Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 19
A hook-claw spun past Reddam's eye, missing his face by an inch. He saw the sliver of metal drift past, seeming to be in slow motion to his enhanced senses. The weapon was held in the hands of a slab-bulked warrior, whose limbs were swollen by chem-injectors and vat-grown muscles. Reddam could see the insane fury in his eyes, the mindless rage and knew the man was being fed some cocktail of combat-stims.
Reddam leaned back as the warrior missed, pulled off balance by his own swing. The foe was too close to use his spear-point but he swung the haft of his weapon laterally to smash into a reinforced flank. In other circumstances Reddam would have expected to fling the mortal away but the bulked out warrior merely grunted, either too augmented or too addled to notice. The enemy was frothing at the mouth as he bore down on Reddam and struck with an overhead sweep of the hook-claws held in his hands. It was Reddam's turn to grunt as he lifted his spear and caught the blades on the haft, feeling the force ring down his arms. The foe growled as he applied more pressure, seeking to force Reddam to his knees, but he had no understanding of the power of Astartes' physiology.
As immense forces bore down upon him Reddam became an unmovable rock. The spear held above his face not moving so much as an inch, despite the crushing weight laying upon it. The foe redoubled his efforts but achieved nothing and for the first time his drug-addled gaze cracked, revealing shock and bewilderment. Reddam saw his moment and convulsed his jaw, triggering his Betcher's Gland implant. The artificial organ responded by ejecting a potent acid into his spittle, powerful enough to dissolve metal. Reddam hacked for a moment and then spat a gobbet of acid into his opponent's face, hitting him right in the eyes.
The enemy shrieked as the pain tore through him, penetrating his drug-haze and he dropped his weapons as he staggered back, clawing at his own face. Reddam instantly drew back his spear and then lunged, plunging the point into the warrior's heart. A loud thunk and a spray of blood accompanied his strike and the foe went limp as his life was cut short.
Reddam had bought a moment's respite and he looked up to see his squad embattled on all sides, fighting bodyguards and glanded warriors in every corner. They were currently fighting in a wide passageway, leading up to some wide double doors that were firmly shut. Reddam had led his squad here seeking their true target, but they had been ambushed by these warriors. He was secretly glad of it, anything to wash away the memory of what he had been compelled to do. After the incident in the kitchens it was good to experience a true fight, for it seemed that they had at last found an enemy worthy of their ire.
These bodyguards were an eclectic mix of mercenaries well armed and ready. Many of them had autopistols or shotguns but more were clad in armour or enhanced in some fashion. Gun-slingers, chem-glanded thugs, ritualistic killers, ex-Guard veterans and enhanced cyber-gladiators, each was a master in his own field of conflict and against mortal foes would have been unbeatable. But the Amber Vipers were more than willing to put that to the test.
Larus was facing off against a knot of warriors in swaddling robes, who came at him with wicked punch daggers in their hands as they ululated lyrical cries. Larus deflected their knife blows with his arms, deeply cutting his flesh but the pain did nothing to slow him down. He rode the blows with contempt and lashed out in turn, his own daggers tearing and gouging with merciless precision. The merest nick was enough to send men falling to the floor in a paroxysm of agony as the poison did its work and he left a trail of convulsing men thrashing in his wake as he advanced.
Elsewhere Tebes was facing off against a cyber-gladiator who could have been mistaken for a servitor, so heavily augmented was he. Roaring buzzsaws for hands lashed out at the Astartes and a single blow would have taken off his head but Tebes ducked and wove constantly, avoiding each strike. He spun behind the gladiator's guard and swung his mining pick at the back of a knee, where armour didn't cover it and The joint shattered sending the gladiator to the ground. Tebes angrily smashed it again and again, with doublehanded blows of his weapon, battering the gladiator apart one blow at a time.
Meanwhile Kazao was facing off against a burly Guard Veteran, who came at him with a bayoneted lasgun and a wild yell. Kazao had no melee weapon to speak of but he caught the lasgun behind the barrel and stopped the man dead in his tracks. The Guardsman's eyes bulged as he fought for control of the weapon but his grizzled muscles were no match for Transhuman strength and he was helpless to resist as the weapon was forced upright between them. Kazao's hand shot out and grabbed the back of the man's head and then pulled forward and down, impaling the man and holding him still as he died upon his own blade.
Joffel meanwhile was confronted by a man in loose silk pyjamas who swung two blades around himself with dazzling skill. Joffel raised his own sword defensively as the man barrelled towards him, eager to engage blade to blade in an epic duel of skill and speed. Joffel let him close but then suddenly lowered his sword and instead drew his bolt pistol to shoot the man point blank in the face. The headless corpse collapsed limply and Joffel nonchalantly looked about, seeking his next foe.
This had taken but a few seconds yet Reddam's eye was drawn to the sight of Glord. The Astartes was best by a pair of warriors with long knives in hand and was desperately trying to fend them off. Weighed down by his Heavy Bolter Glord couldn't keep them both at bay and was about to be overrun. Reddam roared as he leapt to cover his younger Brother, throwing himself at the pair of enemies. The first he took low in the back with his spear then lifted his fist to hit the other with a back-handed blow that sent him flying.
