Tales of the Amber Viper Chapter 23

Shells screamed into the sky, a barrage coming from the enemy line. A barrage of artillery shells headed towards the trenches with unstoppable momentum. They were deadly, they were numerous and they were headed this way. Chapter Master Coluber heard the shells closing but he was unmoved, standing proudly with his unhelmed head above the parapet of the trench. He would have presented the perfect target for any sniper but he wasn't close enough to the front to be targeted, in his mind there was bravado and then there was stupidity and he knew he was in no danger here.

Coluber glanced down into the trench where General Soza was crouched. He wore carapace armour and had a thin power sword sheathed at his hip. His hands were pressed to his ears with his mouth open to avoid pressure shock. Coluber tilted his brow and inquired, "Why are you ducking?"

Soza glanced upwards and mouthed, "Incoming."

Coluber snorted as he explained, "Those shells are targeted further down the line, you're quite safe here."

Sure enough the Astartes' enhanced senses proved true, the barrage hit the trenches further along, sending balls of fire into the sky and causing screams to arise as men were cut down in droves. Searing heat bloomed over the trenches but standing this far away all Coluber experienced was a shower of mud. His Neuroglottis detected the flavour of blood in the shower, signs that men had died but such was war and he dismissively brushed it off his pauldron, leaving dark smears over his proud colours as he remarked, "Light suppression fire only, nothing to worry about."

Soza wasn't listening, instead barking into a bulky vox-set on his adjutants back, "Counter-battery fire, now!"

From the city behind them Earthshaker batteries began to fire, lobbing shells at the closing rebels. The incoming fire soon shifted back to target the Imperial artillery, both sides trying to suppress the other's long-range guns. Coluber gave it no mind, his enhanced mind already calculating that they were effectively stalemated. Coluber wiped a muddy gauntlet on the shoulder of a militiaman, who looked equal parts irritated and awed to be touched by an Astartes, as he commented, "For all their Xeno corruption, these rebels are using strategies straight out of the Tactica Imperialis."

Soza looked up and said, "Can't argue with that, dull but proven strategies win more wars than foolhardy innovation. According to the Tactica next should come an airstrike… and here it is."

Coluber glanced upwards and saw waves of Marauder bombers closing, punching through the swirling dogfights above. Around them Manticore missiles shot upwards towards the distant specks and one Marauder was caught, tumbling from the sky with a wing blown clean off. Soza was already shouting into his vox, "Hydra batteries, prepare to engage."

Yet Coluber had a better plan, he switched vox frequencies and said, "Secundus air force, engage the bombers."

From the sky above a squadron of Lightning fighters broke away from the aerial battle, pouncing upon the lumbering bombers. These were the planes the Amber Vipers had seized from the Imperial reprisal army, put to far better use than mere mortals could hope envision. The Marauders were protected by strange Tau machines, nominally superior to Imperial planes but the pilots had never faced Transhumans before. The warriors of Secundus pushed their planes to tolerances no mere mortal could endure and skipped past the bewildered defenders before they could register what was happening, weapons blazing and missiles roaring. Marauder after Marauder fell from the sky, trailing fire and not a single one reached the trench lines to unload their bombs. A few turned back, racing for safety but Coluber paid them no mind, they were out of this fight for now.

Coluber took a moment to survey the defences, seeing cowering mortals and militia huddling in the trenches. They looked afraid and uncertain but the Guardsmen were Soza's problem and as for the militia he hardly expected them to be able to shoot straight anyway. They weren't important, this whole battle wasn't really, it was merely a distraction and a lure. Coluber's valiant defence was nothing but a sideshow, not that Soza knew that, the General had no idea as to the real plan.

Behind them lay the city, open and vulnerable. Governor Nugga was lurking somewhere back there, in a reinforced private bunker. He could sit out an orbital bombardment in that shelter, Coluber had made sure of it, he had gone to a lot of trouble to get Nugga to obey and wasn't going to let him get killed now. The Amber Viper's own base was fully packed up and evacuated; nothing of the Chapter would be risked save its combat units. Across the line of trenches Amber Vipers of the Primus Cohort were distributed. Soza had claimed this would bolster morale but Coluber's intentions had been more pragmatic, they would be the rapid response force, used to drive back the rebel's assaults. Speaking of which…

Coluber heard the tones of the barrage shift and he said, "Incoming fire, this time you should duck." He matched actions to words and lowered his head, jamming on his helm as he did so. Sure enough a second later the world erupted around them, shaking the ground with violent explosions. Fire and noise erupted at all quarters, enveloping them in the carnage. The trenches shook and mud slid off the walls to pool around their feet as the shells hammered down around them.

In moments the volley moved on, walking across the trenches and Coluber saw men groaning on the ground, throwing up and leaking blood from their ears. Yet the angle of the trench had held off the worst and the dead were few and far between. Soza was on his hands and knees, shaking his head in confusion but Coluber leapt to his feet and peeked over the lintel. A moment later he roared, "Here they come!"

Soza woozily rose to his feet but Coluber pushed him down saying, "Stay here and coordinate the defences."

"I won't be shamed again," Soza argued.

But Coluber growled, "You are of no use to me at the front, all you will do is slow me down. Stay here."

