Maybe I should get augmetics after all?

After leaving the hangar in a leap, Iax went straight back to the materials warehouse he had previously visited with Sien.

Although Iax had never made augmetic equipment, he could manufacture other machine intelligences. All he needed was to find suitable humanoid machine designs, make a mechanical leg and arm, and add some electronic nerve bundles to interface with the nerves in the wounds.

Over their time together, Iax had scanned Sien's anatomy many times. Sien himself had no idea, but to Iax, these Space Marines' bodies no longer held any secrets.

Despite having no authorization, Iax acquired some metal materials with ease. Along the way, he physically shut down a few Servo-skulls that tried to stop him, but after that, nothing else attempted to interfere.

With the materials in hand, Iax immediately returned to the Maintenance Center.

Sparks flew at the workbench as Iax used some simple materials to construct a number of oddly shaped moulds. Then he used his Neutron Beam to melt the "tiny mountain" of materials he had just collected. After refining them again, he poured the white-hot molten metal into the moulds.

Soon, freshly cast metal components, still glowing faintly red, appeared on the workbench's broad surface.

Operating the workbench's ultrahigh-temperature laser cutter, Iax even etched intricate circuitry into the augmetic components freehand.

Once all the preparations were complete, assembly began immediately.

The delicate components were fitted together one by one, every circuit trace intersecting precisely.

After completing the overall assembly, Iax immersed it in a vat filled with a strange molten metal.

Unlike other molten metals, this peculiar dark-red liquid did not cling to the assembled augmetics in thick lumps.

Instead, it left a strange, thin metallic coating over their surfaces. This substance would protect the circuitry and strengthen the augmetics. It was an encapsulation technique unique to the Ancient Era.

These were the best mechanical augmetics Iax could make with the materials available to him.

With his work finished, Iax picked up the augmetics, turned, and left the Maintenance Center.

Two furtive figures immediately emerged from a nearby corner.

They were none other than the two Adeptus Mechanicus Sages who had disappeared earlier.

After confirming that Iax had left, the two immediately approached the workbench, scanned every mould he had left behind, and packed up all the remaining metal materials, along with the entire vat of molten metal that was cooling and hardening.

The Servitors they ordered about staggered under armfuls of metal, carrying everything onto the Aquila Shuttle bit by bit.

The already small shuttle was soon packed to the brim.

The Inquisitor, who had been searching everywhere for the two Sages, had no idea why these Servitors were carrying so much assorted scrap metal onto the Aquila, but this was clearly the sort of thing only the Adeptus Mechanicus would do.

After stopping the nearly continuous line of Servitors, the Inquisitor soon found the Sages in the Maintenance Center, frantically discussing something.

The two Sages were constantly comparing their scans of the moulds and searching for the corresponding mechanical structures, trying to understand the augmetics Iax had just made.

But ancient technology was hardly so easy to decipher. The circuitry running through the mechanical bodies like veins was the true key; imitations of their outer shapes alone were meaningless.

They simply had no idea.

Carrying the two augmetic limbs, Iax headed straight for the Medical Bay.

His wanderings around the ship had given him a clear understanding of where its compartments were.

There were only a few Medical Bays aboard that could accommodate Astartes.

Their enormous bodies and weight were more than medical platforms intended for "ordinary people" could support.

After consulting his core for Medical Bays suitable for Astartes, Iax headed straight to the one nearest the hangar he had been in earlier.

When his towering silver-white figure appeared in the Medical Bay's doorway, only three figures lay inside.

Their heavy Ceramite armour had been removed, and three heavily muscled men with missing limbs lay on the medical beds.

Nearby, Apothecary Osen was still busy at work, still wearing his Ceramite Power Armour.

The stumps of all three men's limbs had been coated in a green gel, and they lay waiting on their beds.

Astartes bodies possessed superhuman healing abilities. In just a few hours, the wounds where their limbs had been severed were already showing signs of healing.

Reattaching severed limbs, however, was no simple task.

It was not merely a matter of pressing the severed limb against the wound, securing it, and waiting for it to heal on its own.

The gel disinfected the wounds and prevented them from closing immediately. During that window, the Apothecary had to work quickly on their severed limbs, restoring viability to the detached parts before reattaching them.

Only when Iax arrived with the Bionic Body did he suddenly realize the problem.

Living organisms could regenerate, severed body parts could be reattached, and biotechnology could repair or regrow limbs.

As one of the Men of Iron, he had unconsciously overlooked this.

After all, Machine Intelligence never feared injury. Damaged bodies could be replaced, their core consciousness uploaded, and a new body loaded with it.

Looking down at the mechanical Bionic Body he had just finished making in his hands, Iax looked at Sien lying on the bed.

Naturally, the four Astartes present had noticed Iax too.

That towering figure, those heavy footsteps.

"Is this the Bionic Body you made for me?"

Sien met Iax's electronic eyes, then glanced at the Bionic Body in his mechanical hands. Its exterior looked completely different from the Imperium's Bionic Body.

Its design was intricate, unlike the crude Bionic Body of the Imperium.

Iax nodded, then shook his head.

"I originally designed them for you, but now it seems you may not need them. Perhaps reattaching and repairing your original limbs would suit you better."

Seeming to sense Iax's disappointment, Sien spoke hesitantly.

"Maybe I should get a Bionic Body after all?"

Hearing Sien's words, the Apothecary beside him pulled off his helmet.

"Sir, please don't let my work go to waste. The chance to reattach severed limbs is rare, and I've already made considerable preparations."

Looking at the Apothecary's exposed face and resolute expression, Sien cast an awkward glance at Iax, who stood beside his medical bed.

Then he seemed to make some momentous decision.

"Osen, I've decided to let you repair one of my hands. As for my leg, sorry for the trouble, but could you call Farrion over and see how to fit the Bionic Body Iax made for me?"

Bionic Body replacement was not an Apothecary's job. Although it was another form of limb restoration, it fell within a Techmarine's duties.