Shirou POV
As the personnel introduced each other, Shirou started to observe better the new arrivals, first, the most obvious, Diocletian Coros, the golden armor giant, is around 2.9m tall, that inside his hulking power armor goes into 3.1m tall, and is a massive hulk of muscle covered in plates. Shirou discreet attempt to use structural analysis on the armor gave him a small headache.
The armor is made of a material he never seen before, yet with some effort he manages to crack it´s composition, like Ceramite and Adamantium, it seems they are some sort of powerful futuristic Synthetic materials of advanced and expensive production, but still, man made, the armor is coated with a vast amount of absurd technology.
He can sense no bionics on the giant, his weapons have some history, they are old, his Sword suddenly manifests inside Shirou's reality marble, as it´is his specialty, the sword is the first thing he managed to understand, it's a masterpiece, and a power sword, old enough to bathe in legend and have faint mystery.
The weapon store include the custodes Martial Ka'tah fighting styles, and inhuman levels of skill, that very few heroes can match, most heroes Shirou knew, despiste their talent and legendary skill, lived normal human lifespans, that custodes trained for absurd amount of time, on top of his talent and enhancements.
The power sword and massive auramite storm shield are imposing and it takes a while for Shirou to understand them, eventually he can see all details of the items, all too heavy and large even for his adult self to wield, let alone his current body. The sword reminds him of the berserker sword, just the materials, technology, and quality are like heaven and earth. A chunk of stone reinforced with Einsbern alchemy can't compare with that masterpiece of a sword.
As they walk towards the warp reactor, Shirou glances at a young, skinny, pale and bald man with a sick complexion. The man has a bandana that covers his forehead and wears a gray mantle, Shirou instincts tell him that whatever is under that bandana, is dangerous, eventually they notice his look at the man and Diocletian says.
"He is Tersius, imperial navigator, you don´t take your eyes from his forehead, you notice right? The danger, that's his third eye." Says the Custodes, amused at how perceptive the kid is.
"Lord Diocletian, I can see the so-called… Tendrils on this kid´s warp signature, it's like seeing all blood vessels and nerves on the human body at the same time…" Says Tersius
"I see…" The Custodes eyes squint.
The cyborg priests of the Terrawatt Clan seem to look with more intensity to the kid as they approach the warp reactor room.
"I can feel the energy build up, it´s slow, but the reactor should not generate any energy in its state, that can become dangerous…" Says Tersius.
"...So, I am Dumont, Theologytek from the Terrawatt clan… This child it's the one that can understand and repair the sacred machines like the Emperor?" The tech priest asks, after hearing the words of Tersius.
"...The Emperor can bypass the normal manual procedure and fix machines too? Too many rumors about the man to know what's real and what's not." Shirou asks, curious.
" Exactly, that's why we recognize him as the avatar of the Omnissiah, he can restore destroyed ancient sacred archeotech with a mere touch." Says Dumont.
"Omnissiah? Too many new things…" Shirou asks, and regrets at the same time.
"The omnissiah is the supreme being, the only able to understand all knowledge in the universe, all existence is based on the universal laws." The priest seems to have light on his cyber eyes, and starts to preach the faith of the mechanicum, for Shirou´s horror, and annoyance, yet, he kinda learns something during its long walk on the gargantuan ship.
"So… Let me get the gist of it, Omnissiah is basically god, or Deus Mechanicus, god is the being that understand everything in the universe, beings and machines that can get and understand knowledge are sacred, because knowledge is the highest manifestation of divinity, machines are higher form of life, and the Emperor is the physical manifestation of the Omnissiah… A man's worth is the sum of his knowledge and you have this Quest for knowledge thing." Shirou says, waiting for the priest to correct him
"Exactly! That's the truth of the universe!" Says the priest proudly
Shirou suddenly has shivers as he remembers the executors from the Church, and their fanatical beliefs, and how they go to extremes for them, like a certain priest trying to give birth to an evil genocidal god just to answer a personal question.
Shirou suddenly uses structural grasp and analyzes the priests, being shocked at how much of their bodies was replaced with cybernetics. There's not much organic tissue left on them. They are advanced, and are from different ages, most are recycled, they were used by other men, sterilized and repurposed, some are from the age of technology, some are new and made with recovered knowledge clobbered together.
The reactor seems to have massive structural damage, something exploded inside the reactor room, electronics with broken parts and exposed cables releasing sparks can be seen, and the core of the reactor has a faint purple light.
Shirou approach one of the machines and touch it, speaking his aria, the self hypnosis made on himself release the scan of the machine, this time not only with a glance, but through contact with the palm of his hand, using structural analysis, he can see the machine function, it's a cooling system.
"Trace on…" Says Shirou, the priests look intently at it, as the Custodes Diocletian and the navigator Tersius.
Shirou imaginary gun hammer hits, all his now healthy 81 magical circuits flare, green shining lines cover his body and touch the machine that´s covered in green light. Suddenly the machine appears intact, Shirou presses some commands and the machine works again, the priest's jaws drop and they watch in awe.
"Oh! Praise be the Omnissiah!" Says the priests in the chorus.
"...There was no warp energy or manifestation, besides the tendrils flaring with some energy, i never seen something like that before…" Says Tersius.
"Another avatar of the Omnissiah? He repaired ancient Archeotech like it was nothing! One so young? At the same age? The Omnissiah showers us with blessings!" Dumond, with the other priest, knees in front of Shirou that becomes awkward and tense, with a nervous smile.
"Dio… Help!" Says Shirou, using the nickname anyway.
Diocletian coughs, both about the embarrassing scene in front of him, and to the fact Shirou called him by his nickname. He then squints, pondering about something.
"Once these reactor repairs are done, the rest of the work will be in the hands of the priests, they will fix everything they can without your help, if only your "services'' become capable of repairing what's left, they will work on the other ships, until we return. You are coming with me, we are going to the Imperial Palace now." Says Diocletian in a commanding tone, leaving no space for negotiation.
"Why? What happened?" Asks Shirou quite worried.
"You are going to meet the Emperor." The Custodes say flatly.
"Do I have a say on it?" Asks Shirou.
"No." Answer the Custodes.
Shirou gulps and smiles nervously, looking at the navigator, the priests, and Burk, waiting for someone to interject and say something, but they all look apologetic and embarrassed, the Custodes grab Shirou by the arm and walk towards his spacecraft on the Hangar, a long tense and awkward walk, again, another big tense travel.
