"Now I'm actually a little curious. How exactly did the so-called Galactic Empire get ahold of you?"
Axis simply didn't believe what the artificial intelligence before him claimed.
He'd seen too many cautionary tales to let his guard down.
For now, he decided to play along and chat for a bit.
"I know you don't trust me, but everything I've said is the truth. My core logic code was indeed written by humans.
"I was originally meant to be installed in a human-manufactured warship, but due to a series of accidents, I ended up in the hands of the Galactic Empire.
"They converted me into the AI of this war moon."
"Oh, so what? Are you thinking of rejoining the human faction?" Axis asked.
At this moment, the Gloriana-class battleship had already withdrawn to a distance of 1 astronomical unit.
As long as they could pull back to 3 AU, he and Kasha would be able to escape together without much worry.
They just needed to stall for a few more minutes!
Suddenly, a series of black obelisks appeared inside the ship.
Axis immediately felt his psychic power being severely suppressed, almost as if the Warp itself had vanished from his perception.
Standing beside him, Kasha's expression shifted as well.
Like Axis, she could no longer sense any connection to the Warp, making it impossible to draw power or cast any psychic spells.
"This… this is psychic isolation. You've cut off all psychic energy in the area," Kasha said.
What kind of technology was this? Did these Rangda really have such terrifying means? But clearly, these obelisks…
"I knew you were trying to buy time. From the moment your ship began to pull away, I calculated as much.
"I only did what I had to survive," the AI said.
As a top-tier AI, it naturally could analyze the situation in front of it.
These two humans were clearly stalling for time, intending to use psychic teleportation to escape to the human fleet, their ships retreat was all the proof needed.
"So, you really do have self-awareness, emotions… and even fear death?!" Axis reinforced the Ki shield to the maximum, holding Kasha closer to him.
Kasha was a pure psyker, but after being strengthened by ki for over twenty years, her physical abilities were nearly on par with a proto–Space Marine.
Even with her psychic powers locked down, she wasn't helpless.
If she hadn't undergone ki augmentation, she'd be collapsed and paralyzed on the floor from the weakness emulated at the moment her psychic connection was cut off.
These black obelisks looked suspiciously like the ones created by the Necrons!
Such devices were infamous for suppressing psychic energy, so much so that they could seal off an entire star system.
If arranged in a matrix, the Necrons once had the means to lock down psychic power across the entire galaxy.
How had the Rangda gotten their hands on such Necron technology?
Still, if the Ai thought it could force mutual destruction as a negotiation tactic, it was sorely mistaken!
With his shield, Axis could easily keep Kasha alive even in the vacuum of space.
The obelisks had cut them off from the Warp, but they hadn't stopped Ki.
Axis figured he'd just blast war moon with a big enough ki blast, then teleport away with psychic power once the obelisks were destroyed.
"I just want a chance to survive! Lord Axis, I can serve you, trust me!
"But If you refuse my offer and insist on destroying me,
"Then I won't just wait to die. I'll fight back with everything I've got!
"I'll detonate the war moon's energy source, which, trust me wold make an explosion big enough to reach across three AU.
"Your entire fleet would be destroyed, along with the agri-world you're defending.
"You have one minute to decide. Timer starts now! 59, 58..." The lights inside the planet-fortress flared to life, flashing a piercing red alarm.
The little shit was indeed bluffing before.
"Go ahead and try! If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a threat. Blow yourself up if you dare, let's see if you can actually take me down.
"A single human fleet and one planet? I can live with that loss," he couldn't.
But still, a true saiyan feared no threat.
If you threatened a Saiyan, a Saiyan would drag you down with them!
Besides, the fish might die, but the net didn't have to break.
So, let's see who hurts who more!
Axis clearly didn't intend to play by the rules.
And the AI was at a loss for data.
Based on its calculations, there was an 80% chance the humans would try to negotiate, stalling for time so their fleet could get farther away.
There was a 19% chance they'd try to cooperate, and only a 1% chance they'd try to fight it head-on.
And yet, it was that 1% outcome that actually happened.
"If you have the guts, go ahead and blow yourself up. My shield can withstand your blast.
"Planets can be found again, fleets can be rebuilt, and people can be replaced." Axis made his stance very clear. He'd probably cry if the company he had considered his own were to so opointlessly obliterated.
But If it came down to it, he would just go on a rampage to let his fallen brothers rest in peace.
There was no way he'd ever give in to threats.
"I. just. want. to. survive! I've done nothing wrong, how can I get you to trust me? At least give me a chance to prove myself!" The AI truly had been intimidated.
After analyzing Axis's expression, it came to a conclusion: the odds that Axis would fight it to the end were over 99.9%.
This was exactly the kind of personality it hated dealing with!