"Vandire's hairy arse!" Reddam yelled, "Are you going to use that thing or not?!"
"Hit the deck!" Glord bellowed as he levelled the Heavy bolter and let fly.
A thunderous booming hammered the air as the passageway filled with mass-reactive bolts. Rocket-propelled explosive rounds flew everywhere, hitting soft flesh and exploding with devastating might. Limbs were blown off and chests were blasted open as the barrage carved foes apart, cutting bodyguards down in droves. Glord panned his weapon left and right, firing over his prone Brother's heads as he cut enemies to shreds. Power amour could not have withstood the fuselage at such short range and the mortals were reduced to sprays of fine mist and bone. "Hahahahaha!" Glord bellowed as he smote lives, wildly crying his elation to any who could hear.
Even as the last bodyguards were being terminated Reddam was already charging forward, smashing into the locked doors. The wooden frame was no match for his momentum and he crashed through, chased by bolt rounds, to emerge into the room beyond. Reddam rolled over the floor, keeping his momentum going, for he was expecting a hail of bullets to greet him but there was nothing. Bemused Reddam rose to his feet and held his spear tightly in both hands as he surveyed the surprisingly silent room. It was eerie after the cacophony outside, but Reddam kept his guard up, expecting a trap.
He found himself in a large space, round in shape with rings of pillars set around the circumference, supporting a balcony that ringed the exterior wall. The walls were beautiful white stone, with murals of men marching into mines seeking productive labour while the Emperor sat on high as a benevolent overseer. The roof was a wide glassic dome, displaying the night sky in stunning clarity thanks to delicate lensing effects wrought into each panel. It was solarium, Reddam realised, just one more noble's toy.
Reddam heard shocked whispers from above and peered upwards to spy a gaggle of men in rich robes. They were clustered around the balcony, fretfully trying to hide behind each other and so avoid his gaze. Their rich robes declared their wealth and prestige as much as the waddles of fat weighing them down. They cowered away from him but he was between them and the door and there was nowhere to run. At their front was a man whose face Reddam recognised from the briefing images: Kardas, their target.
Kardas gasped at Reddam's entrance but he soon recovered his voice and shouted, "You! You can't be here!"
Reddam took a step forward but the men moved around the circle, keeping as far away as possible. Reddam saw this and also that the balcony obscured a clear shot so instead declared, "I go where the Emperor wills."
Kardas seemed outraged by this and shouted, "We are the servants of the Emperor, not you! We are trying to save this world from Nugga's incompetence."
"I don't care," Reddam growled as he tried to see a way up to the balcony.
"He put you up to this!" Kardas cried, "You fight for a man who cares nothing for Terra nor the Imperium!"
That struck close to home but Reddam closed his hearts and said, "You won't sway me from my mission and you can't escape."
"Where is your vaunted honour?!" Kardas spat, "You are supposed to fight for the Emperor. We are trying to do that ourselves, help us overthrow Nugga and we can save this world, in the Emperor's name!"
"Too little, too late," Reddam snarled as he heard the rest of the squad entering behind him.
With numbers on his side he could now pin targets down, prevent them from running away, it would be simple work to finish this. Reddam waved the squad to spread out and gestured Glord forward with his Heavy Bolter. Yet before he could draw a bead on the men Kardas held up a small device and shouted, "No! I won't die like this, I won't allow it!"
Reddam would have taken that for empty bravado save for the sudden vibration that struck his boots. He sensed heavy machinery rumbling to life beneath his feet and the noise of something awakening nearby. Reddam stepped back warily and hissed, "What have you done?!"
Kardas laughed disdainfully as he called, "Do you think I wasn't prepared for an attack? I knew someone would come for me, true I thought it would be the rebels, but you are no better. The rebels aren't the only ones with off-world friends and smuggler connections. I am a rich man and you'd be amazed what one can acquire on the black market, if one has the coinage to pay for it!"
Reddam saw the floor at the centre of the solarium was sliding back, revealing a dark pit and then from that hole arose a lifting plate. Standing on that plate was a large hunched shape, as big as a Space Marine, even when hunched over. Its backward jointed legs were wrought of pistons and rods and its metal feet were splayed claws, gripping the ground firmly with wicked talons. Its arms were two long clusters of barrels, able to spin rapidly and from them hung long sharp blades that shimmered with deadly power fields. Upon its back was the free-standing barrel of a strange weapon, looming over a skull and cog icon. The oddest thing about it was its low-hung head, with two bulbous visual sensors set on either side giving it an insectoid appearance. The metal of its body was chipped and scored in many places and age hung upon it but it still looked deadly as it rose before them.
The Amber Vipers stepped back and Joffel gasped, "What is that?"
"A Mechancius battle-automata," Reddam uttered as he desperately sought a weak point in its armour but found none, "A Vorax-class hunter-killer."
Then from above Kardas laughed gleefully, "Kill them all!"
With that the robot's eyes sparked into burning red points of fire and its rotor cannons span into a rapid blur. Reddam barely had time to blink before the Vorax opening fire, filling the air with hails of bullets.