Stroud, the king of Iron, Master of the Lords of Iron, was working with the Mechanicus. Hundreds of machines have been reclaimed, and even with the Emperor's own envoy of the Great Machine Spirit, they were unlocking the secret to a truly benevolent Abominable Intelligence.
Many of his best Tech Marines were working on solving the mystery. As he looked over a set of notes, detailing how they were able to distinguish the code sections that prevent the AI's from going rogue, Stroud looked at the Omnisiah, R2-D2, rolled up to the Space Marine and whistled and beeped.
"My Eminence, I believe it is not yet time for such an action." Stroud said.
R2 beeped and rammed into the leg of the astartes, spinning and hitting his leg a few more times.
"With the ability of this new universe, the technology of man can show us those that are true, and create a new army, an army of men of steel!" the Techpreists chanted
"Well, that would be rather interesting to witness, but I wonder, why do you see the need to place your processing systems into the body of what the imperial technological experts call an Aemiger?" C-3P0, now wrapped in the finest of red robes with gold décor, even a scroll with binary prayers on it, rolled up on his chest.
R2 beeped, spun and whistled, as he spoke with C-3P0. The tech priests and Tech Marines watched as the seemingly divine debate occured. The Personal Machine of the Emperor, and the Man of Gold made by the Emperor, were conversing, discussing their divine wills between each other, before R2 rammed C-3P0's leg, and spun away.
"You little rascal. You can not be as effective as you are in a 20 foot tall war machine!" C-3P0 shouted, shaking a fist at R2.
"The divine emissaries have convened! We shall hold back on the implantation of the god machine's mind into the body of a god engine!" a tech priest sang through the noisy manufactorum.
Stroud shook his head.
"We must find the secret to these machines. That way our forces will have men of Iron at their sides!" another priest sang.
"We will need the minds of those in this galaxy to process this, but once we find the answer, we can finally end the servitor program in manufacturing." Stroud said.
"The machine cult will not allow xenos into it's ranks. They would corrupt the creations of mars." the magos said.
Stroud wondered.
"Let us consult the Emperor's envoys." Stroud stated.
Walking towards the pair of divine machines.
The Magos drops to a knee, then placed it's head all the way to the floor.
"Great Machine spirits, I plead with the, allow us to ask a question of doctrine that has risen from our new circumstance." the magos pleaded, not even looking up at he had his head pressing into the metal floor.
"What is it that you wish to ask, also, raise your head, your robes would be dirty and grease is so hard to clean from cloth." C-3P0 answered.
The Magos scrambled to his feet and looked at the ground just before the pair.
"Would it be.....heretical and against the machine spirit's will to, allow xenos raises to join the machine cult?" The Magos questioned.
R2 rolled up to him, leaned forward, making the Techpriest bow down to be close to R2, before the astromech spun himself around and had the end of his body into the head of the magos.
"It would seem that R2 has the feeling that you should have started once master An-I mean, Emperor Skywalker, welcomed those you call Xenos into the Imperium. Closing one self off to those who offer help is little more than a slow death." C-3P0 explained.
R2 nodded, before turning and accessing a large computer, interfacing with it.
Iron King Stroud, looked at the Magos, It seems we have the answer.
"Now, I was hoping to speak with your superious about a different issue." Stroud said, looking at the injured, if not now "marked by the Omnissiah", judging by the dent in the face plate.
"What is it astartes?" the tech priest asked.
"We are seeking to have your pool of initiates be drawn from, to replace out numbers." Stroud said.
The Magos remained quiet.
"They would not accept." The Magos said.
The charge of an annoyed R2, after having an argument with C-3P0, however, to the Magos, it was an rejection of his statement. The impact would throw the Magos into the air and flip in several times in place. With the finishing of the 12th rotation, the Magos slammed into the ground, face first, further denting the face.
"The Omnissiah has spoken it seems." Stroud said.
"I request form #8.751.998.374: Request for the number on that machine." the magos said, raising a hand up as he laid on the floor.
"R2-D2." Stroud said.
"Thank you." The magos said, before his arm fell down.
