Tales of the Amber Viper Chapter 54

White Condor hummed as it sat upon the raw ground, its engines idling. Amid the bustle of the dig site it lurked like a bird of prey surveying the landscape, waiting for prey to wander across its path. Sergeant Reddam kept a watchful eye upon the systems while also sweeping the environment for the first sign of danger, a simple exercise in multi-tasking for a Space Marine. Alongside him the other Vultures sat in readiness, his squad and the others all held in a state of alert watchfulness.

Reddam ran his eyes over the controls but as he did so Glord remarked from the gunner's position, "Would you look at that." Reddam glanced over and saw ten Brothers of Primus pushing a Rhino transport backwards. It was caked in filth and mud, its tracks encased in the detritus of a thousand years of burial, but ten power armoured Space Marines was more than enough to push it anyway. They forced it up the ramp of the Thunderhawk Poisoned Fang, barely fitting it into the cargo bay, then stepped back. The ramp whined closed and then the gunship rumbled as its engines built in power. A moment later it lifted off, rising vertically on vector thrust into the gap in the canopy. It became smaller and smaller as it disappeared, beginning the slow haul into orbit where the Amber Viper's small fleet awaited.

Glord mused, "Is that three or four?"

Reddam returned his eyes to his scanning as he replied, "Three."

Glord sounded amazed as he pondered, "Imagine what this will mean for the Chapter, to drive into war with such power at our command."

The vox crackled as Larus called from his own Vulture, "You won't see it in action, Secundus Cohort will go back to our bikes. This new wargear will be reserved for Primus Cohort."

"Speak for yourself," Joffel chortled, "I plan to rise to Primus within the decade!"

"Not if you don't win more glory," Kazao countered, "Only the best and the brightest join Primus."

Joffel retorted, "You doubt my skill with a blade?"

Kazao laughed, "I doubt your brains, Battle-Captain Ferrac demands the best from his Marines. That takes smarts, as much a good sword arm."

Reddam frowned in consternation as he snapped, "Focus! You're not in the barracks anymore, this is still a warzone and our enemies could be back at any time."

Tebes retorted, "Eldar weaklings, we beat them already. It was easy, barely an inconvenience."

"Too right," Glord agreed, "We sent them packing, they won't be back."

Reddam wasn't so sure; he remembered the ambush on their way to the dig-site and the frantic battle in the sky. They had chased dashing beasts through the sky and seen Valkyries falling as they duelled. He had fought Eldar in another life but not like this. These Eldar had been a strange breed, yet no less deadly than their starfaring kin. Their primitive weapons had been effective and the race had lost none of its speed and agility. Reddam knew it was only the Imperial's discipline that had kept the battle from becoming a rout and the Thunderhawk's countercharge that had driven them back. Despite his youthful Brother's confidence, in his opinion it had been a damned close thing.

He frowned as his auspex blipped, a vague return that appeared and disappeared in moments. He reached for the controls and twiddled a dial, seeking a clear return but nothing came. Glord sounded curious as he asked, "Got something?"

"Not sure," Reddam replied, "Damn woods offend the Machine Spirits… wait."

The Auspex flared again, only briefly but he definitely saw something this time and said, "There it is."

"I get no reading," Joffell stated, "Are you sure."

Yet Reddam had already switched vox frequency and called, "Chapter Master Coluber, this is Reddam requesting permission to pursue a contact."

Coluber replied sternly, "Is this confirmed, we do not have limitless fuel to have you running endless patrols."

Reddam answered, "I saw something, my gut tells me there's something out there."

There was a moment's silence then Coluber said, "I trust your gut over any auspex, go check it out. I will alert the perimeter guards."

"Just tell them not to shoot at us," Reddam said as he switched back.

Glord asked, "Are we going then?"

Reddam confirmed, "Follow me, we're moving out."

He fed power into the engine and heard the roar as it built. Blasts of downdraft thundered out of the vector thrusters and slowly White Condor took off. He rose twenty metres into the air, followed by his wingmates then feathered the controls and pushed them forward. The Vulture slid through the air and the forest loomed up before them. He had one last glimpse of the guards looking up at him then they dove into the darkness under the canopy and headed towards the intermittent contact. He pulled the control stick left and right, steering around the towering columns of the trees as his eyes pierced the darkness seeking threats.

Glord was checking his targeting eyepiece and said, "Visibility is poor, I can't make out much."

"Keep looking," Reddam said, "We're not alone, I can smell it."

Glord chuckled, "Strange, when they taught us how to scout for enemies the instructors failed to mention smelling them."

Reddam ignored the remark as he probed the shadowy twilight under the canopy, broken only by the occasional ray of sunlight breaking through the canopy. It was hard to make out anything beyond a few metres, the gloom darkening into inky twilight. Even Astartes eyes were hard-pressed to make out anything and mortal eyes would have been nearly blind. His cockpit window glazed as a ray of the sun passed over it but he wavered not. His certainty that something was out here grew by the second, instincts honed by centuries spent at the sharp end of battle were screaming that danger lurked just out of range. He banked around another tree and peered into dark shadows sure that something was hiding out here.

Joffel voxed, "We're passing five kilometres from the dig-site, should we risk going much further?"

"Just around the next corner," Reddam voxed back.

