically jack themselves into shipboard systems. Human wetware, after all, possessed a finite ceiling, whereas mechanical processing cores could be expanded in number almost indefinitely.
Surveying the chaotic state of the strategic sanctum, Axion glanced at Cawl and spoke.
"Do you require my assistance?"
Cawl was more than willing to accept. Though he often failed to comprehend the mechanisms by which these Iron Men achieved their feats, he never declined an opportunity for observation. Even if this Dark Age fortress was devoid of a true presiding intelligence, Cawl harbored a mountain of inquiries regarding its underlying tech.
Ever since discovering that he could not safely interface with its data-stream for analysis, Cawl had treated the massive mechanical battle-moon with extreme trepidation, utilizing it only when absolutely necessary. It was a labyrinth of unknown weapons, functions he could not identify, unsearchable systems, and Machine Spirits of indeterminate disposition. Had the current crisis not been so dire, Cawl would never have considered awakening this behemoth of primordial enigmas.
Seeing Cawl step aside in an invitational gesture, Axion offered no further commentary. His silver-white chassis strode to the edge of the Cogitator terminal. Under Cawl's astonished gaze, the machine's metallic digits shifted via nanite manipulation into a bespoke interface probe, which he promptly drove into the port.
Cawl watched with mounting tension. He knew the Sapient Machines were exceptional, and their processing power immense, but the scale remained a factor. For a chassis so small to withstand the data-load of a celestial-scale mechanical construct defied Cawl's understanding of cybernetic limits.
And he was partially correct. Had Axion attempted this in his previous state, possessing only his own chassis and his Guardian robots, such a reckless interface would have carried extreme risk, potentially forcing a total consciousness reset.
But the current Axion harbored no such concerns. As his primary chassis interfaced, the staggering torrent of data was offloaded and distributed across the vast mechanical fleet anchored nearby.
Simultaneously, the busy Tech-Priests stared in horror at their consoles. The processing capacity of the Cogitator Array was redlined to its absolute limit in a microsecond. Every station strobed with crimson warnings.
Within the vast digital landscape, a deluge of "junk data" surged through the system. Beyond the scrapcode birthed by Vashtorr's influence, there was an even larger accumulation of corrupted historical archives. Axion performed a cursory sweep. He found nearly ten millennia of standby logs and sensor telemetry. Tragically, the records pertaining to the Dark Age of Technology had been overwritten by the Chaos scrapcode, reduced to digital detritus.
Though disappointed, Axion systematically purged the filth from the system. In that instant, every component of the vessel lay bare to his mind.
Hiss!
A faint mechanical sigh echoed as visible changes rippled through the chamber. Armored plates that had remained sealed for ages ground open. Cawl and his retinue of Tech-Priests looked around in bewilderment as various structural segments shifted, forming reinforced defensive bulwarks.
In sectors beyond their sight, countless mechanical systems roared into life. Great engines thundered as pistons and pumps, dormant for ten thousand years, resumed their rhythmic labor. The massive Fortress of Enlightenment began to resuscitate like a living gargantuan.
After nearly thirty minutes of thunderous mechanical realignment, the noise subsided into a low, steady thrum. The rebel Legio Cybernetica within the Fortress had been utterly eradicated.
For the Skitarii cohorts in the midst of combat, those thirty minutes had been nothing short of a miracle. The rogue machines had been torn to shreds by automated turrets and particle beam projectors that suddenly deployed from floors and bulkheads. Kinetic blast-shields rose from the decking to provide perfect cover for their advances. Every soldier felt as though they had been personally touched by the grace of the Omnissiah.
Just as Cawl prepared to ask what had transpired, Axion spoke first.
"Titan-class Vessel, Doom's Hammer, self-diagnostic complete. Weapon system degradation at 41.33%. Internal structural faults at 55.21%. Core processing efficiency down by 22%. Vessel suffers from extreme lack of maintenance."
"Data control system optimization complete. Core data reorganization finalized. Baseline operational efficiency: Standard. Maintenance recommendation: Full Reconstruction."
To Axion, while this ship was technically a Titan-class vessel, its design was riddled with irrationalities. A ship of this magnitude without an Artificial Intelligence required an absurd amount of manual oversight. Most weapon systems were plagued by minor faults; the capacitor modules for the Oblivion Cannon, the vessel's primary planet-killer, had been broken for over ten millennia, while the dark matter singularity chain-reaction device was in slightly better condition.
The Cogitator Array utilized archaic electronic circuitry instead of a quantum processing core; it was an energy hog with pitiful efficiency. Much of the internal infrastructure was failing, and the power source was not an antimatter core but a cluster of giant ion reactors.
While these reactors were far more advanced than the ion plants found in Imperial Hive Cities, boasting several times the output, they were equally massive. Furthermore, they had suffered containment leaks, drowning dozens of the vessel's cavernous bays in radioactive pollutants.
However, in the eyes of the Tech-Priests and even Cawl himself, these were not flaws. The Imperial Navy utilized similar Cogitator Arrays, and the core within the Fortress of Enlightenment was far superior to anything the Imperium could produce. As for the damaged weapons, they simply lacked the means to repair them.
Cawl and his priests had remained blissfully unaware that the primary weapon was even compromised. Their previous successful firing of the Oblivion Cannon had been nothing short of a miracle. The damaged capacitors could have suffered an energy-bypass explosion at any moment, tearing the entire vessel asunder.
The actual state of the ship was far more precarious than Cawl had imagined. By the Federation standards stored in Axion's memory, this vessel met the criteria for immediate decommissioning and scrap.
Yet, the lethal pollutants, the unstable weapon systems, and the myriad mechanical failures were all categorized by the Cult Mechanicus as "the displeasure of the Machine Spirit." To them, these were the natural results of a primordial Machine Spirit being rudely awakened. Their lack of effective diagnostic technology had birthed a form of technological superstition.
Even a mind as great as Cawl's could do little more when faced with this ship than offer prayers to the Omnissiah and petition the Machine God for guidance. To Axion, this Titan-class ship was a cobbled-together, barely functional relic; to the Adeptus Mechanicus, it remained a miracle of the Omnissiah, a supreme reliquary containing the lost knowledge of the universe.
——————
If you want to read ahead of everyone, go to my pat-reon: pat-re-on.c-om/magnor (remove the hyphen to access normally)