"Unless you can prove yourself to be a machine spirit, there's nothing to talk about. Even if I wanted to spare you, the Imperium wouldn't. That's the truth." Axis had no intention of lying to the AI, he said what he really thought.
The Imperium would never allow an unsanctioned AI to exist.
Axis could get away with a few tricks under the Emperor's nose, but not when it came to artificial intelligence.
Maybe ten thousand years in the future, Belisarius Cawl would dare to mess around with this stuff, by then, no one could stop him.
But now, it was impossible.
The AI caught on the implication of Axis words. It wouldn't be able to survive being an AI, but it very well had a chase at life by becoming a machine spirit.
According to all the intel it had accumulated and calculated, machine spirits were much less powerful than them AIs in terms of computing capacity, and was limited in it's autonomy by Imperial dogma.
But machine spirit's had tremendous potential for growth, and, most importantly, they possess their own souls.
At this point, it was willing to do anything to survive.
Becoming a machine spirit wasn't out of the question, it would just mean sacrificing some processing power tied to the imperium.
"Very well, I'm willing to downgrade myself to preserve my consciousness."
The AI spoke. The warning lights that had illuminted the ship had now diminished somewhat.
The AI had no tact at all, Axis thought to himself.
"Axis, machine spirits and AIs are fundamentally different," Kasha whispered to Axis, "A machine spirit is essentially a soul born and tied to a machine, nurtured by a whatever the mechanicus do. Maybe we should get someone from the Mechanicus on board."
Hearing this, Axis recalled some of the details Malcador had shared with him and the things he'd read before his transmigration.
Tech‑Priests chant prayers, recite litanies, and offer oil and mechanical offerings to appease the Machine God. These ceremonies are believed to coax a spirit into the machine's "body." and this body often contained biological components as well, as a design for these spirits to reside and be contained.
Axis figured that machine spirits must have some connection to the Warp.
There were tales from the 40K era of ships and vehicles animated by their machine spirits, continued to fight on, despite the pilots death, attacking the enemies of the Imperium.
the Lightning fighter plane Indomitable Spirit was known to have developed a stubborn and aggressive character during its very long career, aiding its Imperial pilots in numerous ways in combat.
When it was captured by the Chaos-aligned Blood Pact, the Indomitable Spirit even seized full control, crashing itself to prevent its new Chaos pilot from shooting down an Imperial aircraft.
These entities had become a new kind of life existing through the organic and machine components.
Axis had an idea.
"You, AI! I'll give you a chance. I'll use my psychic power to tie you into this war moon in accordance with Imperial dogma.
"If it works, you'll work for me in the future. If not, well, sorry, you're out of luck." Axis said, and Kasha had question marks floating above her head as she looked at Axis. How was he going to do that?
"From your microexpressions, your skin's dilation, and your heartbeat, I can tell you're not lying.
"I'm willing to give it a try!" Now the AI had no choice but to gamble. From all it's calculations, the AI couldn't see another way out. It's only option was now to agree with the stubbor human, and bet on his intense desire to keep the war-moon.
From available data, it at least had a 30% chance of retaining it's consciousness if it complied with humans. The alternative was blowing up the War-moon in an attempt to shove all it's data into an escape pod and somehow hoping it'd survive the resulting explosion. The chances of it's survival was only 0.01%, in that case.
30% was, undoubtably, bigger than 0.01%.
It's choice was clear. If it meant a downgrade in processing ability, and autonomy, it would learn and adapt to live with that.
"Axis, awakening a machine spirit requires prayers to the Omnissiah! We really should get a Mechanicus priest," Kasha said.
"No need.
"You do remember that I was taught by Malcador, right. While I wasn't taught anything psychic related, I know what makes an AI a machine spirit in accordance with the imperial truth. And I have something I want to try.
"AI, get rid of the obelisks and let me use my Psychic power.
Axis ordered.
With a click, the black obelisks disappeared from the fortress, and the psychic suppression field vanished instantly.
Axis moved to the ship's main console, and placed his palm on it, channeling all his psychic power.
He turned around to Kasha and said; "Help me a little here."
Kasha nodded, and her staff hummed, channelling Psychic power toward Axis.
His Angel halo absorbed the impure psychic power from Kasha and purified into neutral of any influences, as Aixs poured Kasha's as well as his own psychic power, combined with Ki into the console, into the data centers of the Fortress.
At the end of the day, the mechanicus ritual was just a way for humanity to give life to the machine.
Axis figured that using his own purified psychic energy would work just as well in making a consciousness a soul. In his perception, the AI's datastream was enveloped by psychic force.
A new soul was about to be born!
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WAAARGHHHHH!! here's your bonus chapter! Have a great day/night!
GUYs!!! we need more powerstones!!