One more tree loomed up before him, its knotted bark filling his vision. He curved the Vulture around it, only to be confronted by an oncoming tidal wave of flapping wings, coming right at him. Red and blue and white and silver and bronze, every colour imaginable were filling the air under the canopy. The leathery beasts all had bone-heads and sharp talons and on their back were pale riders, wielding bows and spears, all sailing towards the Amber Viper's base in one massive wave.

"Incoming!" Reddam yelled as he threw his Vulture to the side and thorn-tipped arrows flashed off its armour. A lurching sensation grabbed at his guts as inertia slammed him about all the while yelling, "Contact, contact, contact!"

A blue beast flew right at him and Reddam heaved back on the controls, pulling White Condor's nose up as Glord yelled, "Can't get an angle!"

"Fire anyway," Reddam snarled, "You'll hit something."

The Vulture's multi-lasers opened up, stabbing out into the dim underworld. The shots were random and poorly aimed but they flew into the oncoming horde, causing the Eldar to break formation and scatter. Flapping wings filled Reddam's vision and he drove into the heart of them, sending them flying away in a hundred directions. The Vulture piled through the heart of the cloud and Reddam heard spears and arrows pinging off the side of his craft. Such weapons should be pathetic in comparison to his own but they were steered by Eldar accuracy and a single bolt into his jet air-intake would send him crashing to the floor a half-kilometre below. Glord was firing constantly, filling the air with las-flashes and heavy bolter rounds as he cried, "There're hundreds of them, where are they coming from?!"

Over the vox Joffel shouted, "Didn't we beat them once already, we killed them all."

"Not all," Tebes countered, "Evidently we missed some."

Reddam snarled, "Speculate later, concentrate on the damned fight!"

Suddenly Kazao shouted, "Sergeant look out!"

Reddam's eyes widened as he saw a silver beast looming before him, its back bearing a glowing lascannon. He instinctively pushed his nose down, dropping White Condor like a stone. His stomach rose into his mouth and the ground swelled alarmingly, but the burst of energy passed over him without harm. The altimeter spun like a fan and he saw he would impact the ground in moments. He heaved back on the stick and shoved the throttle wide open, making the jet engine roar as it fought to arrest their fall. For a heart-stopping moment he thought they were going to crash, but then the thrust finally countered their fall, leaving them soaring a mere dozen metres from the tangled underbrush.

Reddam's vox squawked as Coluber called, "Reddam come in, repeat your last."

Reddam fought to bring the nose back up as he yelled, "Eldar, Frakking Eldar everywhere!"

"Confirmed," Coluber voxed, "Launching all gunships."

Reddam had no more time to talk as White Condor rose into the clouds of enemies, wings and beaks flapping everywhere. The world seemed filled with targets and Glord was firing constantly, trying to hit a darting foe. Reddam saw random firing was getting them nowhere and changed tactics, heaving his Vulture about and chasing after a fleeing red beast. The rider must have sensed them closing for the animal began to duck and weave but Reddam barrelled after it, closing the distance. A spray of heavy multilaser fire bracketed it, forcing it to fly straight for an instant then the heavy bolter spoke and the Eldar became a tangle of torn wings and blood.

"Take that Xenos filth!" Glord yelled.

"Keep it up," Reddam barked as he heaved about.

Everywhere he looked dashing beasts clashed with his squad, their numbers filling the skies with colour. The three Vultures fought on but they were only three against hundreds, unless help arrived soon they would be overwhelmed. He saw a Vulture hurtle past, moving so fast he couldn't make out who was flying it and its weapons blazed ceaselessly. He angled over its jetwash but in doing so failed to see a bronze beast rising towards him, its rider bending an immense bow to target him. He desperately wrenched his controls over but it was too late, for the Eldar fired a shaft right into his cockpit.

Glassic armour shattered and the world became a crazed mess of fractures as tiny shards peppered his face. Reddam blinked furiously as he tried to see what was happening then he focused and found an arrowhead mere inches from his eye. The bolt had punched through his cockpit window and become lodged in the frame, coming to rest just short of his face, two more inches and it would have come to rest inside his head. He had escaped death by a whisker but his vision was ruined, he couldn't see anything through the crazed glassic. Instantly he slammed his hand down on a control and explosive bolts fired around the rim, blowing the cockpit clean off. A hurricane slammed into his face, the speed of their passage making his eyes water but he was clear and free to see the treetop canopy rushing at him.

"Evade!" Glord cried and Reddam desperately wrenched the stick forward and tried to avoid a collision but leaves were torn free and blew into his face. Reddam wrestled with his Vulture, knowing a single branch into his intake would spell his doom but by a miracle nothing hit them. They levelled off, dropping slowly in height as Glord gasped, "That was too close."

Reddam wasn't listening for through the clawing wind he could see something else. Far below the swirling flights of beasts the forest floor was moving, undulating like a living thing. Reddam couldn't understand what he was seeing until his perspective shifted and he realised that he was looking at a huge wave of ground-dwelling beasts, all heading in the same direction. A kilometre below hundreds of animals, large and small, were charging towards the Amber Viper's position all of them bearing Eldar of some description.

Glord gasped, "Where the hell did they come from?"

"We underestimated the threat," Reddam exclaimed, "This planet teems with Eldar!"

"What do we do?" Glord cried.

Yet Reddam had already opened his vox and was shouting, "Come in Coluber. Beware ground forces are closing, you are about to be overrun!"