"Father," Mikel said, data-slate in hand, and began reading out a string of cold numbers. "At present, a total of 342 candidates have undergone augmentation surgery."
"Of those, 58 candidates failed during the first augmentation procedure, for a failure rate of 24.39%."
"Among the failures, 5 survived and were converted into Servitors for the Legion. The other 53 died."
The Chief Apothecary paused, then began explaining to Nimrod.
"To be elevated from a mortal into an Astartes is an enormous challenge. Many people cannot adapt to the process. They fall before the first threshold."
"Once they step through the Gate of Heaven, the probability of surgical failure drops sharply."
To prove his point, Mikel immediately said, "The number of candidates who failed during the second augmentation procedure was 6, all of whom died. The failure rate dropped to 4.52%."
"The number of candidates who failed during the third augmentation procedure was 9. This was because the difficulty of the augmentation increased, raising the failure rate to 7.94%."
He paused, a trace of surprise in his voice.
"The eight who previously failed to pass the third augmentation all died. The one saved by that 'Physician' just now is the first to survive."
Nimrod fell silent. In a fraction of a second, he calculated that the combined failure rate for the first three augmentation procedures was 33.54%.
Even in the most optimistic estimate, four out of ten would fail.
Without Malena, most of them would die.
Nimrod realized this was exactly the right opportunity to state the purpose of his visit.
"Malena Scala is not merely a 'Physician.' She is also a biochemical Psyker, capable of saving a failed candidate's life as much as possible when surgery fails."
"Father, you wish her to join the augmentation process?"
The Chief Apothecary understood and