Coluber left him behind as he ran down the trench, he cut down a communication line, and bellowed, "Make a hole!" Men pressed themselves into the mud walls to allow his Ceramite clad bulk to pass and as he ran he drew Venom, the curved edge glinting in the smoky light. He sprinted towards the point where he could see a mass of brown bodies racing forward and as he did so he called in the vox, "Coluber to all units, imminent assault in sector seven, confirm nearest squad."

The vox crackled as a voice came back, it was Torvus and he said, "Sergeant Torvus to Coluber, we are in sector seven, ready, willing and eager to greet the scum."

Suddenly Ferrac's tones cut in, "Battle-Captain Ferrac here, I have my Assault Marines ready to go."

"Negative," Coluber stated, "You're my reserve force, this is only a probing thrust. Watch for other assaults, only intervene if necessary."

"Understood," Ferrac stated, "Kill a few Heretics for me."

"Gladly," Coluber snarled as he reached the front trench.

Here he found lines of men stepping forward to point weapons over the parapet, loomed over by nine Astartes in amber Ceramite. Sergeant Torvus was there, holding a bolter steadily over the lintel but he glanced at the Chapter Master and said, "My Lord, you should not be here. You are too valuable to lose to a stray shot."

"You concern is noted and it is right that you speak so, but I go where I will," Coluber stated as he stepped up to the edge, "I want to meet our enemy face to face, I haven't killed nearly enough scum to satisfy Venom's thirst."

Chuckles came over the vox as the Amber Vipers shared their lord's boisterous humour. Coluber saw the enemy were running forward with bayonets fixed, soon they would cross into weapons range. They were slowed by a line of razor wire but many men carried wooden duckboards and they threw them upon the wire, creating passages for their fellows. Stray shells hit among them but it was light and sporadic. They bobbed and weaved to avoid the worst and kept coming, their dead not slowing them down at all. It was a brutal and unimaginative strategy, spending lives with no regard for cost, exactly as the Imperium taught its men to fight.

Coluber lifted Venom high for all to see and cried, "Hold men of the Imperium! See the scum approach, arrogant and prideful. They think to sweep us aside with sheer numbers but they know not your hearts! You are the soldiers of the Emperor, the bravest souls in all creation, each one of you is worth ten of them! Show them your fury and drive them back, Ave Imperator!"

"Ave Imperator!" the Amber Vipers roared leading the cry which was taken up by the ranks of men, then the rebels closed into weapons range. First to fire were the Heavy Bolters, autocannons and Lascannons sweeping the lines of foes with deadly fire. Bodies were blown apart, men fell missing limbs or with heads blown clean off. Then the las rifles opened fire, streams of red energy stabbing out to punch into bodies and sear into flesh. Mixed in the volley were bursts of Bolter fire, tight triple-shots that cut men down with preternatural accuracy. Rebels were falling by the hundred now but they pressed on regardless, fired by adrenaline or more potent combat stimms Coluber didn't care to guess.

On the fire came, sweeping aside waves of rebels but more forced their way forward step by step, inching ever closer to the line, uncaring for losses as they scented blood, the thirst for victory overriding everything else. Coluber fired his bolt pistol into the packed ranks of foes, seeing brown uniforms being blown apart. His forces were decimating the rebels but so many were the foe that the assault was advancing regardless.

Coluber revelled in it; finally a righteous battle. No more quandaries or doubts to plague him, for a moment he didn't have to think about the price of battle, he didn't have to weigh the benefits against the blood spent. No more concerns about the future or the principles he was sacrificing to make that dream possible. There were only the weapons in his hands and the foe before him. This was what he had been made for and he wouldn't have traded this moment for a Strike Cruiser.

Torvus fired repeatedly as he shouted, "We can't hold them for long!"

Coluber saw he was right but held his tongue for a moment more. He watched the rebels closing, waiting for them to reach critical numbers. He held back until he could see the fury in their eyes and the spittle on their shouting lips and then he voxed, "Minefields… NOW!"

A second later the ground erupted before the trench, lines of remotely detonated mines blasting upwards. A whole swathe of the ground before the trench turned into a blizzard of flying shrapnel and cascading mud. A thousand rebels were caught in the blasts, turned into sprays of gore as their entire front wave enveloped in plumes of fire. The mines they used were directional anti-personnel devices, facing forward but in the madness of war shrapnel went everywhere. Coluber felt impacts pinging off his plate and he thanked its noble spirit for the stalwart protection. The mortal next to him wasn't so lucky, falling down as a red hot sliver of metal hit him, leaving a hole where his face used to be.

The rebel advance had been checked and cheers arose but Coluber gritted his teeth, that had merely been a probing thrust and he knew what would come next. Sure enough, he heard heavy grinding noises and peered over the parapet. Smoke and ash obscured his sight but his autosenses cut through it with ease, revealing looming, boxy shapes lumbering forward. They ploughed into the mad confusion, crushing bodies under their wide treads as fat barrel rotated in turret mounts. Leman Russ Tanks, charging into the fray.

Coluber knew the rebels had merely been testing his defences until now, this was the real assault. The tanks charged through the defender's fire, shrugging off heavy fire and in their wake hurried long lines of men, eager to spill blood. Coluber raised his sword once more and shouted, "Here they come men, fix your bayonets, death or glory awaits!"